Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon
of yourselves ; itis thus alone that you can have the least pretension to any share of wisdom ; it is thus alone that you can attain to piety and virtue . - —Whenever you entertain any other idea of being wise , it will he far from you——but from such a resolution you may expect to meet with satisfaction in this world , and in the- next eternal felicity which God , of his infinite mercy , grant that all here present may attain to!—
John Coustos, For Freemasonry,
JOHN COUSTOS , FOR FREEMASONRY ,
THE SUFFERINGS OF
IN THE INQUISITION AT LISBON .
[ Concludedfrom Page 335 . ] I WAS remanded back to my usual scene of woe ; without being able to guess what impression my defence mi ght have made on my judges . A few days after I was brought before his eminence Cardinal da Cunba , Inquisitor and Director-General of all the Inquisitions dependent on the Portuguefe monarch . The Presidentdirecting
himy , self to me , declared , That the holy tribunal ivas assembled purposely to hearand determine my cause : That I should therefore examine my own mind , and see whether I had no other arguments to offer in my justification—I replied , That I had none ; but relied wholly on their rectitude and equity . On hearing this , they sent me back to my dark abode , and judged me among themselves . Some time afterthe
, President sent for me again ; when before him , he ordered a paper , containing part of my sentence , to be read . I thereby was doomed to suffer the tortures employed by the Hol y Office , for refusing to tell the truth ( as they falsely affirmed ); for my not discovering the secrets of Masonry , with the true tendency and purpose of the meetings of the Brethren .
I hereupon was instantly conveyed to the torture room , built in form of a square tower , where no li ght appeared , but what two candles gave : and to prevent the dreadful cries and shocking groans of the unhappy victims from reaching the ears of the other prisoners , the doors were lined with a sort of quilt . The Reader will naturall y suppose , " that I must be seized with horror , when , at my entering this infernal place , I
saw myself on a sudden , surrounded by six wretches , who , after preparing the tortures , stript me naked ( all to my linen drawers ) ,- when laying me on my back , they began to lay hold of every part of my body . First , they put round my neck an iron collar , which was fastened to the scaffold ; they then fixed a ring to each foot ; and this being done , they stretched my limbs with all their miht . They next
g tied two ropes round each arm , and two round each thi gh , which ropes passed under the scaffold , through holes made for that purpose ; and -were all drawn ' ti ght at the same time , by four men , on a signal made for this pufpofe .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon
of yourselves ; itis thus alone that you can have the least pretension to any share of wisdom ; it is thus alone that you can attain to piety and virtue . - —Whenever you entertain any other idea of being wise , it will he far from you——but from such a resolution you may expect to meet with satisfaction in this world , and in the- next eternal felicity which God , of his infinite mercy , grant that all here present may attain to!—
John Coustos, For Freemasonry,
JOHN COUSTOS , FOR FREEMASONRY ,
THE SUFFERINGS OF
IN THE INQUISITION AT LISBON .
[ Concludedfrom Page 335 . ] I WAS remanded back to my usual scene of woe ; without being able to guess what impression my defence mi ght have made on my judges . A few days after I was brought before his eminence Cardinal da Cunba , Inquisitor and Director-General of all the Inquisitions dependent on the Portuguefe monarch . The Presidentdirecting
himy , self to me , declared , That the holy tribunal ivas assembled purposely to hearand determine my cause : That I should therefore examine my own mind , and see whether I had no other arguments to offer in my justification—I replied , That I had none ; but relied wholly on their rectitude and equity . On hearing this , they sent me back to my dark abode , and judged me among themselves . Some time afterthe
, President sent for me again ; when before him , he ordered a paper , containing part of my sentence , to be read . I thereby was doomed to suffer the tortures employed by the Hol y Office , for refusing to tell the truth ( as they falsely affirmed ); for my not discovering the secrets of Masonry , with the true tendency and purpose of the meetings of the Brethren .
I hereupon was instantly conveyed to the torture room , built in form of a square tower , where no li ght appeared , but what two candles gave : and to prevent the dreadful cries and shocking groans of the unhappy victims from reaching the ears of the other prisoners , the doors were lined with a sort of quilt . The Reader will naturall y suppose , " that I must be seized with horror , when , at my entering this infernal place , I
saw myself on a sudden , surrounded by six wretches , who , after preparing the tortures , stript me naked ( all to my linen drawers ) ,- when laying me on my back , they began to lay hold of every part of my body . First , they put round my neck an iron collar , which was fastened to the scaffold ; they then fixed a ring to each foot ; and this being done , they stretched my limbs with all their miht . They next
g tied two ropes round each arm , and two round each thi gh , which ropes passed under the scaffold , through holes made for that purpose ; and -were all drawn ' ti ght at the same time , by four men , on a signal made for this pufpofe .