INQUISITION, or the HOLY OFFICE, is the court which takt s cognizance of heresy in sonic countries sub ject to the Pope, And particularly in Spain and Portugal.
The existence of such a court proceeds upon the idea, that it is the duty of the civil magistrate, either in his own name, and by his own authority, or as the prop and the re source of the ecclesiastical power, to search after here sies, and to extirpate them. It takes for granted, likewise, the absurd and monstrous proposition, that the human un derstanding can he influenced and won by other means than those of information communicated, or argument propos ed ; and that real and conscientious discipleship can he the result of civil or political deprivations, or the infliction of corporal punishment.
In the early times, the church herself appears to have maintained a doctrine, the very opposite of that which has now been stated. As the satirist, when reduced to po verty himself, speedily perceived that poverty was no fit object of satire, so the Christians, when trembling under the fear of persecution, or expiring amidst its agonies, were not slow to discern, tar backward to declare, that per secution was not the means by which true converts were to be made. Accordingly, in the .///zo/ogie8 which they presented to the Roman emperors, in be hall of their reli gion, during the first three centuries, they argue the question, and zealously maintain, that the province of the civil magistrate extends no Farther than that of securing the peace, and promoting the welfare of the community ; and that persecution for any opinion which lies hid in the understanding, whether that opinion be true or false, is not only absurd, because it is inefficacious, but unjust and cruel in the highest degree. " Non religionis est," says Tertul Ban, " cogere religionem, qua sfionte suscipi debeat, non vi." And the same idea is expr:.ssed by Lactantius, who lived in the fourth century. " Quis inlpanas mild," says he, " necessitatem, vel colcndi quad nolim, vel quad yearn, non colendi ; quid jam nobis ulterius rel.nquitur, si etiam hoc quad voluntate ,fieri o/tortet, libido e.vtorqueat aliens ?" And again, in another place, " Nthil tam est voluntarium quam religio, in qua', si animus sacrifica.--tis aversus est, jam sublatadam nulla est." St Hilary of Poictiers, likewise, who lived, as well as Lactantius, in the fourth century, and who, though he held the very same opinions with those which have just been quoted, is unexpectedly to be found among the saints in the Romish calendar, openly maintains the inadequacy and utter impropriety of coercive mea sures in promoting the worship of God. " Est Deus," says he, " universuatis, obsequio non eget necessurio, requirit coactam• confcssionenz." And, addressing himself to those whose pride or whose zeal induced them to give information to the magistrate, and to prompt him to the rigorous execution of the imperial edicts, he says, " Oro vas episcopi, quibusnam ad pricdicandum lium,apostoliusi cunt ? Quibus adjuti potestatibus Christum ,zrsdicaverunt, gentesque fere omnes, ex iclolis ad Dezitn transtulerunt? ?nne aliquanz sibi assumebant e palatio dig nitatem, hymnum Dea, incarcere, inter catenas et flagella cantantes ? Edictis regis Paulus Christo ecclesiam congre gabat ? -Veronese credo aut Vespasiano patrocinantibus, tuebatur, quorum in nos odds confessio divine predicationis effloruit ?" Even so late as the fifth century, St Martin, in France, (and it. had been well for the world if the ca lendar had been filled with such saints as he,) excommu nicated a bishop for accusing certain heretics to the usurp er Maximin, by whose means they were put to death; adding, in the spirit of genuine Christianity, that be look ed upon that man as a murderer, who procured the de struction of a fellow-creature, chargeable, in strict jus tice, with nothing else than being mistaken in his opi nions.
These correct and righteous sentiments prevailed for a considerable time, and the deviations from them were slow and progressive. When the empire became Christian, it still appeared to the civil magistrate, that he was bound to support the religion adopted by the state. Hence it was that certain laws, which are yet to be found in the codes of Theodosius and Justinian, were enacted against here tics ; by which they were subjected to fines, and confis cation of goods, and to imprisonment and banishment, ac cording to the description of the offence, and the measure of the delinquency : with this limitation, however, in every case., that it was the peculiar province of the ecclesiastical judge to determine, whether the opinions professed were heretical or not- Hence, too, it was, that those charged with heresy by the magistrate were usually charged with sedition or rebellion at the same time ; and, whenever the punishment was capital, it was understood to be the re sult, not merely of inaccurate or of perverted theology, but of a criminal opposition to the civil and political au thorities. In this situation the law and the practice, re specting heresy, continued till about the year 800. The trial of the whole case was in the hands of the civil ma gistrate ; and, with the exception of ecclesiastical cen sures, it belonged to synods and councils merely to an swer the question, " Is the opinion or doctrine libelled heretical or otherwise ?" During the course of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh cen turies, however, the power of the ecclesiastical tribunals, and of the papacy itself, increased in a most remarkable degree. The zeal which animated the church, and the people of Europe, became fierce and ungovernable ; and the crusades against the infidels in foreign parts were equalled, in ferocious feeling and disposition, at least, by those against the heretics at home. At last, in an evil hour, and under some planet of malignant aspect, and of disastrous influence, St Dominic, (as he is called,) the fa ther of the inquisition, arose. It was the object of this zealous, but mistaken individual, to secure the purity of the Christian faith, and to support the Papal authority, by institutions appropriated to these purposes. The trial of the accused was now placed exclusively in the hands of the ecclesiastical judicatory. The principal inquisitor was likewise the principal judge ; he was responsible to nc other authority than that of the Pope ; and he decided, not only upon the description or quality of the propositions maintained, hut finally, and without appeal, upon the guilt or innocence or the prisoner. And so complete was the revo-hition, achieved by the skill and the perseverance of the Romish See, that the civil magistrate, once the sole judge in matters of heresy, was now called upon to do lit tle else than to execute the sentences of the ecclesiastical tribunals. Strange as it may appear, this monstrous sys tem was received by many of the nations of Europe It found its way into the dominions of Spain and Portugal. The inquisitorial courts were established ; and the emperor, or king, or powerful lord, themselves trem bling under the fear of excommunication, proceeded to remove from this world the unhappy individuals whom the church had pronounced to be guilty of heresy. And the example of their pagan predecessors had long ago taught them, that fire and faggot were the appropriate means by which their removal was to he accomplished.