WORK OF THE SPANISH INQUISITION.
MORE and more apologists or semi-apologists for the Inquisition are coming to the front. Roman Catholics in general defend it, as is to be expected. The extenuators and apologists are among so-called Protestants. For instance, the Literary Digest of December 6 quotes Prof. Ernst Schaefer, of the University of Rostock, in a recent work, as saying:— An unbiased examination of the official documents pertaining to the Spanish Inquisition, shows that the current view held by Protestants on this matter is at least grossly exaggerated. While it is indeed true that Catholic scholars are mistaken in their effort to show that the Inquisition was the tool, not of the Church but of the State, it is equally true that the Protestant pictures of the illegal prosecutions practised by the Church leaders are at least overdrawn.
But what would our learned professor expect to find in these records of the actors in the dread tragedies of the Inquisition? Would he expect to find these records calling the tribunals irregular or illegitimate? What would the head of the clerk been worth who would so have recorded! Would we look for a true record of Christ’s trial before the Sanhedrin and Pilate? Would the record kept by His enemies record the proceedings as illegal or irregular? We have no expectation of ever finding a record of their work kept by religious prosecutors or persecutors, which will condemn that work. It is contrary to human nature. The course of Calvin and other Protestants working on papal principles seemed to them eminently just to all. They thought they were “doing God service,” and, of course, justified themselves in the work they did. Only in the records on high are the true histories of religious persecution recorded.