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Article A MASONIC HEEO: ← Page 7 of 8 →
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A Masonic Heeo:
Romanist , who , being reduced to the extremity of want , and hearing that we were liberal of alms , had addressed herself tome : I gave her a moidore ; when the Fransciscan convent was burned down the fathers made a collection , and I gave them , upon the . exchange , three-quarters of a moidore ; that a poor Roman Catholic , with a large family , who could get no work , being in the utmost distress , had been recommends some
Freemasons , with a suggestion that we should make up a purse among ourselves in order to set him up again ; accordingly we raised , among seven members , ten irioidores , which money I myself put into his hands . They then asked whether I had ever given alms privately out of my own purse , I replied that the above gifts were mainly derived from fines levied at the (meetings of the brotherhood . ' For what faults ? ' enquired they . ' Those / said I , Who take the sacred name of Grod in vain pay the quarter of a
moidore ; less profane oaths or indecent words , the quarter of a new eroisade ; the fractious and disobedient were also fined / Finding all their efforts to shake my resolution , either by tett of no avail , they threw off all disguise , calling me ' dog of a heretic / and vowing I was already damned , so that neither purgatory nor absolution would avail me . The proctor then proceeded to read the heads of the indictment or charge , Which Was as follows ;—¦
u The said Costos having refused to discover to the inquisitors the true tendency a , nd evil designs of the assembly of Freemasons , and Eaving , on the contrary , persisted in the assertion that Freemasonry is good in itself : wherefore , the proctor of the Inquisition demands that the said prisoner be prosecuted with the utmost rigour ; and that the court do now proceed to tortures , in order to extort from him a confession that the several articles of which he stands accused are wholly and altogether true . '
" Folding up the paper he drove me before him to the torture room , built in the form of a square tower , illuminated by two small torches only , making a darkness visible ; and , to prevent the shrieks of the sufferers from being heard without , the doors are lined with felt . After preparing their instruments , an operation ostentatiously performed before my eyes , six wretches laid hold of me , stripping me naked to my drawers , and casting me on my back . An iron collar was placed round my neck and
secured me to the scaffold . They next fixed a ring to each foot , and stretched my legs apart with all their might . Afterwards two ropes were twisted round each arm and two round each thigh , and , being passed under the scaffold through holes made for the purpose , four men , upon a signal , suddenly . drew them tight . These ropes pierced the flesh even to my
bones , making the blood gush out at the eight different places thus bound . An inquisitor stood by ; at each interval in the torture he addressed me . c Sir / said he , with a marvellous hypocrisy , in the most anxious and affectionate tone , ' why will you thus endure suffering—why so cruel to yourself ? Remember , should you expire under the torture , in the sight of Heaven you are guilty of the crime offelo de seJ
" As I persisted m keeping silence , the cords were thus four times drawn together . At my side stood a physician and a surg-eon , who sometimes , feeling my temples or my pulse , directed the tormentors to suspend operations . During these pauses , I lay in a heap upon the ground , until some partial restoration of my faculties , when the tender hearted inquisitor gave the signal for their repetition .
" Seeing these sufferings elicited ^ no confession—but that the greater the cruelty the more fervently I supplicated heaven for constancy and courage to endure—six weeks after they led me once more to the tower , I was
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Masonic Heeo:
Romanist , who , being reduced to the extremity of want , and hearing that we were liberal of alms , had addressed herself tome : I gave her a moidore ; when the Fransciscan convent was burned down the fathers made a collection , and I gave them , upon the . exchange , three-quarters of a moidore ; that a poor Roman Catholic , with a large family , who could get no work , being in the utmost distress , had been recommends some
Freemasons , with a suggestion that we should make up a purse among ourselves in order to set him up again ; accordingly we raised , among seven members , ten irioidores , which money I myself put into his hands . They then asked whether I had ever given alms privately out of my own purse , I replied that the above gifts were mainly derived from fines levied at the (meetings of the brotherhood . ' For what faults ? ' enquired they . ' Those / said I , Who take the sacred name of Grod in vain pay the quarter of a
moidore ; less profane oaths or indecent words , the quarter of a new eroisade ; the fractious and disobedient were also fined / Finding all their efforts to shake my resolution , either by tett of no avail , they threw off all disguise , calling me ' dog of a heretic / and vowing I was already damned , so that neither purgatory nor absolution would avail me . The proctor then proceeded to read the heads of the indictment or charge , Which Was as follows ;—¦
u The said Costos having refused to discover to the inquisitors the true tendency a , nd evil designs of the assembly of Freemasons , and Eaving , on the contrary , persisted in the assertion that Freemasonry is good in itself : wherefore , the proctor of the Inquisition demands that the said prisoner be prosecuted with the utmost rigour ; and that the court do now proceed to tortures , in order to extort from him a confession that the several articles of which he stands accused are wholly and altogether true . '
" Folding up the paper he drove me before him to the torture room , built in the form of a square tower , illuminated by two small torches only , making a darkness visible ; and , to prevent the shrieks of the sufferers from being heard without , the doors are lined with felt . After preparing their instruments , an operation ostentatiously performed before my eyes , six wretches laid hold of me , stripping me naked to my drawers , and casting me on my back . An iron collar was placed round my neck and
secured me to the scaffold . They next fixed a ring to each foot , and stretched my legs apart with all their might . Afterwards two ropes were twisted round each arm and two round each thigh , and , being passed under the scaffold through holes made for the purpose , four men , upon a signal , suddenly . drew them tight . These ropes pierced the flesh even to my
bones , making the blood gush out at the eight different places thus bound . An inquisitor stood by ; at each interval in the torture he addressed me . c Sir / said he , with a marvellous hypocrisy , in the most anxious and affectionate tone , ' why will you thus endure suffering—why so cruel to yourself ? Remember , should you expire under the torture , in the sight of Heaven you are guilty of the crime offelo de seJ
" As I persisted m keeping silence , the cords were thus four times drawn together . At my side stood a physician and a surg-eon , who sometimes , feeling my temples or my pulse , directed the tormentors to suspend operations . During these pauses , I lay in a heap upon the ground , until some partial restoration of my faculties , when the tender hearted inquisitor gave the signal for their repetition .
" Seeing these sufferings elicited ^ no confession—but that the greater the cruelty the more fervently I supplicated heaven for constancy and courage to endure—six weeks after they led me once more to the tower , I was