"apiece. For applying the Spanish boot his fee was "only two florins. Five florins were paid to him "every time he subjected a refractory witness to the "torture of the rack. The same amount was his due "for branding the sign of the gallows with a red-hot "iron upon the back, forehead, or cheek of a thief, "as well as for cutting off the nose and ears of a "slanderer or blasphemer. Flogging with rods was "a cheap punishment, its remuneration being fixed. "at three florins, thirty kreuzers" (Ibid., Vol. V, pp. 190-91).

THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES

IF we wish to know the character of the water in a river, an excellent plan is to ascertain its origin and what sort of a channel it has flown through before it reaches us. If the channel has been through low and boggy land, the water is sure to be contaminated, no matter how pure it may have been at its source. So it is with Christianity. No matter how pure its original source may have been, it certainly passed through a very vile sewer before it reached us in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and we have to judge it by what it actually is when it reaches us, instead of by what may be claimed for it by its followers.

Protestantism, as compared with Roman Catholicism, has a lighter guilt. It has been truthfully claimed and truthfully said by the high officials of the Roman Catholic Church that the history of Christianity is the history of the popes. I think we must all admit that this claim is sound, and we will therefore examine the lives of the popes. Let us see what kind of men they were, and we shall not be surprised at the grossness of their followers.

The Catholics tell us that the popes are infallible in everything that relates to religion and morality. I submit the following account of the lives of some of them by that well-known and impartial American historian, Professor John Draper (see his History of the Intellectual Development of Europe already referred to) :

"To some it might seem, considering the interests of religion alone, desirable to omit all biographical "reference to the popes; but this cannot be done "with justice to the subject. The essential principle "of the papacy, that the Roman pontiff is the vicar "of Christ upon earth, necessarily obtrudes his per"sonal relations upon us. How shall we understand "his faith unless we see it illustrated in his life? "Indeed, the unhappy character of these relations. "was the inciting cause of the movements in Germany, "France, and England, ending in the extinction of "the papacy as an actual political power-movements "to be understood only through a sufficient know"ledge of the private lives and opinions of the popes. "It is well, as far as possible, to abstain from burden"ing systems with the imperfections of individuals. "In this case they are inseparably interwoven. The "signal peculiarity of the papacy is that, though its "history may be imposing, its biography is infamous. "I shall, however, forbear to speak of it in this latter "respect more than the occasion seems necessarily "to require; shall pass in silence some of those cases "which would profoundly shock my religious reader, "and therefore restrict myself to the ages between "the middle of the eighth and the middle of the "eleventh centuries, excusing myself to the impartial "critic by the apology that these were the ages with "which I have been chiefly concerned in this chapter.

"On the death of Pope Paul I, who had attained "the pontificate A.D. 757, the Duke of Nepi com"pelled some bishops to consecrate Constantine, one "of his brothers, as pope; but more legitimate electors "subsequently, A.D. 768, choosing Stephen IV, the "usurper and his adherents were severely punished; "the eyes of Constantine were put out; the tongue of

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"the Bishop Theodorus was amputated, and he was "left in a dungeon to expire in the agonies of thirst. "The nephews of Pope Adrian seized his successor, "Pope Leo III, A.D. 795, in the street, and, forcing "him into a neighbouring church, attempted to put "out his eyes and cut out his tongue. At a later "period, this pontiff trying to suppress a conspiracy "to depose him, Rome became the scene of rebel"lion, murder, and conflagration. His successor,

"Stephen V, A.D. 816, was ignominiously driven "from the city; his successor, Paschal I, was accused "of blinding and murdering two ecclesiastics in the "Lateran Palace. It was necessary that imperial "commissioners should investigate the matter; but "the Pope died, after having exculpated himself by "oath before thirty bishops. John VIII, A.D. 872, "unable to resist the Mohammedans, was compelled "to pay them tribute; the Bishop of Naples, main"taining a secret alliance with them, received his "share of the plunder they collected. Him John "excommunicated, nor would he give them absolu"tion unless he would betray the chief Mohammedans "and assassinate others himself. There was an "ecclesiastical conspiracy to murder the Pope; some "of the treasures of the Church were seized; and the "gate of St. Pancrazia was opened with false keys, "to admit the Saracens into the city. Formosus, who "had been engaged in these transactions, and excom"municated as a conspirator for the murder of John, "was subsequently elected Pope, A.D. 891; he was "succeeded by Boniface VI, A.D. 896, who had been deposed from the diaconate, and again from the "priesthood, for his immoral and lewd life. By Stephen VII, who followed, the dead body of "Formosus was taken from the grave, clothed in the

"papal habiliments, propped up in a chair, tried before "a council, and the preposterous and indecent scene "completed by cutting off three of the fingers of the "corpse and casting it into the Tiber; but Stephen "himself was destined to exemplify how low the "papacy had fallen; he was thrown into prison and "strangled. In the course of five years, from A.D. 896 "to A.D. 900, five popes were consecrated. Leo V, "who succeeded in A.D. 904, was in less than two "months thrown into prison by Christopher, one of "his chaplains, who usurped his place, and who, in "his turn, was shortly expelled from Rome by "Sergius III, who, by the aid of a military force, "seized the pontificate, A.D. 905. This man, accord"ing to the testimony of the times, lived in criminal "intercourse with the celebrated prostitute Theodora, "who, with her daughters Marozia and Theodora, "also prostitutes, exercised an extraordinary control "over him. The love of Theodora was also shared "by John X; she gave him first the archbishopric of "Ravenna, and then translated him to Rome, A.D. 915, "as Pope. John was not unsuited to the times. He "organised a confederacy, which perhaps prevented "Rome from being captured by the Saracens; and "the world was astonished and edified by the appear"ance of this warlike pontiff at the head of his troops. "By the love of Theodora, as was said, he had main"tained himself in the papacy for fourteen years; by "the intrigues and hatred of her daughter Marozia "he was overthrown. She surprised him in the "Lateran Palace; killed his brother Peter before his "face; threw him into prison, where he soon died, "smothered, as was asserted, with a pillow. After "a short interval Marozia made her own son Pope "as John XI, A.D. 931. Many affirmed that Pope