Excerpt from History of the Inquisition, Vol. 1: From the Establishment in the Twelfth Century to Its Extinction in the Nineteenth Many harrowing narratives might have been repeated that are entirely omitted because they are not satisfactorily authenticated, or bear internal marks of imperfect information. Many deeds of darkness are passed over in silence, because it is a shame even to speak of some things that were done in secret; and to lay bare the immoralities of Inquisitors and Confessors is, to say the least, an offence against public decency that cannot be too steadily discou raged. The reader will not find more than is promised in the title-page. Not persecution in general, not the administration of Canon Law in cases of heresy by prelates or ecclesiastical courts, but the acts of Inquisitors only. It must be remembered that while all churches that have lost the Spirit of Christ are given to persecute, no church on earth, except the Church of Rome, has ever had a separate institution for the inquest and punishment of heresy, with a peculiar code of laws and appointed courts, judges, and officers. This, and this only, is the inquisition. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.