I saw a rack.
Imagine a wagon with a windlass on each end, and each windlass armed
with leather bands, and a ratchet that prevented slipping. The victim
was placed upon this.

Maybe he had denied something that some idiot said was true; may be he
had a discussion--a division of opinion with a man, like John Calvin.
John Calvin said Christ was the Eternal Son of God and Michael Servetus
said that Christ was the son of the Eternal God. That was the only
difference of opinion. Think of it! What an important thing it was!
How it would have affected the price of food! "Christ is the Eternal
Son of God," said one; "No," said the other, "Christ is the Son of
Eternal God"--that was all, and for that difference of opinion Michael
Servetus was burned at a slow fire of green wood, and the wind
happening to blow the flames from him instead of towards him; he was in
the most terrible agony, writhing for minutes and minutes, and hours
and hours, and finally he begged and implored those wretches to move
him so that the wind would blow the flames against him and destroy him
without such hellish agony, but they were so filled with the doctrine
of "love your enemies" that they would not do it. I never will, for my
part, depend upon any religion that has ever shed a drop of human
blood.*

[* Speaking of the Inquisition, Prof. Draper says: "With such savage
alacrity did it carry out its object of protecting the interests of
religion, that between 1480 and 1808 it had punished 340,000 persons,
and of these nearly 32,000 had been burnt!"--Conflict between Religion
and Science]

Upon this rack I have described, this victim was placed, and those
chains were attached to his ankles and then to his waist, and
clergymen--good men! pious men! men that were shocked at the immorality
of their day! They talked about playing cards and the horrible crime
of dancing! Oh, how such things shocked them; men going to theaters and
seeing a play written by the grandest genius the world ever has
produced. How it shocked their sublime and tender souls! But then
commenced turning this machine, and they kept on turning until the
ankles, knees, hips, elbows, shoulders and wrists were all dislocated
and the victim was red with the sweat of agony, and they had standing
by a physician to feel the pulse, so that the last faint flutter of
life would not leave his veins. Did they wish to save his life? Yes.
In mercy? No! Simply that they might have the