them to receive Christianity, got
possession of their lands, and laid the foundation of a power which has
grown by degrees into the great Prussian (or German) empire.

The work of missions was carried on also in Russia, Lithuania, and other
northern countries, so that by the time which we have now reached it
might be said that all Europe was in some way or other converted to
profess the Gospel.

About the end of the fifteenth century the discoveries of the Portuguese
in Africa and the East, and those of the Spaniards in the great Western
continent, opened new fields for missionary labour; but of this we need
not now speak more particularly.

Unhappily the Church was not content with trying to convince people of
the truth of its doctrine by gentle means, but disgraced itself by
persecution. We have already noticed the horrible wars against the
Albigenses in the south of France;[98] and cruel persecutions were
carried on in Spain against Jews, Mahometans, and persons suspected of
heresy, or such like offences. The conduct of these persecutions was in
the hands of the Inquisition, which did its work without any regard to
the rules of Justice, and was made more terrible by the darkness and
mystery of its proceedings. It kept spies to pry into all men's concerns
and to give secret information against them; even the nearest relatives
were not safe from each other under this dreadful system. Multitudes
were put to death, and others were glad to escape with such punishments
as entire loss of their property, or imprisonment, which was in many
cases for life.

[98] See p. 223.

* * * * *

In the course of all these hundreds of years, Christian religion had
been much corrupted from its first purity. The power of the clergy over
the ignorant people had become far greater than it ought to have been;
and too commonly it was kept up by the encouragement of superstitions
and abuses. The popes claimed supreme power on earth. They claimed the
right of setting up and plucking down emperors and kings. They meddled
with appointments to sees, parishes, and all manner of offices in the
Church, throughout all Western Europe. They wished to make it appear as
if bishops had no authority except what they held through the grant of
the pope. There were general complaints against the faults of the
clergy, and among the mass of men religion had become in great part
little better than an affair of forms. From all