He was condemned by the Parliament of Paris, and after having done
penance, dressed in his shirt, with a rope round his neck and a torch in
his hand, before the entrance of Notre Dame, he was burnt with his book
and writings, his ashes being subsequently cast into the air. Morin had
several followers who shared his fantastic views, and these poor
"champions of God" were condemned to witness the execution of their
leader, to be publicly whipped and branded with the mark of fleur-de-lys,
and to spend the rest of their lives as galley-slaves.
Poland witnessed the burning of Cazimir Liszinski in 1689, whose ashes
were placed in a cannon and shot into the air. This Polish gentleman was
accused of atheism by the Bishop of Potsdam. His condemnation was based
upon certain atheistical manuscripts found in his possession, containing
several novel doctrines, such as "God is not the creator of man; but man
is the creator of a God gathered together from nothing." His writings
contain many other extravagant notions of the same kind.
A few years later the religious world of both England and Ireland was
excited and disturbed by the famous book of John Toland, a sceptical
Irishman, entitled _Christianity not Mysterious_ (London, 1696). Its
author was born in Londonderry in 1670, and was endowed with much natural
ability, but this did not avail to avert the calamities which pursue
indiscreet and reckless writers.
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