THE CAUSES OF PERSECUTION 



dogma of exclusive salvation were persecutors, 

 no matter to what sect they belonged. Of this 

 belief, persecution is, no doubt, under any cir- 

 cumstances, the natural outcome. He who be- 

 lieves that his neighbour's heresy is destined to 

 be punished after death by excruciating tortures 

 of infinite duration, will not scruple to use the 

 most violent means for rescuing him from his 

 perilous condition. Obviously, such a conclu- 

 sion may be entertained without sophistry. 

 Once admit that salvation is possible only within 

 the limits of your own sect, and it may well 

 be argued that you are bound, in benevolence 

 if not in justice, to compel all dissenters to 

 " enter in " to that sect. If persecution be need- 

 ful to obtain such an object, then, on this view 

 of the case, it would really be hard-hearted to 

 refrain from using it. If pulleys and thumb- 

 screws can substitute eternal happiness for 

 future torments like those described by Dante, 

 then pulleys and thumb-screws are instruments 

 of charity and kindness. On this view of the 

 case, the typical religious persecutor is a man in 

 whom unselfish philanthropy has become such 

 an uncontrollable impulse that, no matter how 

 great the violence to his natural feelings of 

 humanity, he will not hesitate to employ the 

 most rigorous and appalling measures to re- 

 strain his fellow-creatures from incurring the 

 risk of endless misery. Such men exist to-day, 



