dit this strange sacrifice, and save
Their souls alive. Millions shall live and die,
Who ne'er shall call upon their Saviour's name,
But unredeem'd go to the gaping grave;
Thousands shall deem it an old woman's tale,
Such as the nurses frighten babes withal;
These, in a gulf of anguish an I of flame,
Shall curse their reprobation endlessly,
Yet tenfold pangs shall force them to avow,
Even on their beds of torment, where they howl,
My honor and the justice of their doom.
What then avail their virtuous deeds, their thoughts
Of purity, with radiant genius bright,
Or lit with human reason's earthly ray?
Many are call'd but few will I elect."

The popular faith of Europe and America, which experience demonstrates
to this age has, even as a means of reforming humanity, been a
complete failure, Shelley correctly believed, had the same human
foundation and origin as that of other revealed theologies--he sums up
the proofs on which Christianity rests, miracles, prophecies, and
martyrdoms, with great clearness; proves the absurdity of the doctrine
of miracles, as taught by Christian writers, shows the falseness of
the so-called prophecies, even granting the utmost warping of the real
meaning of the Old Testament texts for Christian purposes, which he
asserted were to be compared unfavorably with the oracles of Delphos,
and points out that the Mohammedan dying for his prophet, or the
Hindoo immolating himself under the wheels of Juggernaut could be
cited equally as a proof of the divine origin of their faiths, as the
reputed martyrdoms of Christians could of theirs.

The development of Christianity, which was really founded by Paul, was
a subject to which Shelley devoted much attention--he tells us that

"The same means that have supported every other belief, have
supported Christianity. War, imprisonment, assassination,
and falsehood; deeds of unexampled and incomparable
atrocity, have made it what it is. The blood shed by the
votaries of the God of mercy and peace, since the
establishment of his religion, would probably suffice to
drown all other sectaries now on the habitable globe. We
derive from our ancestors a faith thus fostered and
supported; we quarrel, persecute, and hate, for its
maintenance. Even under a government which, while it
infringes the very right of thought and speech, boasts of
permittin