ith is within the power of will. Accordingly
the heretic, to use Dr. Martineau's expression, is reminded not of
arguments but of motives, not of evidence but of fear, not of proofs
but of perils, not of reasons but of ruin. When we recognise that the
understanding acts independently of volition, and that the threat of
punishment, while it may produce silence or hypocrisy, _cannot_ alter
belief, this method of procedure strikes us as a monstrous imbecility;
but, given a belief in the doctrine of salvation by faith, it must
necessarily appear both logical and just. If the heretic _will_ not
believe, he is clearly wicked, for he rejects the truth and insults God.
He has deliberately chosen the path to hell, and does it matter whether
he travel slowly or swiftly to his destination? But does it _not_ matter
whether he go alone or drag down others with him to perdition? Such
was the logic of the Inquisitors, and although their cruelties must be
detested their consistency must be allowed.

Catholics have an infallible Church, and the Protestants an infallible
Bible. Yet as the teaching of the Bible becomes a question of
interpretation, the infallibility of each Church resolves itself into
the infallibility of its priesthood. Each asserts that _some_ belief is
necessary to salvation. Religious liberty, therefore, has never entered
into the imagination of either. The Protestants who revolted against the
Papacy openly avowed the principle of persecution. Luther, Beza, Calvin,
and Melancthon, were probably more intolerant than any Pope of their
age; and if the Protestant persecutions were not, on the whole, so
sanguinary as those of the Roman Catholic Church, it was simply due to
the fact that Catholicism passed through a dark and ferocious period
of history, while Protestantism emerged in an age of greater light and
humanity. Persecution cannot always be bloody, but it always inflicts
on heretics as much suffering as the sentiment of the community will
tolerate.

The doctrine of salvation by faith has been more mischievous than all
other delusions of theology combined. How true are the words of Pascal:
"_Jamais on ne fait le mal si pleinement et si gaiement que quand oh le
fait par un faux principe de conscience_." Fortunately a nobler day
is breaking. The light of truth succeeds the darkness of error. Right
belief is infinitely important, but it cannot be forced. Belief is
independent of will. But character is not, and therefor