ance of the Question to which Religion the Sceptre of Industry
would fall-It seemed at first in the grasp of Spain-Magnificent
Position of Spain under Charles V.-The Economical Error that
Gold alone is Wealth-The Italians in a great measure escaped
this-First consequence of this error in Spain, was that Manu-
factures were neglected, and all the national energies were concen-
trated upon the Gold Mines-Second consequence, that the Colonies
were ruined by Restrictive Laws-Third consequence, a Convulsion
of Prices resulting indeed from the Excessive Supply of Gold, but
aggravated by Laws prohibiting its Export-These Economical
Causes aggravated by the vast Developement of the Monastic
System-Its Incompatibility with Industry-And by the Revival of
Slavery-Las Casas-And by four great acts of Religious In-
tolerance-The Downfall of Spain an almost unmingled Benefit to
Mankind—Introduction of Hot Drinks into Europe, their Moral and
Social Effects-On the Downfall of Spain the Sceptre of Industry
passes to Protestantism, but the Influence of the two Religions
ceased to be involved in the Contest-Antagonism of Intellectual
Tendency between Town and Country-Changes that have been
effected in their Relative Importance-Mediaval preference for
Agriculture-School of Sully-Superseded by the Mercantile Theory
which was more favourable to Manufactures-Colbert-The School
of Quesnay which followed was theoretically extremely unfavour-
able to Manufactures, but practically favourable to it-Modification
of this School by Raynal-Adam Smith proves Manufactures to be
a Source of Wealth-But maintains the superior Productivity of
Agriculture-Refuted on this last point by Ricardo-Movement in
favour of Manufactures stimulated by the Invention of Credit-And
by the Developement of Machinery-Economical effects of Machines
-Special Force of their Influence in England-The Intellectual
Expression of an Industrial Civilisation is Political Economy - Its
Pacific Influence-Theological Agencies not pacific-And Philo-
sophical ones inefficient-Effects of Political Economy in uniting
different Countries-And different Classes-Effects of the Principle
of Interest upon the Affections-The Philosophy of Mortification
and the Philosophy of Developement represented respectively by
Asceticism and Industrialism-Asceticism supreme till the Four-
teenth Century-The History of Monasteries shows its steady
Decline-Position assigned by Industrialism to Wealth-The De-
struction of Asceticism among the Ancient Greeks due to Art;
among the Moderns, to Industry-Intellectual Influences favourable
to Industrialism-Utilitarianism the Philosophical Expression of
Industrialism-Evils resulting from this Philosophy-Decline of the
Spirit of Self-Sacrifice-Tendency to Materialism-Conclusion.

PAGE 250

RATIONALISM IN EUROPE.

CHAPTER IV.

(continued)

ON PERSECUTION.

PART II.

THE HISTORY OF PERSECUTION.

THE considerations I have adduced in the first part of this chapter will be sufficient to show how injurious have been the effects of the doctrine of exclusive salvation. We have still, however, one consequence to examine, before which all others fade into insignificance. I mean, of course, religious persecution. This, which is perhaps the most fearful of all the evils that men have inflicted upon their fellows, is the direct practical result of the principles we have hitherto considered in their speculative aspect. If men believe with an intense and realising faith that their own view of a disputed question is true beyond all possibility of mistake, if they further believe that those who adopt other views will be doomed by the Almighty to an eternity of misery which, with the same moral disposition but with a different belief,

they would have escaped, these men will, sooner or later, persecute to the full extent of their power. If you speak to them of the physical and mental suffering which persecution produces, or of the sincerity and unselfish heroism of its victims, they will reply that such arguments rest altogether on the inadequacy of your realisation of the doctrine they believe. What suffering that man can inflict can be comparable to the eternal misery of all who embrace the doctrine of the heretic? What claim can human virtues have to our forbearance, if the Almighty punishes the mere profession of error as a crime of the deepest turpitude? If you encountered a lunatic who, in his frenzy, was inflicting on multitudes around him a death of the most prolonged and excruciating agony, would you not feel justified in arresting his career by every means in your power-by taking his life if you could not otherwise attain your object? But if you knew that this man was inflicting not temporal but eternal death, if he was not a guiltless though dangerous madman, but one whose conduct you believed to involve the most heinous criminality, would you not act with still less compunction or hesitation? Arguments from expediency, though they may induce men under some special circumstances to refrain from persecuting, will never make

1 As St. Thomas Aquinas says, 'Si falsarii pecuniæ vel alii malefactores statim per seculares principes juste morti traduntur, multo magis hæretici statim, ex quo de hæresi convincuntur, possunt non solum excommunicari sed et juste occidi.' (Summa, pars ii. qu. xi. art. iii.)

them adopt the principle of toleration. In the first place, those who believe that the religious service of the heretic is an act positively offensive to the Deity will always feel disposed to put down that act if it is in their power, even though they cannot change the mental disposition from which it springs. In the next place, they will soon perceive that the intervention of the civil ruler can exercise almost as much influence upon belief as upon profession. For although there is indeed a certain order and sequence in the history of opinions, as in the phases of civilisation it reflects, which cannot be altogether destroyed, it is not the less true that man can greatly accelerate, retard, or modify its course. The opinions of ninety-nine persons out of every hundred are formed mainly by education, and a Government can decide in whose hands the national education is to be placed, what subjects it is to comprise, and what principles it is to convey. The opinions of the great majority of those who emancipate themselves from the prejudices of their education are the results in a great measure of reading and of discussion, and a Government can prohibit all books and can expel all teachers that are adverse to the doctrines it holds. * Indeed, the simple fact of annexing certain penalties to the profession of particular opinions, and rewards to the profession of opposite opinions, while it will undoubtedly make many hypocrites, will also make many converts. For any one who attentively observes the process that is pursued in the formation of opinions must be aware that, even when a train of