Heaven and Hell, harm done by belief in...417 Heroism of Paganism...412 Human sacrifice, sanctioned by God...398 " among Jews...398
Marriage, teaching of Christ concerning...419 Morality of great Pagan teachers...406 " compared with that of Christ...403 Murder of blasphemer, sanctioned by God...397 " heretics...401
Poverty inculcated by Christ...414 Prostitution, sanctioned by God...402
Sale of daughter sanctioned by God...396 " thief...396 Slaves, beaten to death...396 Slavery, sanctioned by God...396, 397
Unthrift taught by Christ...415 Utility the test of morality...411 " religion according to Buddha...408
Witches, number of killed...397 Witch-murder, sanctioned by God...397
This section does not pretend, within the short limits of some fifty pages, to give even a complete summary of Christian history. It proposes only to draw up an impeachment against Christianity from the facts of its history which occurred in the day of its power, from the time of Constantine, up to the time of the Reformation. If it be urged that Christianity was corrupt during this period, and ought not therefore to be judged by it, we can only reply that, corrupt or not, it is the only Christianity there was, and if only bad fruit is brought forth, it is fair to conclude that the tree which bears nothing else is also bad. If the bishops, and clergy, and missionaries were ignorant, sensual, tyrannical, and superstitious, they are none the less the representatives of Christianity, and if these are not true Christians, _where are the true Christians_ from A.D. 324 to A.D. 1,500?
We propose, in this section, to practically condense the dark side of Mosheim's "Ecclesiastical History," as translated from the Latin by Dr. A. Maclaine (ed. 1847), only adding, here and there, extracts from other writers; all extracts, therefore, except where otherwise specified, will be taken from this valuable history, a history which, perhaps from its size and dryness, is not nearly so much studied by Freethinkers as it should be; its special worth for our object is that Dr. Mosheim is a sincere Christian, and cannot, therefore, be supposed to strain any point unduly against the religion to which he himself belongs.