CHAPTER V.--PERSECUTION.

Growth of Intolerance in the Early Church 209

Persecution Commences under Constantine 212

The Church Adopts the Death-penalty for Heresy 213

Duty of the Ruler to Suppress Heresy 215

Decline of Persecuting Spirit under the Barbarians 216

Hesitation to Punish in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries 218

Uncertainty as to Form of Punishment 220

Burning Alive Adopted in the Thirteenth Century 221

Evasion of Responsibility by the Church 223

The Temporal Authority Coerced to Persecute 224

Persecution of the Dead 230

Motives Impelling to Persecution 233

Cruelty of the Middle Ages 234

Exaggerated Detestation of Heresy 236

Influence of Asceticism 238

Conscientious Motives 239