Note 451 — Chapter III
Reading edition
Balmes, one of the most successful champions of the Romish faith in our time, finds in the terrible apathy thus shown to the sufferings of the martyrs a proof of a more vital religious sentiment than exists at the present day! "We feel our hair grow stiff on our heads at the mere idea of burning a man alive. Placed in society where the religious sentiment is considerably diminished; accustomed to live among men who have a different religion, and sometimes none at all; we cannot bring ourselves to believe that it could be, at that time, quite an ordinary thing to see heretics or the impious led to punishment." Protestantism and Catholicity compared in their Effects on the Civilization of Europe, Eng. trans., (Baltimore, 1851,) p. 217.
According to this view of the matter, the more religion there is among men, the harder will be their hearts.