The papacy : its history, dogmas, genius, and prospects : being the evangelical alliance first prize essay on popery

Front matter

liiliiil

CORNELL UNIVERSI'TY^- LIBRARY

The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library.

Chapter I. Origin Op The Papacy

Extent of the Subject. — State of the Greek, Roman, and Jewish Worlds. — Materializing Influences. — Danger to Christianity therefrom.— Transition from the Symbolic to the Spiritual. — Inability of the "World to make the Transition in one Age. — Theory of Human Progress. — Tendency to a Revival of the Old Paganisms. — The Magian, the Greek, the Roman Idolatries unite under a Christian Form. — Popery revived Paganism 1

Chapter II. Bise And Progress Op Ecclesiastical Supremacy

Original Equality of Pastors. — Rome gives Pre-eminence to her Pastor.— Provincial Councils. — Church and State assimilated in Fourth Century. — Rise of Metropolitans. — The Pour Patriarchs.— Incorporation and Co-ordination.-^-Reference of Disputes to Rome. — Growing Superstition. — Edict of Valentinian II. gives the Roman Bishop Supremacy over the Western Clergy. — Code of Justinian. — Edict of Phocas, A.D. 606.— Dextrous Policy of Popes.— Fall of the Western Empire. — Claim of Popes to be Christ's Vicar. — The Admission of this Claim consolidates the Supremacy 13

VI. CONTENTS.

Chapter III. Rise And Progress Op The Temporal Sovereignty

Conversion of the Northern Nations. — Grants of Pepin and Charlemagne in the Eighth Century. — The Triple Crown. — Wealth, Arrogance, and Ignorance of Clergy. — Eise of Monkery. — Image Worship. — Iconoclast Disputes. — Italy throws off the authority of the Eastern Emperor. — The Pope becomes virtual Sovereign of Rome.— Christianity diq)laced by Paganism

,39

Chapter IV. Rise And Progress Of The Temporal Suprejsiactr'

Principles of the Supremacy. — Decline of the Carlovingian Dynasty. — Frank Emperors surrender their Right to nominate the Popes. — Decretals of Isidore.. — Dreadful Disorders of the Papal See. — Rise of the German Power. — Transference of the Empire. — Enormous Wealth of the Church.. — Hildebrand. — War of Investitures. — Triumph of the Mitre over the Empire. — Innocent III. — Grandeur and Dominion of the Popedom. — The Papal Noon and the World's Midnight. — The Albigenses and Waldenses. — The Crusades .- 58

Chapter V. Foundation And Extent Of The Supremacy

Mixed Constitution of the Papacy. — It arrogates Temporal Supremacy.— Syllogism of the Papacy.— The Supremacy not an Accident.— Supremacy a Logical Deduction from the Constituent Principles of the Papacy. — Excommunication of Monarchs. — Bellarmine's Theory, or Indirect Authority. — Gosselin's Theory, or Direction.— Direction but disguised Supremacy. — Proofs aud Illustrations.— Popish Concordats with Spain and Germany. — ^Spiritual Direction in Ireland. — Oscillations in the Theory of the Supremacy. — Cardinal's Oath. — Pontifical Railway Train 94

Chapter VI. The Canon Law

The Complete Code of the Church. — Origin and History of the Canon Law. — Spiritual Supremacy its Key-note. — The Canon Law on Constitutions of Princes ; on Oaths ; on Clerical Immunities ; on Heresy.— Oath of Bishops. — Incompatibility with British Law. — Development of Canon Law .•...128

CONTENTS. VII.

Chapter VII

CHURCH OF ROME NEITHER HAS NOR CAN RENOUNCE HER PRINCIPLES ON THE SUPREMACY.

Supremacy claimed and exercised in former Ages. — Has not been renounced. — Cannot, because Boman Church is Infallible. — Cannot, without violating her Fundamental Principles. — The Papacy unchanged in fact. — Growing worse. — Recent Illustrations. — Popes still claim to be Christ's Vicars. — Pius IX. — Scheme of popularizing the Papacy. — Re-union of Hierarchical and Dynastical Powers. — Papacy and Democracy. — Critical position of Europe 146

BOOK n,

DOGMAS OF THE PAPACY.

Chapter I. The Popish Theology

Professedly based on the Truths of Revelation. — Policy of this. — Doctrines all perverted. — Order and Plan stated. — Depth and Ingenuity of Popery. — Importance of the Study 164

Chapter II. Scripture And Tradition

Popish Rule of Faith. — Tradition. — Decree of Council of Trent. — Tradition equally authoritative with the Scriptures. — Church an Infallible Interpreter. — Apocrypha. — Arguments of Papists ; from Scripture ; from Transmission of Scriptures by the Church ; from alleged Insufficiency of Private Judgment 170

Chapter III. Op Reading The Scriptures

Bible translated at the Reformation. — Its Reading Interdicted ; wholly in some countries ; partially in others. — A mortal Sin to read the Scriptures without a Licence. — Bulls of Popes. — Bible and Irish Priests. — Bible in Italy. — Rome afraid of the Bible 180

VIII. CONTENTS.

Chapter IV. Unity Of The Church Of Rome

Protestant Idea of; Popish Idea of. — Marks of the true Church. — Unity ; Definition of by Bellarmine, Dens, and MUner. — Doctrinal Variations of Popery. — Character of Popish Unity. — Combination not Unity 191

Chapter V. Catholicity Op The Church Of Rome

Catholicity as defined by Roman Catechism, by Dens, &c. — Misappropriation of Scripture Promises. — Non-Catholicity of Roman Church in Doctrine ; non-Catholicity in Time ; non-Catholicity in Place. — Tj-ue Catholicity promised to the Church 199

CHAPTER VI. APOSTOLICITY, OR PETEr's PRIMACY

Apostolic Succession. — Argument of Bellarmine from Matthew,xvi.l8. — Averments of Dens and Milner. — Rome's Comer-Stone. — Matthew, xvl. 18, examined. — Peter's Primacy unknown to Christ ; unknown to Peter himself ; unknown to the Apostles. — No Trace of Primacy in Scripture nor in History j no Foundation in Reason. — Was Peter Bishop of Rome ?— Was Apostleship transmissible ? — Breaks in the Apostolic Chain. — Apostolicity of Rome fabulous 210

Chapter VII. Infallibility

Progression Law of Nature. — Immobility the Motto of the Church of Rome. — Claim of InfalliljUity. — Infallibility versns Revelation. — Popish Circle, — Infallibility terms Reason. — Papists divided as to the Seat of Infallibility. — Question, Are the Fathers Infallible 1 are Councils Infallible ? are Popes Infallible ? are Councils and Popes conjointly' Infallible S — When the Pope is and is not Infallible. — Seven Tests of the Infallibility ; Impossibility of observing them. — " Bullarium" the Papist's Bible. — Papal Infallibility resembles the Indian Cosmogony 241

X. CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XII.

BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION.

Rites of Administration ; essential to Salvation ; remove the Guilt of Original Sin ; communicate an ineffaceable Impression. — Confirmation.— Forms. — Popery simple Magic. — Exorcism S'^"

CHAPTER XIII.

THE EUCHARIST TRANSUBSTANTIATION THE MASS.

Unequalled by any Pagan Rite. — Origin of Term. — Established by Council of Lateran, 1215. — Transubstantiation. — Tridentine Definition.— Change of Elements into the Real Body and Blood, together with Soul and Divinity, of Christ. — Revolting Consequences. — Transubstantiation opposed to Scripture ; to Reason ; to the Senses. — Adoration of the Host. — "Worship of Latria. — Gross Idolatry.— Mass a Sacrifice. — Traverses all the leading Doctrines of Scripture. — The Cup withheld.— Private Masses 307

CHAPTER XIV.

OP PENANCE AND CONFESSION.

For Pardon of Sins committed after Baptism. — Alleged Scripture Grounds. — Necessary to Salvation. — Contrition and Attrition. — Confession. — All Sins confessed. — Atrocities of Confessional. — Impiety of Confessional 325

CHAPTER XV.

OF INDULGENCES.

Theory. — Treasury of the Church. — Superabundant Merits of Christ, of Martyrs, of Saints, and of the Virgin. — Indulgences remit the Temporal Punishment. — Power of Indulgences. — Examples.— Sale of Indulgences before the Reformation. — In Modern Times. Apostolic Tariff. — Licence to Sin. — Year of Jubilee. — Papal California... 333

CONTENTS. XI.

CHAPTER XVI.

OF PURGATORY,

Four Divisions of the Future World. — Locality of Purgatory. — For Venial Sins and Temporal Punishment. — Purgatory intended to make Indulgences and Masses saleable. — Alleged Proof. — Real Origin of Purgatory. — Purgatorial Societies. — Masses at Funerals. —Frauds 347

CHAPTER XVII.

OP THE WORSHIP OF IMAGES.

Practice of Roman Church stated. — Object worshipped through the Image. — Paganism equally justifiable with Romish Image- worship. — Decree of Trent. — Divine Word condemns the Practice as Idolatry 355

CHAPTER XVIII.

OP THE WORSHIPPING OF SAINTS.

Saints of Rome. — Dulia and Latvia. — Distinctions incomprehensible to the Vulgar. — Saints Mediators of Intercession. — Decree of Trent. — Prayers to Saints in Roman Missal. — God our Mediator to the Saints. — Absurdity of Saint- worship 361

CHAPTER XIX.

THE WORSHIP OP THE VIRGIN MARY,

Perverted Principle. — Wish for a Man-God. — Names given to Mary. — Worship given to Mary. — Scriptural Passages applied to Mary. — Saints worshipped with Dulia, Mary with Hyperdulia. — First Prophecy applied to Mary. — Redemption ascribed to Mary. — Encyclical Letter of Pius IX. of February 1849. — Mai'y the Saviour.— Mariolatry on the Increase in Church of Rome 368

XII. CONTKNTS.

CHAPTER XX.

FAITH NOT TO BE KEPT WITH HERETICS.

Enormity of the Doctrine. — Proof. — Promulgated by the Third Lateran Council. — Decreed by the Council of Constance.— Exemplified.—Confirmed by the Council of Trent.— Avowed by innumerable Popes and Popish Writers.- Practice of Rome.— Instances of "Violated Faith in War with Albigenses ; in the struggles in Poland ; in the Huguenot Wars in France. — Massacre of St Bartholomew. — Revocation of Edict of Nantes. — Present Revolutions in France traceable to that Policy. — Disclaimers of Modern Papists. — Jesuitry of these Disclaimers. — Modem Writers on Morality of Romanism 378

Chapter I. Genius Op The Papacy

Diificulty and Utility of the Enquiry. — Distinction between Popery and the Papacy. — Character, Extent, and Perfection of the Organization of the Papacy. — Real though Invisible Author of the Papacy. — Key to the Papacy. — In the First Temptation the Counterfeit Substituted for the EecU. — Analogy traced. — All Idolatries the Counterfeits of the Real. — Popery the Counterfeit of Christianity. — This shown in all its Parts.— Papacy viewed as of Man. — Aims at Governing the World, and all its Affairs.— Fortunate in the Choice of a Seat. — Pretends to an Apostolic as well as an Imperial Source. — Lowers God and exalts the Priest. — Converts all the Functions of Government into Organs of its own. — Enlists all the Passions and Faculties of Human Nature in its Sei-vice. — Accommodating Spirit. — Extraordinary Combination of Qualities 395

CONTENTS. XIII.

Chapter II. Influence Of Popery On The Individual Man

Influence of Religion on the Moral Natvire and Intellectual Powers. — Intellectual Rank of Nations determined by their Religious Condition.— Induction of Particulars. — Popery not Christianity,— Does not therefore possess the Influence of Christianity. — Popery antagonistic to Christianity; therefore exerts an antagonistic Influence.— Influence of its several Doctrines traced. — Of the Infallibility.— Of Unreserved Submission to Superiors. — Of Opui Operatum. — Destroys Mental Activity and Independence. — Destroys Self-reliance.— Dissociates Religion from Morals.— Characters which Popery produces 417

CHAPTER m.

INFLUENCE OF POPERY ON GOVERNMENT.

Law the Expression of Opinion. — Opinion moulded by Christianity. — As is the Christianity of a Country, so will be its Law and Government.— Popery has corrupted the Theory of Government.; — Popery confounded and incorporated the two Jurisdictions, Civil and Spiritual.— This Corruption grew directly out of its essential Principle that the Pope is Christ's Vicar, and by consequence Supreme over Temporal as over Spiritual Affairs. — The Papacy centralized all Power in one Man. — Being Infallible, the Pope can have no Partner in his Power. — Papacy, from its essential Principles, repugnant to the Constitutional Element.' — Papacy multiplied itself in all the Kingdoms of Europe. — Corrupted the Practice of Government. — Retained its Subjects in Ignorance. — Hostile to Science. — An Antieducationist.— Employed Espionage. — Punished for Opinion. — Prostrated the Civil Power by employing it to extirpate Heresy.— Persecution of the Albigenses. — Persecutions of France and Spain. — Incurable Wounds inflicted thweby on the Cause of Industry and Order. — Past Crusades and Modern Revolutions. — Inquisition. — Origin. — Countries where set up ; Venice ; Spain. — Castle of Chillon. — The Seven Tortures. — Papacy delayed for Ages the Advent of Constitutional Government • 427

XIV. CONTENTS.

Chapter IV. Influence Op Popery On The Moral And Religious Condition Op Nations

Proof from Experience. — Difference between Protestant States and Popish States in point of Morality. — Probabilism and Intention. — Popish Nations inferior in Truthfulness. — Prevalence of Perjury. — Of Assassination.— Of Concubinage.— Popish Nations inferior in respect for Woman. — The Confessional and the Domestic Affections.— Prevalence of Gambling. — No Sabbath in Popish Lands. — The Sabbath in Cologne ; in Lyons ; in France. — General View 456

Chapter V

INFLUENCE OP POPERY ON THE INTELLECTUAL AND POLITICAL CONDITION OF NATIONS.

Popish Nations inferior in respect of general Prosperity. — Popery has stereotyped the Condition of every Nation where it exists. — General View of the Protestant and Popish Worlds. — Individual Countries. — Holland contrasted with Ireland ; contrasted with Belgium.— Palatinates on the Rhine. — Protestant and Popish Cantons of Switzerland. — Decadence of France ; of Spain ; of Italy ; of Venice. — States of the Church. — Ireland. — Contrast between Italy and Scotland. — Testimony of Experience on Popery. — Britain during the past Hundred Years 474

Book IV

PKESENT POLICY AND PROSPECTS OF THE PAPACY. CHAPTER I.

SHAM REFORM AND REAL HE-ACTION,

State of Papal Affairs at Accession of Pius IX.— The Sword of the Revolution. — Constitutional Movement in Italy. — Reform of Pius intended to check that Movement. — Scheme of restoring the As-

CONTENTS. XV.

cendaticy of the Papacy. — Papacy drops the Mask of Eeform ; betakes itself to Re-action and the Sword. — Jesuits recalled. — The Virtual Governors of Europe at present. — Their present Policy one in all Countries. — Attack the Press. — Attempts on Education. — New School-Books. — Dismissal of Schoolmasters. — Miracles. — Arguments adapted to all Classes. — Alliance of Governments with the Priesthood 495

CHAPTER II.

NEW CATHOLIC LEAGUE AND THREATENED CRUSADE AGAINST PROTESTANTISM.

The Modern Sphinx. — Simultaneous Crusade against Liberty. — The Catechism and the Bayonet. — The Jesuit and the Gendarme. — The Prisons of Rome. — The Twenty Thousand Captives of Naples. — Tuscan Concordat. — Jesuit Tactics in France ; in Austria ; in Prussia. — Aggression on Britain. — L'Uniwri preaches a Crusade against Protestantism.— Ghost of the Middle Ages 510

CHAPTER III.

GENERAL PROPAGANDISM.

The Propaganda follows in the Wake of the British Power. — Missions to Semi-barbarous Regions. — Britain mainly struck at. — Jesuit Operations in Ireland ; in England , in Scotland ; in Edinburgh. — Romanist Clubs. — Malta and Australia. — Rome in the Pacific 522

CHAPTER IV.

PROSPECTS OF THE PAPACY.

Atheism and Communism. — Popery the Mother of Revolutions. — Evangelistic Agencies in Germany ; in Fi-ance. — State of Spain. — Bohemian Church. — Waldensian Church. — Native Protestantism in Italy. — The "Red Spectre;" its probable Mission. — Duty of British Christians. — Blow at Rome. — Proposal to give to Italy Five Millions of Bibles. — Creation groaneth for the Fall of the Papacy. ...536

Chapter I. Origin Of The Papacy

The Papacy, next to Christianity, is the great Fact of the modern world. Of the two, the former, unhappily, has proved in some respects the more powerful spring in human affairs, and has acted the more public part on the stage of the world. Fully to trace the rise and development of this stupendous system, were to write a history of Western Europe. The decay of -empires, — ^the extinction of religious systems. — ^the dissolution and renewal of society, — the rise of new States, — the change of manners, customs, and laws, — the policy of courts, — the wars of kings, — the decay and revival of letters, of philosophy, and of arts, — all connect themselves with the /history of the Papacy, to whose growth they ministered, and whose destiny they helped to unfold. On so wide a field of investigation neither our time nor our limits permit us to enter. Let it suffice that we indicate, in general terms, the jnain causes j;hat contributed to the rise of this tremendous Power, and the successive stages that marked the course of its portentous development.

The first rise of the Papacy is undoubtedly to be sought for in the corruption of human natiice.. Christianity, though pure in itself, was committed to the keeping of imperfect beings. The age, too, was imperfect, and abounded with causes tending to corrupt whatever was simple, and materialize whatever was spiritual. Society was pervaded on all sides with sensuous and material influences. These absolutely unfitted the age for relishing, and especially for retaining, truth in its abstract form, and for perceiving the beauty and grandeur of a purely spiritual economy. The symbolic worship of the Jew, heaven-appointed, had taught him to associate religious truth with visible rites, and to attribute considerably more importance to the observance of the outward ceremony than to the cultivation of the inward habit, or the performance of the mental act. Greece, too, with all its generous sensibilities, its strong emotions, and its quick perception and keen relish of the beautiful, was a singularly gross and materialized land. Its voluptuous poetry and sensuous mythology had unfitted the intellect of its people for appreciating the true grandeur of a simple and spiritual system. Italy, again, was the land of gods and of arms. The former was a type of human passions ; and the latter, though lightened by -occasional gleams of heroic virtue and patriotism, exerted, on the whole, a degrading and brutalizing effect upon the character and genius of the people, withdrawing them from efforts of pure mind, and from the contemplation of the abstract and the spiritual. It was in this complex corruption, — the degeneracy of the individual and the degeneracy of society, owing to the unspiritualizing influences then powerfully at work in the Jewish, the Grrecian, and the Roman worlds, — that the main danger of Christianity consisted ; and in this element it encountered an antagonist a thousand times more formidable than the sword of Rome. Amid these impure matters did the Papacy germinate, though not till a subsequent age did it appear above ground. The corruption took a different form, according to the prevailing systems and the predomi-

MATEKIALIZING INFLUENCES. 3

nating tastes of the various countries. The Jew brought with him into the Church the ideas of the synagogue, and attempted to graft the institutions of Moses upon the doctrines of Christ ; the Greek, unable all at once to unlearn the lessons and cast off the yoke of the Academy, attempted to form an alliance between the simplicity of the gospel and his own subtile and highly imaginative philosophy; while the Roman, loath to think that the heaven of his gods should be swept away as the creation of an unbridled fancy, recoiled from the change, as we would from the dissolution of the material heavens ; and, though he embraced Christianity, he still clung to the forms and shadows of a polytheism in the truth and reality of which he could no longer believe. Thus the Jew, the Greek, the Roman, were alike in that they corrupted the simplicity of the gospel ; but they differed in that each corrupted it after his own fashion. Minds there were of a more vigorous cast originally, or more largely endowed with the Spirit's grace, who were able to take a more tenacious grasp of truth, and to appreciate more highly her spirituality and simplicity ; but as regards the majority of converts, especially towards the end of the first century and the beginning of the second, it is undeniable that they felt, in all their magnitude, the difficulties now enumerated.

The new ideas had a painful conflict to maintain with the old. The world had taken a mighty step in advance. It had accomplished a transition from the symbolic to the spiritual,— from the fables, allegories, and myths, which a false philosophy and a sensuous poetry had invented to amuse its infancy, to the clear, definite, and spiritual ideas which Christianity had provided for the exercise of its manhood. But it seemed as if the transition was too great. There was a felt inability in the human mind, as yet, to look with open face upon Truth ; and men were fain to interpose the veil of symbol between themselves and the glory of that Majestic Form. It was seen that the world could not pass by a single step from infancy to manhood, — that the Creator had imposed certain laws upon the growth of the species, as

4 ORIGIN OP THE PAPACY.

on that of the individual, — upon the development of the social, as on that of the personal mind ; and that these laws could not be violated. It was seen, in short, that so vast a reformation could not be made ; it must grow. So much had been foreshadowed, we apprehend, by those parables of the Saviour which were intended as illustrative of the nature of the gospel kingdom and the manner of its progress : " The kingdom of heaven cometh not with observation ;" " It is like a grain of mustard-seed, the least of all seeds ; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree ;" " It is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." Not in a single day was the master idea of Christianity to displace the old systems, and inaugurate itself in their room. It was to progress in obedience to the law which regulates the growth of all great changes. First, the seed had to be deposited in the bosom of society ; next, a process of germination had to ensue ; the early and the latter rains of the Pagan and the Papal persecutions had to water it ; and it was not till after ages of silent growth, during which society was to be penetrated and leavened by the quickening spirit of the gospel, that Christianity would begin her universal and triumphant reign.

But as yet the time was not come for a pure spiritual Christianity to attain dominion upon the earth. The infantile state of society forbade it. As, in the early ages, men had not been able to retain, even when communicated to them, the knowledge of one self-existent, independent, and eternal Being, so now they were unable to retain, even when made known to them, the pure spiritual worship of that Being. From this it might have been inferred, though prophecy had been silent on the point, that the world had yet a cycle of progress to pass through ere it should reach its manhood; that an era was before it, during which it woidd be misled by grievous errors, and endure, in consequence, grievous sufferings, before it could attain the faculty

TRANSITION FROM THE SYMBOLIC TO THE SPIRITUAL. 6

of broad, independent, clear, spiritual conception, and become able to think without the help of allegory, and to worship without the aid of symbol. This reconciles us to the fact of the great apostacy, so stumbling at first view. Contemplated in this light, it is seen to be a necessary step in the world's progress towards its high destinies, and a necessary preparation for the full unfolding of God's plans towards the human family. /

The recovery of the world from the depth into which the Fall has plunged it, is both a slow and a laborious process. The instrumentality which God has ordained for its elevation is knowledge. Great truths are discovered, one after one ; they are opinion first, — they become the basis of action next ; and thus society is lifted up, by slow degrees, to the platform where the Creator has ordained it shall ultimately stand. A great principle, once discovered, can never be lost; and thus the progress of the world is steadily onward. Truth may not be immediately operative. To recur to the Saviour's figure, it may be the seed sown in the earth. It may be confined to a single bosom, or to a single book, or to a single school ; but it is part of the constitution of things; it is agreeable to the nature of God, and in harmony with his government; and so it cannot perish. Proofs begin to gather around it ; events fall out which throw light upon it : the martyr dies for it ; society suffers by neglecting to shape its course in conformity with it ; other minds begin to embrace it ; and after reaching a certain stage, its adherents increase in geometrical progression : at last the whole of society is leavened ; and thus the world is lifted a stage higher, never again to be let down. The stage, wo say, once fully secured, is never altogether lost ; for the truth, in fighting its way, has left behind it so many monuments of its power, in the shape of the errors and sufferings, as well as of the emancipation, of mankind, that it becomes a great landmark in the progress of our race. It attains in the social mind all the clearness and certainty of an axiom. The history of the world, when read aright, is not so much b ORIGIN OF THE PAPACY.

a record of the follies and wickedness of mankind, as it is a series of moral demonstrations, — a slow process of experimental and convincing proof, — in reference to great principles, and that on a scale so large, that the whole world may see it, and understand it, and come to act upon it. Society can be saved not otherwise than as the individual is saved : it must be convinced of sin; its mind must be enlightened ; its will renewed ; it must be brought to embrace and act upon truth ; and when in this way it has been sanctified, society shall enter upon its rest.

This we take to be the true theory of the world's progress. There is first an objective revelation of truth; there is second a subjective revelation of it. The objective revelation is the work of God alone ; the subjective revelation, that is, the reception of it by society, is the work of God and man combined. The first may be done in a day or an hour ; the second is the slow operation of an age. Thus human progression takes the form of a series of grand epochs, in which the world is suddenly thrown forward in its course, and then again suddenly stands still, or appears to retrograde. The first is known, in ordinary speech, as reformation or revolution ; the second is termed re-action. There is, however, in point of fact, no retrogression : what we mistake for retrogression is only society settling down, after the sun-light burst of newly-revealed truth is over, to study, to believe, and to apply the principles which have just come into its possession. This is a work of time, often of many ages; and not unfrequently does it go on amid the confusion and conflict occasioned by the opposition offered to the new ideas by the old errors. Among the epochs of the past, — the grand objective revelations, — we may instance, as the more influential ones, the primeval Revelation, the Mosaic Economy, the Christian Era, and the Reformation. Each of these advanced the world a stage, from which it never altogether fell back into its former condition : society always made good its advance. Nevertheless, each of these epochs was followed by a re-action, which was just society struggling

THEORY OF HUJrAN PROGRESS. 7

to lay hold upon the principles made known to it, thoroughly to incorporate them with its own structure, and so to make ready for a new and higher step. The world progresses much as the tide rises on the beach. Society in progress presents as sublime and fearful a spectacle as the ocean in a storm. As the mountain billow, crested with foam, swells huge and dark against the horizon, and comes rolling along in thunder, it threatens not only to flood the beach, but to submerge the land ; but its mighty force is arrested and dissolved on its sandy barrier : the waters retire within the ocean's bed, as if they had received a counter-stroke from the earth. One would think that the ocean had spent its power in that one effort ; but it is not so. The resistless energies of the great deep recruit themselves in an instant : another mountain wave is seen advancing ; another cataract of foaming waters is poured along the beach; and now the level of the tide stands higher than before. Thus, by a series of alternate flows and ebbs does the ocean fill its shores. This natural phenomenon is but the emblem of the manner in which society advances. After some great epoch, the new ideas seem to lose ground, — the waters are diminished ; but gradually the limit between the new ideas and the old prejudices comes to be adjusted, and then it is found that the advantage is on the side of truth, and that the general level of society stands perceptibly higher. Meanwhile, preparation is being made for a new conquest. The regenerative instrumentalities with which the Creator has endowed the world, by the truths which He has communicated, are silently at work at the bottom of society. Another mighty wave appears upon its agitated surface; and, rolling onwards in irresistible power against the dry land of superstition, it adds a new domain to the empire of Truth.

But while it is true that the world has been steadily progressive, and that each successive epoch has placed society on a higher platform than that which went before it, it is at the same time a fact, that the development of superstition has kept equal pace with the development of truth. From the very beginning the two have been the counterparts of each other, and so will it be, doubtless, while they exist together upon the earth. In the early ages idolatry was unsophisticated in its creed and simple in its forms, just as the truths then known w'sre few and simple. Under the Jewish economy, when truth became embodied in a system of doctrines with an appointed ritual, then, too, idolatry provided its system of metaphysical subtleties to ensnare the mind, and its splendid ceremonial to dazzle the senses. Under the Christian dispensation, when truth has attained its amplest development, in form at least, if not as yet in degree, idolatry is also more fully developed than in any preceding era. Papal idolatry is a more subtle, complicated, malignant, and perfected system than Pagan idolatry was. This equal development is inevitable in the nature of the case. The discovery of any one truth necessitates the invention of the opposite error. In proportion as truth multiplies its points of assault, error must necessarily multiply its points of defence. The extension of the one line infers the extension of the other also. Nevertheless there is an essential difference betwixt the two developments. Every new truth is the addition of another impregnable position to the one side ; whereas every new error is but the addition of another untenable point to the other, which only weakens the defence. Truth is immortal, because agreeable to the laws by which the universe is governed ; and therefore, the more it is extended, the more numerous are the points on which it can lean for support upon Grod's government ; the more that error is extended, the more numerous the points in which it comes into collision and conflict with that government. Thus the one develops into strength, the other into weakness. And thus, too, the full development of tho one is the harbinger of its triumph, — the full development of the other is the precursor of its downfall.