nothing which the State had to bestow. Already it had established its irresponsible domination over the minds of mankind-it ruled their hopes-it ruled their fears-it grasped their persons, their wealth, their souls; it claimed earth, it disposed of heaven: none could speak or breathe, on this mortal scene, without its leave; none go out of it safely, without its passport. The magistrate yet held the sword-the public force was under his control, and for this sole reason, the Church did him homage.

The era of the counterpoise of the secular and spiritual powers was not the period of a churchand-state alliance, in the modern, or in any proper sense of the phrase; but of an ambiguous and changing contest between two independent forces, never really adjusted, never in harmony; a contest marked by the slow but sure advances of the insidious party, and terminated by a prouder and more unlimited triumph than itself had imagined. The moment of the consummation of this victory we shall not attempt to fix.

SECTION VII.

THE CHURCH ASCENDANT.

It might tend, not a little, to dispel some delusive impressions, common to the protestant world, if a phrase could be found which, while characteristic of the superstitious and despotic system that, from the second and third centuries supervened, and displaced Christianity, should clearly separate it from its accidental connexion with the papacy, and the Romish hierarchical tyranny. The popes occupied, and turned to their particular advantage, this vast and refined system of error and oppression; but the system itself has deeper roots, is more recondite, more intellectual, and is more ancient than the usurpation of the bishops of Rome. Nor is this all; for the spiritual essence of popery has outlived the overthrow of the papal domination, or the proper power of Rome; and (which is a significant truth) it may survive the total dispersion and final dissolution of that hierarchy of which the pope is head and organ. There is, then, some substantial and practical

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importance in an inquiry concerning those theoretic axioms to which the Papacy gave visible and audible expression. What were the grasping principles that imparted strength and vitality to popery, and which, without supposing any thing chimerical, may start forth afresh, and rule the world again, when popery shall be found no where but on the page of history?

Instead then of occupying our present narrow space, as might easily be done, with graphic descriptions of that state of society, and of that order of character, which the despotism of Rome, while at its height, engendered; and instead of adducing striking instances of the cruelties and the abominations that attended its prevalence; and instead of attempting an historical synopsis of the steps of its advance and decline; and instead of giving the reins to our emotions of indignation and abhorrence in the view of its tyranny, perfidy, and corruption, we shall endeavour calmly, and as concisely as possible, to set forth, in its several leading articles, the theory of spiritual despotism, such as it may be gathered from the church writers of the times when it had reached its full proportions.

Some passing hints excepted, the author does not here assume the task of refuting the principles he has to exhibit. In truth, the most convincing refutation of them we have always at hand, in the horrors and the religious debauchery to which they gave support.

Let it be kept in mind, that, when speaking of church despotism, as in the plenitude of its power, we are thinking of the three or four centuries that date their commencement from the pontificate of Hildebrand; yet always remembering that those dog-days of spiritual arrogance were distinguished from the preceding era, more by the firm and digested condition of its maxims, and by the bold avowal of them, than by any real difference of principle. If the reader has been accustomed to think that the popery of St. Dunstan, St. Becket, and St. Dominic, was the popery of those times, distinctively, he will do well to take in hand the bulky folio that contains the Decretals of Gregory IX., where he will find the adult popery of that pontiff's era set out in all its rules and practices, even to the most minute points, and these, often sustained by, or expressed in, the very words of the great writers of the fourth and earlier centuries. If any are not convinced of it, let them give the necessary diligence to learn the certainty of this truth--that the spiritual despotism which spoke in the popes, is now sixteen hundred years old, and rather more. And, moreover, let it be understood, and maturely considered, that the Lutheran reformation was an assault, much rather upon the PAPACY, and upon its special errors and superstitions, than upon the theory and principles of the spiritual

despotism, of which the papacy was the accidental form.

A second reformation, and it must be an extensive one, remains to be attempted and achieved by our sons, such as shall bring the Church home to its resting-place upon the foundation of the " Apostles and Prophets."

The THEORY of the spiritual despotism embodied in the Romish superstition, and fully realized during the middle ages, may conveniently be exhibited under five articles, each of which makes itself felt in every practice and principle of the Church; and each is a pillar, the removing of which would have brought the whole edifice to the ground. These articles we thus enumerate.

I. That inasmuch as religion is of supreme importance and of infinite moment, whatever directly or indirectly promotes or obstructs the spiritual well-being of mankind, carries a consequence immensely outweighing even the most important secular interests. The very least of those duties, or claims, or functions, that are connected with God and eternity, is therefore to be held greater than the greatest of the things of earth; nay, than all these temporal and terrestrial affairs put together.

II. The spiritual well-being of mankind, or, in a word, the relations of man to God and eternity, are placed under the control of a