The-papacy-its-history-dogmas-genius-and-prospects-wylie

126 FOUNDATION AND EXTENT OF THE SUPREMACY.engine, with all the Catholic states of Europe dragging athis heels, and careering along at a great rate.Here is theBourbon family-coach, which upset so recently, pitching itsoccupant in the mud, looking as new as it is possible for anold battered vehicle to do by the help of fresh tri-colour paintand varnish ; here is the old imperial car which Austriapicked up for a trifle when the Ctesars had no longer anyneed for it,—here it is, blazoned with the bloody beak andiron talons of the double-headed eagle ; here is the Spanishstate-coach, hurtling along in the tawdry and tattered fineryof its better days, its wheels worn to their spokes, and its motionmade up of but a succession of jerks and bounds ; hereis the Neapolitan vehicle and the Tuscan vehicle, and othersequally lumbering and crazy; and here, in front, is the famousengine St Peter, snorting and puffing away ; and here isPeter himself as engineer, with superstition for a propellingpower, and excommunication for a steam-whistle, and traditionfor spectacles, to enable him to keep on the rails ofapostolic succession, and prevent his being bogged in heresy.It would be very wrong to say that he drags along this greattrain. No ; he only turns the handle, to let on or shut offthe steam ; shovels in coals, manages the valves, blows hiswhistle at times with eldrich screech, and catches at histhree -storied cap, which the wind blows off now and then.It is not jurisdiction^ but direction^ with which he favours themembers of his tail : nevertheless, it moves where, when, andas fast as he pleases.But something in a somewhat more classic vein woulddoubtless be deemed more befitting the pure and loftyfunction of the pontiff. The Romanists have exalted theirFather, as the Pagans did their Jove, into an empyrean,far above sublunary affairs. In that eternal calm he issueshis infallible decisions, thinking, the while, no more ofthis little ball of earth, or of the angry passions that contendupon it, than if it had yet to be created. Or ifat times the thought does cross the pontifical mind thatthere are such things in the world beneath him as cannon