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

—;154 PRINCIPLES OF SUPREMACY UNCHANGEABLE.It has no middle path. Aut Cwsar auf nullus. The Popeis Chrisfs vicar, and so lord of the earth and of all its empires,or his pretensions are unfounded, his religion a cheat,and himself an impostor.It isnecessary here to advert to the popular argument,a miserable fallacy, no doubt, but one that possesses an influencethat better reasons are sometimes found to want.The world is now so greatly changed that it is impossiblenot to believe that Popery also is changed. It is incrediblethat it should now think of enforcing its antiquated claims.We find this argument in the mouths of two classes of persons.It is urged by those who see that the only chancewhich the Papacy has of succeeding in itspresent criminaldesigns is to persuade the world that it is changed, andwho accordingly report as true what they know to be false.And, second, it is employed by those who are ignorant ofthe character of Popery, and who conclude, that because allelse is changed, this too has undergone a change. Butthe question is not, Is the world altered ?—this all admitbut. Is the Papacy altered ? A change in the one gives notthe slightest ground to infer a change in the other. ThePapacy itself makes no claim of the sort ; it repudiates theimputation of change ;glories in being the same in allages ; and with this agrees its nature, which shuts out thevery ideaof change, or rather makes change synonymouswith destruction. It is nothing to prove that society ischanged, though it is worth remembering that the essentialelements of human nature are the same in all ages, and thatthe changes of which so much account is made lie mainly onthe surface. The question is, Is the Papacy changed ? Itcannot be shown on any good ground that it is. And whilethe system continues the same, its influence, itsmode of action,and its aims, will be identical, let the circumstancesaround it be what they may. It will mould the world toitself, but cannot be moulded by it. Is not this a universallaw, determining the development alike of things, of systems,and of men ? Take a seed from the tomb of an Egyptian