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

!12 ORIGIN OF THE PAPACY.anew under the monastic system ;for in the conventual lifeof Rome we find the contemplative moods and the ascetichabits which so largely prevailed in Egypt and over allthe East ;and here, too, we find the fundamental principleof that philosophy, namely, that the flesh is the seat ofevil, and, consequently, that it becomes a duty to weakenand mortify the body. In Popery we find the predominatingtraits of the Grecian philosophy, more especially inthe subtile casuistry of the Popish schools, combined witha sensuous ritual, the celebration of v/liich is often accompanied,as in Greece of old, with gross licentiousness. Andlast of all, there is palpably present in Popery the polytheismof ancient Rome, in the gods and goddesses which,under the title of saints, fill up the calendar and crowd thetemples of the Romish Church. Here, then, all the oldidolatries live over again. There is nothing new aboutthem but the organization, which is more perfect and completethan ever. To add one other illustration to those alreadygiven, the Papacy is a gigantic realization of ourLord's parable.The Roman empire, on the introduction ofCliristianity, was swept and garnished ; the unclean spii'itwhich inhabited it had been driven out of it ; but the demonhad never wandered far from the region of the SevenHills ; and finding no rest, he returned, bringing with himseven other spirits more wicked than himself, which tookpossession of their old abode, and made its last state worsethan its first. The name of Popery, truly, is Legion" There are many Antichrists,'" said the apostle John ; forin his days the various systems of error had not been combinedinto one. But the Roman apostacy acquired ultimatelythe dominion, and, marshalling the other heresies beneathits banner, gave its own name to the motley host, and becameknown as the Antichrist of prophecy and of history.Popery, then, we hold to be an after-growth of Paganism,whose deadly wound, dealt by the spiritual sword of Christianity,was healed.Its oracles had been silenced, its shrinesdeniolished, and its gods consigned to oblivion ; but the deep