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

410 GENIUS OF THE PAPACY.tion as to direct its efficacy to any person he pleases, whetherin this \Yorld or in the next. At his word the doors ofpurgatory are closed, and those of paradise fly open. Hecan raise to immortal bliss, or sink into eternal woe.Theseare tremendous powers ; and the man who wields them, inthe eyes of an ignorant people is not a mortal, but a god." It is a most execrable thing,"" said Pope Paschal II., "thatthose hands which have received a power above that of angels,—whichcan by an act of their ministry create God himself,and offer him for the salvation of the world,—should everbe put into subjection of the hands of kings."" The truthswhich the gospel makes known are intended to elevate thepeople ;the dogmas of Romanism are intended to exalt onlyThethe priesthood, and to put the people under their feet.miraculous power with which the Romish clergy are investedplaces them above kings ;—they are raised to a level withthe Deity himself.Whatever order or government exists in society, Poperyhas had the art to seize and make subservient to her ownaggrandizement. She infused herself into the governmentsof Europe. She possessed them, as it were, and made themreally parts of herself. The various thrones of the west v/erebut satrapies of the fisherman"'s chair. The princes that occupiedthem were always, in point of fact, and not unfrequentlyin point of conventional arrangement, the lieutenantsand deputies of the Pope. They were taught that itwas their glory to be so ; that their crowns acquired newlustre by being laid at the feet of the successor of theapostles; and that their arms were ennobled and sanctified bybeing wielded in his service. The pontiff taught them thattheir life was bound up with his life ; that without him theycould not exist; and that in no way could they so effectuallystrengthen their own authority as by maintaining his. Thusdid Popery poison at their source the springs of law andgovernment, and bind the kings and kingdoms of Europein one vast confederation against the interests of liberty andreligion, and in support of that divinity who sat upon the