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

POPISH WORSHIP GENERATES GLOOM. 469line of three deep round the choir,—the holiest place in thebuilding.Cut there was not a countenance on which theprevailing expression was not that of gloom and despondency.In fact, the genius of the Romish worship is towardsgloom. All the objects to which the mind of theworshipper is turned are of a gloomy kind. Of this descriptionare the images presented to their senses, whichare almost all associated with death : Christ on the cross,pourtrayed often in the agonies of dying ; figures of saintsundergoing martyrdom, or half-exanimate from the effectsof the prolonged fast, the iron collar, the hair shirt, or thelash. Over the gates of their cathedrals are not unfrequentlysculpture-pieces representing the torments of thedamned. The same scenes occur, with disagreeable thoughintentional frequency, inside their churches. There is astriking forceof conception in these representations, whichcontrasts with the evident lack of power in their occasionalattempts to depict the happiness of heaven. Thus theChurch of Rome has made her appeal tothe fears of herpeople. She attempts to awe and terrify, and thus keepthem under her dominion. We have been at some pains toascertain the actual effects produced on the mind by theRomish worship, as represented in the countenance. We donot recollect of having seen in one instance that kindlingof delight, that expansive and radiant expression, whichbespeaks intelligence and hope, which genuine devotion produces.We have seen earnestness,—earnestness amountingevidently to intense anxiety ; but still the cloud wasthere. The prospect of purgatory, and of enduring theretorments for an unknown period, which becomes nearer aslife advances, must tell upon the general feeling. We donot think we ever saw an air of more dreary hopelessnessupon human faces than on those of the old men and womenof Belgium. In southern Europe this is not so perceptible.There, this feeling, or at least the expression of it, is counteractedin a good degree by the influence of climate andthe livelier sensibilities of the people.