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

SUAM REFORM AND REAL RE-ACTION. 495BOOK lY.PEESENT POLICY AND PROSPECTS OF THEPAPACY.CHAPTER I.SHAM REFORM AND REAL RE-ACTION.Pius IX., on ascending the pontifical throne in 1846, founda crisis in papal affairs.Ages of misgovernment and superstitionhad borne their proper fruit,—universal decay andexhaustion. Nations were exhausted ; the long thraldomthey had endured had inflicted a fatal blight on their moraland industrial powers. Governments were exhausted ; theirnumerous crusades and wars had sunk them into bankrupty.Churches were exhausted ;superstition had worn out beliefaltogether, and plunged the masses into infidelity and atheism.Wickedness is short-lived, and in the end destroysitself.Thus, after twelve centuries of dominion and glory, itwas seen that the Papacy was now verging to its fall, andthat it was the author of its own overthrow. The Reformationhad done much to weaken Popery :the progress ofscientific discovery, and the working of a free press,—indirectconsequences of the Reformation,—had contributed alsoto undermine this system. But, though it startles at first,Popery had done more than all these to work out its ownruin.Its superstition had passed into atheism, its tyranny