Southern Christian Advocate

ROMANISM AND THE REFORMATION.

From the time when the barbarians overran the Western Empire to the time of the revival of letters, the influence of the church of Rome had been generally favorable to science, to civilization, and to good government; but, during the last three centuries, to stunt the growth of the human mind has been her chief object. Throughout Christendom, whatever advance has been made in knowledge, in freedom, in wealth, and in the arts of life have been made in spite of her, and has everywhere been in inverse proportion to her power. The loveliest and most fertile provinces of Europe have, under her rule, been sunk in poverty, in political servitude, and in intellectual torpor, while Protestant countries, once proverbial for sterility and barbarism, have been turned by skill and industry into gardens, and can boast of a long list of heroes and statesmen, philosophers and poets. Whoever, knowing what England and Scotland naturally are, and what four hundred years ago, they actually were, shall now compare the country round Rome with the country round Edinburgh, will be able to form some judgment as to the tendency of Papal domination. The descent of Spain, once the first among monarchies, to the lowest depth of degradation, the elevation of Holland, in spite of many natural disadvantages, to a position such as no commonwealth so small has ever reached, teach the same lesson. Whoever passes in Germany from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant principality,—in Switzerland, from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant canton,—in Ireland, from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant county,—finds that he has passed from a lower to a higher grade of civilization. On the other side of the Atlantic the same law prevails. The Protestants of the United States have left far behind them the Roman Catholics of Mexico, Peru, and Brazil. The Roman Catholics of Lower Canada remain inert, while the whole continent around them is in a ferment with Protestant activity and enterprise. The French have doubtless shown an energy and intelligence which even when misdirected, have justly entitled them to be called a great people. But this apparent exception will, when examined, be found to confirm the rule; for in no country that is called Roman Catholic has the Roman Catholic Church, during several generations possessed so little authority.

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