Decay of the Church of Rome #262774

But the spectacle of the Coliseum looking down on the shrunken churches at its feet is hardly a congruous figure of the situation. Rome has now far less than followers: the Protestant Churches have some Indeed the theory that the Protestant Churches are no more than embodiments of temporary revolts against passing abuses that were detected in an enduring system is a very superficial one. It accords neither with the broad features of religious evolution nor with the facts of religious psychology. Buddhism, Confucianism, Mohammedan ism — nay, Christianity itself — had the initial character of a protest or revolt, yet the life-giving motives and the structures endure. In nearly all the great schisms of religious history the virility has passed into the dissenting body.