purification from sin.[406:4] A story
is told of a man who was struck dead by a thunderbolt because he omitted
this ceremony when entering a temple of Jupiter. Sometimes they crawled
up the steps on their knees, and bowing their heads to the ground,
kissed the threshold. Always when they passed one of these sacred
edifices they kissed their right hand to it, in token of veneration.

In all the temples of Vishnu, Crishna, Rama, Durga, and Kali, in India,
there are to be seen idols before which lights and incense are burned.
Moreover, the idols of these gods are constantly decorated with flowers
and costly ornaments, especially on festive occasions.[406:5] The
ancient Egyptian worship had a great splendor of ritual. There was a
morning service, a kind of mass, celebrated by a priest, shorn and
beardless; there were sprinklings of holy water, &c., &c.[406:6] All of
this kind of worship was finally adopted by the Christians.

The sublime and simple theology of the primitive Christians was
gradually corrupted and degraded by the introduction of a popular
mythology, which tended to restore the reign of polytheism.

As the objects of religion were gradually reduced to the standard of the
imagination, the rites and ceremonies were introduced that seemed most
powerfully to affect the senses of the vulgar. If, in the beginning of
the fifth century, Tertullian, or Lactantius, had been suddenly raised
from the dead, to assist at the festival of some popular saint or
martyr, they would have gazed with astonishment and indignation on the
profane spectacle, which had succeeded to the pure and spiritual worship
of a Christian congregation.[407:1]

Dr. Draper, in speaking of the early Christian Church, says:

"Great is the difference between Christianity under Severus
(born 146) and Christianity under Constantine (born 274). Many
of the doctrines which at the latter period were pre-eminent,
in the former were unknown. Two causes led to the amalgamation
of Christianity with Paganism. 1. The political necessities of
the new dynasty: 2. The policy adopted by the new religion to
insure its spread.

"Though the Christian party had proved itself sufficiently
strong to give a master to the empire, it was never
sufficiently strong to destroy its antagonist, Paganism. The
issue of the struggle between them _was an amalgamation of the
principles of both_. In this, Christianity dif