te from the world and proscribed by it; next it adapted itself to
the learning, the customs and the polity of the world. Finally it
asserted its mastery and assumed sovereign power over all. The Church in
its completed form was the outcome of a long development; if the seed
was Jewish the environment was Gentile. Into the full tree were gathered
the effects, not only of the initial energy, but of the forces of earth,
air, water and sun. The Roman Church expressed the beliefs and answered
the needs of the people, and this explains in part both its forms and
its power, its long continuance and wide supremacy.

The Eastern Church.

The Church was never completely successful in unifying its organization.
In part it shared the destiny of the Roman empire, and with it fell into
two parts, East separating from West. Indeed the East never really
acknowledged the Roman primacy nor shared in its development, and it
still remains apart. With characteristic oriental conservatism it claims
the title of "Orthodox," and retains the creed and organization of the
early Church. In general its conception of the relation of the world to
the super-world is identical with that of the Roman Church, though
somewhat less defined, as its organization is less complete. It has
remained in the second stage mentioned above; established, as in Russia,
by the empire, it is dependent upon it and in alliance with it. In the
Mahommedan dominions it has been recognized as a state within the state,
and in these communities faith and patriotism are one.

The Reformation.

The idea of the Roman Church was imperfectly embodied at the best; the
divine gift was in earthen vessels. The world was never completely cast
out; indeed the Church became the scene for ambition and the home of
luxury and pleasure. It was entangled also in the political strife of
the feudal ages and of the beginning of modern empires. Its control of
the sciences embroiled it with its own philosophers and scholars, while
saints and pure-minded ecclesiastics attempted, without success, its
reform from within. Finally, through Luther, the explosion came, and
western Christendom broke into two parts--Catholic and Protestant.

Protestantism in its primary principle is the return to primitive
Christianity. The whole development which we have traced, culminating in
the ecclesiastical-doctrinal system of the Roman Church, is regarded as
a corruption, since foreign and even heathen ele