vergences in the performance of similar rites and ceremonies, while the creed and the traditions, the hierarchy and the sacraments, remain the same; they go deeper; they affect the conception of Christian truth, and the spirit of Christian worship, and are manifest in the different influences exerted by the different Churches upon the government of nations, and upon the development of civilization.
The Catholic, by its concentration, by its regular hierarchy under a supreme head, by the spirit of obedience and submission which it inculcates, by the power and authority conferred upon its chief, and by its aim at universal dominion, tends to centralization, and favors the principle of absolute monarchy.
The Protestant, by its latitude in matters of faith, by its spirit of inquiry and freedom of interpretation, by the liberty of thought which it encourages, by its division into various sects and their independence of each other, tends to decentralization, and sympathizes with the principle of a representative, or republican form of government.
The Orthodox, fixed and immutable in its traditions and belief, although without any supreme authority over it, is conservative in its tendency; allowing wide scope, within defined limits, to individual opinion, it permits a certain freedom of thought; having no political proclivities, it neither advocates, nor favors, any special form of government, but accords with existing institutions, if they be not hostile to Christian truth. While not actually progressive, it is no enemy to progress, and allows the free development of the nations over which it holds sway, according to the national genius of each, and according to the influences which may surround it; it is equally at home in democratic Greece, and in autocratic Russia.
