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THE DECLINE AND FALL
CHAP. XLIX.
Introduction, worship, and persecution of images— Revolt of Italy and Rome—Temporal do-minion of the popes—Conquest of Italy by theTranks—Establishment of images—Characterand coronation of Charlemagne—Restorationand decay of the Roman empire in the West —Independence of Italy—Constitution of theGermanic body.
In the connection of the church and state, 1have considered the former as subservient only,and relative, to the latter; a salutary maxim,if in fact, as well as in narrative, it had everbeen held sacred. The oriental philosophy ofthe gnostics, the dark abyss of predestinationand grace, and the strange transformation ofthe eucharist from the sign to the substance ofChrist’s body,* I have purposely abandoned tothe curiosity of speculative divines. But Ihave reviewed, with diligence and pleasure, theobjects of ecclesiastical history, by which thedecline and fall of the Roman empire were ma-terially affected, the propagation of Christia-nity , the constitution of the catholic church, theruin of paganism, and the sects that arose fromthe mysterious controversies concerning theTrinity and incarnation. At the head of this
* The learned Selden has given the history of transubatantiation in acomprehensive and pithy sentence.—“ This opinion is only rhetoric“ turned into logic.” (His Works, vol. iii, p. 2073, in his Table-talk).