A Study of the Sects Author:William Henry Lyon Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. There is one body, and one Spirit, . . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Eph. iv. 4-6. Nam... more »e. The official name of the organization is " The Roman Catholic Church," Roman, because its centre is at Rome, Italy; Catholic (or universal), because it claims jurisdiction over all mankind. History. The Roman Catholic Church is in form the Roman Empire extended over the world with ecclesiastical instead of secular functions. The graded system of officers, the skilfully codified law, and the assumption of supreme authority are closely imitated from the ancient Roman dominion. The process was natural. Whether Peter was ever in Rome, as Catholics claim, or not, and whether his primacy among the Apostles was granted or not, whoever was the head of the churches in Rome would become the head of all the churches of the Empire. The first bishops about whom we are certain were men of great force of character and executive ability; and as the emperors grew feebler and less respected, the ecclesiastical authorities came to the front. The earnestness of Christian zeal and confidence stepped into the place of the decaying public spirit and private manhood. The transfer of the seat of government to Constantinople, in 330, left the Bishop of Rome in still greater prominence. At last, in Leo the Great (440-446), the Church came to a full consciousness of its opportunity, and shaped its course accordingly. Under Gregory the Great (590-604) the Church was roused to a missionary spirit; and by 750 all Europe, even to Norway and Iceland, was under its teaching. Meantime, by the Seven Great Councils (325-787), the doctrines of the Church had been defined. The gift of a large territory to the Pope by Pepin, king of the Franks (755), ...« less