RELIGIOUS RULE

Christianity, says Milman, was almost from the first a Greek religion. Its primal records were all written in the Greek language; it was promulgated with the greatest rapidity and success among nations either of Greek descent, or those which had been Grecized by the conquest of Alexander. In their polity the Grecian churches were a federation of republics. At the first, art, literature, life, were Greek, cheerful, sunny, serene. The Latin type of character was morose, gloomy, characterized, says Milman, by adherence to legal form; severe subordination to authority. The Roman Empire extended over Europe by a universal code, and by subordination to a spiritual Caesar as absolute as he was in civil obedience. Thus the original simplicity of the Christian polity was entirely subverted; its pure democracy became a spiritual autocracy. The presbyters developed into bishops, the bishop of Rome become pope, and Christendom reflected Rome.