ot remove that other evil characteristic of the apostasy, the parent
of nearly all other evils--_human ecclesiasticism_. Viewed from one
angle, that power appears to have been modified; but from another
point of view, we can see that what was formerly an imperial system
of centralized ecclesiastical control simply ended now in nationally
centralized systems perpetuating the same principles. Thus, from the
centralized dominion of the papal hierarchy there sprang the national,
or state, churches in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, England, Sweden,
and Scotland.

[Sidenote: Lingering influence of Rome]

We have already shown that development of ecclesiasticism which
culminated in the papacy. From the primitive autonomy of the local
churches, there came the centralization and consolidation of churches
sectionally under a human headship with administrative functions, then
provincial or national centralization, then finally the primacy of
Rome over them all. The reason for this is evident. When the moral and
spiritual dominion of Christ's kingdom was lost to view or could not
be appreciated, the wrong conception of the church as a world-empire
naturally took possession of men's minds; for in that age vast,
centralized, imperial power was the ideal government. When, however,
the political empire fell, and men witnessed the ruin of their
political ideal, they sought to realize the same universal conception
in a world-church possessing imperial powers under the pope of Rome.

[Sidenote: National churches]

At the period of the Reformation the Christian world had been in the
grip of this world-church idea for more than a thousand years. As
already stated, the reformers, whose minds were directed chiefly
toward the restoration of evangelical doctrine, had at first no idea
of breaking away from this standard. Evidently they had no conception
of that moral and spiritual dominion of Christ by which alone he
governs his church--a 'kingdom that is not of this world.' They
therefore abandoned the world-church idea reluctantly, and not until
the opposition of the hierarchy drove them to separation. When the
issue was clearly drawn, they of course decided to obey God rather
than man. Having no idea of the real spiritual character of the divine
ecclesia, they had to content themselves with that _national_ church
unity which was still in their power.

The clergy, who had long been accustomed to the imperial tie, believed
that a national