The papacy, next to Christianity, is the great fact of the modern world. Of the two, the former, unhappily, has proved, in some respects, to be the more powerful spring in human affairs and has acted the more public part on the stage of the world. To fully trace the rise and development of this stupendous system is to write a history of Western Europe: the decay of empires; the extinction of religious systems; the dissolution and renewal of society; the rise of new states; the change of manners, customs, and laws; the policy of courts; the wars of kings; and the decay and revival of letters, of philosophy, and of arts.

These all connect themselves with the history of the papacy, to whose growth they ministered and whose destiny they helped to unfold. On so wide a field of investigation, neither our time nor our limits permit us to enter. Let it suffice that we indicate, in general terms, the main causes that contributed to the rise of this tremendous power and the successive stages that marked the course of its portentous development.

Table of contents:

Book one: History of the Papacy

Chapter I: Origin of the Papacy

Chapter II: Rise and Progress of Ecclesiastical Supremacy

Chapter III: Rise and Progress of the Temporal Sovereignty

Chapter IV: Rise and Progress of the Temporal Supremacy

Chapter V: Foundation and Extent of the Supremacy, the Cardinal's Oath

Chapter VI: The Canon Law

Chapter VII: That the Church of Rome Neither Has Nor Can Change Her Principles on the Head of the Supremacy

Book two: Dogmas of the Papacy

Chapter I: The Popish Theology

Chapter II: Scripture and Tradition. Dogmas of the Papacy

Chapter III: Of Reading the Scriptures

Chapter IV: Unity of the Church of Rome

Chapter V: Catholicity of the Church of Rome

Chapter VI: Apostolicity, or Peter's Primacy

Chapter VII: Infallibility