to which the holy things of the Word, of the church and of worship, are
means, and supremacy is the end. So far as they have magnified
supremacy they have minimized the holiness of the Word, and have
actually exalted above it the holiness of the Pope's decrees; they have
claimed to themselves power over heaven, and even over the Lord Himself,
and they have instituted the idolatrous worship of men, both living and
dead, and this until there is nothing left of Divine good and Divine
truth.

That the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, have
been so changed is of the Lord's Divine providence; not of His
providence that this should be done, but of His providence that when men
wish to rule and do rule by means of the holy Divine things, they should
choose falsity in place of truth and evil in place of good, for
otherwise they would defile holy things, and render them abominable
before angels; but when holy things no longer exist this cannot be done.
Take as an example what has been done with the Holy Supper instituted by
the Lord: they have separated the bread and the wine, giving the bread
to the people and drinking the wine themselves. For "bread" signifies
good of love to the Lord, and "wine" the truth of faith in Him; and good
separated from truth is not good, nor is truth separated from good
truth, for truth is truth from good, and good is good in truth. And so
in other things. (A.E., n. 1054.)

Those who are in the love of self, and from that in the love of ruling,
and who covet, acquire, and afterward exercise supremacy by means of the
holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, are those who
profane. For the delight of the love of ruling for self's sake, that
is, for the sake of eminence, and consequent homage and a kind of
worship of self, is an infernal delight. Moreover, this prevails in