When, therefore, despots discovered their inability to annihilate the new religion, combinations were formed to adopt it in the room of preexisting systems, or rather, perhaps, to engraft it upon them, and mould it to suit their purposes. But notwithstanding that Christianity was thus corrupted and perverted into an' engine of political and ecclesiastical despotism, it still retained much of its innate vitality, and greatly advanced the social and moral welfare of those subjected to its in?uence; thus proving its superiority over the false religious systems which had so long prevailed.