SOCIAL MORALITY. 243 who had once chosen her, but, as far as possible, in the consideration he enjoyed; and it would be difficult to imagine any practicable arrangement more favourable to the dependent sex. As civilization develops the essential differences of the sexes, among others, it has excluded women more and more from all functions that can withdraw them from their domestic vocation. It is in the higher classes of society that women work out their destination with the least hindrance; and it is there, in consequence, that we may look for a kind of spontaneous type, towards which the condition of women must, on the whole, tend; and looking there, we apprehend at once the law of social progression, as regards the sexes, which consists in disengaging women more and more from all employment that is foreign to their domestic functions; so that, for instance, we shall hereafter reject, as disgraceful to Man, in all ranks, as now in the higher, the practice of subjecting women to laborious occupations; whereas they should be universally, and more and more exclusively, set apart for their characteristic offices of wife and mother. In regard to social morality, properly so called, every one will admit the distinctive influence of Catholicism in Social modifying the energetic but savage patriotism of morality. the ancients by the higher sentiment of humanity or universal brotherhood, so happily popularized by it under the sweet name of charity. No doubt the nature of the Christian doctrines, and the religious antipathies which resulted from them, greatly restricted this hypothetical universality of affection, which was generally limited to Christian peoples; but within these limits the brotherly affections of different nations were powerfully developed, apart from the common faith which was its principle, by their uniform habitual subordination to one spiritual authority, whose members were, notwithstanding their separate nationalities, fellow-citizens of Christendom. It is a true remark that the improvement of European relations, the advancement of international law, and the humane conditions imposed, more and more, on war itself, may all be referred to the period when Catholic influence brought all parts of Europe into connection. In the interior condition of each nation the duties which arise out of the great Catholic principle of universal brotherhood, and which have temporarily failed only through the decay of the theological system which imposed them, afforded the best obtainable means to remedy the inconveniences inseparable from the social state; and especially the imperfect distribution of wealth. This was the source of so many admirable foundations devoted to the solace of human suffering, institutions unknown in ancient times, and the more remarkable because they usually grew out of private munificence, in which public co-operation has seldom any part.-While expanding the universal sentiment of social union, Catholicism did not neglect that of perpetuity, which is, as I have before pointed out, its natural complement, connecting all times as well as all places. This was the general use of the great system of customary commemoration, so happily constructed by Catholicism, in wise imitation of polytheism. If I had space, it would be easy to show how wise were the precautions introduced by Catholicism, and usually respected, to make canonization, replacing deification, fulfil its social purpose by avoiding the disgraceful abuses caused by the confusion of the spiritual and temporal powers among the Greeks, and yet more the Romans, in their declining period: so that the lofty recompense was very rarely decreed to men who were not more or less eminently worthy, remarkable, or useful, while they were selected, with careful impartiality, from every class of society, from the highest to the lowest. We may now form some idea of the vastness of the moral regeneration accomplished by Catholicism in the Middle Ages. Impaired as it was by the imperfections of the philosophy, and the difficulties of the social phase of the time, it manifested the true nature of the requisite improvement, the spirit which must guide it, and the attendant conditions in preparation for the time when a sounder philosophy should permit the completion of the work. It remains for us to review the intellectual attributes of the system. It may appear that the supreme importance of the social mission of Catholicism could not but restrict the development of its intellectual characteristics: but the consequences of those attributes make up our present experience; and all that has happened in human history, from the Catholic period till now, is an unbroken chain of connection which links our own period with that cradle of modern civilization. We shall see that the entire spiritual movement of modern times is referrible to that memorable season in human history, which Protestantism is pleased to call the dark ages. Intellectual Our theory explains how the intellectual movement of the monotheistic system might be retarded without its followcondition under ing that the system was hostile to human progression. Catholicism. It never was so except during its decline (and then much less than is commonly supposed), when it was engrossed with the cares of self-preservation. It is an exaggeration also to attribute to the Germanic invasions the retardation of intellectual development during the Middle Ages; for the decline was taking place for centuries before the invasions were of any engrossing importance. Two facts, one of time and one of place, may throw light upon this ill-understood question. The supposed rival of human intelligence (which however had not been asleep, but only otherwise employed), in other words, the acceleration of the mental movement, immediately followed upon the full maturity of the Catholic system, in the eleventh century, and took place during its high social ascendency. Again, it was in the very centre of this dominion, and almost before the eyes of the supreme sacerdotal authority, that the acceleration appeared; for it is impossible to deny the superiority of Italy in the CATHOLIC PHILOSOPHY. 245 Middle Ages, under all the four aspects of intellectual action. These two facts are enough to show how favourable Catholicism then was to human development. The preceding inactivity was owing to the laborious and anxious character of the task of organizing the system; a work of supreme importance, absorbing almost the whole intellectual resources, and commanding the strongest interest of the peoples concerned so that the provisional direction of the mental movement was left to second-rate minds, amidst a state of affairs which was unfavourable to marked progression, and which barely allowed the preservation of what had been gained. This seems to me the simple and rational explanation of this apparent anomaly and it releases us from the necessity of imputing to any men, institutions, or events any tendency to repress the human mind, while it refers us to the great obligation to devote the highest abilities to the task required, in each age, by the chief needs of mankind and certainly nothing could, in this view, be more interesting to all thinkers than the progressive development of Catholic institutions. The intellectual movement, which had never stopped, was joined, in the time of Hildebrand, by all the intellect that was set free by the completion of the Catholic system, and of its application to political life; and then were realized the vast consequences which we shall have to review in a subsequent chapThe share attributed to the Arabs in the revival is much exaggerated, though they may have assisted a movement which would have taken place, somewhat more slowly, without them: and their intervention had nothing accidental about it. Mohammed attempted to organize monotheism among a people who were in every way unprepared for it: the effort issued in a monstrous political concentration, in the form of a military theocracy yet the intellectual qualities inherent in monotheism could not be wholly annulled; and they even expanded with the more rapidity from the failure of the corresponding régime, whereby the highest spiritual capacities were left free for intellectual pursuits; and especially for those which had been remanded to the East, while the West was occupied with the development of the Catholic system. Thus the Arabs make their appearance in the midst of the western interregnum, without their intervention being at all necessary in the transition from the Greek to the modern evolution. The special reasons for the intellectual properties of the monotheistic system being developed only in the age of its decline, will be best considered when I treat of that decline. Having assigned the general grounds of the delay, I have to notice briefly the four aspects in which the mental influence of Catholicism presents itself. ter. The aptitude of Catholicism for philosophy is as remarkable as it is ill-appreciated. However imperfect we now know the theological philosophy to be, it exercised a happy Philosophy. influence over the intellectual development of the multitude, among whom, as we have seen, it is the glory of the system to have spread its educational benefits. They were lifted above the narrow circle of their material life; their habitual feelings were purified; and sound, though empirical notions of the moral nature of Man, and even some dawn of historical conception, through the connection of general history with the Church, were conveyed to the whole range of classes of society. Through the efforts of Catholicism to prove its superiority to former systems, even the great philosophical principle of human progression began to arise throughout Christendom,however inadequate in strength or quality. When each individual thus became empowered to judge of human actions, personal and collective, by a fundamental doctrine, the spirit of social discussion which distinguishes modern periods began to arise. It could not exist among subordinate persons while the two authorities were concentrated in the same holders: and, when the separation was effected, the spirit of discussion was long restrained by the intellectual discipline imposed by the vague and arbitrary nature of the theological philosophy: but it was at this time that it began to move. As for the cultivated class, the leading fact on their behalf was that Catholicism generally allowed free scope to the metaphysical philosophy, to which the polytheistic régime was hostile. It was under Catholicism that the metaphysical philosophy was extended to moral and social questions; and, in proof of the protecting disposition of the régime, we have the fact that the calumniated Middle Ages gave the first worthy reception to the most advanced part of Greek philosophy, that is, to the doctrine of Aristotle, which had certainly never been so appreciated before,even by the Greeks themselves. We must point to the separation of the spiritual and temporal powers as an intellectual as well as social service, because it separated at the same time social theory from practice, and thus laid the foundation of social science, in distinction from mere Utopias. Earnestly as I have insisted that social science is only now beginning to be formed, I acknowledge with gratitude that its source lies in that remote age, called dark; where it is seldom sought for by those who make the freest use of its benefits. The scientific influence of Catholicism Science. was equally favourable. Monotheism is not, it is true, very consistent with the conception of the invariableness of natural laws; and there is a stage of human development at which the monotheistic doctrine, with its conception of an arbitrary will as the universal governing power, is the only essential obstacle to the view which lies at the base of science. But that stage was not in the Middle Age period; and monotheism was of immense service in disengaging the scientific spirit from the trammels imposed by polytheism. Before, a few simple mathematical speculations were all that was possible, when all scientific inquiry must clash with the theological explanations which extended to the minutest details of CATHOLIC ART. 247 all phenomena. When monotheism concentrated the supernatural action, it opened a much freer access to these secondary studies, and did not interpose any sacred doctrine as an obstacle, as long as some vague and general formulas were respected; and at that time, the religious disposition to admiration of divine wisdom, which has since proved a retrograde influence, was promotive of scientific inquiry. I need not point out that, as polytheism was a state of religious decline, in comparison with fetichism, so was monotheism in regard to polytheism. The suppression of inspiration, with all its train of oracles and prophecies, apparitions and miracles, testifies to the noble efforts of Catholicism to enlarge, at the expense of the theological spirit, the as yet narrow field of human reason, as far as the philosophy of the period would allow. Adding to these considerations that of the facilities which sacerdotal life afforded to intellectual culture, we may conceive of the happy influence of the monotheistic régime on the growth of the chief natural sciences:in the creation of Chemistry, founded on Aristotle's conception of the four elements, and sustained by the wild hopes which were necessary to stimulate nascent experimentation:-in the improvement of Anatomy, so restricted in more ancient times-and in the development of pre-existing mathematical speculation and astronomical knowledge; a progression which was attested by the rise of algebra, as a distinct branch of ancient arithmetic, and by that of trigonometry, which was, in the hands of the Greeks, too imperfect and limited for the growing requirements of astronomy. Art. The æsthetic influence of monotheism did not reach its highest point till the next period; but it is impossible to be blind to its scope when we consider the progress made by music and architecture during the Middle Ages. The introduction of musical notation and the development of harmony gave a wholly new character to Song; and the same extension was given to instrumental music by the creation of its most powerful and complete organ; and the share borne by Catholic influence in each needs no pointing out. Its effect on the progress of Architecture is equally clear. It was not only that there was a great change in ordinary habitations, in consequence of the private relations which, under Catholic and feudal encouragement, succeeded to the isolation of the domestic life of the ancients. Besides these improvements in private life, there arose those religious edifices which are the most perfect monumental expression of the ideas and feelings of our moral nature, and which will for ever, notwithstanding the decay of the corresponding beliefs, awaken in every true philosopher a delicious emotion of social sympathy. Polytheism, besides that its worship was outside the temples, could not originate an improvement which was appropriate to a system of universal instruction, followed up by a continuous habit of personal meditation. In |