perished from the human memory. Judge, then, how many just, holy, and innocent men must have flourished during these ages, of whom we know nothing*. Who can estimate the multitude of the golden angelic souls, candid, puerile, and at the same time profound, to which the middle ages gave birth, and which passed without observation, or leaving behind in history any vestige or memorial of their transit? It was enough for the just that their death was precious in the sight of God, and that their lot was amongst the saints. Beautiful and terrible was then the Church, as at all times, according to the wisest poet; beautiful in the splendour of the saints, terrible in the armour of the strong, beautiful in that golden vestment, composed of the variety of the just, terrible in the hand of the mighty ones of Israel; but where is the intelligence that can know, or the tongue that can enumerate the virtues of the holy men who pacifically flourished in the city of God, or who bravely militated in its defence? Only in visions of mysterious joy that did imparadise the soul, have a few men been vouchsafed a momentary glance at the mighty hosts, which in the final judgment we shall "Behold!" cried a voice to one thus favoured, "this fair assemblage; stoles of snowy white, how numberless! The city where we dwell, behold! how vast; and these our seats so thronged; few now are wanting here." see. CHAPTER II. WHAT was the state of the public mind and manners generally, during the middle ages, in relation to justice, or conformity to the Divine law? This is the first question, which cannot be reasonably answered, until we have consulted the contemporaneous writers. But ere we proceed * De præstantia virorum sui ævi Dialog. Antiq. Italiæ IX. to interrogate them, let us recur to the reflection with which we closed the last chapter, in order that we may have a clear view of the position in which we stand towards the solution of the present problem. I have said that the annals of nations, and the other monuments of antiquity, transmit the knowledge of only a very small part of the just and sublime souls that have passed upon the earth; and, we may add, that, divided as the world is between those whom error and crime have seduced, the two societies of earth and heaven are in wondrous sort confused and blended together. know not," as St. Augustin says, "the number of the just or of the sons of the Church, that holy mother which may appear sterile upon earth. The number of her happy children is known only to Him who calls the things that are not as those that are*." "We We are not favoured like him, to whom it was said by truth itself, “I will make all my good before thee pass. If we would not prove traitors in regard to history, this is one of the occasions on which we must be content to believe more than we can see; for, to behold the multitudinous graces which descended upon human minds, through the long lapse of ages which we are reviewing, is a privilege reserved for spirits far otherwise exalted and happy, than any which are still encompassed with the darksome weeds of flesh. It would be a vision of the similitude of divine glory, such as will be on that day when the hearts of Christians shall be revealed, and when the deeds of the right hand that were to the left unknown shall be to the universe proclaimed. Nevertheless, while reason teaches the necessity of waiting for the future revelation of the double mystery of virtue and of crime, it is already possible, in this life, to compare Christian and Catholic manners with those of the ancient world and of the modern society, and to trace the development of that ineffable power which has so richly fructified God's vineyardt. In forming a judgment on such a question, I am aware that there is an almost infinite variety in the evidence that might be produced to suit the difference of minds; for each observer, according to his studies and habits of thought, will be disposed to attach a greater importance to † Ezech. 2. *St. August. Enchirid. cap. 9. some one or other of the numerous proofs which may be produced from the history and literature of the ages in review. In general, nothing will be more calculated to win attention and assent than incidental testimonies, with which assuredly no one need be scantily provided, for the only difficulty can be in choosing them out of the mass of evidence which presents itself to the recollection of every one who is conversant with the ancient Christian writings. I said also that, during the middle ages, the crimes of the unjust were often brought forward for the instruction of men; and every one knows that the statements of holy priests and abbots have been converted by modern writers into formal testimonies, to prove the corruption of past times. Whether these great moralists of the middle ages did not sometimes indulge in rhetorical licence in such pictures, might be a very natural question. The English writers moreover of that epoch, seem to have been peculiarly inclined to censure, and to a spirit of bitter criticism, from which not even such great and worthy men as John of Salisbury were sufficiently exempt. It may be observed also, that the most deplorable pictures of the general depravity, such as we find in the prologue to the Customs of Cluni, and in the first book of the Annals of the Camaldolese, were given as a kind of introduction to the history of some eminent servants of God, the authors of some wondrous and extensive reformation, or even to serve as a foil to the most eminent virtues existing at the same time, which were so great, as to draw forth that exclamation of an ancient writer: "O golden age of Romuald, which, although it knew not the torments of persecutors, yet wanted not a spontaneous martyrdom! O golden age, which amidst the deserts of mountains and woods, nourished so many citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem*." But whatever may be thought of these remarks, the most cautious reader must, at all events, admit that it will be allowable to meet arguments founded upon such statements of ancient writers, with the evidence of these writers themselves, from whose parenthetical and other incidental modes of expression one can often collect the most satisfactory of all kinds of testimony, in proof of the eminent * Annal. Camaldul. Lib. X. piety and justice of the contemporary generation. Such I conceive to be that remark of St. Augustine, that "rarely was any one found in his time, to blaspheme Christ with his tongue Such that testimony of St. Gregory Nazianzen, "that a man of pleasure, addicted to licentious habits, was then the object of public scorn and hatred *," which seems repeated by the Norman historians, who speak of the disdain with which so many knights refused to acknowledge William, on account of the illegitimacy of his birth; William of Jumiège expressly recording that on that account he was an object of contempt with the indigenous noblest. Such that remarkable distinction of Thomas à Kempis, "Et omnes, ni fallor, homines cupiunt esse cum Christo, et ad populum ejus pertinere; sed pauci volunt sequi vitam Christit "Such that complaint of Richard of St. Victor, "How many do we see in our days poor in spirit, rejoicing in hope, fervent in charity, abstaining much, and greatly patient; who are nevertheless too tepid in respect of the zeal of souls? Some, as if through humility, not presuming to reprove delinquents; others, lest they should seem to disturb fraternal charity, fearing to remonstrate with sinners§." From a few such passages as these, the least attentive reader, methinks, can form some idea of the justice and spiritual elevation to which the manners of the middle ages had attained. What philosophic writer could now support his arguments by appealing to the public voice to confirm such assertions as that it would be difficult to find any one who blasphemed Christ; that general scorn and hatred followed a breach of the Christian law; that all men probably wish to be with Christ, and to be of the number of his people; that the multitude is great who practise the precepts of perfection, and who err only through humility and the love of peace? Yet, with a certain allowance made, this could be done at so late a period as the fifteenth century; for that devout philosopher, Marsilius Ficinus, declares that he cannot bring any other accusation against his age, but that of having produced one impious man, the brother of his friend Cont. Fornic. 3. Hist. Norm. Lib. VII. c. 3. § De præparatione animi ad contemplationem, cap. 41. 12 Oricellario, "who vomits blasphemies against God, from the same mouth that was made to proclaim his praise." To complain idly of the present time, by comparing it with the past, had always been a favourite exercise of moralists. "Utinam veteres mores, veteres parcimoniæ Potius majori honori hic essent quam mores mali! Nam nunc mores nihil faciunt: quod licet nisi quod lubet? Such is the complaint in Plautus; but it may be remarked that, during the ages of faith, this propensity of human nature has generally left much less trace of its indulgence, so that this is the only point in which the men of the middle ages resembled the modern race of Gallic land; in all other respects heeding little the present, but in their comparative views of justice, seeming to be without a past, or, in relation to the present earth, a future; and, in fact, they had heard the Church declare in her solemnities, that what the saints of old did not doubt would be, she knew had already been in great measure fulfilled. "It is a vicious propensity of some men," says Guibert de Nogent, writing in the eleventh century, "to vituperate the deeds of the moderns, and magnify past ages. It was right, indeed, to praise the felicity of the ancients, and their vivacity moderated by prudence; but in the estimation of no discreet person, is their secular prosperity in any manner to be preferred to our virtue; for, although a certain merit shone eminently in them, yet in us, upon whom the ends of the world are come, the gift of nature hath not grown torpid. The deeds that were wrought in ancient times, may, indeed, be proclaimed justly for the recreation of men, but much more worthy of being published are those things which are usefully performed by the rude in this old age of the world. If we have heard that God was magnified in the Judaic people, we have known by sure experience that Jesus Christ as yesterday with the ancients, so to-day with the moderns is glorified*." Again, what is still more curious, hear what Wandalbert Deacon, a monk of Prumieen, speaking in the ninth century, and saying, in the prologue to his life of St. Goar, addressed to the Abbot Marcuvard, "Now that studies after many years of prostration in Gall, have been * Guibert de Novigent. Gesta Dei per Francos. |