SUPREMACY OF MORALITY. 119 In all moral appreciation of Catholicism we must bear in mind that, in consequence of the separation between the spiritual and the temporal power, and therefore of the independence of morality in regard to polity, Moral types. the moral doctrine must be composed of a series of types, which, not expressing immediate practical reality, fix the ideal limit to which our conduct must approximate more and more. These moral types are, in nature and object, analogous to the scientific and æsthetic types which guide our various conceptions, and which are needed in the simplest human operations, even the industrial. It would be as wise to reproach the artist for the unattainable perfection of his ideal model, as Catholic morality for the supposed exaggeration of its requirements. In both cases the attainment will fall short of the ideal; but it will be greater than it could be without the ideal. The philosophical instincts of Catholicism led it to fulfil the practical conditions of the case by transferring the type from the abstract to the concrete state. It applied its social genius in gradually concentrating in the Founder of their system all the perfection that they could imagine in human nature, thus constituting a universal and operative type, admirably adapted to the moral guidance of humanity, and in which the highest and the humblest could alike find a model for human conduct; and they completed the lesson by the addition of that yet more ideal conception which offers as the feminine type the beautiful mystic reconciliation of purity with maternity. There is no department of general morality which was not eminently improved by Catholicism, as I could show, if my space and my purpose admitted of it. I can only briefly point out the most important instances of advancement, under the three heads of personal, domestic, and social morality. Personal mo rality. The great aim being the exaltation of reason over passion, Catholicism justly regarded personal virtues as the basis of all others. The sanitary practices and the personal privations it imposed had therefore some social efficacy, being, at the least, beneficial auxiliaries to moral education,-especially in the Middle Ages. Again, the personal virtues which were recommended in more ancient times as a matter of individual prudence were now first conceived of in a social connection. Humility, so strongly enforced by Catholicism as to form a popular reproach against it, was of eminent importance, not only during a period of haughty oppression which proved its necessity, but in reference to the permanent moral wants of human nature, in which we need not fear that pride and vanity will ever be too much repressed. Nothing is more remarkable, under this head, than the reprobation of suicide, which had been erected into a sort of honour among the ancients, who valued their own lives no more than other people's; or, at least, into a resource which their philosophers were not blamed for recurring to. This anti-social practice would no doubt have declined with the predominance of military manners, but it is certainly one of the moral glories of Catholicism to have organized an energetic condemnation of it. rality. Under Catholicism, domestic morality Domestic mo- issued forth from the subjection to polity in which the ancients had placed it, and assumed its proper rank. When the spiritual and temporal orders were separated, it was felt that the domestic life must henceforth be the most important for the mass of mankind, political life being reserved for the exceptional few, instead of absorbing everything else, as it did when the question concerned the minority of free men in a population of slaves. The special care of Catholicism for domestic life induced such a multitude of happy results as defies even the most summary analysis here. The reader must imagine for himself the improvement in human families when Catholic influence penetrated every relation, to develope without tyranny the sense of reciprocal duty,solemnly sanctioning, for instance, the paternal authority, while abolishing the ancient patriarchal despotism, under which infants were murdered or abandoned,-as they still were, beyond the pale of monotheism. I can specially notice only what relates to the closest tie of all, with regard to which I am of opinion that we have only to consolidate and complete what Catholicism has happily organized. No one now denies that it essentially improved the social condition of women; but it is seldom or never POSITION OF WOMEN. 121 remarked that it deprived them of all participation whatever in sacerdotal functions, even in the constitution of the monastic orders to which they were admitted. I may add that it also, as far as possible, precluded them from royalty in all countries in which it had political influence enough to modify, by the consideration of aptitude, the theocratic principle of hereditary succession, embodied in caste. The benefit bestowed on women by Catholicism consisted in rendering their lives essentially domestic, in securing the due liberty of their interior existence, and in establishing their position by sanctifying the indissolubleness of marriage; whereas, even among the Romans, who married but one wife, the condition of women was seriously injured by the power of divorce. I shall have occasion hereafter to treat of the evils attending the power of divorce. In the intermediate period of human history, when Catholicism interdicted it, that beneficent influence so connected the two sexes that, under the morals and manners of the system, the wife acquired an imprescriptible right, independent even of her own conduct, to an unconditional participation in not only all the social advantages of him 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 developes 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. Social morality. In regard to social morality, properly so called, every one will admit the distinctive influence of Catholicism in modifying the energetic but savage patriotism of 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. Our theory explains how the intellectual Intellectual movement of the monotheistic system might condition under be retarded without its following that the Catholicism. system was hostile to human progression. 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 revival of human intelligence (which how |