CHAPTER IX.

AGE OF MONOTHEISM.-MODIFICATION OF THE THEOLOGICAL AND MILITARY SYSTEM.

WHEN Rome had united the civilized world under her sway, the time was come for Monotheism to assume and complete the work of preparation for a new and higher social life. The intellectual decline of the theological philosophy was about to begin: but it had not yet attained its full social value: and this action, inverse to that of the polytheistic régime, is the reason why we should consider its social qualities, beginning with the political, before examining its mental attributes. I begin with the political, because, though the predominant action of monotheism is moral, its moral efficacy itself has always depended on its political existence. My task will be shortened by a new facility, which will attend us from this point onwards, that of attending to one form only of the theological régime. Hitherto, we have had to separate the abstract qualities of the system examined from the various modes in which they were realized. Now, we have Catholicism, to attend only to the Roman Catholic form of mono- the form. theism, because, while Mohammedanism, the Greek faith, and every other form of monotheism, presents a remarkable general conformity with all the rest, it is the Roman Catholic form which has fulfilled the functions of the régime in Western Europe and it must therefore be the single object of our examination. I prefer the term Catholicism to that of Christianity, not only because it is more distinctive, but because it is more universal, from involving no name of any individual founder, but comprehending the monotheistic principle without sectarian limitation. Every one knows what a Catholic is; but the wisest man will not undertake to say what a Christian is, now that the title belongs to all the thousand varieties which separate the primitive Lutheran from the pure deist.

As the chief attribute of the political system of monotheism is the introduction of a spiritual power independent of the temporal, we must first examine this great social creation, passing on afterwards to the temporal organization.

The uniformity of belief proper to monotheism, and enforced by it, admits of the establishment of a single theological system among peoples too important and too diverse to be long kept together under one temporal government: whence such a consistence and dignity must accrue to the sacerdotal class as affords a ground for political independence. The preparation of the conditions, beginning from the concurrence of the Roman power with the Greek philosophy, was very slow. The Greek philosophy, it is true, contemplated the establishment of a spiritual power; but it did not contemplate the separation of the temporal power from it: hence it merely indicated, as every Utopia does, the social need of the age, and prophesied its satisfaction and it remained for Catholicism to take to itself whatever was true and practicable in all other schemes, dismissing what was foolish or hurtful. How this was done we shall see as we proceed.

Though intelligence must always exert a powerful influence in Principle of human affairs, and though a certain convergence of political rule. opinion is necessary to all association, and therefore to all government, such supremacy of intellect in political government as the Greek philosophers desired can never be more than a dream. The intellectual life is feebler than the affective in our organism, as I have repeatedly said; and mental superiority is too little understood and appreciated by the majority of society to obtain an immediate and practical ascendency. The mass of mankind, being destined to action, sympathize most with organizations of moderate intelligence and eminent activity. The general gratitude also waits upon services which satisfy the sum of human wants, among which those of the intellect are very far from holding the most conspicuous place. The most vivid interest and the most unqualified gratitude are excited by practical success, military or industrial, though such achievement requires far less intellectual power than almost any theoretical labours, even of a kind very inferior to the highest speculations in art, science, and philosophy. Though these speculative services are the loftiest of benefits, and the very means of progress, they cannot awaken the rapid and ready enthusiasm excited by far inferior operations: for mental participation in them is too remote and too abstract to be obtained otherwise than through a more or less difficult analysis, which is not favourable to sudden fervour, even among enlightened men. Even in the regions of science and philosophy, the most general conceptions bring less honour to their illustrious creators than discoveries of an inferior order, as an Aristotle, a Descartes, and a Leibnitz had only too much reason to know. The value of such men is not recognized till their mission has closed; and they are sustained in their labours, not by an immediate supremacy (which would be sure, under a reign of mind, to be seized by the boldest pretenders), but by their secret consciousness of their intellectual rank, and their

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instinctive assurance of their ulterior influence on human destiny. And then, again, there is the shortness of our life, on which I remarked before as injurious to our political organism. A greater longevity might allow a better social classification of intellect, by affording more time for the recognition of choice minds; but at present the cases are extremely rare of thinkers of the first order being appreciated till their life, or their genius, has passed away. The sacerdotal sway under the old theocracies may seem to be a contradiction to what I have now said; but, besides that the case was an anomalous one which can never recur, as the beginning of a new system can happen but once, we must remember that the intellectual superiority of the governing power showed itself in a practical form. From the singular concentration of functions in the priestly caste, their speculative labours, which were seldom greater than occasion required, were professedly and complacently subordinated to practical use, whether medical, administrative, industrial, or any other. Thus it was not intellectual superiority that was raised to supremacy: and it could not be so in a society organized by the hereditary principle. It was among the Greek philosophers that the speculative character first became distinctly marked; and we know how far it was, amidst all its strenuous efforts, from ever obtaining political sway. It is plain, on every ground, that the real social office of mind is not to engross the conduct of life, but to modify, by its consultative or preparatory influence, the rule of material or practical power, whether military or industrial and no complaints on the part of philosophers will affect an order of things which, being natural, must be most in harmony with social conditions. The direct consideration of utility is so narrow that it would be oppressive and dangerous in action if unmodified; but not the less is it the basis of all sound social classification. In social as in individual life, judgment is more necessary than genius, except on the rare occasions when a new elaboration or special animation of the mass of social thought is required. Then some few eminent thinkers interpose to conduct the crisis, and set forward the ordinary movement again for another long period. It will be seen, if we inquire, that in every instance of the appearance of any great new social phase, simple good sense, after having given place for a time, quietly resumes its social sway; and the more fit abstract speculation is to conduct such crises, the less adapted is it for the daily direction of common affairs. Intellectually, contemplative minds are unprepared for special and pressing calls on their activity; and morally, they cannot take a sufficient interest in the obtrusive and detailed reality with which it is the business. of government to deal. Again, they are led away by their interest in some special study from that consideration of the whole which is the first attribute of good government; and when a decision is required which cannot be sound unless it rests upon a balance of

social views, the philosopher will be found remotely pursuing his abstract study of one single social aspect. The very few who are able to keep the whole in view while pursuing their own order of speculation are precisely those who are furthest from desiring to rule society, because they best know how mischievous the aim would be if it were not impracticable. Mankind cannot therefore too eminently honour those noblest minds which devote themselves to think for the whole race; mankind cannot too carefully cherish these, its chief treasures and adornments, nor too eagerly support their functions by administering all possible facilities, and laying society open to their vivifying influence; but it should, at the same time, carefully avoid committing the ordinary direction of society to men whose characteristic qualities render them essentially unfit for the task. We must remember, too, how indispensable constant stimulus is to this least active part of human nature, which needs opposition to rouse it to work. Mind is made for conflict, and, not for rule, and it would sink into fatal atrophy from the moment when, instead of having to modify an order independent of itself, it should indulge in admiration of an order of its own creation and appointment. From that moment it would follow the conservative course of theocratic government and we have seen what that is. It is needless to point out that by this time it would not be the first-rate minds that would be in the seats of power, but inferior thinkers, who, with the lower morality which belongs to their combined intellectual and social rank, would use their power to maintain their position. Envying and hating the superiors whose honours they usurped, and repressing the mental development of the mass of the people, these pretended intellectual princes would, if their reign were possible, teach us how incompatible with order and progress is a nominal reign of Mind. If the ruling powers of the civilized world have not, in fact, systematically hindered the expansion of the human mind, it is (for one reason among others) because they did not suppose mental superiority to be any qualification for political rule, and were therefore not afraid to encourage its spread.

This seems to be a long digression; but I have pursued it designedly, not only because it seems to me to be called for by some circumstances of our times, but because we shall find it a valuable preparation for our dynamic studies, saving the necessity of various elucidations which would otherwise be called for. I may add that it may obviate some natural though baseless fears of a sort of theocratic despotism, such as might otherwise be entertained when we propose the idea of an intellectual re-organization of the political system of modern society. It enables us, on our return to our proper historical ground, to estimate the difficulty which the monotheistic system had to surmount, in the Middle Ages, in forming the new social constitution of the most advanced portion of the

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discard the The great problem.

Separation of spiritual and temporal power.

human race. The great political problem was to dreams of Greek philosophy about the sovereignty of intellect, while satisfying the irresistible desire for social ascendency entertained by the speculative activity of a long course of generations. The new power had been in a state of latent insurrection under the Greek, and also the Roman régime; and it was now necessary, under pain of an eternal and fatal conflict between the men of action and the men of thought, to organize some permanent reconciliation, which should convert this vicious. antagonism into a useful emulation, assigning to each great force a share in the political system,-a participation independent while convergent, and enjoyed in virtue of prerogatives naturally inherent in each. This was the vast difficulty encountered by Catholicism in the Middle Ages, and admirably surmounted by means of that fundamental division between the spiritual and the temporal authority which will be more and more recognized as the greatest advance ever made in the general theory of the social organism, and as the main cause of the superiority of the modern to the ancient polity. No doubt the solution was empirical at first; and it was not till long afterwards that its true philosophical conception was wrought out of the experience of the facts; but such has been the process with all great political issues, because a rational political science, qualified to guide and enlighten the gradual course of active operations, has never yet existed. The character and efficacy of this great act of progress were also impaired by its connection with the provisional destiny of the theological philosophy, even then on the decline: and this connection is, in fact, the main cause of the repugnance which modern minds are apt to feel, in a temporary way, towards the distribution of power which, once effected under any form, will remain, whatever may become of its first philosophical basis,and prevail even in the minds to which it was once most unacceptable, till, philosophically reconstructed, it becomes the grand foundation of modern re-organization. It is clear, moreover, that the theological aim of the speculative class must have seriously injured their social function; because their intellectual and even their moral functions must have been insignificant in comparison with their charge of the faith, and all social direction of minds and hearts uninteresting in comparison with the salvation of souls. Again, the almost indefinite authority possessed by the exclusive interpreters of the divine will and judgments were favourable to abuse, and even vicious usurpation, such as was only too congenial to ecclesiastical power, through its natural ambition, and the vague and absolute character of its essential doctrines, which proposed no rational limitation of the various kinds of human authority. These evils hastened the decline of the constitution to which they belonged, and they troubled the process of the true distribution of power; but