The record-union., 1898-05-14
DANTE AND HIS TIME.
PROF. GRIGGS CLOSING Lee
TURE LAST NIGHT.
de Contrasts the Middle Ages and
Their Ruling Ideas With Those
of Our Own Times.

mere DIT the SlXIn-Streel MelnOulSt
Church last night to full house, and
1t proved to be not the least interesting
of the series
His subject was THE Life and Time
of Dante" and he handled it in his
usual earnest. thoughtful way, holding
UP to comparison from various points
of view the mediaeval ages, when
Dante lived and wrote, with our own
days. His audience listened with close
attention to the thread of his argu-
ment until the very end, and substan-
TALLY testified its appreciation of the
lecture when he concluded. His extra
ordinary and easy flow of language and
the magnetic earnestness which he
brings to his elucidation of his views
have made him great favorite with
those who have attended the course,
and they regret its conclusion.
We do not understand the medieval
ages in our period, he said, but we need
the lessons the mediaeval ages can
teach us, because those times were so
different from ours. There were no
high spiritual ideas in the Greek and
Roman civilizations. The sane mind
in the sane body was the ideal of the
Greek culture. Aristotle's idea of viz
tue was magnanimity. In the decline
of the Graeco-Ro world their ideals
of culture became more and more de-
generate. There were only two teach
ings, the Epicurean and stoiciSm. The
Epicurean was the teaching of weak
man. 1t taught that everything was
growing worse. The stole teaching
started from the same premises, ana
taught the same thing, but also taught
endurance and avoidance of what could
not be helped.
Christianity brought the idea of es-
cape from this world into another and
a higher one. It overwhelmed for
time all the old teachings, and taught
an entirely different doctrine-one of
unselishness. 1t grew into asceticism,
and the great monastic societies We're
formed, and their devotees shut them
selves up from the world to fight the
world the flesh and the devil. Cell
bacy grew up and marriage was re-
garded as something only to be toler-
ated because human nature was not
strong enough to thrust it aside and
do without it. This spirit continued
through the Middle Ages and perme-
ated them. The church spread its cult
urt all over the Middle Ages, and
Christianity stood between the rich and
pONSTIU1 anu the poor anu Nedh L AC
whole spirit of the Middle Ages was
that you must give up the natural life
and fight it down. St. Francis, with
all his humanity, felt that the accept
ance of life and it's enjoyments was a
bar and a hindrance to spiritual life.
1t is singular that religion in the
Middle Ages should have given rise to
some of the most destructive wars the
ha The (NrIlSadPS
We're purely religious wars. Dante was
the great expression of this period
the voice of ten centuries. His Divine
Comedy is an expression of both sides
and all aspects of the Middle Ages. The
Greek never rose to the conception OF
sin The mediaeval ages looked at the
battle of life from within. They thought
life was a struggle of elements, and all
that could be done was to fight tito the
best advantage. "Sin is death; sin is
DEATH" rings through the whole mani
festation of feeling and thought of the
Middle Ages. Some of our great men
look at the battle from the mountain
hight. Dante is in the valley, in the
smoke and struggle The destinies of
the ages are worked out despite our
will, and we have no power to harm the
universe or limit it with our finite will.
Modern thought must be complemented
by the thought of the Middle Ages, and
we must learn the lesson that sin is
DEATH The Middle Ages live for US
again in Dante.
Dante's period is the period of the
great architectural revival in Florence.
Giotto was his personal friend, and the
Giotto was the second of the painters
of the time Mediaeval love is different
from our modern love as portrayed in
our lyrical productions. 1t was the time
when natural life was put aside, and
it was thought that the highest type
of love could not be that arising in the
family relations. Dante's love for
Beatrice was of this ideal character,
pure and spiritual. Her death was the
most revolutionary occurrence in his
life. 1t occurred some years after her
marriage, and turned him back upon
himself and changed his aims and OBJ
jects in life. We do not consider suffi-
ciently in estimating great mems char
acters the fact that they are subject TO
the same failures and weaknesses as
ourselves. Dante's divinity is depend
ent upon his humanity. In his life
the ideal was in no way connected with
the reality Had Dante remained in
IOTeHCS. lU6 doiIiIeQ SldlCSAildAis liz
successful leader of his party, he would
never have needed TO express himself
in a work of art like the Divine Com
edy,'' but, banished and a wanderer
over all Italy, it was necessary for him
to so employ himself in order to prevent
his sorrow from eating his heart out
Longfellow, always tender, delicate and
sympathetic. but not profound. in his
noemS on the ttDiVine Comedy seems
to have caught the spirit of Dante and
become profound and philosophical The
mediaeVal world lived in the constant
presence of eternity, but it has been
said. with considerable truth, that the
modern world has lost sight of eternity.
Dante is the prophet of the human soul
He sees the working out of the highest
type of the human soul. He is the
voice of the Middle Ages.
Hotel Arrivals.