The Irish standard., 1913-08-02

OL1HQQTQ 0y James l.. Nolan.
consequences we should expect from
the work of God"
And again, 1.-THE cunning priest
craft of pagan lands ever sought the
support of power; but this amazing
priest-craft defled human power, pit
ting itself recklessly against a brutal
empire, intrenched aristocracy and a
corrupted clerical force of great nu-
merical strength; against men of
power and what they loved.
Has the world ever seen cunning like
this?" Forty generations of states
men," says MacCauley. What re-
marlkable statesmanship!" OF the
dark ages this: First let us make
plain what we mean by the dark
ages The name has been applied,
strangely enough, to that period in
history when there began to be a diff
fusion Ct light. The Greek civiliza-
tion was luminous, it is true, but the
light shone like single star in a
black sky. The diameter of civiliza-
tion was short, indeed. The circle of
light comprehended but few square
miles of the earth's surface lying
around the eastern end of the Medi-
terranean Sea. Beyond that small
circumference were vast black will
dernesses. Toward the Orient was
faint afterglow of prehistoric civiliza-
tions. Africa lay to the south, in
night that has persisted unto this
generation. America was in the deep
est shadow, relieved only by glim-
mer, perhaps. 4where the Aztecs, or
the Toltecs. or the sum worshipping
incas were lighting their feeble intel
lectual lamps. In Europe, save for
that patch on the Mediterranean
shore, the sons of Japhet walked in
gloom. Nor was the Greek civiliza-
ton of any depth. When it was
purely Greek and at its brightest, it
was but surface glow. One-tenth
Of the Greeks were enlightened and
free, nine -tenths of them the most alb
ject and ignorant of slaves. The ex-
tension of that civilization to Rome
deepened it slightly, but 1t became
less brilliant as it was diffused over a
larger area. To some extent the en-
terprise and valor of the Romans
spread it north and west, but it gave
only faint radiance then-its pris-
tine brilliancy was gone forever.
"The illumination of the world was
a task demanding purer and strong
er light, and Christianity furnished
the torch. And when the glow of this
strange supernatural light began to
struggle with the darkness of the
world, then began what are known as
the dark ages 1t was not that they
gone before; it was the beginning of
consciousness on the part of the
more enlightened of the fact that they
were so dark. The wall between CIV
ilization and barbarism was broken
down and the darkness of the world
mingled with the light that had been
confined to few, but was to shine
henceforth for all men. 1t was the
beginning Of vast struggle between
Int oil afrykS
And little by little the light won it's
way and the shadows receded, little
by little the civilizing influence
spread. deepening the purposes and
ennobling the lives of men. Little by
little the arts and sciences regained
what was lost, and more also, not in
the narrow theater of the past, but
all over the wide world.
"And how was this accomplished /?
BY teaching the arts and sciences? I?
No, by teaching the worship of God.
What did the work? Was it done by
great universities supported by such
endowments as the Carnegie Fund,
presided over by men who gave their
whole lives to the study of natural
sciences and secular literatures? No.
It was the monk that modern culture
SO despises who did the work. It was
the monk, preparing men for the next
world, who made men fit to live in
this. 1t was the monk who kept in
his cells the treasures of ancient lit
erature that would have been lost
otherwise and reproduced them in the
scriptorium of the monastery It was
the monk who taught the peasant the
agricultural arts and impressed upon
the mobiles the dignity of labor by put
(Continned on naea 81