Gilbert de la Porret (d. 1154), warned the masters of the schools to build more firmly on Scripture proof, and to shelter themselves behind the authority of the Fathers. This course was adopted by the well-known Cardinal Pulleyn (d. 1150), and the more celebrated Peter Lombard (d. 1164), whose four books of the Sentences have been for centuries the text-book of a large portion of the Christian Church, and regarded as an authority co-ordinate with Scripture.

Between these two parties, the speculative and the ascetic, which divided the teachers of the twelfth century, an opening was left for a third, which was represented by the school of St. Victor. Starting from better and more historical principles of Scripture interpretation, for some time its leaders followed a grand object-of bringing the ordinary speculative pursuits within the range of common life, and of imparting a greater degree of fixedness to contemplative Theology: but the mystical and contemplative element soon bore down the rational one. Hugo (d. 1141), although no mean or unsound commentator on the Scriptures, and the friend of St. Bernard, the head of the practical ascetics, contributed to extend the Theology of the Pseudo-Dionysius. Richard (d. 1173) attempted to give dogmatical precision to the contemplative mysticism which it was the object of his school to erect on Scripture. Walter (d. 1180) is known for his furious attacks on the leading schoolmen of the time-attacks marked by the worst spirit of puritanical fanaticism.

39. The increase of papal influence and interference in matters of faith, subsequently to the Lateran Council in 1215, led to the occupation of most professional chairs by the Dominicans and Franciscans, the most zealous and faithful advocates of the Pontificate. Henceforward the philosophy of Aristotle became that of orthodoxy. Two eminent labourers in this field were an English Franciscan, Alexander Hales (d. 1245), the Irrefragable Doctor, and a Dominican, Albertus Magnus (d. 1280), the most learned of all the schoolmen. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), the Angelic Doctor, will ever hold a high place among theologians, not merely for the copiousness of his writings, and his rare and wonderful dialectical powers (restrained, too, as these are within the bounds of his subject): Aquinas possesses other claims, from the enduring influence exercised by him on the developement of Theology, and the amount (to which Protestants have done homage) of Catholic truths enucleated in his writings. Less acute than Aquinas, Cardinal Bonaventure (d. 1274) allowed more scope to ascetic mysticism (in the spirit of Bernard) than was usual in the intellectual warfare of that day. John Duns Scotus (d. 1308), the most obscure and subtle of the schoolmen, was the founder of a school opposed to that of Aquinas. The weak points, however, of both systems were assailed by the English Franciscan, Roger Bacon (d. 1293).

The third period of the Scholastic Philosophy is characterised by servile adherence, on the part of many writers, to existing authorities. Some important exceptions, however, are to be found. Durand of St. Pourçain (d. 1332), although a Dominican, ventured to differ from

Thomas Aquinas, as did the English Franciscan, William Occam (d. 1343), from Scotus. Occam extended his hostility to attacks upon papal supremacy and the existing abuses of the Church; in which, as in his Nominalism (revived after the slumber of more than two centuries), he was followed by his admirer, Gabriel Biel (d. 1495), the last of the schoolmen.

The close of the fifteenth century saw Scholasticism in ruins. During the fourteenth century the dominant system had been weakened by the conduct of several influential writers, who, without formally abandoning the orthodox track, held doctrines very different in tone from those usually taught on some important points. Such were De Lyra, a learned and influential commentator on Scripture, and the Anglican prelate, Bradwardine (d. 1349), the Jansen of his time; and, in the following age, the two philosophical writers, Raymund of Sabunda (1436), and Nicholas Cusanus.

To

Another class of enemies to the tottering system of the time, was that headed by the leaders of the University of Paris-Pierre d'Ailly (d. 1425), his pupil Gerson, and Nicholas Clamenge (d. 1440), all men of deep piety, and well versed in Scripture and antiquity. Educated, however, under a restrictive system, they contented themselves with attempting to remove the more obnoxious excrescences. the hostile agencies of Philosophy, and this last-named biblical party, a third remains to be added: a mysticism very different to that of the last three centuries, less metaphysical and scientific than that of either Bonaventure or the Victorines, was now opposed to the dry, metaphysical Theology of the schools. How acceptable was any approach to spiritual religion, may be seen from the avidity with which this mysticism was received, whether in the idealism of Ruysbroeckh and the German Theology (that touching monument of Mediaeval piety), the childlike self-devotion to God which characterises the remains of Eckart's pupils, Tauler and Suso, or the simple asceticism of Thomas à Kempis (d. 1471).

40. In the Greek Church the dicta of the principal Fathers-e.g., Gregory of Nazianzum, of Nyssa, and Basil-were collected into a system of faith by John of Damascus, who performed his task with remarkable acuteness, clearness, and precision. In the West, Junilius and (on a larger scale) Isidore were the first to arrange under certain heads the teaching of the Church, supported by the "testimonies" and "sentences" of the Fathers, and especially of Augustine and Gregory the Great. These were the materials of the edifice subsequently completed by the schoolmen; their proper territory, within which (in accordance with, or perhaps in defiance of, the authority of the Church) the intellectual powers found scope and occupation. A fair estimate of their system can be gathered from some of the principal writers, without undertaking the dry, though not altogether barren, task of struggling through their voluminous remains. At the head of such a list must be placed Anselm of Canterbury, the Father of Scholasticism, although he left to his successors the task of constructing a Manual. This was subsc

quently accomplished by Peter Lombard, in his Books of the Sentences. With this may fitly be joined the summaries of Alexander Hales and Thomas Aquinas. These commentaries on the great text-book of Lombard deserve to be studied as much for their intrinsic merits, as for the reputation they have enjoyed. To these should be added the Breviloquum of the holy-minded Bonaventure-a book which a no less pure and accomplished authority than Gerson wished to see in general use; "its author, in his endeavour to illuminate the intellect, never losing sight of the objects of piety and evangelising the heart."

The cause from which Scholasticism arose, was the desire, in itself praiseworthy, of supporting, by philosophical proof and evidence, the system of faith which the Church had adopted. This feeling had been gaining ground since the commencement of the twelfth century, and had enlisted in its service men who, for depth and acuteness of intellect, have never been surpassed-whose talents have been honoured with homage and applause unparalleled. But the excess of dialectic powers has in their case degenerated into barren subtleties: the ceaseless and extravagant logomachy of the schoolmen (and more especially the latter) has robbed their works of all attractiveness, and weakened in the minds of the authors themselves that interest and devotion to the cause of truth which might have rendered them of essential service to the Church. The seal of ecclesiastical authority and prescription was received without question-to be defended and strengthened by new arguments-to be enucleated, expanded-to swell the mass of theological hypotheses and dicta-to exert a binding force upon subsequent generations-no matter how strange the doctrine, if its propounder were the idol of either of those orders in whom all teaching was lodged.

Under the names of the Thomists and Scotists, the Dominicans and Franciscans upheld the oracles of their respective orders. The principal differences between them may be summed up thus: That the Thomists adhered, in the main, to the system of Augustine, although with the reservation of some degree of human merit; the Scotists, on the contrary, approached more nearly to Pelagianism, in that they regarded original sin and grace as stages ordained by Providence in the developement of human nature.

The great parent of mischief was the strong dialectical tendency of the leading schoolmen. Even granting that it was not their object to extend the province of reason at the expense of that of faith, it was impossible to expect that a course so delicate should be long maintained, or by inferior intellects. It has been well observed, that to any one who should undertake the history of Scholasticism, from the time of Duns Scotus until its final subsidence into a barren heap of verbal subtleties, the dullness and repulsiveness of his task would be repaid by the complete historical Apology for the Reformation which would be thus supplied.

41. Almost a co-ordinate authority with the Church, in the eyes of the schoolmen, was that of Aristotle-derived, however, from imperfect

sources. How these teachers succeeded in blending this with what had been already derived from Plato, through Augustine, into the Church system-how the ethical system of Aristotle, from aiding in systematising Christian holiness, came to foster a system of corrupt workrighteousness-may be seen by the writings of the schoolmen. So true it is that the Scholastic Philosophy remained to the last the fast ally of the corrupt religious system of the Middle Ages, and rendered, at the same time, truth more difficult of access, by the obstacles it interposed to its developement and pursuit.

But the good seed was not totally choked under the thorns of the Scholastic Philosophy: the spirit of Scripture wrought through the covering of the Vulgate the system of faith was, stripped of its corruptions, based upon the creeds-and (as in the Anglican Church of the eighteenth century) many within the pale of orthodoxy wrought zealously to forward the coming of a better day. When the Reformation dawned, it found the materials of a change laid ready.

42. Crisis of the Theology of the Middle Ages in the Sixteenth Century. It is historically certain that the dogmatic system of the Romish Church was built up at irregular intervals, according to the suggestions of interest, or the impulse of fanaticism. Papal interference did not ordinarily extend beyond the adjustment of matters which were not deemed to be in unison with the interests of the hierarchy. This formed the ordinary terminus of the intellectual legislation exercised by the pontiffs; topics apparently unconnected therewith being left undisturbed. An immediate consequence of this, was the inconsistency and looseness of the system which thus grew up. Principles and statements (some, moreover, of paramount importance) were left untouched, from which consequences might be drawn eminently prejudicial to the system of which the former formed a part, although an inharmonious one. Nor was this contingency altogether so remote as might have been expected. The ignorance of the times, great as it was, was far from acting as a perpetual barrier to free and fair deductions, against which the condemnations of popes and councils were promulgated with little effect. Occasionally, also, precedents derived from sources of unquestionable authority, or, in some cases, the high reputation of the asserting parties, suggested the prudence of employing, in these censures and condemnations, terms so vague and general as to render the evasion of the sentence a task of little difficulty to the masters of dialectical subtlety and artifice, against whom they were directed.

43. A task so disagreeable and delicate, as that of reducing to harmony the various component parts of the system, was naturally avoided by the popes, except in cases where their interference was positively demanded. The conduct of Gregory VII., in the affair of Berengar of Tours, is well known; but this apparent indifference (or, rather, this apprehension) on the part of the popes, led to a tacit recognition of differences within the pale of the Romish Church.

A sufficient illustration of this may be found in the course of the Council of Trent. The words of an Anglican writer on the subject are worth

of remark: "I need not instance in the Article of the Immaculate Conception, or the use of images, and transubstantiation itself, variously propounded and taught in their schools-of purgatory, or infallibility, and supremacy over princes-but in those opinions only sometimes too hotly agitated among the Protestants; for there are as very Calvinists and Arminians among those as these." "At the same time, I cannot but commend the prudence of our great adversary, the Church of Rome, who thinks fit to give her children liberty to dispute eagerly enough, and will not determine in favour of either party, while both acknowledge her power, as thinking it better to have some running sores, than no health.”

44. The fate of the papal supremacy was hastened by a blow proceeding from a quarter which had for a long period been that of its defenders-the schoolmen. The countless subtleties of these teachers, as well as the sophistical absurdities originating with them, and through their means elevated to authority, appeared more calculated to deaden than kindle a desire of sound knowledge. But, although overlaid by a vast mass of extraneous and discordant speculations, the pure gold remained beneath. Many great and fundamental truths of Christianity lay entombed in the vast stores of the Scholastic system. So late as the time of Luther himself, the Cardinal Contarini pleaded for the doctrines of justification, free-will, and predestination, in terms but little different from those which a Lutheran would have employed. Bishop Fisher wrote at length, and in what may be termed Protestant language, for the interest of faith, mercy, and Christ's redemption. The preservation of these great truths is attributable to their having been lodged in the hands of these masters. To attempt their removal would have been futile in the face of such vigilant guardians, to whom they furnished the materials of that intellectual warfare which was the occupation of their lives. The pontiffs contented themselves with reflecting on the improbability of these weapons being turned against themselves. This was no unwarranted speculation, if we look to the tone and expressions of those masters of the schools who exercised the widest influence on the age in which they lived. They saw that in the leading schoolmen they possessed zealous and accomplished champions of the turning points of the system-their own supremacy, and the doctrine of the sacraments; and they thought that all besides might be left without risk as an arena for speculation. Their calcu lation would have proved correct, had the amount of human civilisation been limited to that of the Middle Ages, and could the domination of Realism have been preserved intact.

45. The internal discrepancies respecting doctrine were more fully displayed at the Council of Trent. So slight, apparently, were the differences between the two great religious parties of the time, that the desired reconciliation seemed by no means impracticable: but the result of the Tridentine deliberations extinguished the hopes of re-union with the Church of Rome, entertained in one large section of the Christian world, and extirpated (although neither boldly nor completely) the seeds