INTRODUCTORY 253 



for good or ill, of an elaborate philosophy of life. No 

 student of comparative religion can term that philo- 

 sophy the religion taught by Jesus in Galilee. It was 

 the product of active and masterful, not of passive and 

 submissive races. It was the folk -religion of Western 

 (in particular Teutonic), not of Eastern peoples. To 

 many, notwithstanding its grave defects, it will appear to 

 contain social, economic, and aesthetic elements wanting 

 in the civilisation of to-day. To the narrower Protestant 

 the Middle Ages appeared Dark Ages ; probably he 

 regarded them in much the same spirit as the early 

 Christians regarded the palmy days of Greek culture. 

 Yet the day came when Hellenism broke in upon 

 Christianity and forced mankind to recognise it as a 

 co-equal factor of human thought. Perhaps the day is 

 not so distant when mediaevalism, rejected long ago as a 

 religion, shall be recognised as an essential feature of 

 modern culture. It only awaits an interpreter with 

 inspiration as well as knowledge. 1 Meanwhile the object 

 of the present writer will be more than fulfilled if his 

 essay leads any reader to a study of mediaeval thought 

 and expression for their own sakes. He is certain that 

 such a study cannot be without fruit. 



1 The name of William Morris will occur to most readers as a noteworthy 

 exponent of that culture, and more so in 1896 than it was even in 1883. 



