THE AGE OF THE ROSARY. 485 



and these priests belonged to the conquered people. 

 The Church, it is true, was divided by a schism ; 

 Ulphilas, the apostle of the Goths, was an Arian ; 

 the dispute which had arisen in a lecture-room at 

 Alexandria, between a bishop and a presbyter, was 

 continued on a hundred battle-fields. But the 

 Franks were Catholics, and the Franks became 

 supreme. The Arians were worsted in the conflict of 

 swords as they had formerly been worsted in the conflict 

 of words. The Empire of the West was restored by 

 Charlemagne, who spread Christianity among the 

 Saxons by the sword, and confirmed the spiritual 

 supremacy of Rome. He died, and his dominions 

 were partitioned amongst kings, who were royal 

 only in the name. Europe was divided into castle- 

 states. Savage isolation, irrespoDsible power : such 

 was the order of the age. Yet still there was a 

 sovereign whom all acknowledged, and whom all to a 

 certain extent obeyed. That sovereign was the Pope 

 of Rome. The men who wore his livery might travel 

 throughout Europe in safety, welcome alike at cottage 

 and castle, paying for their board and lodging with 

 their prayers. If there is a Great Being who listens 

 with pleasure to the prayers of men, it must have been 

 in the Dark Ages that he looked down upon the earth 

 with most satisfaction. That period may be called 

 The Age of the Rosary. From the Shetland Islands 

 to the shores of China, prayers were being strung, and 

 voices were being sonorously raised. The Christian 

 repeated his paternosters and his credos on beads of 

 holy clay from Palestine : the Persian at Teheran, the 

 negro at Timbuctoo, the Afghan at Cabul, repeated 

 the ninety-nine names of God on beads made of camel 

 bones from Mecca. The Indian prince by the waters 



