The same observations will apply to the contempt with which， in the last century， it was fashionable to speak of the pilgrimages， the sanctuaries， the crusades， and the monastic institutions of the middle ages. In times when men were scarcely ever induced to travel by liberal curiosity， or by the pursuit of gain， it was better that the rude inhabitant of the North should visit Italy and the East as a pilgrim， than that he should never see anything but those squalid cabins and uncleared woods amidst which he was born. In times when life and when female honour were exposed to daily risk from tyrants and marauders， it was better that the precinct of a shrine should be regarded with an irrational awe， than that there should be no refuge inaccessible to cruelty and licentiousness. In times when statesmen were incapable of forming extensive political combinations， it was better that the Christian nations should be roused and united for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre， than that they should， one by one， be overwhelmed by the Mahometan power. Whatever reproach may， at a later period， have been justly thrown on the indolence and luxury of religious orders， it was surely good that， in an age of ignorance and violence， there should be quiet cloisters and gardens， in which the arts of peace could be safely cultivated， in which gentle and contemplative natures could find an asylum， in which one brother could employ himself in transcribing the 苙eid of Virgil， and another in meditating the Analytics of Aristotle， in which he who had a genius for art might illuminate a martyrology or carve a crucifix， and in which he who had a turn for natural philosophy might make experiments on the properties of plants and minerals. Had not such retreats been scattered here and there， among the huts of a miserable peasantry， and the castles of a ferocious aristocracy， European society would have consisted merely of beasts of burden and beasts of prey. The Church has many times been compared by divines to the ark of which we read in the Book of Genesis： but never was the resemblance more perfect than during that evil time when she alone rode， amidst darkness and tempest， on the deluge beneath which all the great works of ancient power and wisdom lay entombed， bearing within her that feeble germ from which a Second and more glorious civilisation was to spring.
Even the spiritual supremacy arrogated by the Pope was， in the dark ages， productive of far more good than evil. Its effect was to unite the nations of Western Europe in one great commonwealth.
What the Olympian chariot course and the Pythian oracle were to all the Greek cities， from Trebizond to Marseilles， Rome and her Bishop were to all Christians of the Latin communion， from Calabria to the Hebrides. Thus grew up sentiments of enlarged benevolence. Races separated from each other by seas and mountains acknowledged a fraternal tie and a common code of public law. Even in war， the cruelty of the conqueror was not seldom mitigated by the recollection that he and his vanquished enemies were all members of one great federation.
