SUMMARY. CHAPTER I. Effects of the thirst after justice-Devotion included imitation as well as prayer-The view taken by modern historians-General character of the middle ages in relation to justice-Their peculiar meritThe satirists and censors-Tendency of the ancient works of fiction-The number of the just not revealed by history P. 5 CHAPTER II. Historic difficulties opposed to its discovery-What kind of evidence may be had-Incidental testimonies-Tone of literature-Tendency of the confraternities, and of chivalrous orders-Legislation and government of the ancient Catholic state-Direct testimonies-Justice of men in different ranks; general views taken by ancient writers p. 21 CHAPTER III. Domestic manners-Filial and parental duties-Fidelity of dependents-Sanctity of marriage-Justice in relation to property-Hospitality-Domestics-Feudal life and its rural exercises-Whole families composed of saints-The women of the ages of faith-Character of female piety in Catholic countriesThe conventual life of nuns, and its influence on domestic manners-The recluses-Origin of the cloistral life of women-The convent of the middle ages-Learning of the nuns-Moral and social condition of women in ages of faith contrasted with pagan times-Women of the Catholic type a new creationJudgment of the holy fathers-Influence of women in respect to justice-The Catholic lady, her justice and charity―The erudition and political importance of some in the middle ages-Their heroic virtue— The maternal character-Modesty and grace of daughters; their employments and recreations-The spirit which presided over marriage-The marital love of the middle ages-Heroic examples-The regard and respect evinced for women P. 39 CHAPTER IV. The loves of the middle ages sanctified and rendered a source of moral improvement: associated with the life of faith and the hopes of heaven-Examples of devotion in love-The danger and evil incident to it-How atoned for p. 87 CHAPTER V. Institution and action of the clergy in relation to justice-Discipline-Celibacy-The hierarchy- Supremacy of the Roman See-Origin of its temporal power-The council of cardinals-Legates-The episcopal state in general-The parish priests-Life in community-Synods-Appeals to Rome- Support of the clergy in relation to justice-Tithes-Annats, exemptions-Reverence shown to the of the episcopacy in the middle ages-Provisions against simony-Justice of the men in ecclesiastical order-The popes-The sacred college-The bishops-The parish priests-Distribution of the church them: keep aloof from temporal affairs-Origin of their employment in the civil government-Their integrity in regard to it-The beneficial result to society-Their frugality and moderation-They keep aloof from profane amusements-Their hospitality-Their direct influence in regard to justice-Their particular and incidental action-Their ordinary and universal action-The missionaries of the middle ages-The preachers of the middle ages-Ideas of the moderns respecting them-The sermons of the middle age in relation to justice-In relation to eloquence and taste, and effect-Incidental evidence The justice of the ages of faith, heroic-Consequent interest inspired by Catholic histories-Grandeur and virtue of the middle ages-The local histories-The heroic justice of canonized saints-The high standard proposed to all men-The mercantile character-The knightly character-The moral philosophy of the middle ages opposed to the utilitarian-The Catholic doctrine respecting motives The justice of the ages of faith, supernatural; yet in harmony with nature-Testimony of the Gentiles -Insufficiency of nature-The morality of faith higher, and in some points different-A supernatural standard proposed to all men-Opposition to the sensual ideal-Thoughts of the ancients respecting The justice consequent on confession and penance-Origin and history of the institution-Thoughts to the feelings of men-Its influence and effects-Objections of the moderns respecting examination of conscience, penance, and absolution-Indulgences-Their origin-Doctrine of the church-The practical Contrast between the Catholic morality and that of the ancient and modern world—A glance at the justice of the Gentiles, and at that of the moderns-Change of manners consequent on the change of faith-The proposition that morality is now better understood, considered-Essential character of the modern systems-Testimony of their supporters-Contrast of modern to Catholic manners in relation to CHAPTER X. Other features of the Catholic morality-Its precise and certain law-Its practical and poetic character -Its provisions against all extravagance-Its strictness respecting common duties-Payment of creditors -Justice of municipal laws-Provisions against usury-It included all virtues in one-Its influence even apon art-Effects seen in the edifices of the middle age-General ideas of justice derived from the example of Christ-From the models which he proposed, and from the observation of the visible world. CHAPTER XI. p. 246 The subject resumed—Doctrines were the foundation of duties, and the divine authority their principle of force and efficacy-Motives furnished by the knowledge of a future judgment-The Catholic morality was spiritual and living-The charge against it of superstition refuted-Its efficacy in the determination of the will-Free agency of man and power of the will, maintained, and the practical consequences in the middle ages-The fatalism of the moderns, and the custom of life resulting from it—Genuine and exalted merit of the Catholic morality acknowledged by a late philosopher CHAPTER XIL P. 257 Objection to the Catholic morality on the supposed ground of its incompatibility with the Christian doctrine of justification, refuted by the testimony of the holy fathers-Of the scholastic and mystic authors of the church herself in her liturgy-Of the laity, philosophers, and poets, and of the tombs and other material monuments of the middle ages-Conclusion p. 266 |