"of the secret wonders of that land of deepest shade. "He made these wild fancies the actual, the daily, "the practical religion of Europe. Participating in "the ecclesiastical hatred of human learning, and "insisting on the maxim that Ignorance is the "mother of devotion,' he expelled from Rome all "mathematical studies, and burned the Palatine library "founded by Augustus Cæsar. It was valuable for the "many rare manuscripts it contained. He forbade the 'study of the classics, mutilated statues, and destroyed "temples. He hated the very relics of classical genius; "pursued with vindictive fanaticism the writings of "Livy, against whom he was specially excited. It

has truly been said that he was as inveterate an "enemy to learning as ever lived'; that no lucid "'ray ever beamed on his superstitious soul.' He "boasted that his own works were written without "regard to the rules of grammar, and censured the "crime of a priest who had taught that subject" (Intellectual Development of Europe, Vol. II, p. 357).

"We have now approached the close of a thousand "years from the birth of Christ; the evil union of the "Church and State, their rivalries, their intrigues, "their quarrels, had produced an inevitable result, "doing the same in the West that they had done in "the East; disorganising the political system, and "ending in a universal social demoralisation. The "absorption of small properties into large estates 'steadily increased the number of slaves; where "there had once been many free families, there was "now found only a rich man. Even of this class the "number diminished by the same process of absorp"tion, until there were sparsely scattered here and "there abbots and counts with enormous estates "worked by herds of slaves, whose numbers, since

"sometimes one man possessed more than 20,000 of "them, might deceive us, if we did not consider the

vast surface over which they were spread. Examined "in that way, the west of Europe proves to have been "covered with forests, here and there dotted with a "convent or a town. From those countries, once full "of the splendid evidences of Roman civilisation, "mankind was fast disappearing" (Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 376-77).

"The Venetians employed the Crusaders for the "capture of Zara from the King of Hungary. Still "worse, and shameful to be said—partly from the lust "of plunder, and partly through ecclesiastical machina"tions-it again turned aside for an attack upon Con"stantinople, and took that city by storm A.D. 1204, "thereby establishing Latin Christianity in the Eastern "metropolis, but, alas! with bloodshed, rape, and fire. "On the night of the assault more houses were burned "than could be found in any three of the largest cities "in France. Even Christian historians compare with "shame the storming of Constantinople by the Catho"lics with the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin. Pope "Innocent himself was compelled to protest against "enormities that had outrun his intentions. He says: "They practised fornications, incests, adulteries in "the sight of men. They abandoned matrons and

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virgins, consecrated to God, to the lewdness of "'groans. They lifted their hands against the ""treasures of the churches-what is more heinous, "the very consecrated vessels-tearing the tablets of "silver from the very altars, breaking in pieces the "most sacred things, carrying off crosses and relics.' "In St. Sophia the silver was stripped from the "pulpit; an exquisite and highly-prized table of "oblation was broken in pieces, and sacred chalices

Bible Picture.

JESUS CASTINGg Out a Multitude of DevILS.

When Christ was still upon Earth he spent the greater part of his time going about the country healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, raising the dead, and casting out devils. He cast no less than seven

out of the body of Mary Magdalene, and about two thousand out of the sufferer in the Gadarene country. The illustration, which is taken from the Bible, shows Jesus in the act of casting out devils. The vapour escaping from the man's mouth arises from the burning brimstone which always accompanies devils. It is important that the Chinese should know this.

To face p. 122.