In
the Vatican Gallery of Inscriptions is a stone slab with the single word
"Stercoriae," and below, the Christian symbol. It might serve as a motto
for the Middle Ages, during which, to quote St. Paul, all things were
"counted dung but to win Christ." In this attitude of mind the wisdom
of the Greeks was not simply foolishness, but a stumbling-block in the
path. Knowledge other than that which made a man "wise unto salvation"
was useless. All that was necessary was contained in the Bible or taught
by the Church. This simple creed brought consolation to thousands and
illumined the lives of some of the noblest of men. But, "in seeking a
heavenly home man lost his bearings upon earth." Let me commend for your
reading Taylor's "Mediaeval Mind."(1) I cannot judge of its scholarship,
which I am told by scholars is ripe and good, but I can judge of its
usefulness for anyone who wishes to know the story of the mind of man
in Europe at this period. Into the content of mediaeval thought only
a mystic can enter with full sympathy. It was a needful change in the
evolution of the race. Christianity brought new ideals and new motives
into the lives of men. The world's desire was changed, a desire for the
Kingdom of Heaven, in the search for which the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eye and the pride of life were as dross.
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