e, of course, quite
out of the question, and angels are as far as possible relegated from
the citadel of asserted belief into the vaguer regions of poetical
sentimentality; but--although again unadmitted by the orthodox of the
sect--the popular conception of Christ is, and, until the masses are
more educated in theological niceties than they are at present,
necessarily must be, as of a Supreme Being totally distinct from God the
Father. This applies in a less degree to the third Person in the
Trinity; less, because His individuality is less clear. George Eliot
has, with her usual penetration, noted this fact in "Silas Marner,"
where, in Mrs. Winthrop's simple theological system, the Trinity is
always referred to as "Them."

[Footnote 1: Hecker, Epidemics of the Middle Ages, p. 85.]

[Footnote 2: Bullinger, p. 348. Parker Society.]

17. The posthumous history of Francis of Assisi affords a striking
illustration of this strange tendency towards polytheism. This
extraordinary man received no little reverence and adulation during his
lifetime; but it was not until after his death that the process of
deification commenced. It was then discovered that the stigmata were not
the only points of resemblance between the departed saint and the Divine
Master he professed to follow; that his birth had been foretold by the
prophets; that, like Christ, he underwent transfiguration; and that he
had worked miracles during his life. The climax of the apotheosis was
reached in 1486, when a monk, preaching at Paris, seriously maintained
that St. Francis was in very truth a second Christ, the second Son of
God; and that after his death he descended into purgatory, and
liberated all the spirits confined there who had the good fortune to be
arrayed in the Franciscan garb.[1]

[Footnote 1: Maury, Histoire de la Magie, p. 354.]

18. (ii.) The second principle is that of the Manichaeists: the division
of spirits into hostile camps, good and evil. This is a much more common
belief than the orthodox are willing to allow. There is hardly any
religious system that does not recognize a first source of evil, as well
as a first source of good. But the spirit of evil occupies a position of
varying importance: in some systems he maintains himself as co-equal of
the spirit of good; in others he sinks to a lower stage, remaining very
powerful to do harm, but nevertheless under the control, in matters of
the highest importance, of the more beneficent Be