r did this extend in any particular direction. A better thought came
to be held of God and man's relation to him. Instead of being an
arbitrary, domineering creature, he had become in the minds of the
people rational and law-loving; instead of being vindictive and fickle,
as he was wont to be pictured, he had been endowed with benevolence
toward his creatures. The result of all this was that religion itself
became more spiritual and the conscience more operative. There was
less of formality and conventionality in religion and more of real,
devout feeling and consciousness of worthy motive in life, but the
church must have more strenuous lessons before spiritual freedom could
be fulfilled.

Life, too, came to be viewed as something more than merely a temporary
expedient, a thing to be viewed as a necessary evil. It had come to be
regarded as a noble expression worthy of the thought and the best
attention of every individual. This world, too, was meant to be of use
and to make people happy. It was to be enjoyed and used as best it
might be. {374} The old guild classes finally broke down, and where
formerly men thought in groups, a strong individuality developed and
man became an independent, thinking being in himself, bound by neither
religion nor philosophy. He was larger than either philosophy or
religion made him. He was a being of capacity and strength, and
enabled to take the best of this life in order to enhance the delight
of living. There came, also, with this a large belief in the law and
order of the universe. Old beliefs had become obsolete because the
people could no longer depend on them. And when these dogmatic
formulas ceased to give satisfaction to the human mind, it sought for
order in the universe and the laws which controlled it, and the
intellectual world then entered the field of research for truth--the
field of experiment.

SUBJECTS FOR FURTHER STUDY

1. How did the Revival of Learning prepare the way for modern science?

2. What contributions to progress were made by Petrarch, Boccaccio,
Michael Angelo, Justinian, Galileo, Copernicus, Columbus?

3. The nature of Machiavelli's political philosophy.

4. Compare Gothic, Romanesque, and Arabian architecture.

5. The status of morals during the period of the intellectual
development of Europe.

6. The great weakness of the philosophy of this period.

7. What was the state of organized society and what was the "common
man"