h and state became reconciled, the early breach between public
and private life was filled. The religious interest and its duties
joined themselves to those of secular life. For the mass of the people
who did not surrender themselves to religion in the intensive way
reserved for the clergy, Christianity simply forced a new alignment of
social relations and values. The ideal was a Church-directed
civilization in which the next world overshadowed this. For ordinary
life, {192} however, a practical adjustment was soon reached. Life was
lived in a conventional enough way and the compromise was balanced by
the efficacy of sacraments administered by the servants of the
authoritative Church, the continuation of the incarnation upon the
earth.

In the chaotic West, overrun by barbarians, society lost its ancient
form and became stratified in accordance with a decentralized, military
regime. The strongly organized, international Church maintained itself
and saw an opportunity to realize its ideal, a civilization, or order,
guided by itself and obedient to religious values. Should not the
vice-regent of God rule upon the earth and make the divine law the law
of the nations? In the conflict between the Roman Church, as
reorganized by Hildebrand, and the Holy Roman Empire, we have a
striking instance of that recurrent struggle between the supernatural
and the secular so peculiar to the Christian world. Had not the
emperors possessed some religious sanction for their claims and
authority, they would have been completely overridden by the popes. It
was the growth from beneath of national and human interests and of a
more varied and stimulating social life that ultimately defeated the
political aims of the Church. Humanism always flourishes when peace
and contentment are abroad, and humanism is the deadliest enemy that
supernaturalism has to meet. Thus the tradition of the Roman Empire
tided secular authority over until the rise of vigorous nations with
distinct customs, languages, and loyalties ceased to make the imperial
and theocratic aspirations of the Church practical. But we must never
forget that these aspirations of the Mediaeval Church were natural
outgrowths of the {193} religious view of the world. If man is but a
sojourner here, undergoing his tests for the life to come, who can be a
better guide in all things than the divine institution established by
God himself? The center of gravity of man's life falls o