certain what to do with it. Sometimes these vital movements, in which
ethical idealism of a rare type was displayed, almost threatened the
existence of the hierarchical body which was in control of the
organization through which they had to work. This was the situation
which developed as a result of the spread of the ideals of the
mendicant orders of the thirteenth century. Such an occurrence makes
us realize that the social life of the time was creative, and that this
creativeness could with difficulty be kept within the control of the
formal Church; yet the organs which were necessary for the application
of these ideas and enthusiasms were molded in accordance with
ecclesiastical institutions, because no other model was at hand.
Secular life was too narrow to give either financial support or
suggestions. It {195} had so long been accustomed to assign the moral
field to religious institutions.

In spite of the undercurrent of criticism against the worldliness of
the clergy which discovers itself to the historian of the later Middle
Ages, the social movements connected with incorporated Christianity
were vital enough to justify the existence of the Church. It acted as
the traditional center of philanthropy, and its immense wealth made
this feature a real force among the poor. But the other associated
functions were slowly separating themselves from their original
connection and striking roots in the secular life of the time. In
place of the cathedral towns clustered around the cathedral and the
bishop's palace, the commercial towns pushed to the front both in
wealth and importance. The wealthy merchant or banker vied in riches
with the churchman. Art and literature passed from the hands of the
Church to the laity. This process was very gradual, but steady and
persistent. By the time of the reformation, it was in full swing.
Beneath the framework of feudalism and the Mediaeval Church, a new
society had been forming, far more complex than the old and full of
potentialities which we are only now beginning to measure. Industry,
commerce, geographical discovery, national literature, guilds,
municipal governments, courts, science, secular art, philosophy, all
were present either in bud or in full flower. Out of the fertile and
fearless life which came from the interplay of these tendencies and
activities, new ideas and values were born and soon found or created
appropriate organs for their expression apart from