the rank of an evil deity, supreme in the material universe. Or,
finally, with Joachim of Corazzo and the Fraticelli, they developed the
cardinal idea of the more orthodox mystics, the belief in the inner
light, and taught that the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life. In
short, all were guilty, not of repudiating Christianity, but of
interpreting the Christian doctrine in a sense forbidden by authority.
Beneath all differences there was unity; behind the controversy,
agreement. There are no feuds more bitter, no recriminations more
unjust, than those of men who look at the same faith from different
sides.

In justice to the official Church it must be remembered that, whether
she had to deal with kings or heretics, the peculiar nature of her power
forced her to work through instruments which she was powerless to keep
in hand, and in which she had placed her confidence with the temerity of
desperation. There can be no greater contrast than that between the
Hildebrandine programme and the measures by which it was incompletely
realised. To enforce the celibacy of the clergy the mobs of Milan and
the South-German cities were commissioned to rabble married priests. To
make an end of simony the German princes were encouraged in a policy of
provincial separatism, a premium was placed on perjured accusations, and
a son was suborned to betray his father. That the tide of the
Albigensian heresy might be stemmed, Innocent III launched against the
brilliant civilisation of Languedoc the brutal and avaricious feudalism
of the North. Sometimes the error was recognised after it had been
committed. But no experience could cure the official Church of the
delusion that every volunteer must be credited with the purest motives
until the contrary is proved. The same ignorance of human nature
characterised her methods of administrative routine. Even if, for the
sake of argument, we admit the truth of the principles which were