Page:The Science of History and the Hope of Mankind.djvu/71



principle of one of the most powerful Empires of the world was supplied by the birth of a religion.

So also the teachings of Christ, which were at first practised and developed by a small coterie of religious-minded men, acquired, under the conditions of the world, such secular and political influence, that about the time of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the Church organisations of the Christian society alone were the real political authorities, and discharged all the important functions of the secular states. The new Teuton conquerors of the old Roman provinces had to place themselves under the tutelage and guardianship of the Church dignitaries in all matters, secular as well as theological, educational as well as