Page:The Spirit of Russia by T G Masaryk, volume 2.pdf/545

Rh the ecclesiastical centralisation of the papacy. The Catholic belief in miracle, the myth-haunted realm of magic and mysticism, yielded before the Protestant disillusionment; the world was disenchanted, freed from the dominion of spooks; the rise of determinism (at first in the crude form of the doctrine of predestination) led to the acceptance of a causal view of events and brought about the spread of rationalism. The abandonment of the dogma of transubstantiation was a frank relinquishment of the magical powers of the priesthood. Finally, the disappearance of asceticism strengthened the new moral outlook by the sanctification of family life, and the same development simultaneously promoted the diffusion of a spirit of industry and favoured economic development.

Thus Protestantism is more favourable than Catholicism to the development of democracy, for Catholicism is essentially aristocratic. The intimate connection between Protestantism and democracy can be followed out in detail. The Protestant layman receives his socio-political training in the work of church government; the recognition of the importance of preaching "the word" educates him as a speaker (it must be remembered that parliament means merely the speaking-place), especially since, in the lesser sects, laymen are also preachers; the sanctification of the vernacular tongue by the translation of the Bible and by the use of the vernacular for religious services, strengthened the national consciousness and overthrew the linguistic aristocracy of Latin and French.

The connection of the reformation, especially in its Calvinist form, with the political evolution of the modern age, is indubitable; and it is obvious that democracy had developed with and out of the reformation. It need hardly be said that the evolution has been gradual, and in this matter as in all others, special circumstances must be taken into account in the application of the formula to particular countries and areas.