CHAPTER XLV.

UNIVERSAL ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION IMPEDED BY PROTESTANTISM.

Effects of Protestantism on the progress of civilization in the world, beginning with the sixteenth century--What enabled civilization, during the middle ages, to triumph over barbarism--Picture of Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century--The civilizing missions of the 16th century interrupted by the schism of Luther--Why the action of the Church on barbarous nations has lost power during three centuries--Whether the Christianity of our days is less adapted to propagate the faith than that of the early ages of the Church--Christian missions in the early times of the Church--What the real mission of Luther has been, 260