Excerpt from Reformation and Renaissance: Circa 1377-1610

IT is not possible to draw a hard-and-fast line between the age Of absolute fixed principles in religion and philosophy, and the period when experimentalism, the spirit Of adventure and of mental unrest, began to change the face Of Europe.

We sometimes hear people speak of the Middle Ages, and Of the great complex movement which, for want of a better word, we term the Renaissance, as if they were isolated epochs, totally unconnected with each other, dumped down along the stream of time like Cities on a map. But as we cannot with accuracy say precisely when the Middle Ages began, neither can we fix an exact date for their Close.

In the domain Of history, perhaps more clearly defined than in any other, is to be traced a distinct system of development, one period merging into, sometimes over lapping another, until link by link the chain is forged that reaches from the remotest age to the present time. Where there is life there must Of necessity be growth, and some sort of evolutionary process. But in the life of nations this process is accomplished, not with the rhythmic motion which we Observe in nature, such as the development of spring into summer, summer into autumn, autumn into winter, but more Often as the result Of the insufficiency Of any condition long to content or to control the mind of man, which is for ever evolving fresh problems, ever seeking to pierce the horizon, to widen its limits, and to better its status, so that even in periods Of apparent stagnation invisible under currents are perpetually making for Change.

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