450 A BRIEF SURVEY OF HUMAN HISTORY

outwardly released by the Renaissance, but inwardly due
to the entire complex process of History, has been the out-
standing characteristic of our Modem Age. This has given
a death-blow to all old-world ideas and institutions, impart-
ed a rude shock to conservative inclinations, and produced
the go-ahead reck-nothing do-and-dare mentality, which
might have appeared too adventurous even to the ancient
Greeks. In this maelstrom of new life much of the old has
been dislodged, if not destroyed; much also has been recon-
structed and transformed beyond recognition. Unless we are
able to appreciate this trend as a whole, we shall not be
able to understand the significance of the mere facts and
events of modern history. Church and Monarchy have there-
fore been but partners in sharing the reactions of this all-
sided change, even as they were partners in the reactionary
tendencies that opposed all change unless it was initiated by
themselves.

First, the Protestant revolt not only released religious
thought from the routine ruts of the Roman Church, but
it also produced the Council of Trent and the Counter-Re-
formation movement which became a constructive force giv-
ing to the world the excellent disciplined army of workers
constituting the Society of Jesus. Secondly, the growing
commerce of Europe, its accidental dash with the Turks,
and the consequent diversion of trade-routes, gave the Euro-
peans a new and vaster world in which to expand. This
in its turn created national rivalries which stimulated, not
merely destructive jealousies and wars, but also creative
and constructive activities. The Industrial Revolution in
England was the product of these forces.

The old inventive instinct or intelligence of man, sharpened
by centuries of experience and stimulated by the urgje of a
new life with its insistent needs, produced a harvest of novd