esently in deflecting her aspirations to the Virgin who,
hitherto, had remained strictly within the limits originally traced.
Commiserate to the erring she was Regina angelorum, the angel queen. In
the twelfth century suddenly she mounted. From queen she became sovereign.
Ceremonies, churches, cathedrals, were consecrated uniquely to her. In
pomp and importance her worship exceeded that of God. When Satan had the
sinner in his grasp, it was she who in the prodigalities of her divine
compassion rescued and redeemed him.[34]

In the art of the period, such as it was, the worship was reflected. The
thin hands of saints, the poignant eyes of sinners, were raised to her
equally. The fainting figures that were painted in the ex-voto of the
triptiques seemed ill with love. The forms of women, lost beneath the
draperies, disclosed, if anything, emaciation. The expression of the face
alone indicated what they represented and that always was adoration. They
too were swooning at the Virgin's feet.

Previously Paul had been studied. It was seen that a thorn had been given
him, a messenger of Satan, from which, three times he had prayed release.
But the Lord said to him: "My grace is sufficient to thee, for my strength
is made perfect in weakness." "Wherefore," said Paul, "most gladly will I
glory in my infirmities."[35]

Precisely what the apostle meant is immaterial. But from his words the
inference was drawn that in weakness is salvation and in sin the glory of
God.

The early Church had not interpreted the evangels with entire correctness.
It is possible that in the Graeco-Syrian dialect which the apostles
employed, their meaning was sometimes obscure. It is presumable for
instance that the coming of the Kingdom of God which they proclaimed was
not the material termination of a material world but the real Kingdom
which did really come in the hearts of those that believed. "Comprends,
pecheur," Bossuet thundered at a later day, "que tu portes ton paradis et
ton enfer en toi-meme." The patricists were not Bossuets. They were
literal folk. They stuck to the letter. Having discovered what they
regarded as a divine command for abstinence, asceticism in all its rigors
ensued. Subsequent exegetes finding in Paul a few words not over precise,
discovered in them a commendation of sin as a means of grace. The
discovery, amplified later by Molinos, had results that made man even less
attractive than he had been.

Meanwhile, between in