The  disorganization  of  the  temporal  system,  though  ^  o„t„„go„5
proceeding  throughout  the  thirteenth  century,  could  not  temporal  de-
show  its  effects  while  the  Catholic  system  remained  °''"'''
miirapaired :  but  no  sooner  did  the  spiritual  system  begin  to  fall
asunder  than  there  was  such  disorder  in  the  temporal  as  threatened
the  entire  subversion  of  the  feudal  system,  by  destroying  the  balance
of  powers  of  the  kings  and  the  nobles.  The  local  force  of  the
nobles  had,  before  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  almost  entirely
absorbed  the  central  force  of  the  kings,  as  well  as  the  spii'itual
power,  —  an  inevitable  consequence  of  the  rise  of  the  industrial
spirit,  and  the  attendant  antipathy  to  the  old  military  temper.  It
may  seem  as  if  the  struggles  of  that  time  showed  anything  but  a
release  from  a  military  state  of  society:  but,  in  fact, .such  wars  as
were  taking  place  were  fatal  to  the  social  consideration  of  the
dominant  military  class,  who,  in  warring  against  the  civilization
which  it  had  been  their  function  to  protect,  were  manifesting  the
most  unquestionable  of  all  symptoms  of  decay, — that  of  turning
against  their  original  aim.  The  feudal  organism  was  near  its  end
when,  instead  of  restraining  the  system  of  invasion,  it  became  the
general  invader.  The  memorable  institution  of  standing  armies,
begun  in  Italy  and  fully  developed  in  France,  marked  the  complete
dissolution  of  the  temporal  system  of  the  Middle  Ages,  both  by
manifesting  the  repugnance  of  industrial  society  to  feudal  service,
and  by  substituting  a  wholly  new  military  subordination  for  that  of
feudal  warriors  to  their  chiefs.     The  change  was  highly  beneficial


650  POSITIVE    PHILOSOPHY.
