It  is  very  remarkable,  thouj|h  hitherto  un*
observed,  that  Aquinas  anticipated  those
controversies  respecting  perfect  disinterest-
edness in  the  religious  affections  which  oc-
cupied the  most  illustrious  members  of  his
communiont  four  hundred  years  after  hJs
death;  and  that  he  discussed  the  like  ques-
tion respecting  the  other  affections  of  human
nature  with  a  fdlness  and  clearness,  an  ex-
actness of  distinction,  and  a  justness  of
determination,  scarcely  surpassed  by  the
most  acute  of  modern  phuosophers.f  It
ought  to  be  added,  that,  according  to  the
most  natural  and  -reasonable  construction  of
his  words,  he  allowed  to  the  Church  a  con-
trol only  over  spiritual  concerns^  and  reco|f-
Bised  the  supremacy  of  the  civil  powers  m
aU  temporal  affairs.lt

It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  scho-
lastic system  was  a  collection  of  dialectical
enbtihtes,  contrived  for  the  support  of  the

*  A  psMsge  to  this  effect,  Irom  Ockham,  with
nearly  the  same  remark,  has,  since  the  text  was
written,  been  discovered  on  a  reperuaal  of  Cud-
worth's  Immatable  Morality,  p.  10.
t  **  Remitto  ad  quod  Oocam  de  hfic  materifi  in
lib.  Sentent.  dicit,  in  qa&  ezplieatione  si  rudia
fodieetar,  nesdo  quid  appellabitur  subtilitaa."— De
Vitft  Spirit.  Op.  111.  14.
t  BoMoet  and  Feifekm.
^  See  Aqutoas^— "  Utrum  Dens  ait  super  omnia
diliffendat  ex  earitate."— "  Utrum  in  dilectkme
Del  posMt  haberi  reepeetaa  ad  aliquam  merce-
dem.'*-^)perB,  ix.  322,  325.  Some  illuatirationa
■of  this  memenble  antieipaiton,  which  haa  escaped
the  research  even  of  the  indiiBtrioaa  Tenneman,
will  be  fimnd  in  the  Note  O.
0  See  Note  H.
