"
Spiritual love was obviously acquiring a religious tinge. The mistress
took the place of God; her grace was the source of all joy and
consolation; she led the souls of the dying to eternal life. God had
yielded His position to her, she had stepped to His side, nay, above
Him. With the curse of the Church still clinging to her, she had been
remoulded by man's emotion into a perfect, a celestial being. The God of
Christianity was in danger--would the new religion of cultured minds,
the religion of woman (unwilling to tolerate any other God beside her)
replace the religion of the masses? Was a reformation imminent? Would
the traditional religion be transformed into metaphysical eroticism,
dethroning God, enthroning a goddess? It is impossible to say in what
direction the spiritual history of Europe would have developed if Dante
had been merely a metaphysical lover, and not also an orthodox
theologian; if instead of penetrating to the vision of the divine
secret, he had fainted before the face of Beatrice.
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