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ASCElSrSTON
stage till it culminated in the perfection of Gothic. Tliat art in its development had the limitations of the young races ; it developed more rapidly in architecture and arcliitectural carving than in jiainting or statuary ; but all this has nothing to do with Christianity, as writers like Taine sup- pose— ' If one considers the stained glass windows, or the windows in the cathedrals, or the rude paintings, it appears as if the human race had become degenerate, and its blood had been im- poverished : jmle saints, distorted martyrs, hermits Avitliered and unsubstantial,' etc. (Phil, de I'Art, 88, 352, 4th ed.). Passages like this are beside the mark ; the art of the Middle Ages was full- blooded enough, and was admiralde even in its rude beginnings, when it had not learnt the most difficult of lessons — the representation of the human form. In architecture and tlie kindred arts the Middle Ages brought a new revelation of beauty into the world, — an art that stands alone, not only for its lofty spirituality and technical excellence, but also for its homely democratic humanity.
Beyond this it is not necessary to go, since we are not dealing with the history of art in general, but only with the relation between it and Chris- tianitj-. It has been necessary to sketch the beginnings because of the widespread idea that Christianity started with an aversion to the fine arts, and was reconciled to them only as worldli- ness increased upon her. Modern archieology has proved this idea to be mistaken ; and, having pointed out \\hat is now known as to the early use of art by the Church, we need not follow the subsequent history of painting and sculpture, of architecture and the handicrafts, in their develop- ments and decadences, except to say that, though art in the Christian era has been sometimes rude and sometimes pagan, it has at its best — when most perfect in technioue and most imbued with spiritual purjwse — excelled all else that the world has been able to produce : even tlie perfect statuary of Greece was outrivalled by such an artist as Michael Angelo, who reveals not only the body but the soul within tlie body also. The best Chris- tian art is better than anything that has gone before, because it has more to express.
Christendom, then, be^an its career in natural association witli art ; and art is Christian, not by reason of any peculiarity of style, but when it is informed by the Christian ideal. Art is not an end in itself, but a language ; the greatest artificers, like the greatest writers, are those wlio have the greatest things to say, and the fineness of any art is, as Ru.skin saj's, 'an index of tlio moral purity andmajesty of the em..ti..n it ( x|n,— ^t-s.' Pagan reaction has, indeed, nini • tlum okc taken refuge in art, as it has also takrn niuui' \\\ science ; but the fault does not lie in either. There must always be reaction when the Cliurch refuses to recognize the truth of science or the seriousness of art. And art is serious, for it is one of man's primal gifts, and, like nature, one of his most constant edu- cators. Art is necessary because, in Ruskin's words, ' life without industi-y is guilt, and industry without art is brutality ' ; and though, as he found, religious men in his time despised art, thej de- spised it at the peril of religion. He was himself the greatest exponent of tlie religious mission of art and of its moral value. And his conclusion was that tin- luot of all good art lies in 'the two .--riiMal iii-tiints of humanity, the K.ve of order and ihi; h'M- i>t' kindness,' the one associated with ri-hteousness, tlie other with charity. The ' love of beauty,' he proceeds, ' is an essential part of all healthy human nature, and though it can long coexist with states of life in many other respects unvirtuous, it is itself wholly good,— the direct ad-
versary of envy, avarice, mean worldly care, and especially of cruelty. It entirely perishes when these are wilfully indulged.' If this be so, it is indeed of the gospel, and excellent in so far as it is close to the spirit of Christ. If this be so, — and no man had a better right to make bold generaliza- tions on the subject than Ruskin, — artists and preachers can agree in his conclusion that the great arts ' have had, and can have, but three prin- cipal directions of purpose : first, that of enforc- ing the religion of men ; secondly, that of perfect- ing their ethical state ; thirdly, tliat of doing them material !
.irticle of : W. Lowries Chriatian Art and Archceology (1901) ; Westcott's essav on 'The Relation of Christianitv to Art' in )iis Commentary on the Epistles of St. Jnh n (18S3) ; A. J. Maclean's Recent Discooeries lltustialim Eadu Christian L\fe and Worship (I90i); an article on 'Art .-aid Puritanism' by J. \V. Mackail in Saint George, vol vii. (l;in4) ; while out of the multi- tude of Ruskin's works the concluding extract is taken from his Lectures on Art (18S7). P. DliARMER.
ASA.— A king of Judali (c. 918-878 B.C.), named in our Lord's genealogy, Mt 1"-.