There is much divergence of opinion among scholars as to the naming of the main periods of the English language, and hardly any two agree in regard to the limits of each period. But in treating of the absolute participle, an arbitrary division must be made according to the occurrence and development of this form in the language.

The central narrative in Bojardo's epic, the Orlando Innamorato, relates how the appearance of the beautiful Angelica at the court of Charlemagne completely turned the heads of all the noble paladins present, notably Orlando and Rinaldo. These two cousins and brothers-in-arms now become hated rivals, and set out in pursuit of the fair maiden when she returns to her native country. Much time passes before the two knights meet, and when this finally does occur, it is before Albracca, Angelica's castle, where she is besieged by another lover, Agricane, King of Tartary. The meeting is stormy, as was to be foreseen, and a duel is begun which lasts for two days, and which would have ended badly for Rinaldo had not Angelica, who just then is in love with him, held back the blow that would have wounded him mortally. She knows that Rinaldo is safe only if Orlando can be gotten out of the way, and to do this successfully she sends the latter on a perilous and distant expedition. Among the many adventures which he encounters on this journey is the destruction of an enchanted garden which had been fabricated by an enchantress named Falerina. Orlando's impulse is to slay her as well, but his mind is changed when he learns that her death would have as consequence the death of many knights and ladies who are kept prisoners in a tower. In exchange for her life she promises to lead him to that prison (ii–v, 1–24). When they arrive there Orlando sees hanging on a tree beyond the moat the armor of his cousin Rinaldo, and, believing him dead, remorse for his former quarrels with him seizes him, and he rushes over the bridge to engage battle with Aridano, the guardian of the tower. The two antagoniste clutch, and soon roll down the shore into the enchanted lake which surrounds the prison (ii–vii, 32–63). They descend through the water until they arrive on dry ground, a meadow, lighted up by the rays of the sun, that break through the water above them. Here the battle continues, until Orlando succeeds in slaying his enemy. Then he looks about him for a way of escape. He is surrounded on every side by mountainshore and rocks; but on one side he notices a door cut into the rock, and near that entrance he sees chiselled a picture of the labyrinth and its history with the minotaur, and not far from this another picture, showing a maiden wounded in the breast by a dart of love thrown by a youth. This should have taught him the manner of escape, but he passes on without heeding its meaning. Soon he arrives at a river and a narrow bridge, on either side of which stand two iron figures, armed. Beyond it in the plain is placed the treasure of the Fata Morgana. He attempts to cross this bridge, but at every trial the two iron figures demolish it, and a new bridge at once rises in the place of the old one. Finally, with a tremendous leap he clears the river, and now he finds himself near the coveted treasure. After many wonderful incidents, which it is not to the purpose to relate he arrives near the prison where Rinaldo is held with other knights. This latter, it should be stated, had also left Angelica after his duel with Orlando, and arrived here by a shorter way. As Orlando approaches this prison, he comes to a fissure in the rock, into which he enters, and which leads him to a door.

The primitive purity of the early Church soon yielded to a Church hierarchy. In those early times, before the New Testament was admitted to equal canonical authority with the Old, the Church became the supreme authority and the Bible was subordinate. After the incorporation of the New Testament into the Bible, the Scriptures and the Church appear to be coördinate authority in the patristic writings of that period. During the Middle Ages the Church grew rapidly in political power and the influence of the Scriptures waned accordingly, so that Dante complains of the way in which not merely creeds and fathers but canon law and the decretals were studied instead of the gospels. It is true that pious people, ever since the days of Pentecost, had believed that “the inward spiritual facts of man's religious experience were of infinitely more value than their expression in stereotyped forms recognized by the Church,” and that, too, “ in such a solemn thing as the forgiveness of sin man could go to God directly without human mediation.” These pious souls had found the pardon they sought, but the good majority were under the dominion of the Church, which at last degraded the meaning of “spiritual ” so that it signified mere ritualistic service, and “thrust itself between God and the worshipper, and proclaimed that no man could draw near to God save through its appointed ways of approach. Confession was to be made to God through the priest; God spoke pardon only in the priest's absolution. When Luther attacked indulgences in the way he did he struck at the whole system.” After the Reformation a reaction set in. New and better translations of the Bible were made, and the Word became accessible to every-body. The successors of the Reformers emphasized “the verbal inspiration of the Scripture and its infallible authority (more) than had been done for the most part by the first Reformers, Luther and Calvin and their contemporaries, who never seemed to have sanctioned the famous dictum of Chillingworth, ‘the Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of the Protestants.‘” The Reformers took the Holy Scriptures, because they are the divine word, and require no further supplement from tradition and custom, merely as the rule and canon of their faith. Traditions, dogmas, ordinances established by the Church, were null and void. This freedom of the religious conscience and the Holy Scriptures as the living, pure source of religion brought a rich blessing to Christians. Religion was elevated above that sphere in which mere morality and outer ordinance were the determining principles, and raised man to a new spiritual life. The real motive principle of this new life is justification by faith.