Beginning of Essay
During the Middle Ages, the church was a powerful institution. It had its own government, courts, system of taxation, and laws. To live a good Christian life guaranteed access to heaven in the afterlife, and a life of sin was to be sentenced to hell. Dante Alighi ....

Middle of Essay
.... which in thought renews my fear! (Alighieri, 1)” This passage tells us that Dante is lost in the middle of the woods, and he is in the middle of his life. The reason he gives for being lost is that he had become inattentive and was not paying attention to where he was going. This symbolizes how he has lost his quest for salvation. His laziness, a sin, caused him to stray from the road of salvation. He can’t go back the way he came because that is the way of sin. He is lost. As he realizes this, he knows he needs to go experience the seven sacraments to cleanse himself of his sins. Only then will he join God in Paradise, rather then spend ....