There is reason to believe that monachism, in its first institution, was the result of a sincere, though mista ken piety. Like the passion for relics, it unquestion ably has a foundation in the principles of human na ture. Beyond all doubt, it is wise and profitable to retire occasionally at least from the world, from its bu siness and its allurements, and to prepare ourselveg for an eve' lasting separation. In process of time, however, it was found convenient and desirable to relax the se verity of the primitive institution. The fervour of fa naticism evaporated; mankind, too, became at length familiar with the talc of voluntary infliction, and were less prompt to approve, and less vociferous in their praise ; and the monks, in the course of a few centu ries, contrived to join abstinence with the gratification of the appetites, to unite society with retirement, and the appearance of poverty with the possession of much wealth. The very nature of the monastic institutions afforded a salvo for the conscience. As individuals, the recluses were poor, but as a community they were rich; no one could boast of his acquisitions, yet the society grew daily in wealth and splendour. The monasteries were magnificent and commodious; to the eye of a stranger, ley would have appeared rather as the palaces of princes, fully stored with all the luxuries of life, than as the cells of the anchorite, or the retreats of pe nitence. They were often not merely liberally, but profusely endowed. Many large estates had been con ferred on some of them ; legacies and bequests formed the riches of others. • At one time a prince of the blood, having spent a long life in oppression and profligacy, made a liberal gift to some religious house, and con ceived, that in this way lie secured the forgiveness of his sins ; and at another, a rich merchant, able to •e tails his wealth no longer, bestowed a portion of it upon the church. And by the invariable maxim of an artful priesthood, property once given to the church ever after the property of God. It is sacrilege to t inch it ; a loud anathema is prdnounced against him who shall convert it to any secular use.
Nothing appears too gross in the eyes of an igno rant and credulous people. The very dress of the monks was held to be possessed of peculiar and extra ordinary virtues; and men of rank and eminence, when they found themselves about to die, often directed their servants to clothe them with the monastic vestments, "thinking that the sanctity of the garb would protect them against a condemnatory sentence of the omni scient Judge." False miracles, legends, and lies, were: produced on every side. The multitude heard and be lieved. New followers of the apostles and evangelists were found out, each of them with a name and a his tory attached to it. Egypt and the East, in all their caves and cells, were peopled afresh: and the worthies lately enrolled ; and held up to the public admiration, were even more powerful than their predecessors, in protracted prayer, in exorcisms, and in their contests with the devil. The expression is somewhat coarse, but it has been justly said, that when the monks want ed a saint they made one, and when they wanted a miracle they made that too. Indeed it must be owned, that on subjects of this kind the good fathers were of a ready invention; and their facility in contriving is equalled by nothing but the prompt acceptance and capacious faith of those who swallowed the impos ture.
Before Monachism was corrupted in the highest de gree, the friars sometimes discharged the duty of the secular clergy. These last seem almost to have forgot
ten that they had any duty to discharge: they were, in truth, equally ignorant and remiss, and, in many in stances, distinguished by all the vices which character ize the period in which they lived. Even on those rare occasions when they entered the pulpit, they conducted. themselves in the most impious and shameless maiper. Of this we have a remarkable example in the case of the Grecian Patriarch Theophylact. The prelate al luded to was by no means famous, either for his virtues in private life, or for his public performances as a func tionary of the church. Ile sold, without scruple, every ecclesiastical benefice as soon as it became vacant, and converted the money to his own use. The writers of his times, (the 10th century,) have told us nothing of his dexterity as a patriarch in managing his clergy, of his integrity as a judge in the episcopal courts, of his commanding oratory or persuasive address; hut they have given us very particular information about his ex cellent stud. He was, indeed, the very Nimrod of the middle ages, a mighty hunter ; he had no fewer than 2000 horses in his stables, and these he fed with pig-nuts, pistachios, dried grapes, and figs steeped in wine. One Holy Thursday, when engaged in celebrating high mass, a groom brought him the intelligence that a favourite mare had foaled ; upon which he instantly stopt short, threw down the liturgy, and running to the stable in an ecstacy of curiosity and dispatch, ascertained, by ocular demonstration, that the joyful news was true. And be ing now assured that a real and tiring foal was actually produced, be returned to the altar, took up the liturgy, and finished the service. It must he owned, however, that such flagrant instances were rare. Idleness and luxury, a tendency to political intrigue, and an insatiable ambition, are the vices with which the secular clergy are more justly charged. To these qualities must he added a most profound ignorance. They seldom preach ed, for they could not compose ; and they never studied, because they could not read. In the 12th, 15th, and 14th centuries, thd sacred scriptures were little known. The volume of the New Testament was rarely to be found; many bishops had never once seen it whole lives: what they knew of its doctrines and precepts, they learnt solely from their missals. The people had no learning, and no sense or its value. At first the friars were some what more attentive to their duty than the secular clergy, enjoining at least the exercises of fasting and prayer. They even attempted to instruct the people in public ; but their discourses had scarcely any relation to the Christianity of the sacred books, being chiefly occupied with the exploits ofthe saints ; their power over the de vil, especially in single combat ; their watchings, fast ings, and flagellations. When these topics failed, they had recourse to the virtues of holy water, crossing and chrism. By degrees, however, all public instruction was given up : the dampness spread itself, thick and heavy, over the kingdoms of Europe; the intellect was degraded and enslaved ; the curiosity asleep; and, at the p..riod of the Reformation, it seems to have been uni ve•sally held, that to repeat (red.'s and eve marias, in rapid succession, to undertake pilgrimages, to observe the holidays appointed by the church, and to pay the tythes and perquisites of the clergy, constituted the sum of religious' duty, and formed the principal, if not the only excellencies of the Christian character.