(let the word be pardoned) must always, in the nature of things, be slow. Seven or ten years will not bring about the changes which were the work of two or three centuries. By this precipitation they have become seriously insnared;-insnared as churchmen, approving what their church does not allow, or has pointedly condemned:-insnared as the professed adherents of catholic antiqty, by not bearing their testimony openly and practically, to every catholic principle.

From these embarrassments they may indeed withdraw themselves, silently and insensibly, if time be allowed them for gradually shifting their position, and for retracting, little by little, what has been said-before its time. Mean while the cordially affected adherents of the reformation must wish to see the present controversy dealt with in the most summary method, and brought to the speediest possible conclusion.

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES AND CITATIONS.

In the preceding pages I have purposely avoided throwing the stress of my argument, in any instance, upon facts or testimonies of a recondite or questionable kind, and have appealed only to evidence which abounds on all sides, and of which any one may readily collect more than enough, who has access to the works where it is to be found. Even a few days' industry, properly directed, would amply suffice for enabling the reader to satisfy himself concerning all the statements.

or allegations to which, in these numbers, any impor tance is attached. It is not indeed to be supposed that many should give themselves even this degree of trouble, some, however, will do so;―more than a very few are actually engaged in researches of this sort, and it is much to be desired that they should be continued until the truth, and the whole truth, concerning the religious opinions and practices of the first six centuries has become generally diffused. It is only by the means of this knowledge of antiquity that we can be qualified to deal with Romanism, or can be secured against the insidious advances of that species of pietism of which popery is merely a digested scheme.

More with the view of saving the labour of any who may be entering upon these studies, than of substantiating in a formal manner statements which no well informed opponent would think of calling in question, I shall now point out the path in pursuing which the reader may, with very little expense of time, satisfy himself as to the condition of the Nicene church, in regard to one or two principal points which have been glanced at in the preceding pages: and in order to preclude an incidental disappointment, I will refer to those works only which are the most likely to be accessible to the reader. In fact, it is the evidence of these few that is the most conclusive: what is recondite and rare would be so much the less satisfactory.

One principal point referred to in these numbers, is the actual condition, from the first, of the ascetic institute. The evidence bearing upon this subject has a double importance, first, inasmuch as it dissipates the fond and dangerous illusion concerning an age of purity, and of generally diffused truth and holiness; and, secondly,

as it tends to discourage and to arrest the attempts, now so industriously making, to re-establish the celibate.

The ascetic institute and the celibate has existed under three distinguishable conditions-the first, that in which we find it in the middle of the third century, when it was the least artificial in its constitution, and, one would suppose, the least liable to abuses. What it was in fact, at that time, may be gathered from those passages in Cyprian to which I have already referred, p. 113. The epistle to Pomponius, and the Treatise de habitu Virginum, must be perused entire. The second condition is that of the Nicene age, when monasteries and convents were springing up on all sides, and when the ascetic feeling (mania) was at its height. The third, is that regulated and severe form, imposed upon the monastic orders under the auspices of the Romish church, and with which at present we have nothing to do. It is with the second that we are concerned. Does the inquirer choose then to take his idea of the Nicene asceticism from devotional pieces, and hortatory compositions, showing what it should have been; or from the direct and indirect admissions of its admirers? I presume the latter course to be preferred; nor can we do better than open Chrysostom; and it is curious to turn from any of his splendid descriptions of the celestial polity which the monastic orders professed to realize (as tom. i. p. 115) to passages such as the one already cited (p. 405) and to the two treatises, in one of which this passage occurs. I will say nothing more of them than that they should serve as a caution against the easy, but dangerous error of supposing that modern church historians, have fully and fairly depicted the ancient church. The very facts most necessary to be known, are barely glanced at by

any of these writers. The first of these admonitory treatises is addressed προς τους εχοντας παρθένους συνεισακτους, the title of the second is—περι του μη τας κανονικας συνοίκειν ardgas. It is manifest that the practices inveighed against were common, and the abuses mentioned notorious. There is, indeed, nothing to be wondered at in these things-except it be the infatuation of those who, with such facts before them, could yet persist in the endeavour so to fight against human nature, common sense, and Christianity. Basil's Treatise on Virginity, which I will not recommend the reader to make himself acquainted with, gives indications enough of the existence and frequency of abuses even worse than those referred to by Chrysostom. Jerome, cautious, and yet caustic, can neither withhold the truth, nor plainly declare it; in his Epistle to Eustochium he must be listened to as a reluctant witness, intimating more than he will say. Elsewhere, however, he freely admits that the excellence professed by the two classes of ascetics was but rarely realized. Comment. in Lament. cap. 3. Sed rara est, et paucissimis dono Dei hæc perfectio concessa. Again, in the epistle-Ad Rusticum Monachum, the truth comes out, and it appears plainly that the system exhibited, in Jerome's time, every one of those inherent bad qualities which have always drawn upon it the contempt and abhorrence of mankind. This epistle (of a few pages only) the studious reader will peruse throughout: no evidence can be more unexceptionable. Alone, Jerome's testimony might well be admitted as sufficient; but it accords minutely with that of Chrysostom, especially as to the custom against which the first of the above-named treatises is directed." Some you may see with their loins girt, clad in dingy cloaks, with long beards, who yet can never break away from the company of women; but live under

the same roof, sit at the same tables, are waited upon by young girls, and want nothing proper to the married state, except-wives! The luxury commonly indulged in by the rich ascetics, the ostentatious and rapacious practices of the poor, and the insanity of the fanatical sort, are spoken of without disguise. Vidi ego quosdam, &c. .. publice extendentes manus, pannis aurum tegimus, et contra omnium opinionem, plenis sacculis morimur divites, qui quasi pauperes viximus. Nothing else can be inferred from this epistle (and see, ad Nepot.) than that the graphic description it contains of knavery, licentiousness, and insanity, was applicable to the many; and that the exceptions were few: nequaquam considerans quid alii mali faciunt, sed quid boni tu facere debeas; neque vero peccantium ducaris multitudine, et te pereuntium turba, &c. This sort of evidence, furnished by a passionate admirer of the ascetic institute, ought to be considered as conclusive. Erasmus, determined to give the ancient monks a credit, at the expense of his contemporaries, contradicts the clearest testimonies in his "Antidote" to this epistle, which, by the way, is highly curious as indicative of the approaching reformation. I beg to commend the passage to the attention of the modern admirers of ascetic practices, quæ, says Erasmus, magis ad judæos pertinent, quàm ad christianos, et superstitiosum facere possunt, pium non possunt. Does not all experience confirm this testimony?

I really resent the humiliation of making grave references to book and chapter of a work like that of Cassian. If called upon to make good any of the assertions or intimations concerning the Nicene monkery which I may have left unsupported by direct citations, Cassian would help me out of every difficulty. The monastic rules of St. Pachomius are appended to this