to blame his temper and fpirit, if you read him fairly. He carefully checks his people for calumniating the Donatifts, and is conftantly employed in moderating and healing.

Finally, in Ethics he is fuperior to most. On the fubject of veracity and faithfulness to oaths, and in general in the practice of juftice, in the love of mercy, and in walking humbly with his God, as he wrote moft admirably, fo he practifed moft fincerely.

СНАР. Х.

THE LIFE AND WORKS OF JEROM.

HIS renowned monk was born at Stridon, a

TH

town in the confines of Dalmatia and Panno-· nia, under the emperor Conftantine, in the year 331. A.D. The place was obfcure, and was rendered still more 331. fo by the defolations of the Goths. Nor is it a very clear case whether it ought to be looked on as part of Italy or not*. That Jerom was of a liberal and opulent family, appears from the pains taken with his education, which was finished at Rome, that he might there acquire the graces of latinity. He was in truth the most learned of the Roman Fathers, and was eminent both for genius and induftry. He was brought up in Chriftianity from infancy, and hence, like other good men, who have had the fame advantages, he appears never to have known the extreme conflicts with in-dwelling fin, which, to later converts, have given fo much pain, and often have rendered them more eminently acquainted with vital religion.

After his baptifm at Rome, he travelled into France, in company with Bonofus, a fellow-ftudent. He examined libraries, and collected information from all quarters; and, returning into Italy, he determined to follow the profeffion of a monk: a term, which did not at that time convey the modern idea of the word. In Jerom's time it meant chiefly the life of a private reclufe Chriftian, who yet was fettered by no certain rules nor vows, but acted according to his own pleasure. Such a life fuited the difpofition of a studious perfon like Jerom. He was, however, made a prefbyter of the Church, but

Erafm. life of Jerom, prefixed to his works.

never

never would proceed any further in ecclefiaftical dignity. He spent four years in the deferts of Syria, reading and ftudying with immenfe industry. A commentary on the prophet Obadiah, which he publifhed, bore ftrong marks of juvenile indifcretion, as he afterwards frankly owned. And here, by the affiftance of a Jew, who visited him, Nicodemus-like, in the evenings, left he should give umbrage to his brethren, he acquired the knowledge of the Hebrew tongue, and with indefatigable labour he ftudied alfo the Chaldee and the Syriac.

On his return to Rome, he became intimate with Paula, the illuftrious descendant of the Pauls, fo famous in Roman ftory, with Marcella, and other opulent ladies. The monaftic life, which had long flourished in the Eaft, was only beginning to be fashionable in the Weft. The renowned Athanafius, and his Egyptian friends, rendered refpectable, during their exile at Rome, by their fufferings for the faith, contributed to throw a dignity on fuch a courfe of life; and the zeal of Jerom nurfed the fame spirit among ferious perfons. The ladies I have mentioned were hence induced to impart a celebrity to the monaftic tafte by their own example.

Paula, her daughter Euftochium, her fon-in-law Pammachius, Marcella, and others, admired and revered Jerom; and he, whose temper was choleric and imperious to a great degree, feems to have lived in much harmony with females, probably because he more eafily gained fubmiffion from them than from perfons of his own sex.

Spleen and calumny haftened the departure of Jerom from Rome. This great man had not learned to command his paffions, and to difregard the breath of fame. Unjuft afperfions on his character affected him with a very blamable acrimony. He retired again to the Eaft: there feveral of his

admirers

admirers followed him. He chofe Bethlehem as the feat of his old age, where Paula erected four monafteries, three for the women, over which the prefided, and one for the men, in which Jerom lived the reft of his life, enjoying at times the fociety of his learned friends. He inftructed the women alfo in theology, and Paula died after having lived twenty years in the monaftery.

I fhall not spend any time in vindicating the chaftity of Jerom, because his whole life was a fufficient answer to calumny in that refpect. He was certainly serious in the very best sense of the word, and died A.D. in the 91ft year of his age, in the year 422.

Yet it is to be lamented, that a man of fo great fincerity, and of a mind fo vigorous, should have been of fo little fervice to mankind. The truth is, his knowledge of theology was contracted and low. He confeffed, that while he macerated his body in the deferts, he was thinking of the pleasures and delights of Rome. He understood not the true gofpel-mystery of mortifying fin, and, by his voluntary humility and neglect of the body, added to the fame and fplendour of his voluminous but ill-digested learning, he contributed more than any other person of antiquity to the growth of fuperftition. His quarrel with Ruffinus is a reproach to both their memories. Yet, of the two, Jerom feems to have been more evangelical in his views; because Origen was erroneous in his doctrines: and it is a fufficient account of fo uninterefting a controverfy to fay, that Ruffinus defended, Jerom accufed. Origen.

For the view of his controverfy with Auguftine, I must refer the reader to the accounts of that father of the church.

Jerom was, however, humble before God, and truly pious and of him it must be faid, to the hoVOL. II.

Kk

nour

422.

nour of Christian godlinefs, how much worfe a man he would have been, had he not known Chrift Jefus, and how much better, if he had known him with more clearnefs and perfpicuity.

The works of a writer fo fuperftitious, though found in the effentials of Chriftianity, will not deferve a very particular review. Here and there a vigorous and evangelical fentiment breaks out amidft the clouds. His epiftles difcover him to have been fincere and heavenly minded, though his temper was choleric. In a letter to Nepotian* there are various rules worthy the attention of Paftors, concerning the contempt of riches, the avoiding of fecular familiarities, and the regulation of external conduct. One obfervation will deferve to be diftinctly remembered, “A clergyman easily subjects himself to contempt, who never repreffes invitations to dinner, however frequent."

He wrote an epitaph upon the death of this fame Nepotian fome time after-t, eloquent, pious, pathetic. In this he confeffes the doctrine of original fin, and celebrates the victory of Chrift over death. He makes an excellent ufe of the public miferies of the times, by recommending more ftrongly a practical attention to piety. Hence, also, he makes the best apology which could be invented for his favourite folitude.

In his letter to Rufticus the monk, the learned reader who would fee a practical comment on St. Paul's cautions against voluntary humility in the Epiftle to the Coloffians, may behold it in Jerom. He abounds in felf-devised ways of obtaining holinefs, while the true way of humble faith in Jefus is not defpifed indeed, but little attended to.

A fhort letter to Florentius fhews genuine hu-. mility and acquiefcence in Chrift, as his fole hope

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after