Præconem in medio clamantem audire. "Huc accedite, quotquot pravitatem profitemini, dedecus hominum, Helluones, elatæ cervices, impudentes, superbi, Populi voratores, in alienas possessiones rapaces Adulatores potentium demissi, demissisque leones, Recens matrimonio juncti, ferventes, adhuc lanuginem ferentes, Funes certè naturalis ignis, in oculis flagrantes Ignari coelestium, recens illuminati, fuliginosi, Hùc accedite confidentes, latum omnibus paratum est solium. Gregory complains that he has to contend with heretical and wicked Pastors. Ibidem.-line 141. κεκμηκα λυκοις δηλημοσι ποιμνης, Ποιμεσι μαιναμενος δημὸν χρονον. Εκ μελεων δε Και προφασις Τριας εστι, το δ' ατρεκες, εχθος απιστον. Percussi et percutientes, indomiti sunt pugnatores, Alii verò inter utrosque divisi commovent Orientem et Occidentem, Deusque in carnes* desiit, Dii sunt. Christus autem frustrà clavis transfixus est Non enim a Christo nomen habemus, sed ab hominibus, Quum illius manibus et sanguine hanc gloriam habeamus. Adeò amor oculos obnubilavit nostros Aut vanæ gloriæ, aut possessionum, aut vehemens invidia, Tabefaciens, malis gaudens, justus dolor his qui hoc vitio laborant! Prætextus Trinitas est: reverâ autem odium implacabile. Et æs piscibus funestam ex insidiis objiciens escam. * In homines, Gen, vi. 3. FANATICISM OF THE FOURTH CENTURY. St. Gregory's account of the Monks. S. Gregorii Theologi Carmina. Secto 2. Tom. ii. p. 999.(Bened. Edit. Parisiis, 1840.) Προς Ελληνιον περι των μοναχων προτρεπτικόν. Εκ δε νοου, μεγαλω αινον έθυσε νοω. Ουδ' ογ' επι βλεφαροισιν υπνον βαλε, θαμβος απιστον ! Χριστος, οτ' ανθρωπους λειψε παθος τέλεσας, Μεσφ' οτ' αποψυχοντι δομον νεον αμφις έθηκαν, When we perceive Gregory Nazianzen thus commending this awful fanaticism, and call to mind Chrysostom's living for two years in a cave without lying down, and his encouraging the solitary life on rocks and mountains, and when we contemplate the fanaticism of Jerome, and recollect that St. Anthony and his army of fanatics peopled the deserts in the fourth century, and that the celebrated Athanasius wrote the life of St. Ad Hellenium pro Sectio II. Monachis exhortatorium. 55 Horum alii speluncis et lectis humi in deserto Alii ferreis compedibus sese excruciant, Vitium debilitantes, dum caro debilitatur. Alii instar ferarum exiguis tectis Inclusi, ne humanis quidem oculis occurrunt. Mandant, quod Christi abstinentiæ dimidium est. Est qui linguam loquacem et labia silentio vinciat Stans, puras extendat manus: Is nec palpebris somnum concessit; miraculum incredibile! Atque etiam in sacro monte, unde evectus est Nec cessit precibus virorum piorum Qui eum undique circumstantes amplectebantur: Mentem suam procul a mortalibus attollens: Donec, eo animam afflante, novam sedem circumstruxerunt, Ah horresco. Anthony; and when we also find that hundreds of the bishops of this age were Arians and Donatists, and when we read the description which has been given by Gregory Nazianzen of the pride and want of spirituality in many of the rest of the bishops, we cannot but feel persuaded that truly Apostolical Bishops and Christians in those days were "rari nantes in gurgite vasto," and were greatly outnumbered by the worldly, the heretical, the fanatical, and the superstitious; the last mentioned being supported by the acrimonious advocacy of the abusive Jerome. For an account of the superstitions of the fourth century consult "Gilly's Life of Vigilantius," a work which ought to find a place in every Protestant library. Jerome's Fanaticism, and its impotence in expelling evil desires. Hieronymus ad Eustochium de Custodia Virginitatis. Epistola xxii. Tom. i. p. 172.-(Diligentiâ et labore Mariani Victorii Reatini, Episcopi Amerini. Parisiis, 1602.) Quia enim impossibile est in sensum hominis non irruere innatum medullarum calorem, ille laudatur, ille prædicatur beatus, qui ut cœperit cogitare sordida, statim interficit cogitatus, et allidit ad petram: petra autem Christus est. O quoties ego ipse in eremo constitutus, et in illa vasta solitudine, quæ exusta solis ardoribus horridum monachis præstat habitaculum, putabam me Romanis interesse deliciis. Sedebum solus, quia amaritudine repletus eram. Horrebant sacco membra deformia, et squalida cutis situm Æthiopica carnis obduxerat. Quotidie lacrymæ, quotidiè gemitus, et si, quando repugnantem somnus imminens oppressisset, nuda humo vix ossa hærentia collidebam; de cibis verò et potu taceo, cùm etiam languentes monachi aqua frigida utantur, et coctum aliquid recepisse, luxuria sit. Ille igitur ego, qui ob gehennæ metum tali me carcere ipse damnaveram, scorpionum tantum socios, et ferarum, sæpe choris intereram puellarum, pallebant ora jejuniis, et mens desideriis æstuabat in frigido corpore, et ante hominem sua jam carne præmortuum, sola libidinum incendia bulliebant. Itaque omni auxilio destitutus, ad Jesu jacebam pedes, rigabam lacrymis, crine tergebam, et repugnantem carnem hebdomadarum inedia subjugabam. Non erubesco confiteri infelicitatis meæ miseriam: quin potius pango me non esse quod fuerim. Memini me clamantem diem crebrò junxisse cum nocte, nec prius a pectoris cessasse verberibus, quam rediret, Domino *The Holy Spirit only can purify the heart, and change its evil nature, "If ye by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh," &c. Rom. viii. Chains, tortures, &c. may agonize and weaken the body, but they cannot purify the heart. A chained tiger is still a tiger; a starved sow will return to her vomit, or long for it. If a tiger be transformed into a lamb a cage is no longer necessary for him; if the sow be changed into a clean animal it may have freedom of pasture without danger of its defilement. Man cannot by his own devices change his nature, or mortify its evil desires. "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature," 2 Cor. v. 17. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his," Rom. viii. 9. It is the prerogative of the Holy Ghost to create the heart anew. Jerome begins by stating that the true way is to look to Christ, and then, with marvellous inconsistency, he counsels a solitary life. |