Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

my inclination; a higher obligation-filial duty—has superseded the claims of friendship............ However, I still shall be able to perform my promise in a measure, if you will accept what I can give. I will come to you for a time, if, in turn, you will give me your company here; thus we shall be quits, and, at the same time, have all things common. And thus I shall avoid distressing my parents, without losing you.

Basil accordingly retired into his solitude in Pontus without his friend, and, for a time, was almost by himself. When he became settled, he again wrote to Gregory, giving him a description of his retreat. The letter is extant, and I here extract portions of it :

BASIL TO GREGORY.

Your letter brought you vividly before me, just as one recognises a friend in his children. It is just like you, and worthy of your cast of mind, to tell me it was little to describe the place without mentioning my mode of passing my time, if I wished to make you desirous to join me. I know you count all things of earth as nothing, compared with that blessedness which the Promises reserve for us. Yet really I am ashamed to tell you how I pass night and day in this solitude. Though I have left the city's haunts, as the source of innumerable ills, yet I have not yet learned to leave myself. I am like a man who, on account of sea-sickness, leaves a large vessel for a small one, and is sea-sick still, as carrying his delicacy of stomach along with him...............So I have got no great good from this retirement. However, the following is what I proposed to do, with a view of tracking the footsteps of Him who is our Guide unto salvation, and who has said, "If any one will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.'

We must aim at possessing a quiet mind. We may as well expect the eye to ascertain an object put before it, while it is wandering restless up and down, and sideways, without fixing a steady gaze upon it, as to suppose that a mind, distracted by a thousand worldly cares, can accurately discern the truth. And, as celibacy has its snares, so is the married man encompassed by his peculiar troubles: if he is childless, by the desire of children; has he children? by anxiety about their education;-by his attention to his wife, care of his house, overlooking his servants, misfortunes in trade, quarrels with his neighbours, lawsuits, the risks of the merchant, the excessive toil of the farmer....... ....Now one way of escaping all this is retirement; that is, not bodily retirement, but to break the existing sympathy between soul and body, and to live so homeless, penniless, friendless, lifeless, that the heart may faithfully receive every impress of divine doctrine. Preparation of heart is the unlearning the prejudices of the world. It is the smoothing the waxen tablet before attempting to write on it. Now solitude is of great use for this purpose, inasmuch as it stills our bad passions, and gives principle an opportunity for cutting them out by the roots....... What state can be more blessed than to imitate on earth the choruses of angels?—to begin the day with prayer and praise?—as the day brightens, to accompany our daily works with prayer, and to sweeten our toil with hymns, as if with salt? Hymns soothe the mind, and solace it, and compose it to a cheerful and calm state. Quiet, then, as I have said, is the first step in our sanctification-the tongue purified from the gossip of the world; the eyes unexcited by gaudy colour or comely shape; the ear no longer relaxing the tone of the mind by voluptuous songs, nor by that especial snare, witty conversation. Thus the mind, saved from the dissipation of the senses, falls back upon itself, and so ascends to the contemplation of Almighty God......

"However, the study of inspired Scripture is the chief way of acquiring a knowledge of duty, both by its precepts and examples......And prayers, succeeding to the reading, find the soul in a more fresh and vigorous state, and affected by divine love......... Then, too, we converse; and here it is an excellent discipline to strive to dispute without over-earnestness, to explain without desire of display, to avoid interrupting useful discussions, or putting in one's own notions; to speak and hear in moderation; not to feel ashamed to ask questions or grudge information, not to pass another's saying for one's own, but to acknowledge our debt.

It is unnecessary to quote more from this letter, in which Basil advocates a state of life, of all others the most desirable, which, in the early ages, the clergy scarcely could attain except in monastic institutions; but which, in our favoured country, where Christianity has long been established, is in its substance the privilege of ten thousand parsonages up and down the land. The following letter to the same friend gives a description of the place itself, to which he had retired :

God has opened on me in Pontus a place exactly answering to my taste, so that I actually sce before my eyes what I have often pictured to my mind when amusing myself with idle visions. There a lofty mountain, covered with thick woods, watered towards the north

with cool and transparent streams. A plain lies beneath, which is enriched by the waters which continually descend upon it; and is hemmed in on all sides by a variety of wild trees, so as even to surpass Calypso's Island, which Homer seems to have considered the most beautiful spot on earth. Indeed it is like an island, for deep hollows and broken ground run along two sides of it; the river, which has lately fallen down a precipice, runs along the front, and is impassable as a wall; while the roots of the mountain itself extend from behind in a crescent, and meet the hollows. There is but one pass, and I am master of it. My habitation is placed on an eminence upon another road, from which one may see the extent of the plain and the stream which bounds it.........A chief recommendation of this place is its extreme fertility, and, what is more, its quietness, which is its pleasantest produce; indeed, it is not only removed from the bustle of the city, but is even unfrequented by travellers, except a chance hunter. It abounds indeed in game, but not, I am glad to say, in bears or wolves, such as you have, but in deer and wild goats, and hares, and the like. Do you not see what a mistake I was on the point of making when I was eager to change this spot for your Tiberina, the very sink of the whole world? Pardon me, then, if I now fix myself upon it; for not Alemæon himself, I suppose, would endure to wander further when he had found the Echinades.

Basil had, at this time, rid himself of his private property, rightly considering that an unmarried man wanted little for support, and a cleric needed nothing to give him rank. "He had but one tunic," says his friend, after his death, "and one outer garment; a bed on the ground, little sleep, no luxurious bath, [such the decorations of his rank;] and his pleasantest meal, bread and salt, [novel dainties;] and his drink, that sober liquor of which there is no stint, which is elaborated in the gushing spring."

The next intercourse of kind offices between Basil and Gregory, which history has preserved to us, was on occasion of the death of Gregory's brother, Cæsarius. On his death-bed he had left all his goods to the poor; a bequest which was interfered with, first, by servants and others about him, who carried off at once all the valuables on which they could lay hands; and, after Gregory had come into possession of the residue, by the fraud of certain pretended creditors, who appealed to the law on his refusing to satisfy them. Basil, on this occasion, gained him the interest of the Prefect of Constantinople, and another whose influence was great at court.

We now come to the election of Basil to the Exarchate of Cappadocia, which was owing in no small degree to the exertions of Gregory and his father in his favour. This event, which was attended with considerable hazard of defeat from the strength of the civil party and an episcopal faction opposed to Basil, doubtless was at the moment a cause of great mutual exultation and satisfaction to the friends, though it was soon the occasion of the quarrel and coolness which I spoke of in the beginning of this paper. Gregory, as I have said, was of an amiable temper, fond of retirement and literary pursuits, and cultivating Christianity in its domestic and friendly aspect rather than amid the toils of ecclesiastical warfare. I would by no means insinuate that he allowed himself in any approach to self-indulgence. The austerity of his habits far surpassed that observed even by the stricter sort of men of the present day; and his subsequent conduct at Constantinople shewed how well he could undergo and fight up against persecution in the quarrel of the Gospel. But such scenes of commotion were real sufferings to him, even independently of the personal danger of them; he was unequal to the task of ruling, and Basil in vain endeavoured to engage him as his coadjutor and comrade in the

government of his exarchate. Let the following letters of Gregory explain the feelings of the two friends :

GREGORY TO BASIL.

Doubtless it delighted me to find you placed on the high throne of Cæsarea, to see the victory of the Spirit, in lifting up a light upon its candlestick, which even before did not shine dimly. So necessary was such a guidance to the distracted church. Yet I had reasons for not at once hastening to you; indeed I cannot do so; you must not ask it of me. First, I did it from delicacy towards yourself, that you might not seem to be collecting your partizans about you with an indecent haste, as your enemies might object; next for my own peace and comfort. Perhaps you will say, "When, then, after all, will you come ?" When God wills, when the shadows of opposition and jealousy are passed. And I am confident it cannot be long before the blind and the lame give way, who shut out David from Jerusalem.

THE SAME TO THE SAME.

What can you mean by saying that I treat your interests as so much trash, my beloved Basil? Ποῖον σὲ ἔπος φύγενέρκος οδόντων;—what induced you to venture on so strong an assertion?-that I might venture a little on a counter assertion?-how could your mind conceive it, or ink write, or paper take it? O Athens, truth, and literary toil! I declare your letter has almost made my style tragic. Is it that you do not know me, or do not know one who is the light of his age, the sonorous trumpet, the royal home of eloquence? What, Gregory take little account of your concerns! Whom else on earth does he look up to?

...I know you may, if you please, justly accuse me of not making as much of you as I ought; but this is the fault of the whole world, for yourself and your own glorious voice alone can do you justice...... Call me a madman rather than an undervaluer of you. But perhaps you blame me for loving this tranquil retirement. Pardon me; but I must confess that this, and this alone, is a higher gift than the learning and eloquence of Basil.

At length Gregory came to Cæsarea, where Basil shewed him all marks of affection and respect; and where Gregory declined any public attentions, from a fear of the jealousy it might occasion, his friend let him do as he would, regardless of the charge which might fall on him, of his neglecting Gregory, from those who were ignorant of the circumstances. However, Basil could not detain him long in the metropolitan city, as the following letter shews, which was written on occasion of a charge of heterodoxy being advanced against the archbishop by a monk of Nazianzum, which Gregory had publicly opposed, but had written to him for a clearer explanation from himself. After expressing his natural distress at the calumny, Basil says

I know what has led to all this, and have urged every topic to hinder it; but now I am sick of the subject, and will say no more about it, I mean our little intercourse. For if we had kept our old promise to each other, and had due regard to the claims which the churches have on us, we should have been the greater part of the year together; and then these calumniators would not have shewn themselves. Pray have nothing to say to them; let me persuade you to come here and assist me in my labours, particularly in my contest with the individual who is now assailing me. Your very appearance would have the effect of stopping him; directly you shew these disturbers of the land that you will, by God's blessing, place yourself at the head of our party, you will break up their conspiracy, and you will “shut every unjust mouth that speaketh unrighteousness against God." And thus facts will shew who are your followers in good, and who are feeble in limbs and cowardly betrayers of the word of truth. If, however, the church falls, why then I shall care little to set men right about myself who have not yet learned to measure even themselves justly. Perhaps, in a short time, I shall be able to refute their slanders by very deed, for it seems likely that I shall have soon to suffer somewhat for the truth's sake more than heretofore; the best I can expect is banishment. Or, if this hope fails, after all Christ's judgment-seat is not far distant.

Two years after Basil's elevation, a dispute arose between him and Anthimus, Bishop of Tyana. Cappadocia had been divided by the civil power in two parts; and Anthimus contended that an ecclesiastical division must necessarily follow the civil, and that, in conse

quence, he himself, as holding the chief see in the second Cappadocia, was the rightful metropolitan of that province. The justice of the case was with Basil, but he was opposed by the party of bishops who were secretly Arianizers, and had already opposed themselves to his election. Accordingly, having might on his side, Anthimus began to alienate the monks from Basil, to appropriate the revenues of the church of Cæsarea, which lay in his province, and to expel or gain over the presbyters, giving, as an excuse, that respect and offerings ought not to be paid to heretics.

Gregory at once offered his assistance to his friend, hinting to him, at the same time, that some of those who were about him had some share of blame in the dispute. It happened unfortunately for their intimacy that they were respectively connected with distinct parties in the church. Basil knew and valued, and gained over many of the semi-Arians, who dissented from the orthodox doctrine more from over-subtlety of mind or dulness than from unbelief. Gregory was in habits of intimacy with the religious brethren of Nazianzum, his father's see, and these were eager for orthodoxy almost as a badge of party. In the letter last translated, Basil reflects upon these monks ; and, on this occasion, Gregory warned him against Eustathius and his friends, whose orthodoxy was suspicious, and who, being ill-disposed towards Anthimus, were likely to increase the difference between that prelate and Basil. It may be observed that it was this connexion between the latter and Eustathius, to which Anthimus alluded, when he objected to pay offerings to heretics.

Gregory's offer of assistance to Basil was frankly made, and frankly accepted. "I will come, if you wish me," he says, "to advise with you, though that can hardly be necessary; at all events, to gain some experience in the business myself, and to learn to bear injury and slight in your company." Accordingly they set out together for Mount Taurus, in the second Cappadocia, where there was an estate or church dedicated to St. Orestes, the property of the see of Cæsarea, On their return with the produce of the farm, they were encountered by the retainers of Anthimus, who blocked up the pass, and attacked their company. This warfare between Christian prelates was obviously a great scandal to the church, and Basil adopted a measure which he considered would put an end to it. He increased the number of bishopricks in that district, considering that residents might be able to secure the produce of the estate without disturbance, and to quiet and gain over the minds of those who had encouraged Anthimus in his opposition. Sasima was a village in this neighbourhood, and here he determined to place his friend Gregory, doubtless considering that he could not shew him a greater mark of confidence than to commit to him the management of the quarrel, or confer on him a post (to his own high spirit) more desirable than the place of risk and responsibility.

Gregory had been unwilling to be made a priest; but he shrunk with fear from the office of a bishop. He had on his mind that overpowering sense of the awfulness of the ministerial commission which then prevailed in more serious minds. "I feel myself to be unequal to this warfare," he says, "and, therefore, have hid my face, and

slunk away. And I sought to sit down in solitude, being filled with bitterness, and to keep silence, from a conviction that the days were evil, that God's elect have kicked against the truth, and become revolting children.......... And besides this, there is the internal warfare with one's passions, which wears the soul night and day in its body of humiliation, and the tossing to and fro which it suffers from sensual pleasures and the delights of life, and from the clay in which we are encompassed, and the law of sin warring against the law of the spirit......Difficult as it is to obey, it is still more difficult to rule, especially in that sacred government which must proceed according to the Divine law, and lead men to God." With these admirable feelings the weakness of man mingled itself: at the urgent command of his father he submitted to be consecrated; but the reluctance which he had felt to undertake the office was now transferred to his occupying the see to which he had been appointed. An ascetic, like Gregory, ought not to have complained of the country as deficient in beauty and interest, even though he might be allowed to feel the responsibility of a situation which made him a neighbour of Anthimus. Yet such was his infirmity; and he repelled the accusations of his mind against himself by charging Basil with unkindness in placing him at Sasima. On the other hand, it is possible that Basil, in his eagerness for the settlement of his exarchate, too little consulted the feelings and tastes of Gregory. This is the latter's account of the matter in a letter which displays much heat and even resentment against Basil :-" Give me," he says, "peace and quiet above all things. Why should I be fighting for lambs and birds, which are not mine, as if in a matter of souls and church rules?....Well, play the man, be strong, turn every thing to your own greatness, reverence duty more than friendship or intimacy, and disregard the opinion of the world about you, being consecrated to the One Spirit's service; while, on my part, so much shall I gain from this experience, not to trust a friend without reserve, and to honour nothing more than God's service."

And now, having conducted this unpleasant history to the most unpleasant part of it, we may leave it for the present.

PRIVATE EXCOMMUNICATION.

SIR,-The church of England does not excommunicate: if she did, there would be no occasion for the following remarks. But as she does not, a question arises whether the responsibility incurred by her through this omission rests only on the heads of our spiritual rulers, to whom the power of excommunication, strictly speaking, belongs; or, whether it may not be in a degree shared by the inferior clergy, and even by the lay members of the church? Whether, in short, dutiful churchmen are at liberty to remain perfectly passive in this matter, contented with lamenting annually in the Commination Service the circumstances which restrain the exercise of a godly discipline; or, whether some active duties do not devolve on them in consequence?

VOL. VI.-July, 1834.

H

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »