their fortunes to some monastic institution. The real history of these establishments, however, would disclose little in favor of religion. There were doubtless many who ripened within their walls for heavenly glory; but there is reason to fear that the majority, under the mask of superior piety, led lives of luxury, licentiousness, and debauchery. These monastic institutions served one good purpose, and that one was important. During the dark ages which succeeded, when the light of science, throughout the world, was eclipsed by the barbarous incursions of the illiterate nations of the north, science and literature here found an asylum. Libraries were formed and carefully preserved, which, on the restoration of learning, were of great value to the world.

The subsequent history of these establishments is interesting. In the sixth century, the extravagancies of the monks, it was acknowledged, needed a check. This induc ed Benedict, a man distinguished for his piety, to institute a rule of discipline, by which a greater degree of order was introduced into the monasteries, and a wholesome restraint was laid upon the wild and extravagant conduct of their inmates. For a time, the Benedictine order became extremely popular, and swallowed up all others; but luxury and licentiousness gradually invaded even the convents of Benedict.

During the eighth and ninth centuries, the monks rose to the highest veneration. Even princes sought admittance to their cloisters, and the wealth of the great was poured into their treasuries. In such estimation were the monks held, that they were selected to occupy the highest offices of state. Abbots and monks filled the palaces of kings, and were even placed at the head of armies.

The tenth century gave rise to a new order in France, by the name of the congrega. tion of Clugni. For a season, the rules of reform which they adopted, and the sanctity which they assumed, gave them a high name. But licentiousness and debauchery, the natural result of a life of ease and luxury, soon sunk them into utter contempt. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, flourished the orders of the Cisterians and Carthusians. The thirteenth, gave birth to an order widely different from any which before existed. This was the order of Mendicants, instituted by Innocent III. They were taught to contemn wealth, and obtained their living only by charity. This order became extremely popular, and numbered its thousands, who were spread over all Europe.

In the thirteenth century, from this order, under the auspices of Gregory, arose four others, the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Carmelites, and the hermits of St. Augustine. The two first of these were much more respectable than the latter, and for three centuries governed the councils of Europe. They filled the most important offices in church and state, and gave to the papal power an influence and authority scarcely credible.

It is needless to dwell longer on this subject. The mischiefs which resulted from these monastic institutions, volumes would scarcely portray. Their secret history would develop a chapter of superstition, and fraud-of debaucheries, and every species of enormity, which a virtuous man would be shocked to read. "To go into a convent, says Dr. Johnson, "for fear of being immoral, is as if a man should cut off his hands, for fear he should steal. To suffer with patience and fortitude when called to it, for the cause of truth, is virtuous and heroical; but to exclude one's self from the light of day, under pretence of greater devotedness to God,—to creep on all fours like beaststo lacerate one's body with thorns-to defame-to afflict-to murder one's self,-this is absurd." The religion of the Gospel requires us, indeed, to live unspotted from the world; but then we must, at the same time, visit the widow and the fatherless.

28. Constantius being an Arian, favored that cause from the time of his accession, at the death of Constantine, A. D. 337, to his own death, in the year 361. During his long reign, Arianism maintained the ascendancy; while the friends of the opposite faith suffered the most bitter persecution. Athanasius, who had been recalled from banishment, was again exiled, and although recalled, was obliged to take refuge from his persecutors, with some monks, in a desert.

The state of the Church at this time, could we give a just representation of it, would present little of its primitive purity and simplicity. The Scriptures were no longer the standard of Christian faith. What was orthodox, and what was heterodox, was to be determined only by fathers and councils. Ministers had departed from the simpli

city of Christian doctrine and manners; avarice and ambition ruled; temporal grandeur, high preferment, and large revenues, were the ruling passion.

As either party, at any time, gained the advantage, it treated the other with marked severity. The Arians, however, being generally in power, the orthodox experienced almost uninterrupted oppression.

In 349, Constantius was influenced to recall Athanasius, and to restore him to his office at Alexandria. To his enemies, no measure could have been more repulsive; and it was the signal to prefer the most bitter accusations against him. He was obliged to flee before the storm, and take shelter in the obscurity of a desert; but the blast fell upon his friends; some of whom were banished; some were loaded with chains, and imprisoned; while others were scourged to death.

In respect to the Arians, it is thought no circumstances existed for measures so violent as those which they adopted; but then it should be remembered, that the orthodox were not much less violent, when they possessed the power. Athanasius, at the head of the orthodox party, was a man of a restless and aspiring disposition. His speculative views of the doctrines of the Scriptures, appear in general to have been correct; but he cannot be exempted from the charge of oppressing his opponents, when he had the power.

It may be added, in respect to the Arians, that, at length, divisions among them caused them to separate into numerous sects. Hence we read of Semi-arians, Aetians, Eunomians, and many others; of whom it is only necessary to say, that they assisted to distract the Christian world while they existed, and to show how discordant human beings may become.

29. Constantius dying in the year 361, was followed in the administration by his nephew Julian, commonly called the Apostate. This prince had been instructed in the principles of Christianity; but having early imbibed a partiality for the pagan worship, that system was placed upon an equal footing with Christianity, during his reign.

On his accession, Julian ordered such heathen temples as had been shut, to be opened; and many which had been demolished to be rebuilt. The laws against idolatry were repealed; pagan priests were honored; and pagan worship was favored. On the other hand, Christians became the objects of ridicule; their schools were closed; their privileges abridged; their clergy impoverished. Open persecution was indeed prohibited; but, by every other means, were the followers of the Redeemer humble and oppressed. By way of reproach, Julian always called the Savior the Galilean. In a war with the Persians, he was mortally wounded by a lance. As he was expiring, he filled his hand with blood, and indignantly casting it into the air, exclaimed, "O Galilean! thou hast conquered.'

It was during the reign of this prince, and under his auspices, that the Temple of

Eruption of Fire.

Jerusalem was attempted to be rebuilt, by the Jews, who, from all the provinces of the empire, repaired to the holy city. Great preparations were made, and on the com

mencement of the work, spades and pick-axes of silver were provided; and the dirt and rubbish were transported in mantles of silk and purple. But an insulted Providence poured its wrath upon this work of impiety;-the workmen were scorched by flames, which issued from the earth, and drove them from their mad design.

30. About this time, may be noticed a decided increase of the power and influence of the bishop of Rome, who was considered the first in rank, and distinguished by a sort of pre-eminence over all other bishops.

He surpassed all his brethren in the magnificence and splendor of the Church over which he presided; in the riches of his revenues and possessions; in the number and variety of his ministers; in his credit with the people; and in his sumptuous and splendid manner of living. This led Prætextatus, an heathen, who was magistrate of the city, to say, "make me bishop of Rome, and I'll be a Christian too!"

31. After a reign of twenty-two months, Julian was slain by the hand of a common soldier, and was succeeded in the year 363, by Jovian, one of the officers of his army. Under this prince, Christianity once more triumphed over paganism, and orthodoxy over Arianism.

"Under his reign," says Gibbon, "Christianity obtained an easy and lasting victory. In many cities the heathen temples were shut or entirely deserted. The edicts of Julian in favor of paganism were abolished; and the system sunk irrecoverably in the dark." Jovian, however, declared his abhorrence of contention, and allowed such as pleased to exercise with freedom the ceremonies of the ancient worship.

32. In the year 364, Jovian, notwithstanding his apparent admission of the obligations of Christianity, died in a fit of debauch, and was succeeded by two brothers, Valentinian and Valens; the former of whom patronized the orthodox; the latter, the Arians. In 375, Valentinian died; upon which Valens, becoming sole monarch, was prevailed upon to persecute with much cruelty the orthodox party.

Of these princes, Gibbon says, "that they invariably retained, in their exalted station, the chaste and temperate simplicity which had adorned their private life; and under them the reign of the pleasures of a court never cost the people a blush, or a sigh. Though illiterate themselves, they patronized learning; they planned a course of instruction for every city in the empire, and handsomely endowed several academies." But in respect to religion, their conduct was far from being commendable. Valens, particularly, persecuted all who differed from him. A single act will serve as an example of his cruelty. A company of eighty ecclesiastics, who had refused to subscribe to the Arian faith, were ordered into banishment. Being placed on board a vessel, provided to carry them away, as they were sailing out of the harbor, the vessel was set on fire, and the whole company were left to be consumed. Cruelty like this marked the whole of his reign.

33. After a long life of labor and numerous sufferings, Athanasius died in the year 373.

Under the reign of Constantins, it has already been observed, Athanasius was com pelled to seek his safety in retreat. During the reign of Julian, he once visited his people, but returned to his retreat. On the accession of Jovian, he again appeared at Alexandria, and by that prince was confirmed in his office. From this time to his death, little is recorded of him which we need to relate. He has left a character, high in point of purity, but blemished by an excessive zeal for orthodoxy, and by an encouragement of monkish superstition, inconsistent with the genius of the Gospel.

34. After a reign of fourteen years, Valens lost his life in a battle with the Goths, A. D. 378, and was succeeded by Gratian, the son of Valentinian. Soon after his accession, he associated the great Theodosius with him in the government. Both these emperors espoused the cause of Christianity against paganism, and orthodoxy against Arianism.

The measures adopted by Theodosius were such as to drive Arians from their Churches, and subjected to many grievous calamities. Unacquainted with the spirit of the Gospel, he attempted, contrary to its genius, to enforce its reception by the arm of power, rather than by the voice of reason.

35. In the year 383, Theodosius summoned a council at Constantinople, consisting of nearly two hundred bishops, with a design to confirm the Nicene creed.

This council accordingly decreed that the Nicene creed should be the standard of orthodoxy, and that all heresies should be condemned. In accordance with this decision, the emperor soon after issued two edicts, by both of which the holding of meetings, whether public or private, was forbidden to all heretics, under the severest penalties.

In the year 390, he issued a still severer edict, aimed as a death-blow to paganism. According to this edict, all his subjects were prohibited to worship any inanimate idol, by the sacrifice of any victim, on pain of death.

This edict was so rigidly enforced, that paganism declined apace. "So rapid and yet so gentle was the fall of it," says Gibbon, "that only twenty-eight years after the death of Theodosius, the faint and minute vestiges were no longer visible to the eye of the legislator."

36. We must here anticipate a few years, and speak of Pelagianism, which began to be propagated about the year 404, or 405. The author of this system was one Pelagius, a Briton, from whom it received its name. Its grand feature was a denial of the depravity of the human heart, or the necessity of the influences of the Spirit in man's regeneration.

Besides these opinions, Pelagius maintained, that the human will is as much inclined to good as to evil, and that good works constitute the meritorious cause of salvation.

Pelagius was considerably advanced in years, before he began to propagate his opinions. His first attempt was made at Rome, but meeting with opposition, he removed to Carthage, in Africa, where he openly raised his standard. He was a man of irreproachable morals, and deep subtilty. These circumstances gave him great influence, especially among the young and inexperienced. In the propagation of his system, he was assisted by one Cælestius, an Irish monk.

For a time, the success of Pelagius was great. But the system found a powerful opponent, in the famous Augustine, bishop of Hippo, in Africa. This father opposed, in a manner the most satisfactory, the unscriptural character of the system, and the direct tendency of it to subvert the grand doctrines of the Gospel, and to render the cross of Christ of no effect. The controversy, however, distracted, for a time, the Christian world. Council after council assembled, and the most opposite decrees were at different times passed in relation to the system of Pelagius. În the year 412, Cælestius was condemned as a heretic; this was followed in 420, by a condemnation of the system on the part of the emperor, and Pelagianism was suppressed throughout the empire.

In the year 431, Pelagianism was again brought forward, in an altered and softened form, by John Cassion, a monk of Marseilles. To this latter system was given the name of Semi-Pelagianism. It consisted in an attempt to pursue a middle course between the doctrines of Pelagius and Augustine. It is necessary, however, only to add, that the system thus new modeled, was again attacked by Augustine, assisted by Hilary, a distinguished priest, and Prosper, a layman; and by these champions its inconsistencies and anti-scriptural character were sufficiently exposed.

37. The emperor Theodosius died in the year 395, and was succeeded by his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius, the former of whom presided at Constantinople, as emperor of the east; the latter chose Ravenna as the seat of his court, in preference to Rome, and presided over the west.

38. Of the state of the Church, during the reign of these two emperors, and, indeed, for a long period following, we have nothing pleasant to

record. Honorius, following the steps of his father, protected the external state of the Church, and did something towards extirpating the remains of idolatry, and supporting.orthodoxy in opposition to existing heresies. But a great increase of superstition, palemical subtilty, and monasticism marked these times, both in the east and west. The true spirit of the Gospel was scarcely visible. A constant struggle existed among the clergy for dignity, power, and wealth, and great exertions were put forth to maintain the supremacy of the Catholic Church.

39. Some time previous to this date, but now more particularly, important changes began to take place in the Roman empire, which considerably affected the visible kingdom of the Redeemer. These changes were caused by numerous barbarous tribes inhabiting the north of Europe, who attacking the Roman empire, in a course of years reduced it to a state of complete subjection, and divided its various provinces into several distinct governments and kingdoms.

These tribes consisted of the Goths, Huns, Franks, Alans, Suevi, Vandals, and various others. They were extremely barbarous and illiterate, at the same time pow. erful and warlike. The incursions of these tribes into the empire was at a time when it was least able to make effectual resistance. Both Honorius and Arcadius were weak princes. The Roman character was greatly sunk. Their lofty and daring spirit was gone. There empire had for years groaned under its unwieldy bulk; and only by the most vigorous efforts had it been kept from crumbling to ruins. With Theodosius, expired the last of the successors of Augustus and Constantine, who appeared in the field of battle at the head of their armies, and whose authority was acknowledged throughout the empire. Such being the state of things, it is not strange that the northern tribes should have seized the opportunity to invade the empire; nor that their effort at subjugation should have been crowned with success. Still less singular is it, that the Church of Christ should have suffered in a corresponding degree.

40. In the year 410, the imperial city of Rome was besieged and taken by Alaric, king of the Goths, who delivered it over to the licentious fury of his army. A scene of horror ensued which is scarcely paralleled in the history of war. The plunder of the city was accomplished in six days; the streets were deluged with the blood of murdered citizens, and some of the noblest edifices were razed to their foundation.

The city of Rome was at this time an object of admiration. Its inhabitants were estimated at twelve hundred thousand. Its houses were but little short of fifty thou sand; seventeen hundred and eighty of which were similar in grandeur and extent to the palaces of princes. Every thing bespoke wealth and luxury. The market, the race courses, the temples, the fountains, the porticos, the shady groves, unitedly com bined to add surpassing splendor to the spot.

Two years before the surrender of the city, Alaric had laid seige to it, and had received from the proud and insolent Romans, as the price of his retreat from the walls, five thousand pounds of gold, thirty thousand pounds of silver, and an incredible quantity of other valuable articles.

In the following year, he again appeared before the city; and now took possession of the port of Ostia, one of the boldest and most stupendous works of Roman magnifi cence. He had demanded the surrender of the city, and was only prevented from razing it to its foundation, by the consent of the senate to remove the unworthy Honorius from the throne of the Caesars, and to place Attalus, the tool of the Gothic conqueror, in his place.

But the doom of the city was not far distant. In 410, Alaric once more appeared under the walls of the capital. Through the treachery of the Roman guard, one of the gates was silently opened, and the inhabitants were awakened at midnight, by the tremendous sound of the Gothic trumpet. Alaric and his bands entered in triumph,