austere and unsocial, as well as those of an enthusiastic character, would naturally run into excess; and contend that, if occasional seclusion was thus favorable to the growth of religion in the soul, the benefits to be derived from total seclusion must be proportionably greater-in a word, that the most effectual mode of securing their virtue against the temptations of the world was to quit it altogether. The deference paid in the Church to the authority of Plato contributed to give currency and weight to these opinions. One principle of his philosophy was, that the visible things around us are only the fleeting and fallacious images of those eternal, immutable ideas, which alone possess a real existence. The business, therefore, of him, who wishes to arrive at the knowledge of the truth, and to elevate his nature to the perfection of which it is capable, must be to abstract his mind from his senses-entirely to exclude from his observation those forms of perishable matter which serve only to bewilder and lead him astray-and to give himself up to the contemplation of the ideal world, These speculative notions, originally derived from the Platonic school, no sooner gained a footing in the Church, than they were reduced to practice. Men began to affect a life of solitude and

contemplation, and to deem all intercourse with the world a positive hindrance to the attainment of that spiritual elevation at which the Christian ought to aim. Overlooking the clear intimations supplied by the constitution of their own nature, that man is designed for society-overlooking the express declarations of Scripture and the example of our Blessed Lord, whose ministry was one continued course of active benevolence-they took Elias and the Baptist for their models; without reflecting for a moment either upon the peculiar circumstances in which those holy men were placed, or the peculiar objects which they were appointed to accomplish. Thus while they passed their hours in a state of indolent abstractiondischarging no one social duty, and living as if they were alone in the world—they succeeded in persuading themselves and others that they were treading the path which leads to Christian perfection, and pursuing the course most pleasing in the sight of God-that they were the especial objects of his regard, were holding habitual intercourse with him, and enjoying a foretaste of that ineffable bliss which would be their portion, when removed from this world of sin and misery to his immediate presence. Hence the stories of dreams and visions, which occur so frequently in the

lives of the saints, and have been too hastily stigmatised as the offspring of deliberate fraud: whereas they were in most instances the creations of a distempered mind, cut off from the active pursuits in which it was designed to be engaged, and supplying their place by imaginary scenes and objects. It forms no part of our plan to enter into a minute detail of the follies and extravagancies which were the natural fruits of the eremitical and monastic modes of life. Let it suffice to have pointed out the sources from which they took their rise; and to have exposed the mischievous consequences of setting up any one mode of life as pre-eminently pure and holy-as rendering those who adopt it the peculiar favorites of heaven.

*

To return to our author. In refuting the calumnious accusations of the Pagans, he speaks of the Agape, or feast of charity. "Its

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object," he says, "is evident from its name, which signifies love. In these feasts, therefore, we testify our love towards our poorer brethren, by relieving their wants. We commence the entertainment by offering up a prayer to God; and after eating and drinking in moderation, we wash our hands, and lights being intro54 Apology, c. 39.

duced, each individual is invited to address God in a Psalm, either taken from the Scriptures or the produce of his own meditations. The feast concludes, as it began, with prayer." Tertullian does not expressly say, but it may be fairly inferred, that the materials of the feast were furnished out of the oblations made at the Eucharist; a portion of which appears also to have been allotted to the support of the 55 martyrs in prison. When we read the above description of the Agape, we cannot but participate in the regret expressed by

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Dr. Hey, that scandal should have occasioned the discontinuance of an entertainment, so entirely consonant to the benevolent spirit of the 'Gospel. If, however, we may believe Tertullian, the grossest abuses were introduced into it even in his time: for we find him, 57 in the Tract de Jejuniis, charging the orthodox with the very same licentious practices in their feasts of charity, which the Pagans were in the habit of imputing and according to the statement in the Apology, falsely imputing-to the whole Christian body. On these contra

55 Imo et quæ justa sunt caro non amittit per curam Ecclesiæ, agapen, fratrum. Ad Martyres, c. 2.

56 Book IV. Art. 28. Sect. 5.

57 c. 17. Sed major his est agape, quia per hanc adolescentes tui cum sororibus dormiunt: appendices scilicet gulæ lascivia atque luxuria. Compare the Apology, cc. 7, 8.

dictory assertions of our author, we may remark that the truth probably lies between them. Abuses did exist, but neither so numerous, nor so flagrant, as the enemies of the Gospel, and Tertullian himself, after he became a Mon'tanist, alleged.

Tertullian speaks 58 both of public and private vigils; and says that it was customary for the Christian females to bring water to wash the feet of the brethren, and to visit the dwellings of the poor, for the purpose, it may be presumed, of giving them instruction and relieving their wants. The Romish commentators have endeavoured to defend the religious processions of their Church by the authority of Tertullian; who uses the word 59 Procedendum in the passage from which the preceding remarks are taken. But if we compare it with another passage in the 60 Tract de Cultu. Foemi

58 Ita saturantur, ut qui meminerint etiam per noctem adorandum sibi Deum esse. Apology, c. 39. Quis nocturnis convocationibus, si ita oportuerit, a latere suo adimi libenter feret? Ad Uxorem, L. ii. c. 4. Quum etiam per noctem exsurgis oratum, c. 5. Aquam sanctorum pedibus offerre, c. 4. Quis autem sinat conjugem suam, visitandorum fratrum gratiâ, vicatim aliena et quidem pauperiora quæque tuguria circumire? Ibid.

59 Si procedendum erit, &c.

60 c. 11. Ac si necessitas amicitiarum officiorumque gentilium vos vocat, cur non vestris armis indutæ proceditis? See also c. 12.