celli, not in their opinions and doctrines, but || we except their sordid habit, and certain obonly in their manner of living. The Fratri- servances and maxims, which they followed in celli were real monks, subjected to the rule of consequence of the injunctions of the famous St. Francis; while the Bizochi or Beguins, if saint above mentioned, lived after the manne: under the same title by John XXII. in the bull al- vout than their neighbours, were called Beghardi or ready cited. Add to all these authorities, that of the Begutte. learned Du-Fresne, who, in his Glossar. Latinit. mediæ, observes, that this denomination is derived from Bizochus, which signifies in French une Besace, i. e. a sack or wallet, such as beggars in general, and these holy beggars in particular, were accustomed to carry about with them. The term Bocasotus, (or Vocasotus, as Du-Boulay writes it,) has without doubt the same origin, and bears the same signification. It is used by Jordan, in his Chronicle, from which we shall cite a remarkable passage in the following note. The denominations of Beghards and Beguins, given to the Tertiaries in France and Italy, are very frequently met with in the ecclesiastical history of the middle ages. The accounts, however, which both ancient and modern writers generally give of these famous names, are so uncertain, and so different from each other, that we need not be surprised to find the history of the Beghards and Beguins involved in greater perplexity and darkness, than any other part of the ecclesiastical annals of the period now mentioned. It is therefore my present object to remove this perplexity, and dispel this darkness as far as that can be done in the short space to which I am confined, and to disclose the true origin of these denominations.

The observations we have hitherto made with re spect to the origin and signification of the words in question, will serve as a clue to rescue the atten.ive reader from that labyrinth of difficulties in which the subject has been involved. They will also enable him to account for the prodigious multitudes of Beg. hards and Beguins that sprang up in Europe in the thirteenth century, and will show him how it hap pened, that these denominations were given to above 30 sects or orders, which differed widely from each other in their opinions, discipline, and manner of living. The original signification of the word Beg. hard, (or Beggert, as it was pronounced by the common people,) was importunate beggar. Therefore, when the people saw certain persons, not only embracing with resignation, but also with the most voluntary choice, and under a pretext of devotion, the horrors of absolute poverty, begging their daily bread from door to door, and renouncing all their worldly possessions and occupations, they called all such persons Beghards, or, if they were women, Beguttes, without considering the variety of opinions and maxims by which they were distinguished. The sect called Apostles, the rigid Franciscans, the brethren of the free spirit (of whom we shall speak hereafter,) all embraced this sordid state of beggary; and though among these orders there was not only a wide difference, but even the greatest opposition, the Germans called them indiscriminately Beghards, from the miserable state which they had all embrac ed. Nor is this to be wondered at; the character which they possessed in common was striking, while the sentiments and maxims that divided them cscaped the observation of the multitude.

But the word Beghard acquired a second, and a new signification, in this century, being employed, as we have already observed, to signify a person who prayed with uncommon frequency, and who distin guished himself from those about him by an extraordinary appearance of piety. The force of this term, in its new signification, is the same with that of the word Methodist, which is at present the denomination of a certain sect of fanatics in Great Britain. Such, therefore, as departed from the manner of living that was usual among their fellow-citizens, and distinguished themselves by the gravity of their aspect and the austerity of their manners, were comprehended under the general denomination of Beghards and Beguttes in Germany, and of Beguins and Beguines in France. These terms, as we could show by many examples, comprehended at first even the monks and nuns; but, in process of time, they were confined to those who formed a sort of intermediate order between the monks and citizens, and who resembled the former in the manner of living, without assuming their name or contracting their obligations. The Tertiaries, therefore, or half-monks of the Dominican, Franciscan, and, in general, of all the religious orders, were called Beghards; for though, as lay-citizens, they belonged to the body politic, yet they distinguished themselves by their monkish dispositions, and their profession of extraordinary piety and sanctity of manners. The fraternity of weavers, the Brethren of St. Alexius, the followers of Gerard the Great, in a word, all who

The words Beghard or Beggehard, Begutta, Beg. hinus, and Beghind, which only differ in their terminations, have all one and the same sense. The German and Belgic nations wrote Beghard and Begutte, which terminations are extremely common in the language of the ancient Germans. But the French substituted the Latin termination for the German, and changed Beghard into Beghinus and Beghina; so that those who in Holland and Germany were called Beghard and Begutte, were denominated, in France, Beghini and Beghine. Even in Germany and Holland, the Latin termination was gradually introduced instead of the German, particularly in the feminine term Begutta, of which change we might allege several probable reasons, if this were the proper place for disquisitions of that nature. There are many different opinions concerning the origin and signification of these terms, which it would be too tedious to mention, and still more so to refute. Besides, I have done this in a large work concerning the Beghards, wherein I have traced out, with the utmost pains and labour, (from records, the greatest part of which had never before seen the light,) the history of all the sects to whom these names have been given, and have, at the same time, detected the errors into which many learned men have fallen, in treating this part of the history of the church. At present, therefore, setting aside many opinions and conjectures, I shall confine myself to a brief inquiry into the true origin and signification of these words. They are undoubtedly derived from the old German word beggen or beggeren, which signifies to seek any thing with importunity, zeal, and earnestness. In joining to this word the syllable hard, which is the termination of many German words, we have the term Beggehard, which is applicable to a person who asks any thing with ardour and importunity; and, therefore, common mendicants, in the ancient German language, were called Beghard, from which the English word beggar is manifestly derived. Begutta signifies a female beg-pretended to an uncommon degree of sanctity and gar. When Christianity was introduced into Germany, the word beggen, or beggeren, was used in a religious sense, and expressed the act of devout and fervent prayer to the Supreme Being. Accordingly, we find, in the Gothic translation of the Four Gospels attributed to Ulphilas, the word beggen employed to express the duty of the earnest and fervent prayer. Hence, when any person distinguished himself from others by the frequency and fervour of his devotional service, he was called a Beghard, i. e. a devout man; and the denomination of Begutta was given in the same sense, to women of uncommon piety. And as they who distinguished themselves from others by the frequency of their prayers, thus assumed a more striking air of external devotion than the rest of their fellow-Christians, all those who were ambitious of appearing more religious and de-l

devotion, were called Beghards, although they procured the necessaries of life by honest industry without having recourse to the sordid trade of beg ging.

The denominations, therefore, of Beghards, Be guttes, Beguins, and Beguines, are rather honourable than otherwise, when we consider their origin; and they are mentioned as such, in several records and deeds of this century, whose authority is most respectable, particularly in the Testament of St. Louis, king of France. But, in the sequel, these terms lost gradually, as the case often happens, their primitive signification, and became marks of infamy and derision. For, among these religious beggars and these sanctimonious pretenders to extraordinary piety, there were many, whose piety was nothing more than the most senseless superstition; many, also

of other men, and were therefore considered in || Their origin was of earlier date than this cenno other light, than as seculars and laymen.* It is, however, to be observed, that the Bizochi were divided into two classes, which derived their respective denominations of perfect and imperfect, from the different degrees of austerity that they discovered in their manner of livmg. The perfect lived upon alms, abstained from wedlock, and had no fixed habitations. The imperfect, on the contrary, had their houses, wives, and possessions, and were engaged, like the rest of their fellow-citizens, in the various affairs of life.†

XLI. We must not confound these Beguins and Beguines, who derive their origin from an austere branch of the Franciscan order, with the German and Belgic Beguines, who crept out of their obscurity in this century, and multiplied prodigiously in a very short time. whose austere devotion was accompanied with opinions of a corrupt nature, entirely opposite to the doctrine of the church; and (what was still more horrible) many artful hypocrites, who, under the principles, and committed the most enormous crimes. These were the fools and knaves who brought the denomination of Beghard into disrepute, and rendered it both ridiculous and infamous; so that it was only employed to signify idiots, heretics, or hypocrites. The denomination of Lollards, of which sect we shall soon have occasion to speak, met with the same fate, and was rendered contemptible by the persons who masked their iniquity under that spe

mask of religion, concealed the most abominable

cious title.

* See the Acta Inquis. Tolos. published by Limof ancient writers, which tend to illustrate the history of the Fratricelli and Beguins, I shall quote only one, which is to be found in Jordan's Chronicon, published by Muratori, in his Antiq. Ital. medii Evi, tom. iv. p. 1020, and confirms almost every thing we have said upon that head; anno 1294. "Petrus de Macerata et Petrus de Forosempronio apostatæ fuerunt ordinis Minorum et hæretici. His petentibus eremitice vivere, ut regulam B. Francisci ad literam servare possent; quibus plures Apostatæ adhæserunt, qui statum commitatis damnabant et declarationes regulæ, et vocabant se Fratres S. Francisci (he ought to have said Fratricellos) Sæculares, (i. e. the Tertiaries, who were the friends and associates of the Fratricelli, without quitting, however, their secular state, or entering into the monas. tic order;) Sæculares autem vocarunt Bizocios aut Fratricellos vel Bocasotos." Jordan, however, errs in affirming, that the Sæculares were called Fratricelli; for the latter name belonged only to the true monks of St. Francis, and not to the Tertiaries. The other circumstances of this account are exact, and show that the more austere professors of the Franciscan rule were divided into two classes, namely, friars and seculars, and that the latter were called Bizochi. "Ii dogmatizabant, quod nullus summus pontifex regulam B. Francisci declarare potuit. Item, quod angelus abstulit a Nicolao tertio papatus auctoritatem .... Et quod ipsi soli sunt in via Dei et vera ecclesia," &c

borch, p. 298, 302, &c. Among the various passages

tury; but it was only now that they acquired a name, and made a noise in the world. Their primitive establishment was, undoubtedly, the effect of virtuous dispositions and upright intentions. A certain number of pious women, both virgins and widows, in order to maintain their integrity, and preserve their principles from the contagion of a vicious and corrupt age, formed themselves into societies, each of which had a fixed place of residence, and lived under the inspection and government of a female head. Here they divided their time between exercises of devotion, and works of honest industry, reserving to themselves tho liberty of entering into the state of matrimony, as also of quitting the convent, whenever they thought proper. And as all those among the female sex, who made extraordinary profes sions of piety and devotion, were distinguished by the title of Beguines, (i. e. persons who were uncommonly assiduous in prayer,) that title was given to the women of whom we are now speaking.* The first regular society of this kind that we read of, was formed at Nivelle in Brabant, in 1226;† and it was followed by so many institutions of a like nature in France, Germany, Holland, and Flanders, that, toward the middle of the thirteenth century, there was scarcely a city of any note, that had not its beguinage, or vineyard, as it was sometimes called in conformity to the style of the Song of Songs. All these female sotitled Josephi Geldolphi a Ryckel Vita S. Beggæ, cum Adnotationibus, p. 65–227. Duaci, 1631. Now, though we grant that those writers have not fallen into an error who place the rise of the Beguines in the twelfth or thirteenth century, yet the small number of authentic records, which they have to produce in favour of their antiquity, is an incontestable proof of the obscurity in which they lay concealed before the time in which these authors placed their origin, and may render it almost probable, that the only convent of Beguines, that existed before the thirteenth century, was that of Vilvorden.

* All the Beghards and Beguines that yet remain in the Netherlands, where their convents have almost entirely changed their ancient and primitive form, affirm unanimously, that both their name and institution derive their origin from St. Begghe, duchess of Brabant, and daughter of Pepin, mayor of the palace of the king of Austrasia, who lived in the seventh century. This lady, therefore, they consider as their patroness, and honour her as a kind of tutelar divinity with the deepest sentiments of veneration and respect. See Jos. Geld. a Ryckel. Vit. S. Beggæ, a work of great bulk and little meri and full of the most silly and insipid fables.-Those who are not well-wishers to the cause of the Beguines, adopt a quite different account of their origin, which they deduce from Lambert le Begue, a priest and native of Liege, who lived in the twelfth century, and was much esteemed for his eminent piety. The learned Peter Coens, canon of Antwerp, has defended this opinion with more erudition than In the seventeenth century, there was a great de- any other writer, in his Disquisitio Historica de Oribate carried on in the Netherlands on this subject.gine Beghinarum et Beghinagiorum in Belgio, Leod In the course of this controversy it was proved, by 1672. the most authentic and unexceptionable records and diplomas, that, so early as the eleventh and twelfth centuries, there had been several societies of Begui- || nes established in Holland and Flanders. It is true, that no more than three of these authentic acts were produced; the first was drawn up in 1065, the second in 1129, the third in 1151; and they were all three drawn up at Vilvorden by the Beguines. See Aub. Miræus, Ópera Diplomatico-historica, tom. ii. c. xxvi. p. 948, and tom. iii. p. 623.-Erycius Puteanus, de Beghinarum apud Belgas Instituto. This treatise of Puteanus is to be found with another of the same author, and upon the same subject, in a work en

This division is mentioned, or supposed by several authors, and more especially in the Acta Inquisit. Tolosanæ, p. 303, &c.

Other historians say, in 1207.

I See Matth. Paris, Histor. Major, ad An. 1243 and 1250, p. 540, 696.-Thomas Cantipratensis in Bono Universali de Apibus, lib. ii. cap. li.-Pet. de Her. enthal, in his Annals, from which we have a very remarkable passage cited by Jos. Geld. a Ryckel, in his Observationes ad Vitam S. Begga, sect. cxcvi. The origin and charters of the convents of Begui nes, that were founded during this and the following century in Holland and Flanders, are treated in an ample manner by Aub. Miræus, in his Opera His. torico-diplomatica, John Bapt. Grammaye, in his Antiquitates Belgicæ, Anton. Sanders, in his Bra

cieties were not governed by the same laws; || the Greek and Latin writers, who, during the but, in the greatest part of them, the hours same period, acquired fame by their learned that were not devoted to prayer, meditation, productions. The most eminent among the or other religious exercises, were employed in Greeks were, weaving, embroidering, and other manual labours. The poor, sick, and disabled Beguines, were supported by the pious liberality of such opulent persons as were friends to the order.

Nicetas Acominatus, who composed a work, entitled the History and Treasure of the Or thodox Faith;

Germanus, the Grecian patriarch, of whom we have yet extant, among other productions of less note, a Book against the Latins, and an Exposition of the Greek Liturgy;

Theodorus Lascaris, who left behind him several treatises upon various subjects of a re

Arsenius, whose Synopsis of the Canon Law of the Greeks is far from being contemptible;

Georgius Acropolita, who acquired a high degree of renown, not only by his historical writings, but also by the transactions and negotiations in which he was employed by the emperor Michael,

XLII. This female institution was soon imitated in Flanders by the other sex; and considerable numbers of unmarried men, both bachelors and widowers, formed themselves into communities of the same kind with those of the Beguines, under the inspection and go-ligious nature, and who also entered the lists vernment of a certain chief, and with the same against the Latins, which was the reigning religious views and purposes; reserving to passion among such of the Greeks as were enthemselves, however, the liberty of returning dowed with tolerable parts, and were desirous to their former mode of life. These pious per- of showing their zeal for the honour of their sons were, in the style of this age, called Beg-nation; hards, and (by a corruption of that term usual Nicephorus Blemmida, who employed his among the Flemish and Dutch) Bogards; from talents in the salutary work of healing the others they received the denomination of Lol-divisions between the Greeks and Latins; lards: in France they were distinguished at first by that of Bons Valets, or Bons Garcons, and afterwards by that of Beguins: they were also styled the Fraternity of Weavers, from the trade which the greatest part of them exercised. The first Beghard society seems to have Deen that which was established at Antwerp in 1228; and this establishment was followed by many similar associations in Germany, France, Holland, and Flanders, though, after all their success, their congregations were less numerous than those of the Beguines. It is worthy of observation, that the Roman pontiffs never honoured the societies of the Beghards and Beguines with their solemn or explicit approbation, or confirmed their establishments by the seal of their authority. They, however, granted them a full toleration, and even defended them often against the stratagems and violence of their enemies, who were many in number. This appears by the edicts in favour of the Beghards, which the pontiffs granted in compliance with the solicitations of many illustrious personages, who wished well to that society. It did not, however, continue always to flourish. The greatest part of the convents, both of the Beghards and Beguines, are now either demolished, or converted to other uses.|| In Flanders, indeed, a considerable number of the latter still subsist, but few of the former are to be found in any country.

XLIII. After the accounts hitherto given of the rulers of the church, and of the religious orders that were instituted or became famous during this century, it will not be improper to conclude this chapter, by mentioning briefly

Dantia et Flandria illustrata, and by other writers of the Belgic history.

Matth. Paris, Hist. Major, ad An. 1253.

† See Ryckelii Vita S. Begg, p. 635.-Ant. Sanderi Flandria Illustrata, lib. iii. c. xvi. Jo. Bapt. Grammaye's Antiquit. Fland. p. 22.-Aub. Miræi Opera Diplom. Hist. tom. ii. c. clxviii.-Helyot, Hist. des Ordres, tom. vii. p. 248, who is nevertheless chargeable with many errors.-Gerardus Antoninus, Pater Minister (so the head of the order is called in our times) Beghardorum Antwerpiensium, in Episola ad Ryckium de Beghardorum origine et fatis, n Ryckelii Vita S. Beggæ, p. 489. This author, indeed, from a spirit of partia ity to his order, conceals the truth designedly in various places

Johannas Beccus or Veccus, who involved himself in much trouble, and excited the odium of many, by defending the cause of the Latins || against his own nation with too much zeal;

George Metochita, and Constantine Meli teniota, who employed, without success, their most earnest efforts to bring about a reconcilia tion between the Greeks and Latins;

George Pachymeres, who acquired reputa tion by his commentary upon Dionysius, the pretended chief of the mystics, and by a history which he composed of his own time; and,

George the Cyprian, whose hatred of the Latins, and warm opposition to Veccus abovementioned, rendered him more famous than all his other productions.*

XLIV. The prodigious number of Latin writers that appeared in this century, renders it impossible for us to mention them all; we shall therefore confine our account to those among them, who were the most eminent, and whose theological writings demand most frequently our notice in the course of this history. Such were,

Joachim, abbot of Flora in Calabria, who was a man of mean parts and of a weak judgment, full of enthusiastic and visionary notions, but was esteemed for his piety and supposed knowledge, and was even considered, during his life and after his death, by the miserable and blinded multitude, as a prophet sent from above. The pretended propnecies of this silly fanatic are abundantly known, and have been frequently published;f

* For a more ample account of all these writers, the reader may consult the Bibliotheca Græca of Fabricius.

†The life of Joachim was written in Italian by Gregory di I auro, and published at Naples in 1660 The first edition of his prophecies appeared at Venice, in 1517; and it was followed by several new editions, to satisfy the curiosity of the populace, great and small

Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, who wrote commentaries upon the greatest part of the books of Scripture;*

Francis, the founder of the famous society of Friars-minors, or Franciscans, whose writings were designed to touch the heart, and excite pious and devout sentiments, but discover little genius, and less judgment.

Alan de l'Isle, a logician, who made no mean figure among the disputatious tribe; who applied himself also to the study of chemistry, and published several moral discourses, in which are many wise and useful exhortations and precepts;t

Jacobus de Vitriaco, who acquired a name by his Oriental History; and Jacobus de Voragine, whose History of the Lombards‡ was received with applause.

Guillaume de St. Amour carried on with great spirit and resolution, but with little success, a literary and theological war against those friars who looked upon begging as a mark of sanctity.

Humbert de Romanis drew up a system of rules and precepts, with a view of subjecting to a better regulation the lives and manners of the monastic orders.

William Perald arose in this century to a high degree of literary renown, in consequence of a system of morals he published under the title of Summa Virtutum et Vitiorum.*

Raymond Martin yet survives the oblivion that has covered many of his contemporaries, and his Pugio Fidei, or Sword of Faith, which he drew against the Jews and Saracens, has escaped the ruins of time.

John of Paris deserves an eminent rank among the glorious defenders of truth, liberty, and justice, since he maintained the authority of the civil powers, and the majesty of kings and princes, against the ambitious stratagems and usurpations of the Roman pontiffs, and de

was commonly adopted with respect to the sacrament of the Lord's supper, and the presence of Christ in that holy ordinance.t

CHAPTER III.

The writers of this century, who obtained the greatest renown on account of their laborious researches in what was called philosophical or dialectical theology, were Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, and Bonaventura, who respectively possessed an inquisitive turn of mind, and a sublime and penetrating_ge-clared openly his opposition to the opinion that nius, accompanied with an uncommon talent of exploring the most hidden truths, and treating with facility the most abstruse subjects, though they are all chargeable with errors and reveries that do little honour to their memories. The other writers, who trod the same intricate paths of metaphysical divinity, were many in number, and several of them were justly admired, though much inferior in renown to the celebrated triumvirate now mentioned; such were Alexander Hales, the interpreter of Aristotle, William of Paris,|| Robert Capito, Thomas Cantipratensis, John of Peckham, William Durand, Roger Bacon,** Richard Middleton, Giles de Columna, Armand de Bello-Visu, and several others.

Hugo de St. Caro gained much applause by his Concordance of the Holy Bible.tt

Langton was a learned and polite author for the age in which he lived. To him we are indebted for the division of the Bible into chapters. He wrote commentaries upon all the books of the Old Testament, and upon St. Paul's Epistles.

† Several of the name of Alan lived in this century, who have been strangely confounded, both by ancient and modern writers. See Jaq. le Bœuf, Memoires sur l'Hist. d'Auxerre, tom. i. and Dissert. sur

l'Hist. Civil. et Eccles. de Paris, tom. ii.

Jac. Echardi Scriptor. Domin. t. i.-Bollandi Præf. ad Acta Sanctor.

For an account of Albert, see Echard. Script. Dom. tom. i.—For an account of Thomas Aquinas, who was called the Angel of the Scholastics among other splendid titles, see the Acta Sanctorum, tom. i. and Ant. Touron, Vie de St. Thomas, Paris, 1737.ever concerns the life, writings, and exploits of Bonaventura, the tutelar saint of the Lyonnois, in France, in the two following books, viz. Colonia's Histoire Literaire de la Ville de Lyon, tom. ii. and he Histoire de la Vie et du Culte de S. Bonaventure, par un Religieux Cordelier.

We have aiso a circumstantial relation of what

See the Gala Christiana, published by the Benedictines, tom. vii.

Anthony Wood has given an ample account of Robert Capito, in his Antiquitat. Oxoniens. tom. i.

**We are surprised to find Roger Bacon thrust here into a crowd of vulgar literati, since that great man, whose astonishing genius and universal learning have already been noticed, was in every respect superior to Albert and Bonaventura, two of the heroes of Dr. Mosheim's triumvirate.

tt Hugo de St. Caro, or St. Cher, composed also

Concerning the Doctrine of the Christian Church during this Century.

I. HOWEVER numerous and deplorable were the corruptions and superstitious abuses which had hitherto reigned in the church, and deformed the beautiful simplicity of the Gospel, they were nevertheless increased in this century, instead of being reformed; and the religion of Christ continued to suffer under the growing tyranny of fanaticism and superstition. The progress of reason and of truth was retarded among the Greeks and Orientals, by their immoderate aversion to the Latins, their blind admiration of whatever bore the stamp of antiquity, the indolence of their bishops, the stupidity of their clergy, and the calamities of the times. Among the Latins, many concurring causes united to augment the darkness of that cloud which had already been cast over the divine lustre of genuine Christianity. On the one hand, the Roman pontiffs could not bear the thought of any thing that might have even the remotest tendency to diminish their authority, or to encroach upon their preroga tives; and therefore they laboured assiduously to keep the multitude in the dark, and to blas every attempt that was made toward a reformation in the doctrine or discipline of the church. On the other hand, the school divines,

a very learned collection of the various readings of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin manuscripts of the Bible. This work, which he entitled Correctorium Bibliæ, is preserved in manuscript in the Sorbonne Library. We must not forget to observe also, tha. his Concordance is the first that ever was compiled. * See Colonia, Histoire Literaire de la Ville de Lyon, tom. ii. p. 322.

We may learn his opinion concerning the euchar ist from his treatise entitled Determinatio de S Coena, published at London, by the learned Dr. Allix in 1686.-See also Echardi Scriptor. Dominican. tom. i. p. 501.-Baluzi "itæ Pontif. Avenionens. tom i

||

among whom the Dominican and Franciscan monks made the greatest figure on account of their unintelligible jargon and subtlety, shed perplexity and darkness over the plain truths of religion by their intricate distinctions and endless divisions, and by that cavilling, quibbling, disputatious spirit, which is the mortal enemy both of truth and virtue. It is true that these scholastic doctors were not all equally chargeable with corrupting the truth; the most enormous and criminal corruptors of Christianity were those who led the multitude into the two following abominable errors: that it was in the power of man to perform, if he wished, a more perfect obedience than God required; and that the whole of religion consisted in an external air of gravity, and in certain composed bodily gestures.

director.* These two laws, which, by the au thority of Innocent, were received as laws of God, and consequently adopted as laws of the church, occasioned a multitude of new injunctions and rites, of which not even the smallest traces are to be found in the sacred writings, or in the apostolic and primitive ages; and which were much more adapted to establish and extend the reign of superstition, than to open the eyes of the blinded multitude upon the enormous abuses of which it had been the source.

III. There is nothing that will contribute more to convince us of the miserable state of religion in this century, and of the phrensy that prevailed in the devotion of these unhappy times, than the rise of the sect called Flagellantes, or Whippers, which sprang up in Italy, in 1260, and thence diffused itself through almost all the countries of Europe. The so

sented the most hideous and shocking spectacle that can well be conceived; multitudes, composed of persons of both sexes, and of all ranks and ages, ran through the public places of the most populous cities, and also through the fields and deserts, with whips in their hands, lashing their naked bodies with astonishing severity, filling the air with their wild shrieks, and beholding the firmament with an air of distraction, ferocity, and horror; and all this with a view to obtain the divine mercy for themselves and others, by their voluntary mortification and penance. This method of appeasing the Deity was perfectly conformable to the notions of religion that generally prevailed in this century; nor did these fanatical Flagellators do any thing more, in this extravagant discipline, than practise the lessons which they had received from the monks, especially from the mendicant fanatics. Hence they attracted the esteem and veneration, not only of the populace, but also of their rulers, and were ho

II. It will be easy to confirm this general account of the state of religion by particular facts. In the fourth Lateran council, convok-cieties that embraced this new discipline, preed by Innocent III., in 1215, and at which an extraordinary number of ecclesiastics were assembled,* that imperious pontiff, without deigning to consult any body, published no less than seventy laws or decrees, by which not only the authority of the popes and the power of the clergy were confirmed and extended, but also || new doctrines, or articles of faith, were imposed upon Christians. Hitherto the opinions of the Christian doctors, concerning the manner in which the body and blood of Christ were present in the eucharist, were extremely different; nor had the church determined, by any clear and positive decree, the sentiment that was to be embraced in relation to that important matter. It was reserved for Innocent to put an end to the liberty, which every Christian had hitherto enjoyed, of interpreting this presence in the manner he thought most agreeable to the declarations of Scripture, and to decide in favour of the most absurd and monstrous doctrine that the phrensy of superstition was capable of inventing. This auda-noured and revered by all ranks and orders, on cious pontiff pronounced the opinion, which is embraced at this day in the church of Rome with regard to that point, to be the only true and orthodox account of the matter; and he had the honour of introducing and establishing the use of the term Transubstantiation, which was hitherto absolutely unknown. The same pontiff placed, by his own authority, among the duties prescribed by the divine laws, that of auricular confession to a priest; a confession that implied not only a general acknowledgment, but also a particular enumeration of the sins and follies of the penitent. Before this period several doctors, indeed, looked upon this kind of confession as a duty inculcated by divine authority; but this opinion was not publicly received as the doctrine of the church; for, though the confession of sin was justly deemed an essential duty, yet it was left to every Christian's choice, to make the confession mentally to the Supreme Being, or to express it in words to a spiritual confidant and

At this council there were present 412 bishops, 800 abbots and priors, Jeside the ambassadors of almost all the European princes.

† See Edm. Albertinus, de Eucharistia, lib iii. p.

account of their extraordinary sanctity and virtue. Their sect, however, did not always continue in the same high degree of credit and reputation; for, though the primitive whippers were exemplary in point of morals, yet their societies were augmented, as might naturall be expected, by a turbulent and furious rabble, many of whom were infected with the most ridiculous and even impious opinions. Hence both the emperors and pontiffs thought proper to put an end to this religious phrensy, by declaring all devout flagellation contrary to the divine law, and prejudicial to the soul's eternal interests.

Iy. The Christian interpreters and commentators of this century differ very little' from those of the preceding times. The greatest part of them pretended to draw from the depths of truth, (or rather of their imagina

* See the book of the learned Daille, concerning Auricular Confession.

† Christ. Schotgenii Historia Flagellantium.-Ja ques Boileau, Histoire des Flagellans, chap. ix. We have also a lively picture of this fanatical discipline of the Whippers, exhibited in Martenne's Voyage Literaire de deux Benedictins, tom. ii. with whick the reader may compare Mu: atori's Antiq. Ital. me dii Evi, tom. vi