V.

PART II.

exposed and refuted the errors and cavils of the CENT. Jews. Voconius the African; Syagrius, in his Book concerning Faith; Gennadius of Marseille, who deserves to be placed in the first rank; and Theodoret in his Treatise concerning the Fables of the Heretics, opposed all the different sects; not to mention those who wrote only against the errors of one or other particular party.

putants.

VIII. Those who disputed against the Chris- The defects tian sects, observed a most absurd and vicious of these dismethod of controversy. They proceeded rather according to the rules of the ancient sophists, and, what is still more surprising, according to the spirit of the Roman law, than by the examples and instructions of Christ and his apostles. In the Roman courts, matters of a difficult and doubtful nature were decided by the authority of certain aged lawyers, who were distinguished by their abilities and experience. And when they happened to differ in opinion, the point was determined either by a plurality of voices, or by the sentiments of the more learned and illustrious members of that venerable body [1]. This procedure of the Roman tribunals, was, in this century, admitted as a standing law, both in the deliberations and councils, and in the management of religious controversy, to the great and unspeakable detriment of truth. For by this, reason, and even common sense, were, in some measure, excluded from every question; and that was determined as right and true, which appeared such to the greatest number, or had been approved by doctors of the greatest note in preceding times. The acts of the various councils, which are yet extant, manifestly shew that this was the case. And this circumstance combined with what we have

[] See the Codex Theodos. lib. i. tit. iv. De responsis prudentum, p. 32. edit. Ritterian.

PART II.

CENT. have already observed with respect to the dispu V. tants of the age now under consideration, make it easy for us to imagine the various defects that must have prevailed in the methods of defending truth, and opposing error.

Spurious

IX. This absurd imitation of the Roman law, writings in the management of religious controversy, this preposterous method of deciding truth by human authorities, were fruitful sources of spurious and suppositious productions. For many audacious impostors were hence encouraged to publish their own writings under the names of ancient Christian worthies, nay, under the sacred names of, even, Christ himself and his holy apostles; that thus, in the deliberations of councils, and in the course of controversy, they might have authorities to oppose to authorities in defence of their respective opinions. The whole Christian church was, in this century, overwhelmed with these infamous cheats, these spurious productions. This is said to have engaged Gelasius, the Roman pontiff, to call together a council, composed of the bishops of the Latin church; in which assembly, after a strict examination of those writings which appeared under great and venerable names, the famous decree passed, that deprived so many apocryphal books of their borrowed authority. That something of this kind really happened, it would be, perhaps, an instance of temerity to deny : but many learned men assert, that the decree attributed to Gelasius, labours under the same inconveniency with the books which it condemns, and was by no means the production of that pontiff, but of some deceiver, who usurped clandestinely his name and authority [m].

X. Eucherius,

[m] Pearsonus, Vindiciar Ignatianar. part I. cap. iv. p. 189. Cave, Hist. Litter. Scriptor. Ecclesias. p. 260. Urb. Godofr. Siberus, Præfat. ad Enchiridon Sexti, p. 79.

V.

PART II.

Moral wri

X. Eucherius, Salvian, and Nilus, shine with a CENT. superior lustre among the moral writers of this century. The epistle of Eucherius, concerning the Contempt of the World, and the secular Philosophy, is an excellent performance, both in point of matter and style. The works of Mark the hermit breathe a spirit of fervent piety, but are highly defective in many respects: The matter is ill chosen, and it is treated without order, perspicuity, or force of reasoning. Fastidius composed several discourses concerning moral duties, but they have not survived the ruins of time. The works that are yet extant of Diadochus, Prosper, and Severian, are extremely pleasing, on account of the solidity and elegance which are to be found, for the most part, in their moral sentences, though they afford but indifferent entertainment to such as are desirous of precision, method, and sound argumentation. And indeed this want of method in the distribution and arrangement of their matter, and a constant neglect of tracing their subject to its first principles, are defects common to almost all the moral writers of this century.

XI. Had this, indeed, been their only defect, the candid and impartial would have supported it with patience, and attributed it charitably to the infelicity of the times. But many of the writers and teachers of this age did unspeakable injury to the cause of true piety by their crude and enthusiastic inventions. The Mystics, who pretended to higher degrees of perfection than other Christians, drew every where to their party, particularly in the eastern provinces, a vast number of the ignorant and inconsiderate multitude, by the striking appearance of their austere and singular piety. It is impossible to describe the rigour and severity of the laws which these senseless fanatics imposed upon themselves, in order, as they al

leged,

CENT. leged, to appease the deity, and to deliver the ceV. lestial spirit from the bondage of this mortal body. PART II. They not only lived among the wild beasts, but

The super

stition of the Stilites.

also lived after the manner of these savage animals; they ran naked through the lonely deserts with a furious aspect, and with all the agitations of madness and frenzy; they prolonged the life of their emaciated bodies by the wretched nourishment of grass and wild herbs, avoided the sight and conversation of men, remained motionless in certain places for several years, exposed to the rigour and inclemency of the seasons, and towards the conclusion of their lives, shut themselves up in narrow and miserable huts; and all this was considered as true piety, the only acceptable method of worshipping the deity, and rendering him propitious [n]. The greatest part of the Mystics were led into the absurdities of this extravagant discipline, not so much by the pretended force of reason and argument, as by a natural propensity to solitude, a gloomy and melancholy cast of mind, and an implicit and blind submission to the authority and examples of others. For the diseases of the mind, as well as those of the body, are generally contagious, and no pestilence spreads its infection with a more dreadful rapidity than superstition and enthusiasm. Several persons have committed to writing the precepts of this severe discipline, and reduced its absurdities into a sort of system, such as Julianus Pomerius among the Latins [o], and many among the Syrians, whose names it is needless to mention.

XII. Of all the instances of superstitious frenzy that disgraced this age, none was held in higher

vene

[n] See the Pratum Spirituale of Moschus; the Lansiac History of Palladius; as also Sulpitius Severus, Dial. i.

[o] Pomerius wrote a treatise, De vita Contemplativa, in which the doctrines and precepts of the Mystics were carc◄ fully collected.

V.

veneration, or excited more the wonder of the CENT multitude, than that of a certain order of men, who were called Stilites by the Greeks, and Sancti PART Columnaris, or Pillar Saints, by the Latins. These were persons of a most singular and extravagant turn of mind, who stood motionless upon the tops of pillars, expressly raised for this exercise of their patience, and remained there for several years, amidst the admiration and applause of the stupid populace. The inventor of this strange and ridiculous discipline was Simeon, a Syrian, who began his follies by changing the agreeable employment of a shepherd, for the senseless austerities of the monkish life. But his enthusiasm carried him still greater lengths; for, in order to climb as near heaven as he could, he passed thirty-seven years of his wretched life upon five pillars, of six, twelve, twenty-two, thirty-six, and forty cubits high, and thus acquired a most shining reputation, and attracted the veneration of all about him [p]. Many of the inhabitants of Syria and Palestine, seduced by a false ambition, and an utter ignorance of true religion, followed the example of this fanatic, though not with the same degree of austerity [7]. And what is almost incredible,

VOL. II.

E

this

[P] See the Acta Sanctorum Mensis Januarii, tom. i. p. 261, -277. where the reader will find the account we have given of this whimsical discipline. Theodoret, indeed, had before given several hints of it, alleging, among other things, that Simeon had gradually added to the height of his pillar, with a design to approach, by this means, nearer to heaven. See Tillemont Memoires pour servir à l'Histoire de l'Eglise, tom. xv. p. 347. edit. Paris. See also the Acts of Simeon the Sty file, in Steph. Euodii Assemani Actis Martyrum, Orient. et Occident. vol. ii. p. 227. published at Rome, in folio, in the year 1748.

[q] The learned Frederic Spanheim, in his Ecclesi astical History (p. 1154), speaks of a second Simeon the Stylite (mentioned by Evagrius Hist. lib. vi. cap. xxiii.) who