nastic order in the convent of Fulda, whence || duct, while others went farther, and employed he removed to the monastery of Orbais, in the all their zeal, and all their labour, in the vin diocese of Soissons, where he prosecuted his dication of his doctrine. On the opposite side theological studies, not only with great assi- of the question were Hincmar, his unrighteous duity, but also with an insatiable desire of judge, Amalarius, the celebrated Johannes sounding the deepest mysteries, and of being Scotus, and others, who all maintained, that wise above what is written." This eminent Godeschalcus and his opinions had received ecclesiastic, upon his return from Rome in the treatment they deserved. As the spirit of 847, took up his lodging for some time with controversy ran high between these contending xint Eberald, one of the principal noblemen parties, and grew more vehement from day to the court of the emperor Lothaire, where day, Charles the Bald summoned a new counhe discoursed largely of the intricate doctrine cil, or synod, which met at Quiercy in 853, in of predestination in the presence of Nothingus, which, by the credit and influence of Hincbishop of Verona, and maintained that God, mar, the decrees of the former council were from all eternity, had pre-ordained some to confirmed, and in consequence Godeschalcus everlasting life, and others to everlasting was again condemned. But the decrees of this punishment and misery. Rabanus Maurus, council were declared null; and decisions of a who was by no means his friend, being in- different kind, by which he and his doctrine formed of the propagation of this doctrine, op- were vindicated and defended, were enacted posed him with great vigor. To render his in a council assembled at Valence in Dau opposition more successful, he began by repre- phine, in 855. This council was composed of senting Godeschalcus as a corrupter of the the clergy of Lyons, Vienne, and Arles, with true religion, and a forger of monstrous here- Remi, archbishop of Lyons at their head; and sies, in some letters addressed to count Eberald its decrees were confirmed, in 859, by the and to the bishop of Verona; and when the council of Langres, in which the same clergy accused monk came from Italy into Germany were assembled, and in 860, by the council of to justify himself against these clamours, and Tousi, in which the bishops of fourteen profor that purpose appeared at Mentz, of which vinces supported the cause of the persecuted Rabanus his accuser was archbishop, he was monk, whose death allayed the heat of this incondemned in a council assembled by the latter tricate controversy.* in that city, in 848, and sent thence to Hinc- XXIV. If we attend to the merits of this mar, archbishop of Rheims, in whose diocese cause, we shall find that the debate still subhe had received the order of priesthood. Hinc- sists in all its force, and that the doctrine of mar, who was devoted to the interests of Ra- Godeschalcus has in our days both able de banus, assembled a council at Quiercy in 849, fenders and powerful adversaries. He un in which Godeschalcus was condemned a se- doubtedly maintained a two-fold predestinacond time, and was also treated in a manner tion, one to everlasting life, and the other to equally repugnant to the principles of religion eternal death. He held also, "that God did and the dictates of humanity. Because he was "not desire or will the salvation of all manfirm in maintaining his doctrine, which he "kind, but that of the elect only; and that affirmed, and indeed with truth, to be the doc- "Christ did not suffer death for the whole hutrine of St. Augustine, the imperious Hincmar" man race, but for those persons only whom degraded him from the priesthood, and was so barbarous as to order him to be scourged with the utmost severity, until the force of his pain overpowering his constancy obliged him, according to the commands of his reverend executioners, to burn with his own hands that justification of his opinions which he had presented to the council of Mentz. After these barbarous proceedings, the unfortunate monk was cast into prison in the monastery of Hautvilliers, where he ended his misery and his days in 868, or the following year, maintaining with his last breath the doctrine for which he had suffered.

XXIII. While Godeschalcus lay in prison, his doctrine gained him followers; his sufferings excited compassion; and both together produced a considerable schism in the Latin church. Ratram, monk of Corbey, Prudentius, bishop of Troyes, Loup, or Lupus, abbot of Ferrieres, Florus, deacon of Lyons, Remi, archbishop of the same city, with his whole church, and many other ecclesiastics, whom it would be tedious to mention, pleaded with the utmost zeal and vehemence, both in their writings and in their discourse, the cause of this unhappy monk, and of his condemned opiniSome, indeed, confined themselves principally to th defence of his person and con

ons.

"God has predestinated to eternal salvation." These decisions, which carry a severe and rigorous aspect, are softly and favouredly interpreted by the followers of Godeschalcus. They deny, for example, that their leader represents God as predestinating, to a necessary course of iniquity, those whom he has previ ously predestinated to eternal misery; and, according to them, the doctrine of Godeschalcus amounts to no more than this: "That God has, from all eternity, doomed to everlasting misery such as he foresaw would go on im penitent in a sinful course, and has decreed "their ruin in consequence of their sins freely "committed and eternally foreseen: that the "salutary effects of the mercy of God, and the

66

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sufferings of Christ, extend indeed only to "the elect, and are made good to them alone; though this mercy and these sufferings, con"sidered in themselves, belong equally to all "mankind." But this contradictory jargon

*Beside the common writers, who speak of this controversy, the curious reader will do well to con sult the more learned and impartial accounts he will find of it in Boulay's Hist. Acad. Paris. tom. i. p. 178.-Mabillon's Præf. ad Sæc. iv. Benedict. part ii. P. xlvii.-Hist. Literaire de la France, tom. v. p. Vossii Historia Pelagiana, lib vii. cap. iv.-Fabricu 352.-Usserii Historia Godeschalci-Gerard, Joh Biblioth. Latin. medii Ævi, tom. ii. p. 210

the only criterion of truth in those miserable times. Godeschalcus, who now lay in prison, heard of this dispute, entered warmly into it, and in a laboured dissertation supported the cause of his Benedictine brethren; on which account Hincmar accused him of tritheism, and drew up a treatise to prove the charge, and to refute that impious and enormous heresy. This controversy, however, was but of a short duration; and the exceptionable passage of the hymn in question, maintained its credit, notwithstanding all the efforts of Hincmar, and continued, as before, to be sung in the churches.*

did not satisfy the adversaries of the predesti- || dox, from the authority of fathers, esteemed narian monk; they maintained, on the contrary, that, under ambiguous terms and perplexed sentences, Godeschalcus had concealed the most enormous errors, propagating it assiduously as an article of faith, "That God had "not only by an original decree predestinated one part of mankind to eternal damnation, "but had also pushed them on by an irresistible necessity, by a propellent force, to those "crimes and transgressions which were proper "to render that damnation just."* Without determining any thing upon such an intricate and incomprehensible subject, with respect to which silence is the truest wisdom, we shall only observe, that the private quarrels, and mutual hatred, that prevailed between Rabanus Maurus and Godeschalcus, were the real source of the predestinarian controversy, and of all the calamities in which it involved the infortunate monk.t

XXV. Another, though less important, controversy arose about this time, concerning the concluding words of a very ancient hymn, which runs thus: te, trina Deitas unaque, poscimus, which may be thus translated, "O God, who art three, and at the same time but one, we beseech thee," &c. Hincmar wisely prohibited the singing of these words in the churches that were under his jurisdiction, from a persuasion that they tended to introduce into the minds of the multitude notions inconsistent with the unity and simplicity of the Supreme Being, and might lead them to imagine that there were three Gods. But the Benedictine monks refused to obey this mandate, and Bertram, who was one of the most eminent of that order, wrote a copious work to prove the expression trina Deitas, or threefold Deity, ortho

*The cause of Godeschalcus has been very learnedly defended by the celebrated Maguin, who published also a valuable edition of all the treatises that were composed on both sides of this intricate controversy. This interesting collection, which was printed at Paris in 1650, bears the following title: veterum Auctorum qui Nono Sæculo de Prædestinatione et Gratia scripserunt, Opera et Fragmenta, 'cum Historia et gemina Præfatione.' Cardinal Norris maintained also the cause of the predestinarian monk with more brevity, but less moderation than Maguin. This brief vindication may be seen in the Synopsis Historia Godeschalcanæ, which is inserted in the 4th volume of the works of that cardinal, p. 677. All the Benedictines, Jansenists, and Augustin monks maintain, almost without exception, that Godeschalcus was most unjustly persecated and oppressed by Rabanus Maurus. The Jesuits are of a different opinion; they assert in general, and Louis Cellot, one of their order, has in a more particular manner laboured to demonstrate, in his Historia Godeschalci Prædestinationis, published at Paris in 1655, that the monk in question was justly condemned, and deservedly punished.

XXVI. A vain curiosity, and not any design of promoting useful knowledge and true piety, was the main source of the greatest part of the controversies that were carried on in this century; and it was more especially this idle curiosity, carried to an indecent and most extravagant length, that gave rise to the controversy concerning the manner in which Christ was born of the Virgin, which began in Germany, and made its way from that country into France. Certain Germans maintained, that Jesus proceeded from his mother's womb in a manner quite different from those general and uniform laws of nature that regulate the birth of the human species; which opinion was no sooner known in France, than it was warmly opposed by the famous Ratram, who wrote a book expressly to prove that Christ entered into the world in the very same way with other mortals, that his Virgin mother bore him, as other women bring forth their offspring, Paschasius Radbert, who was constantly employed, either in inventing or patronising the most extravagant fancies adopted the opinion of the German doctors, and composed an elaborate treatise to prove that Christ was born, without his mother's womb being opened, in the same manner as he came into the chamber where his disciples were assembled after his resurrection, though the door was shut. H also charged those who held the opinion of Ra tram with denying the virginity of Mary. This fruitless dispute was soon hushed and gave place to controversies of superior mcment.t

XXVII. Of all the controversies that divided Christians in this century, the most interesting, though at the same time the most lamentable, was that which occasioned the fatal schism between the Greek and Latin churches. A vindictive and jealous spirit of animosity and contention had long prevailed between the bishops of Rome and Constantinople, and had

sometimes broken out into acts of violence and †The parents of Godeschalcus consecrated him to God, by devoting him from his infancy, as was the rage. The ambition and fury of these concustom of the times, to the monastic life in the mo- tending prelates became still more keen and -nastery of Fulda. The young monk, however, hav- vehement about the time of Leo the Isaurian, ing arrived at a certain age, seemed much disposed when the bishops of Constantinople, seconded to abandon his retreat, to shake off his religious fetters, and to return into society; but he was pre- by the power and authority of the emperors, vented from the execution of this purpose by Raba-withdrew from the jurisdiction of the Roman nus Maurus, who kept him against his will in his pontiffs many provinces, over which they had

monastic bonds. Hence a violent contest arose between these ecclesiastics, in which Louis the Debonaire was obliged to interpose; and hence proceeded the furious disputes concerning predestination and grace. See Centuriæ Magdeb. Cent. ix. c. 10.-Mabillon, Annal. Bened. tom. ii. al annum 829. 523.

* An account of this controversy is given by the writers of the life, actions, and doctrines of Godes chalcus.

† See the Spicilegium veterum Scriptorum, pub lished by M. d'Acheri, tom. i. p. 396.-Mabillon Præf. ad Sæc. iv. Benedict. part ii. p. 51.

**

hitherto exercised a spiritual dominion.* In || of distinction. The Latins acknowledge this this century the contest rose to an enormous assembly as the eighth cecumenical council; height, and broke forth into a most dreadful and in it the religious contests between them flame, in 858,† when the learned Photius was and the Greeks were concluded, or at least chosen patriarch of Constantinople, by the em- hushed and suspended. But the controversy peror Michael, in the place of Ignatius, whom concerning the authority of the pontiffs, the lithat prince had driven from his see and sent mits of their just power, and particularly their into exile. This violent proceeding, though it jurisdiction in Bulgaria, still subsisted; nor could was vindicated and even applauded by a coun- all the efforts of papal ambition engage either cil assembled at Constantinople in 861, was Ignatius or the emperor to give up Bulgaria, or far from being attended with a general appro- any other province, to the see of Rome. bation. Ignatius appealed from this council to pope Nicolas I., who espoused his interests, and, in a council assembled at Rome in 862, excommunicated Photius as unlawfully elected, and his abettors for having been concerned in such an unrighteous cause. The new patriarch, however, was so far from being terrified or dejected by this excommunication, that he returned the compliment to the pope, and, in a council assembled at Constantinople, in 866, he declared Nicolas unworthy of the place he held in the church, and also of being admitted to the communion of Christians.

XXX. The contest that had arisen between the Greeks and Latins concerning the elevation of Photius, was of such a nature as to admit an easy and effectual remedy. But the haughty and ambitious spirit of this learned and ingenious patriarch fed the flame of discord instead of extinguishing it, and unhappily prolonged the troubles and divisions of the Christian church. In the year 866, he added to the see of Constantinople the province of Bulgaria, with which Nicolas had formed the design of augmenting his spiritual dominion. While the pope was most bitterly provoked at XXVIII. The Roman pontiff alleged a spe- missing his aim, Photius went yet farther, and cious pretext for his acting with such violence, || entered into measures every way unworthy of and exciting such unhappy commotions in the his character and station: for he not only sent church. This pretence was the innocence of a circular letter to the oriental patriarchs to Ignatius, whom, upon an accusation of trea- engage them to espouse his private cause, as son, whether true or false, the emperor had de- the public and momentous cause of the church, graded from his patriarchal dignity. This, but drew up a most violent charge of heresy however, was not the true reason; ambition against the Roman bishops, who had been sent and interest were the real though secret springs among the newly converted Bulgarians, and that directed the motions of Nicolas, who against the church of Rome in general. The would have borne with patience, and viewed articles of corrupt doctrine, or heresy, which with indifference, the unjust sufferings of Ig- this imperious and exasperated prelate brought natius, if he could have recovered from the against the votaries of the Romish system, Greeks, the provinces of Illyricum, Macedo- were as follow: first, that they fasted on the nia, Epirus, Achaia, Thessaly, and Sicily, Sabbath, or seventh day of the week: secondly, which the emperor and Photius had removed that in the first week of Lent they permitted from the jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff. the use of milk and cheese: thirdly, that they Before he engaged in the cause of Ignatius, he || prohibited their priests from marrying, and sesent a solemn embassy to Constantinople, to parated from their wives such as had been mardemand the restitution of the provinces; but ried when they entered into orders:† fourthly, his demand was rejected with contempt.- that they represented the bishops alone as auHence, under pretence of avenging the inju- thorised to anoint with the holy chrism baptizries committed against Ignatius, he indulged ed persons, and, in consequence, obliged those without restraint his own private resentment, who had been anointed by presbyters, to reand thus covered with the mask of justice the ceive that unction a second time from the hand fury of disappointed ambition and avarice. of a bishop: lastly, that they had adulterated the symbol or creed of Constantinople, by adding to it the words filio-que, i. e. and from the son, and were therefore of opinion that the Holy Spirit did not proceed from the Father only, but also from the Son. Nicolas I. finding the

XXIX. While affairs were in this troubled state and the flame of controversy was growing more violent from day to day, Basilius the Macedonian, who, by the murder of his predecessor, had paved his way to the imperial throne, calmed at once these tumults, and restored peace to the church, by recalling Ignatius from exile to the high station from which he had been degraded, and by confining Photius in a monastery. This act of authority was solemnly approved and confirmed by a council assembled at Constantinople, in 869, in which the legates of pope Adrian II. had great influence, and were treated with the highest marks

*See Giannone, Historia di Napoli, tom. i.-Petr. de Marca, de Concordia Sacerdotii et Imperii, lib. i. cap. i. p. 6.-Lequien, Oriens Christianus, tom. i. p. 96.

In the original, we find the date of 852; but, as this is probably an error of the press, the transla. wer has taken the liberty to correct it in the text.

*The writers on both sides of this controversy are enumerated by Fabricius, in his Biblioth. Græca, vol. iv. c. xxxviii. p. 372.

† Photius attributes to this forced and unnatural celibacy of the clergy, that multitude of children whose fathers were unknown. Remarkable to this purpose is the following passage from a book of Alvaro Pelagio, bishop of Sylva in Portugal, de Planctu Ecclesiæ:"It is to be wished," says he, "that the clergy had never vowed chastity, especially the clergy of Spain, where the sons of the laity are not much more numerous than the sons of the clergy."

See the letter of Photius in the collection pub lished by bishop Montague, N. ii. p. 47. Other writers mention ten heads of accusation brought agains Photius; but such do not distinguish between the first and second controversy that arose between the Greeks and Latins, and they add to the articles with which this pa riarch was charged, those that

Roman church thus attacked, sent the articles || and of restoring peace and concord in the of this accusation to Hincmar and the other church, if the Roman pontiffs had not been Gallican bishops in 867, desiring them to as- regardless of the demands of equity as well as semble their respective suffragans in order to of the duty of Christian moderation. But examine and answer the reproach of Photius. these imperious lords of the church indulged In pursuance of this exhortation of the pon- their vindictive zeal beyond all measure, and tiff, Odo, Æneas, and Ado, bishops of Beau- would be satisfied with nothing of less moment vais, Paris, and Vienne, as also the celebrated than the degradation of all the priests and biRatram, stepped forth gallantly into the field shops, who had been ordained by Photius. of controversy against the Greeks, answered The Greeks, on the other hand, were shocked one by one the accusations of Photius, and em- at the arrogance of these unjus pretensions, ployed the whole force of their erudition and and would not submit to them on any condi zeal in maintaining the cause of the Latin tions. Hence a spirit of resentment and irrichurch.* tation renewed the rage of dispute, which had been happily declining; religious as well as civil contests were again set on foot; new controversies were added to the old, until the fatal schism took place, which produced a lasting and total separation between the Greek and Latin churches.

CHAPTER IV.

Concerning the Rites and Ceremonies used in ine
Church during this Century.

I. THAT religious rites and ceremonies were

XXXI. On the death of Ignatius, which happened in 878, the emperor took Photius into favour, and placed him again at the head of the Greek church. This restoration of the degraded patriarch was agreed to by the Roman pontiff John VIII. on condition, however, that Photius would permit the Bulgarians to come under the jurisdiction of the see of Rome. The latter promised to satisfy in this the demands of the pontiff, to which the emperor also seemed to consent;† and hence it was that John VIII. sent legates to the council holden in 889 at Constantinople, by whom he declar-progressively multiplied, evidently appears ed his approbation of the acts of that assem- from the labours of those writers, who began bly, and acknowledged Photius as his brother in this century to cxplain to the ignorant mulin Christ. The promises, however, of the em- titude their origin, their nature, and the purperor and the patriarch, were far from being poses they served; for the multiplicity alone accomplished; for after this council the former, of these religious rites could render the explimost probably by the advice, or at least with cation of them necessary. Johannes Scotus, the consent of the latter, refused to transfer Angelome, Remi or Remigius, bishop of Auxthe province of Bulgaria to the Roman pontiff; erre, and Walafrid Strabo, were the principal and it must be confessed that this refusal was authors who distinguished themselves in this founded upon most weighty and important species of sacred literature, to whom we may reasons. The pope was highly irritated at this add Amalarius, many of whose explanations disappointment, and sent Marinus to Constan- were, however, refuted by Agobard and Flotinople in the character of legate, to declare rus. Their works are generally entitled De that he had changed his mind with reference Officiis Divinis; for in the style of this age reto Photius, and that he entirely approved the ligious ceremonies were called by that name. sentence of excommunication that had been The labours of these pious and learned men formerly given against him. The legate, upon || in illustrating the ritual were undoubtedly undelivering this disagreeable message, was cast dertaken with good intentions; but their utiinto prison by the emperor, but was afterwards lity may be well called into question; and it liberated; and, being raised to the pontificate would be bold to affirm that they were not as upon the death of John VIII., recalled the re- || prejudicial to the church in some respects, as membrance of this injurious treatment, and le- they might be advantageous to it in others. velled a new sentence of condemnation against Their books afforded, indeed, a certain sort of Photius. spiritual nourishment to the minds of Christians in their attendance upon public worship; but this nourishment was both coarse and unwholesome. The reasons alleged for the ceremonies in vogue at this time in the church, and the purposes they were supposed to answer, were, for the most part, not only farfetched, childish, and ridiculous, but also bore the strongest marks of forgery and fiction. It is also farther observable, that these illustrations not only encouraged, but augmented prodigiously, to the detriment of real piety, the veneration and zeal of the multitude for external rites and ceremonies; for who would dare to refuse their admiration and reverence to institutions, which they were taught to consider as full of the most mysterious wisdom, and founded upon the most pious and affecting reasons?

XXXII. This sentence was treated with contempt by the haughty patriarch; but, about six years after this period, he experienced anew the fragility of sublunary grandeur and elevation, by a fall which concluded his prosperous days; for, in 886, Leo, surnamed the philosopher, the son and successor of Basilius, deposed him from the patriarchal see, and confined him in an Armenian monastery, where he died in 891. The death of Photius, who was the only author of the schisms that divided the Greeks and Latins, might have been an occasion of removing these unhappy contests, were drawn up in the time of Michael Cerularius. Certain it is, that in the epistle of Photius, which relates only to the first controversy, and is the only eriterion by which we ought to judge of it, there are no more heads of accusation than the five which we have enumerated in the text.

Mabillon, Præf. ad Sæc. iv. Bened. part ii. p. 55.

II. It would be endless to enter into an ex

+ Mich. le Quien, Oriens Christianus, tom. i. p. 103. I act enumeration of the various rites and cere

source of the barbarous institutions that prevailed among the Latins, during this and the following century; such as the various methods by which it was usual for persons accused to prove their innocence in doubtful cases, either by the trial of cold water,* by single combat, by the fire ordeal, and by the cross. It is no

monies, which were now introduced, for the first time, and of which some were adopted by the whole body of Christians, and others only by certain churches. We shall therefore dismiss this matter with the general account which follows, and point out in the notes the sources from which the curious reader may derive a more particular knowledge of the absurdities of this superstitious age. The carcases *All these were presumptuous attempts to force the divine providence to declare itself miracuof the saints transported from foreign countries, or discovered at home by the industry lously in favor of the truth. In the trial of cold water, the person accused had the right foot and left and diligence of pious or designing priests, not hand bound together, and was, in this posture, only obliged the rulers of the church to aug- thrown naked into the water. If he sunk, he was ment the number of festivals or holidays al-acquitted; but, if he floated upon the surface, thi was considered as an evidence of guilt. The most ready established, but also to diversify the respectable authors, ancient and modern, attribute ceremonies in such a manner, that each saint the invention of this superstitious trial to pope Eumight have his peculiar worship; and, as the genius II., and it is somewhat surprising that Mr. authority and credit of the clergy depended Bower has taken no notice of it in his history of that pontiff Baluze has inserted, in the second volume much upon the high notion which was gene-of his Capitularia, the solemn forms of prayer and rally entertained of the virtue and merit of the protestation, which Eugenius had caused to be drawn saints whom they had canonised, and presented up as an introduction to this superstitious practice; and both Fleury and Spanheim look upon that ponto the multitude as objects of religious venera- tiff as its inventor. On the other hand, father Le tion, it was necessary to amuse and surprise Brun, a priest of the oratory, maintains in his Histhe people by a variety of pompous and strik-toire Citique des Fiauques Superstitieuses, tom. ii., ing ceremonies, by images and the like inventions, in order to keep up and nourish their stupid admiration for the saintly tribe. Hence arose the splendor and magnificence that were lavished upon the churches in this century, and the prodigious number of costly pictures and images with which they were adorned; hence the stately altars, which were enriched with the noblest inventions of painting and sculp- || ture, and illuminated with innumerable tapers at noon-day; hence the multitude of processions, the gorgeous and splendid garments of the priests, and the masses that were celebrated in honor of the saints.* Among other novelties, the feast of All-Saints was added, in this century, by Gregory IV. to the Latin calendar; and the festival of St. Michael, which had been long kept with the greatest marks of devotion and respect by the Orien-in tals and Italians, began now to be observed more zealously and universally among the Latin Christians.f

that this custom was much more ancient than Eugenius, and his reasons are not unworthy of attention. Be that as it may, this custom was condemn ed and abrogated at the request, or rather by the authority of Louis the Debonnaire, about the year 829. It was, however, revived afterwards, and was prac tised in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, as we shall see in the progress of this history. For an account of this mode of trial, Dr. Mosheim refers us, in a note, to Mabillon's Analecta veteris Ævi, tom. i. p. 47, and Roye's work de Missis Dominicis, p. 159

The trial by duel, or single combat, was introduced toward the conclusion of the fifth century by of oaths had occasioned the most horrible perjuries, and opened a door to all sorts of injustice. The duel was then added to the oath by Gondebald; the successful combatant was supposed to be in the right, and this barbarous test of truth and justice was, in spite of humanity and common sense, adopted by the Lombards, French, and Germans, and borrowed from them by other nations. It was first prohibited 855, in the third council of Valence.

Gondebald, king of the Burgundians, when the abuse

The fire ordeal was practised in various ways. The accused either held a burning ball of iron in his hand, or was obliged to walk barefooted upon heated ploughshares, whose number was increased in proportion to the number or enormity of the crimes imIII. Nor was it only in the solemn acts of puted to him: and sometimes a glove of red-hot iron religious worship that superstition reigned was used on this occasion, as we see in the tenth with an unlimited sway; its influence extended book of the history of Denmark, by Saxo the Grameven to the affairs of private life, and was ob- marian. If in these trials the person impeached remained unhurt, and discovered no signs of pain, he servable in the civil transactions of men, par- was discharged as innocent; otherwise he was punticularly among the Latin Christians, who re- ished as guilty. The first account we have of Christians appealing to this kind of trial as a proof of tained with more obstinacy than the Greeks a their innocence, is that of Simplicius, bishop of multitude of customs, which derived their ori- Autun, who lived in the fourth century. This pregin from the sacred rites of paganism. The late, as the story goes, before his promotion to the barbarous nations, which were converted to episcopal order, had entered into the matrimonial Christianity, could not support the thoughts of state; and his fond wife, unwilling to quit him after his advancement, continued to sleep in the same abandoning altogether the laws and manners chamber with her spouse. The sanctity of Simplicius of their ancestors, however inconsistent they suffered, at least in the voice of fame, by the conmight be with the indispensable demands of stancy of his wife's affection; and it was rumored that the holy man, though a bishop, persisted in opthe Gospel on the contrary, they persuaded position to the ecclesiastical canons to taste the the Christians among whom they lived to imi-sweets of matrimony; upon which the dame, in the tate their extravagant superstition in this respect; and this was the true and original

* See the work of J. Fecht, de Missis in Honorem Sanctorum.

† See Mabilon, de Re Diplomatica, p. 537.

The holidays or festivals of the saints were yet but few in number among the Latins, as appears from a poem of Florus, published by Martenne in the fifth volume of his Thesaurus Anecdotoram.

presence of a great concourse of people, took up a considerable quantity of burning coats, which she held in her clothes, and applied to her breasts, with out the least hurt to her person or damage to her garments, as the legend says, and her example being followed by her husband with like success. the silly multitude admired the miracle, and proclaimed the innocence of the loving pair. Bricius, or St. Brice, (whom Mr. Collier, in his Ecclesiastical History of England, represents by mistake as the first Christian who endeavoured to clear himself in this way!