........... pels. "These maxims seem terrible," said he, "but the only reason why they do so, is this, they condemn your practice. Unless you be sincerely holy, you cannot escape everlasting torments." They sighed, and they trembled. He had, however, said no more than what the whole new testament inculcates continually. And the conduct of these men, and of men like these, who abound in every age, shows how little the scripture is really believed. One of the company, whom Nilus knew to live in open sin, asked the monk, whether Solomon was saved or not? What is it to us, answered the upright Nilus, whether Solomon be saved or not? It is sufficient for you to know, that Christ pronounces damnation against all workers of iniquity. I should think it a more interesting object of inquiry for you, to consider whether you shall be saved or not. As for Solomon, the scripture mentions not his repentance, as it does that of Manasseh. What effect his discourse had upon his visitors we know not. But it deserved to be recorded, both to show how dangerously men exercise their ingenuity in furnishing themselves with excuses to live in sin, and also to give a sample of plaindealing in those, who undertake to instruct mankind. Euphraxus, an haughty nobleman, was governor of Calabria, under the Greek emperor. For the eastern part of Italy remained subject to that monarch a considerable time after the establishment of the popedom. Euphraxus sought every occasion of mortifying Nilus, because he gave him no presents, as other abbots did. Falling sick, however, he sent for him, and begged of him the monastic habit. Your baptismal vows suffice, said Nilus. Repentance requires no new vows, but a change of heart and life. This sentiment of Nilus was somewhat extraordinary for the tenth century. But Euphraxus, who sought to pacify his conscience at the easiest rate, with miserable ignorance importuned the abbot to invest him with the habit, to which he at length consented. Euphraxus died three days after. Infidelity may smile, but if ever the conscience become thoroughly alarmed, even in the most hardened sceptics and sensualists, it will quickly find, that the best of our moral works are no covering to the soul from the justice of an holy God; and therefore, unless the real doctrine of salvation be understood, men in their distress will betake themselves to such paltry refuges as this of Euphraxus. A licentious Charles II. having sedulous recourse to popish ceremonies, in his dying hours, is not a singular case. Others, who, like him in health, despised the doctrines of grace, have done the same. Nilus refused the offer of the bishopric of Capua: nor could the most flattering invitations induce him to go to Constantinople. He seemed likely to enjoy tranquil retirement to his death, in his convent. But providence ordered it otherwise. The Saracens invaded Calabria, of which they afterwards gained possession. Nilus was driven from his home, and lived a long time in other convents. Otho III. upon a visit, pressed him to accept some situation in his dominions, wherever he should choose. Nilus thanked the emperor, but said, our divine Master will not forsake my brethren, if they be true monks, after I am gone. Ask what you please, said the emperor, I will give it you with pleasure. "The only thing, I ask you," replied Nilus," is, that you would save your soul. For you must give an account to God, as well as other men." This good abbot died at Tusculum, in an extreme old age in the year 1005.* Such was the light, scattered here and there, in the darkness of the times, by which the God of grace and mercy called, nourished, and sanctified his church, and preserved to himself a godly seed in the earth, who should serve him in the gospel of his Son, and prevent the cruel tyranny of the prince of darkness from completely overspreading the world. * A. Butler. CENTURY XI. CHAP. I. A General View of the Church in this Century. THE genuine church of Christ under the protection and influence of her supreme Head, existed indeed in this century; but it would be in vain to attempt a regular and systematical history of her progress. Some particular circumstances in different parts of the christian world, some pious and successful endeavours to propagate the gospel in pagan countries, some degrees of opposition to the reigning idolatry and superstition, and the writings of some pious and evangelical theologians, demonstrated, that the Spirit of God had not forsaken the earth altogether. Indeed, if this century may be said, in some degree, to have excelled the last, the superiority must be ascribed to the improvements of learning. For the arts and sciences revived, in a measure, among the clergy and the monks, though not cultivated by any other set of men. I speak in regard to the western church; for the eastern, enfeebled and oppressed by the Turks and Saracens from without, and by civil broils and factions from within, with difficulty preserved that degree of knowledge, which in those degenerate days still remained among the Greeks. I scarce find any vestiges of christian piety among the eastern christians at this time: indeed, the attentive reader must have observed how barren of that sort of events, which relate to christian history, Asia in ge * Mosheim, cent. xi. 479. neral had been for some ages. So fatal was the influ ence of mahometanism, and so judicially hardened were the descendents of those, who first had honoured the religion of Jesus. Constantinople was still called a christian city, and, in learning and politeness, was superior to any part of the west: but it is in Europe we are to look for the emanations of piety. France and Italy excelled particularly in the cultivation of learning. Robert king of France, the son and successor of Hugh Capet, who began to reign in 996, and died in 1031, distinguished himself as the friend of science. Even the ferocious Normans, whose wars and devastations were so terrible in Italy, France, and England, after they had established their respective govern. ments, applied themselves to the cultivation of the human mind, and diffused some light among the people whom they had subdued. This was particularly the case with the southern parts of Italy, and with our own island. William the conqueror, savage and imperious as he was, restored letters to England, which, amidst the Danish depredations, had been almost extinguished. And we shall see, at least, one learned foreigner at the head of the English church, who, uniting piety to knowledge, was not unworthy of the christian name. The learning itself, indeed, was not philosophical, like that of modern times, but consisted chiefly of grammar, rhetoric, and logic. It was, however, connected with divinity: the scriptures were held in high reputation: the hardy presumption of subtile theory, and the supercilious negligence concerning piety and public worship were then unknown among men. In such circumstances, to have learned to read, to have attended to the meaning of words, and to have employed the powers of the human mind, in any manner, on the sacred writings, were blessings to mankind. In Italy and France also there were some witnesses of divine truth, who opposed the abominations of the popedom. The great scenes of political contention in this age, were, in the east, the crusades; in the west, the dis ........... putes between the popes and the emperors. Civil, and even, what is called, ecclesiastical history, is full of these subjects. To my province they bear scarcely any relation. The former were attended with dreadful evils, and much augmented the influence of that pernicious superstition, which commutes for offences, and taught men to indulge themselves in the worst of vices, through the hope of finding their way to heaven by the merit of a crusade. I shall, however, examine a little, hereafter, the grounds of the justice or injus tice of these expeditions, because the character of some pious men of great eminence, is connected with the question. The disputes between the popes and the emperors, seem intirely barren of instructive incidents in religion. They confirm, nevertheless, the christian in the belief of those scriptures, which so accurately mark the character of antichrist.* Gregory VII. commonly called Hildebrand, began the scheme, which fifty years after was completely accomplished, namely, of rescuing the election of the popes from the emperors, and of fixing it intirely in the college of cardinals, in which it still continues. The celibacy of the clergy, and the doctrine of transubstantiation, were established by the council of Placentia in 1095. Popery, in short, reigned triumphant, and no public profession of the gospel, which professed independence of its domination, could be endured in Europe. It will be proper to close this general view of the century with a circumstance or two concerning Africa. That once fruitful mother of the churches, who gloried in her Cyprians and Augustines, had now only two bishops. The Saracens, masters of the country, persecuted the christians there with great bitterness; yet so infatuated were the African christians with the love of sin, that they quarrelled among themselves, and betrayed their bishop Cyriacus into the hands of the infidels, who much abused him. Gregory VII. wrote to *See particularly 2 Thess. ii. 1 Tim. iv. i |