1826. ] On the Suppression of Monasteries in England. 281 
searce and expensive.. An inconceivable darkness overspread, the whole of 
Europe; across which the names of Alfred and Charlemagne shine like feeble 
andiglimmering lights, ‘relieved and marked by the surrounding shadows*which 
they'could not dispel. yticets ae Keel 
Sulittwas'inder these” cireumstances that, in the last year of the eighth*een- 
stutly; Rome wasdelivered by the Emperor Charlemagne into the hands*6f thie 
‘Pope ssand'that}the* Church, which engrossed the little learning leftsoWas 
enabled’ toacquire that influence, for which the exertions of the monastic ordér, 
‘and the superstition inseparsble from ignorance, had been long paving the’ Way. 
/ ‘Phe monastic order appears to have owed its origin to those persecutions 
which; in the first ages of the Gospel, drove the early Christians to seek*in 
the desart that freedom of worship which was denied them in the haunts*of 
men. Amongst these primitive recluses, there were some whose unshakén 
constancy and extraordinary sanctity gained for this system of seclusion a 
reputation, which procured the continuance of the practice, when the motive 
‘had ceased. The mystic theology which gained ground during the third century, 
contributed to feed the spreading inclination for solitude and ascetic devotion ; 
and, towards the close of the fourth century, St. Anthony formed these scat- 
tered recluses into a regular body, drew them into societies, and prescribed 
rules for their government. These regulations first established in Egypt, were 
soon extended by Hilarius, the disciple of Anthony, into Syria and Palestine; 
and, about the same time, Eugenius introduced the monastic order into Meso- 
potamia, whence it soon spread over the whole East. From the East this 
gloomy institution passed westward, into Italy and Gaul, and rapidly extended 
its progress through all the provinces of Europe. 
' It is curious to observe the parallel gradations by which the monkish order 
lost, with the simplicity of its original constitution, the purity of its early man- 
ners, and sunk in the scale of moral, as it rose in that of ecclesiastical dignity. 
Originally the institution was confined to laymen; its members were prohibited 
from the priesthood, and distinguished only by a particular habit and an extra- 
ordinary sanctity. It is not uninteresting to trace the progression by which so 
powerful an engine acquired its privileges, as its capabilities for the purposes of 
the Holy See were developed; and to mark how closely it became the interest 
of this far-spreading body to nourish those delusions, to the existence of which 
_ it owed its consequence and power. It is evident that such an establishment, 
evenin its primitive simplicity and purity, was calculated to have an injurious 
effect upon society, by abstracting its more virtuous portion, and ‘thus hot 
only limiting the sphere of its usefulness, but leaving the mass of vice more 
compact and unmingled, and removing to a distance those better examples 
which might have operated as a corrective. MRD 
- It was in the time of Pope Syricius that the monks were first called to the 
clericate, on account of some pretended scarcity of priests; but it was not till 
the latter end of the fifth century that they thought of assuming any rank in' the 
sacerdotal state. About this time, however, their immense and daily increasing 
privileges and opulence placed them in a condition to claim an exalted’ station 
amongst the pillars of the Christian community. Presbyters and bishops! were 
chosen from their order, and the passion for erecting convents and religious 
houses was,- at this time, carried beyond all bounds. Yet, even so early as this. 
century, ‘their licentiousness had become proverbial; and about the end of the 
seventh century the decree of the Roman pontiff, which exempted them from 
the jurisdiction of the bishops, while it induced them to devote themselves 
wholly to advance the interests and dignity of the Holy See, gave them the 
uninterrupted opportunity of unbounded indulgence in profligacy and disorder. 
In the eighth and ninth centuries, all attempts to restore the relaxed discipline 
of the’*mnonastics, both in the eastern’ and western ‘provinces, proved ineffec- 
1; "yet the institution continued to be in the highest venération and esteem. 
members were raised to the loftiest’ dignities, and employed by temporal 
princes in their most important affairs. Their reformation was again attempted — 
,0uis the Meek, but with very partial and transitory effect. Indeed it was 
M.M. New Serics.—Vot. II. No. 8. 20 
