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maintaining it by négative ones, such as "Becledoes not mention his order 

 to hâve been thatof S^ Bennet; from wlience one niight as well deduce tliat 

 hewas of no order. At ail since he does not say he was of any other; but he 

 asserts that he was a monkof Jarrow. Now it is certain, from the above 

 mentioned citation of Alcuin his contemporary,lhattlie monastery of Jarrow 

 was bénédictin: and itis not to beimagined that Alcuin could be ignorant 

 of the order of a monastery which he says he belonged ; as appears by his 

 letter to Eadbold , abbot of Jarrow : u iNon ignotnm esse tuœ dileclioni , 

 « sayshe, venerande frater , credo, qiiod olim SS. Patres, antecessores 

 » tui , mihi licet indigne familiaritalis vesirte graliain perdonaverunt, et 

 V albo Beatitudinis Vestrse mese parvitatis nomen conscribi jusserunt. •• 

 Thèse testimonies appear to me in so strong a light that 1 can scarcely 

 persuade rayself that it can be reason which animâtes the ennemis of mo- 

 nachism in this dispute. I am rather inclined to think that we must seeli 

 for the cause in the passions of the Imman breast. Mankind is tyranised 

 by passion and préjudice ; self love and ambitions views too often controul 

 the judgment ; many, who think themselves free from thèse tyrants, are 

 still perhaps their greatest slaves. Not that I suppose M/ Hume to be of 

 tliat number; 1 rather believe him entirely unprejudiced in the affair in 

 question. Perhaps might he hâve Ihought the thing of so littlc importance 

 as to foUow the flrst opinion he met with concerning it , which might, thaï 

 not improbably , be suggeste! to him. However it bc . I am inclined to 

 think that this opinion gaind ground in England fiom the jcalousies and 

 disputes which bave been, for same years past, between the secular and re- 

 gular clergy of the roman catholick communion in England. 



The roman catholic bishops. only temporary missionars from Rome , wi- 

 thout any hereditary righter jurisdiction , seem to fix their hearts too 

 much on becoming ordinaries , and in some measure independent of the 

 disposition of the Pope who , having sent them only for a time with a limi- 

 ted jurisdiction , can recall them at pleasure as he sent thera ; the seek to 

 hâve their power enlarged and in a word to hâve ail Ihe power of bishops 

 in their proper diocèses. But above ail they seem desirous to gain an abso- 

 lute comœand over the regulars. The inferior clergy joins with the bishops 

 In endeavounng to bring it about ; this proceeds from a jealousy natural 

 enough to man. We are apt to imagine ourselves exalted, when wesee 

 ourneighbours depressed. On the other hand, the regular, jealous et main- 

 taining their priviledges , did ail in their power to put a stop to what they 

 thought encroachments of the bishops ; who the last pleaded the cannons 

 and laws of the church for the submission of regulars to them in ail that 

 belongs to the administration of the sacraments and other missionary du- 

 ties. The regulars, on the other hand, pleaded that they derived their mis- 

 sion equally from the same power that made the bishops missionars , and 

 their missionary faculties were of a much older date; having laboured in 

 the english mission long before any missionary bishops set forting in 

 England and consequently that they did not want any authority from the bis- 



