M O 
chapters, "bulls, manifeftos, and other writings, as if the 
exigence of Chridianity, or the fafety of all Europe, had 
been at Itake. 
By their rambling lives, and their addrefs in the ma¬ 
nagement of fecular concerns, thefe induftrious beggars 
foon gained the upper hand in the church. Other orders, 
that were lefs aftive, gradually became neglefted and de- 
fpifed; whilft thefe alone infinuated themfelves into all 
the fchools and all the pulpits. In confequence of this, 
the monks alfo began to frequent the univerfities, in or¬ 
der to fupport their expiring credit; which proved an 
abundant fource of difllpation, luxury, and ambition. 
The titles and didin&ions with which they were deco¬ 
rated, utterly extinguilhed the fpirit of their profeflion ; 
and this fuccefs, as well as the many comforts to which 
it feemed to entitle them, drew innumerable profelytes 
into their convents. Benedict had judicioully ordained 
that none lliould be admitted amongft the number of his 
difciples, unlefs they underwent the fevered trials, prce- 
dicentur omnia dura 8? afpera, fyc. But now this lowly in- 
ditute was embraced as a life of eafe, or the fecured road 
to fplendour and preferment. 
This new portion of the hierarchy, when once it be¬ 
came confiderable, occafioned much confufion in the fyf- 
tem; and many religious communities, devoted by the 
mod folemn engagements to poverty, humility, and filence, 
are now transformed into colleges of lordly and ambiti¬ 
ous ecclefiadics, more occupied with the affairs of their 
abbey than folicitous to difcharge the effential duties of 
the monadic date. It is even a fail that there is frequent¬ 
ly as much anxiety and dir amongd thefe conventuals to 
arrive at an honourable or lucrative employment, or to 
exclude a rival-, as there is in the courts of princes. A ge¬ 
neral of an order, a provincial, an abbot, a grand provod, 
or in fine any other fuperior officer, confiders himfelf as a 
perfon of confequence ; and, in proportion to his income 
enjoys every comfort of life. Thus a vow of poverty is 
often a means of arriving at a date of independence and 
opulence, to which they could have had no pretenfions, 
if they had remained in the world. 
We do not pretend to fay that this is always to be con- 
fidered in a criminal light. They perhaps may eat their 
bread with thanks, and enjoy the good things of life with 
a grateful heart. But this is, furely, not'the fpirit of the 
inditute of which they profefs to follow, nor the intention 
of their pious founders. In Ihort, although we (hould 
admit that their lives are regular, and their conduct irre¬ 
proachable, they do not certainly comply with the duties 
of their particular dation. The virtues of thole who live 
fequedered from the world, are but of a negative kind, 
and by no means fuch as become a focial being. Such 
was the opinion of a late pious and philofophic prelate. 
When a knight of Malta had formed the defign of enter¬ 
ing into the monadic life in the audere order of LaTrappe, 
in the year 1747, pope Ganganelli,then a conventual friar, 
wrote to him as follows : “Why do you think of retiring 
from a world which you edify by your example ? the 
world will never be reformed, it will always Continue per- 
verfe, if the virtuous and good defert it. I do not think 
that we ought to multiply too much the number of our 
duties and obligations. The Gofpel is the rule of the 
Chridian ; who ought not to bury himfelf alive in lolitude, 
without a fingular and didinft vocation; and we ought 
always to fear and fufpeft illufion in the call that engages 
us to abandon the duties and relations of human fociety. 
I honour the Carthufians, and other religious folitaries ; 
but their number ought to be fmall; for we impoveriffi 
the date by becoming ufelels to fociety: and, after all, ice 
are born citizens, and not monks. Several refpe&able writers 
think that the attention of the mind mult be exhauded 
by long prayers, and thus degenerate into indid’erence ; 
and they are of opinion, that indudry and activity are 
jnore favourable to virtue than continual pfalmody.” 
From all thefe conliderations we will not helitate to 
conclude, that many an imperfect religious, might, if he 
N K. 075 
had been employed in the active duties of fociety, per* 
haps have been a much more perfect citizen, and of con¬ 
fequence a better man : nor can it be denied but that 
convents are often filled with very tepid Chridians. They 
may be called fandtuaries from vice ; but they fiiould be 
alfo termed the graves of virtue ; fuch at lead as tends to 
expand the foul, and to improve its faculties. Perhaps, 
in fine, thefe various votaries of either fex have many 
chances in their favour towards obtaining the rewards of 
heaven, or rather of not being utterly rejected ; but cer¬ 
tainly they can pretend to little merit; and can lay claim 
to none but the fmaller prizes in the general day of retri¬ 
bution, while the greater crowns will be referved for fuch 
as have fudained with patience the labours of the combat. 
Thus have we endeavoured to give fome general idea 
of the motives which fird gave rife to the monadic date, 
with a fuccinft account of its progrefs, its utility, and 
abufes. Had it been a mere ideal fcheme, or fuch as we 
could now contemplate but in a retrofpeClive view, our la¬ 
bour might have been fuperfeded. But we are obliged to 
conlider it as an edabliffiment which actually does fubfilt 
in many countries, and may not be abolilhed, perhaps for 
ages yet to come. For we have feen the many caufes 
which too powerfully operate for its confervation, to 
leave us much room to hope that it will fo foon be fei 
afide ; or that mankind will feek for the perfection of its 
faculties by thole means alone which lober reafon dic¬ 
tates, and return to the genuine fpirit of the gofpel ; a 
period which every well-wilher to humanity looks to¬ 
wards with longing concern. 
If any of thefe focieties Ihould at all exid, they /hould 
be fuch alone as adhere to the primitive inditution of the 
coer.obetical life. They might undoubtedly be fo calcu¬ 
lated as to ad’ord a comfortable afylum to thofe who, after 
having performed the duties owing to fociety, wiffi to 
conclude their days in peace, at a didance from the mors 
didrafting cares and budle of life. But they lliould, at 
lead, be only open to the few who from peculiar inclina¬ 
tion, or other perfonal circumdances, might be defirous 
of retiring to a quiet and temporary refuge, fuch as might 
either contribute to alleviate the grievances of affliction, 
or to facilitate their happinefs. 
The greater part of the reflections introduced in this 
article, is taken from the Ecclefiadical Hiflory of Fleury, 
or his excellent Difcourfes on it, which contain many 
other jud and pertinent obfervations. This will perhaps, 
in the eyes of many, entitle them to a greater degree of \ 
attention and refpeCt, than if they had been drawn from 
lefs fufpicious fources. The tedimony of an edimabls 
j Roman-catholic writer will fcarcely be rejected even by 
catholics themfelves. 
Thofe we call monks now-a-days are coenobites, who 
live together in a convent or monadery, who make vows 
of living according to a certain rule edabliffied by the 
founder, and wear a habit which didinguifhes their order. 
Thofe that are endowed, or have a fixed revenue, are mod 
properly called monks; as the Chartreux, BenediClines, 
Bernardines, See. The Mendicants, or thofe that beg, as 
the Capuchins and Francifcans, are more properly called 
friars; though the names are frequently confounded. 
Monks are didinguifhed by the colour of their habits 
into black, while, grey. See. Among the monks, fome are 
called monks of the choir, others profefid monks, and others 
lay-monks ; which lad are dedined for the fervice of the 
convent, and have neither clericate nor literature. An¬ 
ciently the monks were all laymen, and were only didin- 
guiihed from the red of the people by a particular habit 
and an extraordinary devotion. Not only the monks 
were prohibited the priedhood, but even prieds were ex- 
prel'sly prohibited from becoming monks, as appears from 
the letters of St. Gregory. Pope Syricius was the fird 
who called them to the clericate, on occafion of fome 
great icarcity of prieds that the church was then fuppofed 
to labour under; and, fince that time, the priedhood has 
been ufually united to the monaftical profeflion. 
MONK 
