Glance of his Eye to observe whether any thing passed there contrary to Modesty besides their Rule farther required that there should be Lights always in the Dormitory and that every single Bed which consisted only of a Mat and a Coverlet should be placed in full view This fashion is still kept up in Hospitals and 't is certain was very ancient among Christians and the Cells likewise or every one's having his little Apartment to himself are of very ancient usage But with the first Monks of the Deserts these Cells were only little Hutts or Cottages where they dwelt separately such as those of the Carthusians and the Camaldoli and though there lodged two or three Monks together under the same Roof yet they changed not their name and therefore we find that the lesser Monasteries which we now commonly call Priories passed for a long time under the name of Cells they were also called Casae Both the one and the other of these names seem to have been taken up from the lodgings of Slaves For the Monks in their way of living chose to imitate the condition of the poorest and most despicable of Mankind Besides methinks I can trace in our Monasteries the Model of the old Roman ways of Building as 't is described in Vitruvius and Palladius Their Church that it might be free and convenient for Seculars was always in the front of the Monastery and seems to have succeeded in the stead of the first Hall which the Romans called the Atrium From thence you pass into a Court surrounded with cover'd Galleries to which they ordinarily gave the Greek name of Peristilium and this is the proper Cloister it self into which was a passage from the Church and out of which you are led into the other parts of the House as the Chapter-house which was for Exedra of the ancients the Refectory or Triclinium and the Garden which ordinarily stands behind all the rest which was the way of the ancients But let that be as it will certain it is that those Holy Persons who formed their Rules for the Monks had no design of introducing Novelties or of distinguishing themselves by the singularities of their Methods That which makes the Monks appear now so strange and extraordinary is the change of other Mens Manners as the most ancient buildings are become singular because they are the only Fabricks left us that have stood for so many Ages And as the more judicious any Architect is so much the more curious is he in finding out the imperfect remains of those old Buildings as well knowing that that the Art of Building hath in these last Ages been recovered only by the imitation of these excellent Models So Christians ought exactly to observe the Practice of the most regular Monasteries to give them a view of the best examples of a life truly Christian I know there is scarce any thing which the length of time hath not somewhat impaired so there is no old building which time hath entirely sparred and of many-a-one there remains nothing but mishapen Ruins and yet by taking an exact view even of these Ruins and examining the very least Fragments of these precious Antiquities and then by comparing them with their Histories in the Books of the Ancients we come at the same time both to understand the true proportions of the whole Fabrick and the true sense of the ancient Writings After the same manner great use might be made of our Enquiries into the Monastick practices if together with them we also read the Rules of the Founders of the several Orders the old Canons the writings of the new Testament and the lives of the Saints of all Ages In the mean time it cannot be denied but that the Monasteries have been the Repositories of all sorts of Antiquities The greatest part of those old Manuscripts were found in them by the help of which Learning hath been restor'd in these last Ages In them were preserved the Works of the Fathers and the Canons of the Councils We discover every day in the Statutes and Customs of ancient Monasteries Ecclesiastical Antiquities of the greatest Curiosity In a word the Evangelical Practice in the Cloysters hath been all along kept up to its primitive Purity while in the World it hath been every Day changing from worse to worse and 't is this Declention of Religion I am now entring upon Part IV. HAVING represented the Behaviour of the ancient Christians I think XLIV The decay of Christian Piety in the Fourth and following Ages with the causes of it my self obliged now to add the principal Causes of the prodigious difference there is between Their way of living and Ours and so great is that difference that to many I doubt not this Account will appear as strange as those Relations our Travellers give us of the Indians and Chinese manner of living and the more Ignorant will scarce have Faith enough to give Credit to it because every particular is not proved home to them and the Testimonies set down at length But the whole stands upon Authorities well known to Persons of Learning and Reading We will proceed therefore to take a general view of the progress of this decay When Constantine had declared for Christianity the Converts came into it in shoals and what the Prophets had of old Predicted concerning the Church was literally accomplished that she should be established on the top of the Mountains Is ii 3. and that all Nations should flow in unto her to learn from her the Law of God and the Rule of living On the one side men with their own Eyes beheld the extraordinary Miracles which were every day wrought at the Tombs of the Martyrs the holy Lives of the greatest part of Christians and the invincible force of this Religion against which three hundred Years cruel Persecution had prevail'd no farther than to give it the deeper rooting On the other side Idolatry and the Fabulous Theology of the Poets was long before so exposed by the Philosophers that almost all the Men of Wit and Sense among them believed nothing of it but kept up the Religion of the People only for their own Interests and therefore they readily quitted it when it was no longer supported by publick Authority and most of them turned Christians Others out of a Libertine Opinion or Practice e'en continued as they were without having any Religion at all either because they could not bring their understandings to submit to the obedience of Faith or that they would not quit their Debauchery or forgo their ill gotten Goods or the unjust methods of raising their Fortunes There were scarce any Pagans left but of these two sorts the gross ignorant vulgar who were governed by Custom only and who were not capable of any thing higher than the impressions of Sense and some affected Wits who to shew their parts and Learning and out of a blind Veneration for Antiquity were resolved to maintain the cause of
Princes Magistrates and the secular Authority They were never heard complaning against the Government nor ever spake contemptuously of the Civil Power They gave them all the honour and obedience they could on this side Idolatry they paid their Tributes not only without resisting but without repining and rather then defraud them of their Rights if they had not otherwise to answer they made it up out of the labour of their Hands So far were they from raising Sedition Tertul. Apol. c. xxxv xxxvi xxxvil or Rebellions that in all the many Conspiracies which were formed against the Emperors one after another for the space of three hundred years no Christian was ever found to have had an Hand in any of them tho' the Emperors were never so bad and the Persecutors never so cruel The Christians were the only Persons who did not make it their business to get rid of Nero Domitian Commodus Caracalla and so many other Tyrants Opprest and Harrassed as they were with all sorts of injuries and groaning under the most unheard of Cruelties Yet it never entered into their Thoughts to resist the Powers or to take up Arms in their own Defence though they were numerous enough to have made up a greater Body of Men than any of the Nations could that made War against the Romans Nay more than that of so many Christian Soldiers with which the Roman Armies were filled none ever made use of the Sword they had in their Hands but to Execute the Orders of their Prince or their Commanders and we read of entire Legions as that of St. Mauritius that without the lest resistance suffered themselves to be cut to pieces rather than to fail of doing their Duty either to God or Caesar Scarce could they perswade themselves so much as to open their Mouths in their own Defence and Publish some answers to those horrid Calumnies most wrongfully laid to their Charge For near the Orig. Cont. Cels init space of an Age they were content to suffer with silence after the Example of their Master who answered nothing to his Accusers but without resistance submitted himself to the unrighteous Judge v. 1 Pet. ii 21. They were content to be justifyed by their works and let their Actions plead their Cause 'T was not till the Emperor Adrian that they began to Write some Apologies but those in so respectful a manner so Solid and so Grave as made it v. Euseb iv Hist iii. xxv plainly appear that it was only Zeal for the Truth made them take Pen in Hand This invincible Patience at last surmounted all opposition and forced the Powers of this World to submit to the Power of the Gospel Even under the Persecutions the number of Christians was grown Prodigiously great We are saith Tertullian but of Yesterday and Apol. c. xxxvii yet the World is filled with us your Cities your Houses your Garrisons your Villages your Colonies your very Camps your Tribes your Pallaces your Senate your Courts of Justice And indeed there were Christians of all Degrees and some of the first Martyrol 18. Apr. x. c. 19 Ma. xix Aug. xiii Sept. viii Oct. Martyrol Martii xii xxvi Mai. xvii xix Jun. xx Jul. Quality We see in the Martyrology Senators Prefects Proconsuls Tribunes Quaestors and even Consuls themselves we find Christians in the Court and among the Domesticks and principal Officers of the Emperors as under Nero Trajan Alexander Decius Valerian Diocletian The Court of Diocletian served also iii. Sept. v. Oct. xviii Euseb vi Hist xxviii Act. S. Sebast S. Susan sometimes for a safe retreat to the most Zealous Confessors of Rome The Pope St. Gaius and St. Gabinius the Father of St. Susanna were his own Nephews and St. Serena his Empress was a Martyr The People affected with these vertues of the Christians and with the many Miracles wrought among them began at length to do them Justice loudly declaring that great was the God of the Christians Acta S. Bonif an 305 Martyrol Ja. iii. Feb. xvi xvii xxvii Mar. ix xxvii 30. Mai. 31. Jun. 30 Jul. 7. Aug. 21. Sept. 20 25. Oct. 10. 19. Nov. 26. Dec. 3. and that the Christians were Innocent Persons It sometimes happened that as they were Tormenting the Martyrs the common People themselves whom this sight had drawn together took part with the Christians on their own accord and Pelted the Magistrate with Stones off this Tribunal and made him fly the Court. The Clerks of the Court the Goalers the Soldiers the Executioners were many times all on a suddain Converted openly calling out that they were Christians too and offering themselves to the same Punishments Even Comaedians themselves as they were in Derision Martyrol 25. Aug. 15 Sept. Baron an 303. n. 118 acting upon the Stage the sacred My steries have been Converted on the spot and made Illustrious Martyrs Hence proceeded the extream violence of the last Persecution They saw the whole World turning Christian And this last Persecution also as all the former had done served only to spread it farther and give it the deeper Rooting So that all the World bare a favourable Aspect toward Religion when Constantine declared himself the Protector of it Part III. I AM now come to the third part of my Work where I am to represent the XXVII The Church out of Persecution Behaviour of the Christians when the Church came to be in a state of Peace and Liberty For three hundred years they had been longing and sighing after these happy Days of serving God without any lett or hindrance But experience as sad as it was taught them that Persecution was more for the advantage of Religion than Liberty Not but that the same Manners before described continued yet a long time after So that I have nothing to do here but to observe those differences which the free exercise of Religion forthwith produced Though they had always used great The Examination and Preparation for Baptism care in Examining such as demanded Baptism yet there was now required a far greater Circumspection when there was no longer any danger to become a Christian For Worldly Interest and diverse other bad Motives might make Men desirous of taking upon them that Name Therefore every one that presented himself v. Methodedos Pere c. iii. ix to Baptism was in the first place taken into strict Examination and obliged to give an account of the causes of his Conversion of his Condition in the World whether he was a Slave or a Freeman of his Behaviour and of his past Life They who lived in any unlawful Const Ap. viii c. 32. S. Aug. xi de serm dom in mont Calling or in a customary way of Sinning were not admitted till they had actually renounced that course of Life Thus they rejected all common Women and those that made a Trade of Prostituting their Bodies Actors upon the Stage Gladiators Racers in the Circus
their Cities from Plunder at the peril of their own Lives Thus Attila was diverted from entring Rome by Pope St. Leo and from Troys by St. Lupus from Orleans by St. Martyr 23 Mai. 14. Dec. Agnan but St. Desiderius of Langres and St. Nicasius of Reims lost their Lives for their Flocks having their Throats cut by the Vandals When these Barbarian Kings turned Christians the Bishops made part of their Councils and were the most trusty of their Ministers They did what they could to recommend Gentleness and Clemency to them often interceding for Criminals and making use of several methods to this purpose 'T was for this end they were so very careful to have the rights of Sanctuary maintained a Privilege which at first the Veneration of Martyrs and afterwards of some illustrious Saints had procured to the places of their Sepulchre as in France to that of St. Martin Hence also 't is plain came in the Custom of putting out Peoples Eyes who ought to have suffered Death they thought to put them out of a capacity of doing more mischief in the World and yet give them time to Repent but sometimes they shut them up in Monasteries The Bishops also made use of the credit they had with their Princes to restrain them from Acts of Injustice and Oppresison to procure the Relief of the Poor and the common good To these ends and purposes they frankly employed the Riches of the Church He that reads what V. Anastas good Works the Popes have done from the time of St. Gregory to Charlemain both in repairing the Ruins of Rome and Reedifying not only the Churches and Hospitals there but likewise the Streets and Aquaeducts as also preserving all Italy from the Violence of the Lombards and the Avarice of the Greeks He that reads the Lives of St. Alnulphus St. Eligius St Audoenus St. Ligarius and the other Prelates who had a great hand in the Management of the publick Affairs in those Days He may see that Christianity is so far from interfering with the Interests of the State that it is indeed the surest foundation of true Politie as being the best means of Uniting Men together and making them serviceable to each other in Society This great Reputation of the Bishops and Abbots insensibly drew them in to share in the Temporal Power They were Lords and had the same priviledges with Lay-Peers but still with the same Incumbrances As to furnish out Soldiers for the Service of the State and often to lead them in Person The different Nations were in time sufficiently intermixed to make the Clergy either of Barbarians or Romans But an intire alteration in their Behavior was much more difficult 'T was very hard to restrain them from Hunting and the exercise of Arms after their Ordination especially when by the orders of their Prince they were obliged to appear in the Field Nor indeed can it be denyed but that those Temporal Seigneuries annexed to Spiritual Dignities were a great cause of the decay of Discipline IN the East they never had any of XLVII The Manners of the Christians in the East from the fifth Age. these Temporalties But there were other causes there which produced as bad effects The great Heresys which took their Rise and Course in those parts had set the Wits of many too busily on Work and shaken the Foundation of their Faith Nestorius on the one side and Eutiches or rather Dioscorus on the other had vast numbers of followers Their disputes were endless and from disputing they often fell into Quarrels and Seditions The Clergy and Monks who were the most Zealous brake forth into the greatest Heats and when these last above all others espoused the Quarrel so far as to quit their Solitudes and flock to the Citys to maintain the Cause of God as they thought there were no methods too Lawless or Violent for them T is well known what bloody Tragedies were Acted in Aegypt and Syria by the opposers of the Council of Chalcedon The Emperors endeavouring by their secular authority to remedy the Evil did only encrease it For instead of applying themselves to see the Decisions of the Church put in execution by Chastising and Suppressing the Obstinate and Seditious by force they engaged themselves in the Controversy and to end the Dispute made use of dangerous Accommodations determining the Point by their Imperial Edicts And at length encouraged by the servile compliances of the Bishops they undertook the regulation of the Church Discipline that is to say they ruined it For there was now no other rule left but the Emperor's Will and Pleasure Though the Roman Empire in the East was yet in Being yet they were no longer Romans save only in Name nor Greeks but in Language 'T was a meer Hotch Potch of all sorts of Barbarians Thracians Illyrians Isaurians Armenians Persians Scythians Sarmatians Bulgarians and Russians So that in all History we scarce meet with a People more corrupt then these later Greeks They had the Vices of the Antients but nothing of their Wit and Ingenuity or of their Arts and Sciences And yet they were all Christians and very careful to keep up the outward shew the pomp and formalities of Religion When the Mahometans had made themselves Masters of the East the Christians of those parts could not avoid keeping great Commerce with them Great numbers of Greeks in Aegypt and Syria liv'd under their Subjection For the Conquest of the Musulmans as the followers of Mahomet call themselves established their false Religion without abolishing the exercise of the Christian in the places where they found it Their Religion was too absurd to be received by them who had ever been enlightned with the true Faith since it taught Men to Believe in a Man that pretended himself to be sent from God upon his own bare Word without any Prophecy foretelling his coming without any Miracle to prove his Mission or Reason to Support his Doctrine That which got him followers was his Addressiing himself to the Arabians a sort of Barbarians as Ignorant as himself the happy success of his Arms and fairly dividing the Spoils with them The Christians had him in Detestation and were a long time subject to the Mahometans before they could so much as think of being in the least reconciled to their Religion But at last they came to it and at the end of Two hundred Years the Empire of the Musulmans being now in its full Glory under Califs their Religion began to appear less frightful to the Christians who were now grown miserably Ignorant and had their Spirits broken by a long Servitude The Original of Mohometism was now grown Old enough to be concealed and set off with the Embelishments of a vast many fabulous Stories The Pompous Gallimafrys of the Alcoran where the Name of God appearing in every page enough to impose upon the Ignorant It every where Inculcates the Unity of God and the Abhorrence of Idolatry It