Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

was a

Theodosius of Antioch person of good birth, but desiring to lead an evangelical life,' retired to a wild part of Cilicia, near the sea. The ground was his place of repose; his ornaments certain collars of iron which he wore round his neck, loins, wrists, &c. His amusement and means of support, basket-making. He at length became famous and had many disciples. Mariners within a thousand stadia of the place would in storms call upon the God of Theodosius, and allay tempest by Theodosius's name. Some robbers, Isaurians, shewed their reverence by only asking him and his monks for a little bread and his prayers, when they had brutally plundered all the country round; but the bishop of Antioch and others fearing that these pirates would take him away, as they had lately two bishops, and require a high ransom, which those who loved divine things would certainly have paid, insisted upon his removing to Antioch. His hair reached to the ground, which obliged him to tie it round his waist.

Romanus succeeded Theodosius in the care of the monastery. In hair, iron, &c. equal to his predecessor, in meekness, his superior. Theodoret seems to have been acquainted with them both.

Salamanis built himself into a scanty inclosure without door or window, where he remained for years, burrowing under the wall, once a year, to obtain the food which was to serve him for the next twelve months. A bishop broke through his fence to make him priest. Salamanis having taken orders, simply told him to restore the wall. The people of a neighbouring town carried him off and shut him up in a similar cell; but his old neighbours brought him back; there he remained till his death, fulfilling, says Theodoret, Gal. ii. 20, “I live by the faith of the Son of God!"

[ocr errors]

Another admirable personage whose name I forget, but whom I mention here because he also was ordained priest, lived in the same region, occupying himself for fifty years in solitude, meditating upon God, reading the Scriptures, and in prayer. He shut himself up in a poor hovel, and received his daily mess, bread steeped in water, through a hole so constructed, that no one might see him he passed his hand through for what he wanted in an oblique direction. He used however to go out at night to a neighbouring spring for water, when on one occasion a shepherd mistaking him for a wolf, took his sling and attempted to bring him down. The stone knew better, and refused to stir; but sadly alarmed was the poor shepherd, when he thought what a condition he might have been in, if the stone had not had more sense than himself. This is the only miracle recorded of him. But about fifty days before he expired, he was warned by a dream that his end was near; and such was his sanctity, that the bishop of the diocese, hearing that they were likely to lose him, besought him to honour his tenure of office by accepting ordination from his hands. The poor old man protested that he had been all his life apprehensive of the responsibilities of the sacerdotal office, and had therefore, up to this period, absolutely declined it, but now that his life, as he had been assured, was nearly at its close, he would give his consent to be received into the order of presbyters. So he was: and soon after died!

Let me observe that Theodoret speaks on terms of almost unqualified admiration of all the strange worthies whose lives and actions he records seldom indeed intimating the least suspicion but that they deserved the highest praise for their fantastic philosophy! the name which he commonly gives to this species of will-worship.

The persons hitherto mentioned, great as were their merits, were inferior to others whom I shall proceed to mention, and all to that 'facile princeps' of all ascetics, Theodoret's great friend, the famous Simeon Stylites.

We will now present the great Eusebius to the notice of your readers. This wonderful man retired into a poor lone hovel, to the east of Antioch, and there dwelt several years, first with an uncle, then quite alone; till another anchorite read him a short good lecture on charity “not seeking her own," and invited him to take the charge of a large party of anchorites who had settled about him. The great Eusebius very properly consented, and read and conversed and prayed with them daily till one (hapless) day as he sat with one of the party, who was, as usual, reading a portion of the Scriptures, and asking him for an explanation, Eusebius, whose attention had been diverted by the sight of some agricultural labourers working busily at a little distance, requested him to read it again. I suspect, said the disciple, that your mind was too much taken up with yonder husband men to attend to what I was reading. From that day forward the great Eusebius, (what shall we say was his motive?) resolved to keep his eyes under the severest restraint: from that day forward, never did he walk beyond the very narrow path which led to his little oratory. He put a stout iron collar round his neck and another round his waist. These he so fastened together with a chain, that his back was bowed down, and he could never take his eyes from the ground, much less allow them to wander over the fields as they did on that hapless occasion. This practice he continued for forty years! When

asked the reason of this extraordinary kind of mortification, he replied that he had had many a

severe struggle with the enemy ; and thought he had now discovered the way to baffle his attacks, or to make success itself ridiculous, for what harm could Satan do him, when the scene of conflict was in such very narrow bounds! This man was admired as a miracle of wisdom, his responses were regarded as almost oracular, and many were his followers in the same pitiful course. Theodoret was personally acquainted with some of them one of whom never allowed himself to lie down, seldom to sit, though he always carried a great weight of iron.

[ocr errors]

There was also one Jacobus with whom Theodoret was very intimate and admired greatly. He lived in neither cell nor cave, but in the open air, exposed to the view of all. He also had many admirers, and his biographer records a case in which they were the occasion of a severe trial of his philosophy.' The poor fellow had a severe bilious attack, attended with intense inward pains. But for the multitude of admirers who surrounded him he would have relieved himself as ordinary persons do under such painful circumstances, either withdrawing himself or requesting the company to do so; but, being what he was, what could he do but signalize his valour in resisting the impulse of nature. Theodoret who was in the secret, gazed with wonder at the man who proved propositi tenax. Night left him master of the field. This person had a heavy iron collar for his neck, and another for his loins, connected by two chains before and two behind, forming two crosses. Theodoret relates the stratagems he practised to make his friend sit and lie down, when he was very ill, on the night, I think, of that singular triumph.

Polychronius, too, should be mentioned, a most modest man, who would not load himself with chains and collars of iron, lest they

should be seen, and procure him an excess of credit. Instead of them he provided himself with a large block of wood, as if for some other purpose. With this he would encumber himself during his prayers at night, and when he thought himself unobserved, dropping it the instant any one came in sight. Theodoret, who had an idea what it was for, tried to get possession of it, but the holy man was jealous of its removal. The good bishop could scarcely carry it with both hands.

6

Such were the extravagancies to which a false principle led many a well-meaning person in that age. There were hundreds, yea, it would seem thousands upon thousands of such characters, and the bishops and great divines of the age were far from reproving their excesses; instead of saying, who hath required this at your hands?' they distinctly countenanced them. Theodoret, worthy man as he was, yielded altogether to the infatuation, and even Augustine, by far the most accurate divine of any of the fathers, records it as a high glory of the Catholic Church, to have had such supremely holy beings within her pale.

The great question in dispute, your readers will understand, is, not whether we shall return to follies of this kind, because approved of by the most learned and holy men of the ancient church; but whether any extraordinary weight of authority should be given to the sentiments of men, however learned, holy, or ancient, who could accord to such follies the stamp of their declared approbation not whether even, devout men of modern times are, or are not, in danger of verging to an extreme opposite to that of the ascetic institute of the days we speak of: but whether we should not be thankful to God for the great light which was shed upon our own and other lands at the

Then

time of the Reformation. our church was mercifully cleared from the superstitions and errors which antiquity had rendered sacred to the minds of our forefathers: now, it is become a subject of regret with many among us, that so entire a supremacy was given to the authority of Scripture, the revealed will of God,-and the traditions of men so greatly disparaged. The attempt is made to introduce dogmas and practices which the Fathers of the Reformation rejected as antiscriptural, under the authority of the Fathers of the Nicene period. It becomes therefore a good work, and indeed necessary for these times, to shew that these" ancient Fathers are unworthy of the credit which the advocates of high Church principles would give them. Whatever they might be with regard to personal piety, the defence of some most important doctrines of Christianity and the general usefulness of their writings, the support which they gave to gross and glaring errors, as parts of the church system of their time, render them, to say the least, very unsafe guides. No practice is to be admitted simply because it was theirs, yea, we may say it with confidence, the fact of its having been theirs, is rather a reason for distrust. It must be brought strictly to the test of the spirit of the Scripture, if not exactly on every occasion to the letter of it.

Once prove the point, that these great and good men, Ambrose, Chrysostom, the Gregories, Augustine, &c. gave the same kind of honour to these specimens of ascetic sanctity, that this honest Theodoret did, and you shew them to be too much infected with what may be called, in reference to those things, vulgar errors,' to be admitted as authorities; you degrade them, in fact. This is a matter of sore complaint with many; but it is well to degrade them, if their

names are made use of to sanction the revival of opinions and practices, which have heretofore been productive of evil, and are likely to be so still. What was said of others of old, may be well applied to the present case. Ambrosius, Amicus Augustinus, sed magis amica veritas. Let no man's

Amicus

authority be allowed to stand in competition with truth.

Theodoret is a man so unexceptionable as a witness of the prevailing sentiment of his times, with respect to the facts he relates; that when he discovers no misgivings, (which, one would say, his good sense and knowledge of the Scripture must have induced,) in his relation of the monstrous things recorded of his worthies, we may safely conclude that the religious world at large joined in his admiration of them. No one seems to have considered that "the Son of Man came eating and drinking," avoiding anything like artificial singularity; and that St. Paul, His so honoured servant, who says,

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ," was a man of charitable compliances, wherever truth and holiness were not compromised, exhibiting in his conduct "whatsoever things were lovely and of good report." With very few exceptions, the piety of that age was tainted deeply with willworship so much so, indeed, that if Augustine himself had ventured to expose it, or even to express his disapprobation of it, it seems very questionable whether he would have retained his influence in the church. Old Jerome, for one, would have raised a fearful outcry against the impiety of the man who would disparage the sanctity of the monastic institute; and there were multitudes of the same spirit.

I will, with your leave, present your readers in a future paper, with a sketch of Theodoret's great friend, Simeon Stylites. They will, I think, find it very instructive: at present,

I remain, your's truly,

AN ENQUIRY.

SIR,-May I take the liberty of soliciting your assistance, under the following circumstances, and in thus seeking help for myself, I know I am at the same time the inquirer for a great number of persons in this metropolis, who desire to serve the Lord with a perfect heart in their daily walk and conversation.

The nature of my application, then, is, a desire to be directed into a concise plan of Scripture reading for private use. I am, in the providence of God, placed in a situation where I am occupied from an early hour in the morning until late at night, so that I cannot possibly pursue an extended system of scriptural reading. I have, in fact, only scraps of time which I can call my own, and to employ these to the best advantage, is my

Z. A.

earnest desire. When I take up my Bible, I often find my opportunity for reading nearly gone, while turning over its leaves, seeking where to commence; and although there are many most valuable helps, (Mr. Bickersteth's for instance,) for the profitable perusal of God's holy word, yet I find them drawn up on such a large and systematic scale, that they are quite beyond my adoption.

If you, Sir, or any of your correspondents will be so kind as to notice this subject, and consider the same, it will confer a great benefit, not only on myself, but upon many who like me, can hardly command a quiet half hour from Monday morning until Saturday night.

Your's very respectfully,
THOMAS.

ON PREPARATION FOR THE LORD'S SUPPER.

CAREFULLY examine, in the interval between your successive attendances at that table, even should they be every Sabbath, what progress you are making in the divine life, proportioned to the privileges you enjoy. Are you really gaining ground? Is your soul actually strengthened and refreshed? Are your corruptions growing weaker, and your graces growing stronger? Are you able more successfully to strive against your besetting sin? Is your love to the Saviour deepening in your heart, and more influential over your life? Is your conformity to his image more distinctly visible to the eye both of God and man? Are you advancing also in love and charity to all men? Do you find that since your last commemoration of this feast of love, you have imbibed so much more of the spirit which is there so pre-eminently displayed, that you can, not only freely forgive, from your heart, the most unprovoked and aggravated injuries and insults, if you have received such, but also cordially delight in pouring out fervent prayer on behalf of your bitterest enemies, and ministering, by any means within your reach, to their temporal-but still more-their eternal welfare? And have you felt a warmer interest in the happiness of all, who come within the sphere of your influence? Are you treading more closely in the steps of Him, "who went about doing good" to the bodies and souls of men? Have you expended more deliberation in devising, and more time und money in executing, schemes of practical benevolence, by which you may be instrumental in alleviating the wretchedness, and augmenting the enjoyments, temporal and spiritual, of all to whose comfort you can, through any medium, contribute? Are you more solicitous, by genSEPTEMBER, 1840.

tleness and affectionateness of manner, to diffuse the sunshine of domestic happiness at home, and to gladden every social circle in which you may be engaged? Is it more constantly your endeavour to draw all, with whom you are acquainted, to Christ, if they are strangers to Him, and closer to Him, if they are already the objects of His love? Do you feel a livelier interest in every society, which is labouring to promote at once the glory of God, and the happiness of man? And do you testify this interest by denying yourself in all superfluities of luxury, whether in dress or any other department, that you may be able to contribute more largely to the support of those societies, and thus become, to the utmost extent that your means can reach, a benefactor, in the highest sense of the word, to your family, your friends, your country, and to all mankind?

Ask yourself also such questions as the following, in your self-examination-Am I advancing in the joys and comforts of the Holy Ghost? Have I, since last I approached the sacred table, followed more faithfully the suggestions of this blessed Spirit; listening more teachably to the slightest whisperings of his voice; cherished more carefully his sweet and sanctifying influences; and watched more jealously against the indulgence of any thoughts, desires, or tempers, which could grieve him, or provoke him to withdraw from my soul, even for a season, the manifestations of his love, and the communications of his grace? Have I a sweeter sense of my Redeemer's love? Do I find communion with him more of a foretasted heaven? And do I look forward with increasing ardency of desire for the day, when I shall sit down with him at the marriage supper

2 Y

« PreviousContinue »