Chapter 40

BIBLE CHRISTIANS.

The “Bible Christians” (sometimes called Bryanites) are included here among the Methodist communities, more from a reference to their sentiments and polity than to their origin. The body, indeed, was not the result of a secession from the Methodist Connexion, but was rather the origination of a new community, which, as it grew, adopted the essential principles of Methodism.

The founder of the body was Mr. William O’Bryan, a Wesleyan local preacher in Cornwall, who, in 1815, separated fromthe Wesleyans, and began himself to form societies upon the Methodist plan. In a very few years considerable advance was made, and throughout Devonshire and Cornwall many societies were established; so that, in 1819, there were nearly 30 itinerant preachers. In that year, the first Conference was held, when the Connexion was divided into 12 circuits. Mr. O’Bryan withdrew from the body in 1829.

In doctrinal profession there is no distinction between “Bible Christians” and the various bodies of Arminian Methodists.

The forms of public worship, too, are of the same simple character; but, in the administration of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, “it is usual to receive the elements in a sitting posture, as it is believed that that practice is more conformable to the posture of body in which it was at first received by Christ’s apostles, than kneeling; but persons are at liberty to kneel, if it be more suitable to their views and feelings to do so.”

According to the Census returns, the number of chapels belonging to the body in England and Wales in 1851 was 482; by far the greater number being situated in the south-western counties of England. The number of sittings, (after adding an estimate for 42 imperfect returns,) was 66,834. The attendance on the Census Sunday was:Morning, 14,902;Afternoon, 24,345;Evening, 34,612; an estimate being made for eight chapels the number of attendants at which was not stated in the returns. The Minutes of Conference for 1852 present the following view:—

THE WESLEYAN METHODIST ASSOCIATION.

In 1834 a controversy was originated as to the propriety of the proposed establishment of a Wesleyan Theological Institution; and a minister who disapproved of such a measure, and prepared and published some remarks against it, was expelled from the Connexion. Sympathizers with him were in similar manner expelled.

The “Association” differs from the “Old Connexion” only with regard to the specific subjects of dispute which caused the rupture. The only variations, therefore, are in constitutional arrangements, and the principal of these are as follows:—

The Annual Assembly (answering to the Old Wesleyan Conference) is distinguished by the introduction of the laity as representatives. It consists of such of the itinerant and local preachers, and other official or private members, as the circuits, societies, or churches in union with the Association (and contributing £50 to the support of the ministry) elect. The number of representatives is regulated by the number of constituents. Circuits with less than 500 members send one; those with more than 500 and less than 1,000 send two; and such as have more than 1,000 send three. The Annual Assembly admits persons on trial as preachers, examines them, receives them into full connexion, appoints them to their circuits, and excludes or censures them when necessary. It also directs the application of all General or Connexional Funds, and appoints a committee to represent it till the next Assembly. But it does not interfere with strictly local matters, for “each circuit has the right and power to govern itself by its local courts, without any interference as to the management of its internal affairs.”

As was to be expected from the reason of its origin, the Association gives more influence to the laity in matters of Church discipline than is permitted by the Old Connexion. Therefore it is provided, that “no member shall be expelled from the Association except by the direction of a majority of a leaders’ society or circuit quarterly meeting.”

According to the Minutes of the 17th Annual Assembly, the following was the state of the Association in England and Wales in 1852, no allowance having, however, been made for several incomplete returns:—

The Census Returns make mention of 419 chapels and preaching rooms, containing (after an estimate for the sittings in 34 cases of deficient information) accommodation for 98,813 persons. The attendance on the Census Sunday (making an allowance for five chapels, the returns from which are silent on this point) was:Morning, 32,308;Afternoon, 21,140;Evening, 40,655.

WESLEYAN METHODIST REFORMERS.

In 1840, another of the constantly recurring agitations with respect to ministerial authority in matters of Church discipline arose, and still continues. Some parties having circulated through the Connexion certain anonymous pamphlets called “Fly Sheets,” in which some points of Methodist procedure were attacked in a manner offensive to the Conference, that body, with a view to ascertain the secret authors, (suspected to be ministers,) adopted the expedient of tendering to every minister in the Connexion a “Declaration,” reprobating the obnoxious circulars, and repudiating all connexion with the authorship. Several ministers refused submission to this test, as being an unfair attempt to make the offending parties criminate themselves, and partaking of the nature of an Inquisition. The Conference, however, held that such a method of examination was both Scripturally proper, and accordant with the usages of Methodism; and the ministers persisting in their opposition were expelled. This stringent measure caused a great sensation through the various societies, and meetings were convened to sympathize with the excluded ministers. The Conference, however, steadily pursued its policy—considered all such meetings violations of Wesleyan order—and, acting through the superintendent ministers in all the circuits, punished by expulsion every member who attended them. In consequence of this proceeding, the important question was again, and with increased anxiety, debated,—whether the admission and excision of Church members is exclusively the duty of the minister, or whether, in the exercise of such momentous discipline, the other members of the Church have not a right to share.

The agitation on these questions (and on some collateral ones suggested naturally by these) is still prevailing, and has grown extremely formidable. It is calculated that the loss of the Old Connexion, by expulsions and withdrawals, now amounts to 100,000 members. The Reformers have not yet ostensibly seceded, and can therefore not be said to form a separate Connexion. They regard themselves as still Wesleyan Methodists, illegally expelled, and they demand the restoration of all preachers, officers, and members who have been excluded. In the mean time, they have set in operation a distinct machinery of Methodism, framed according to the plan which they consider ought to be adopted by the parent body. In their own returns it is represented that they had in 1852, 2000 chapels or preaching places, and 2800 preachers.

At the time of the Census, in March 1852, the movement was but in its infancy; so that the returns received, though possibly an accurate account of the then condition of the body, will fail to give an adequate idea of its present state. From these returns it seems there were at that time 339 chapels in connexion with the movement; having accommodation (after estimates for 51 defective schedules) for 67,814 persons. The attendance on the Census Sunday (making an allowance for five cases where the numbers were not given) was as follows:Morning, 30,470;Afternoon, 16,080;Evening, 44,953.

CALVINISTIC METHODISTS.

George Whitfield, born in 1714, the son of an innkeeper at Gloucester, where he acted as a common drawer, was admitted as a servitor in Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1732. Being then the subject of religious impressions, to which the evil character of his early youth lent force and poignancy, he naturally was attracted to those meetings for religious exercises which the brothers Wesley had a year or two before originated. After a long period of mental anguish, and the practice, for some time, of physical austerities, he ultimately found relief and comfort; and, resolving to devote himself to the labours of the ministry, was admitted into holy orders by the bishop of Gloucester. Preaching in various churches previous to his embarkation for Georgia, whither he had determined to follow Mr. Wesley, his uncommon force of oratory was at once discerned, and scenes of extraordinary popular commotion were displayed wherever he appeared. In 1737 he left for Georgia, just as Wesley had returned. He ministered with much success among the settlers for three months, and then came back to England, for the purpose of procuring aid towards the foundation of an orphan house for the colony. The same astonishing sensation was created by his preaching as before; the churches overflowed with eager auditors,and crowds would sometimes stand outside. Perceiving that no edifice was large enough to hold the numbers who desired and pressed to hear him, he began to entertain the thought of preaching in the open air; and when, on visiting Bristol shortly after, all the pulpits were denied to him. he carried his idea into practice, and commenced his great experiment by preaching to the colliers at Kingswood. His first audience numbered about 200; the second, 2000; the third, 4000; and so from ten to fourteen and to twenty thousand. Such success encouraged similar attempts in London; and accordingly, when the churchwardens of Islington forbade his entrance into the pulpit, which the vicar had offered him, he preached in the churchyard; and, deriving more and more encouragement from his success, he made Moorfields and Kennington Common the scenes of his impassioned eloquence, and there controlled, persuaded, and subdued assemblages of thirty and forty thousand of the rudest auditors. He again departed for Georgia in 1748, founded there the orphan house, and, requiring funds for its support, again returned to England in 1751.

Up to this period, Wesley and Whitfield had harmoniously laboured in conjunction; but there now arose a difference of sentiment between them on the doctrine of election, which resulted in their separation. Whitfield held the Calvinistic tenets, Wesley the Arminian; and their difference proving, after some discussion, to be quite irreconcilable, they thenceforth each pursued a different path. Mr. Wesley steadily and skilfully constructing the elaborate machinery of Wesleyan Methodism; and Whitfield following his plan of field itinerancy, with a constant and amazing popularity, but making no endeavour to originate a sect. He died in New England in 1769, at the age of 55.

His followers, however, and those of other eminent evangelicals who sympathized with his proceedings, gradually settled into separate religious bodies, principally under two distinctive appellations; one, the “Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion,” and the other, the “Welsh Calvinistic Methodists.” These, in fact, are now the only sections which survive as individual communities; for most of Whitfield’s congregations, not adopting any connexional bond, but existing as independent churches, gradually became absorbed into the Congregational body.

THE COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON’S CONNEXION.

Selina, daughter of the Earl of Ferrers, and widow of the Earl of Huntingdon, was one of those on whom the preaching of Whitfield made considerable impression. In 1748 he became her chaplain; and by his advice she assumed a kind of leadership over his followers, erected chapels, engaged ministers or laymen to officiate in them, and founded a college at Trevecca in South Wales, for the education of Calvinistic preachers. After her death, this college was, in 1792, transferred to Cheshunt, (Herts,) and there it still exists.

The doctrines of the Connexion are almost identical with those of the Church of England, and the form of worship does not materially vary; for the liturgy is generally employed, though extemporary prayer is frequent.

Although the name “Connexion” is still used, there is no combined or federal ecclesiastical government prevailing. The Congregational polity is practically adopted; and of late years, several of the congregations have become, in name as well as virtually, Congregational churches.

The number of chapels mentioned in the Census as belonging to this Connexion, or described as “English Calvinistic Methodists,” was 109, containing (after an allowance for the sittings in five chapels, the returns for which are defective) accommodation for 38,727 persons. The attendants on the Census Sunday (making an estimated addition for seven chapels, the returns from which were silent on the point) were:Morning, 21,103;Afternoon, 4380;Evening, 19,159.

WELSH CALVINISTIC METHODISTS.

The great revival of religion commenced in England by Wesley and Whitfield had been preceded by a similar event in Wales. The principal agent of its introduction there was Howel Harris, a gentleman of Trevecca, in Brecknockshire, who, with a view to holy orders, had begun to study at Oxford, but, offended at the immorality there prevalent, had quitted college, and returned to Wales. He shortly afterwards began a missionary labour in that country, going from house to house, and preaching in the open air. A great excitement was produced; and multitudes attended his discourses. To sustain the religious feeling thus awakened, Mr. Harris, about the year 1736, instituted “Private Societies,” similar to those which Wesley was, about the same time, though without communication,forming in England. By 1739 he had established about 300 such societies in South Wales. At first, he encountered much hostility from magistrates and mobs; but after a time his work was taken up by several ministers of the Church of England; one of whom, the Reverend Daniel Rowlands, of Llangeitho, Cardigan, had such a reputation, that “persons have been known to come 100 miles to hear him preach on the sabbaths of his administering the Lord’s supper;” and he had no less than 2000 communicants in his church. In 1742, 10 clergymen were assisting in the movement, and 40 or 50 lay preachers. The first chapel was erected in 1747, at Builth in Brecknockshire.

In the mean time, North Wales began to be in similar manner roused; and, in spite of considerable persecution, many members were enrolled, and several chapels built. The Rev. Thomas Charles, of Bala, one of the founders of the British and Foreign Bible Society, was, towards the termination of the century, a prominent instrument in effecting this result.

The growth of the movement, both in North and South Wales, was extremely rapid; but the process of formation into a separate body was more gradual and slow. At first, as several of the most conspicuous labourers were clergymen of the Established Church, the sacraments were administered exclusively by them; but, as converts multiplied, the number of evangelical clergymen was found inadequate to the occasion: many members were obliged to seek communion with the various dissenting bodies; till, at last, in 1811, 12 among the Methodist preachers were ordained, at a considerable Conference, and from that time forth the sacraments were regularly administered by them in their own chapels, and the body assumed distinctly the appearance of a separate Connexion.

Acountyin Wales corresponds with a Wesleyan “Circuit,” or to a Scottish Presbytery. All the Church officers within a county, whether preachers or leaders of private societies, are members of the “Monthly Meeting” of the county. The province of this meeting is to superintend both the spiritual and secular condition of the societies within the county.

The “Quarterly Association” performs all the functions of the Wesleyan “Conference,” or of the “Synod” amongst Presbyterians. There are two meetings held every quarter; one in North Wales, and the other in South Wales. The Association consists of all the preachers and leaders of private societies in the Connexion. “At every Association, the whole Connexion is supposed to be present through its representatives, and the decisions of this meeting are deemed sufficient authority on every subject relating to the body through all its branches. It has the prerogative to superintend the cause of Christ among the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists through Wales and England, to inquire into the affairs of all the private and monthly societies, and to direct any changes or alterations which it may think requisite.” It is at this meeting that the ministers are selected who are to administer the sacraments.

The ministers, among the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, are itinerant. They are selected by the private societies, and reported to the monthly meetings, which examine into their qualifications, and permit them to commence on trial. A certain number only, who must previously have been preachers for at least five years, are ordained to administer the sacraments, and this ordination takes place at the Quarterly Associations. The preachers are appointed each to a particular county; but generally once in the course of a year they undertake a missionary tour to distant parts of Wales, when they preach twice every day, on each occasion at a different chapel. Their remuneration is derived from the monthly pence contributed by the members of each congregation; out of which fund a trifling sum is given to them after every sermon. In 1837, a college for the education of ministers was established at Bala, and in 1842 another was established at Trevecca.

The doctrines of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists may be inferred from the appellation of the body, and be said to be substantially accordant with the Articles of the Established Church, interpreted according to their Calvinistic sense.

The number of chapels returned at the Census as pertaining to the body was 828; containing (after an estimate for 53 chapels which made no return of sittings) accommodation for 211,951 persons. Theattendanceon the Census Sunday was:Morning, 79,728;Afternoon, 59,140;Evening, 125,244. It is computed that the body have expended in the erection and repairs of their chapels, between the year 1747 and the present time, a sum amounting to nearly a million sterling. From the “Dyddiadwr Methodistaidd” for 1853 we learn that the number of ministers was 207, and of preachers 234. The number of communicants was stated on the same authority at 58,577.

The principal societies supported by the Connexion are those connected with Home and Foreign Missions; the contributions to which amount to about £3000 a year. The operations of the Home Mission are carried on among the English population inhabiting the borders between England and Wales. The Foreign Mission has a station in Brittany (north-west of France)—the language of that country being a sister dialect of the Welsh—and stations at Cassay and Sylhet in India, the presidency of Bengal.

METROPOLITAN. (SeeArchbishop,Bishop.) The bishop who presides over the other bishops of a province. The writers of the Latin Church use promiscuously the words archbishop and metropolitan, making either name denote a bishop, who, by virtue of his see, presides over or governs several other bishops. Thus in England the archbishops of Canterbury and York, and in Ireland the archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, are metropolitans. But the Greeks use the name only to denote him whose see is really a civil metropolis. There are some bishops in our Church who are metropolitans without the title of archbishop, viz. the bishops of Calcutta and Sydney.

MICHAEL, ST., AND ALL ANGELS. A festival of the Christian Church observed on the 29th of September.

The Scripture account of Michael is; that he was an archangel, who presided over the Jewish nation, as other angels did over the Gentile world, as is evident of the kingdoms of Persia and Greece; that he had an army of angels under his command; that he fought with the dragon, or Satan and his angels; and that, contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses.

As to the combat between Michael and the dragon, some authors understand it literally, and think it means the expulsion of certain rebellious angels, with their head or leader, from the presence ofGod. Others take it in a figurative sense, and refer it, either to the contest that happened at Rome between St. Peter and Simon Magus, in which the apostle prevailed over the magician; or to those violent persecutions, under which the Church laboured for three hundred years, and which happily ceased when the powers of the world became Christian.

The contest about the body of Moses is, likewise, taken both literally and figuratively. Those who understand it literally are of opinion, that Michael, by the order ofGod, hid the body of Moses after his death, and that the devil endeavoured to discover it, as a fit means to entice the people to idolatry by a superstitious worship of his relics. But this dispute is figuratively understood to be a controversy about rebuilding the temple, and restoring the service ofGodamong the Jews at Jerusalem, the Jewish Church being fitly enough styled “the body of Moses.” It is thought by some that this story of the contest between Michael and the devil was taken by St. Jude out of an apocryphal book, called “The Assumption of Moses.”—Broughton.

MILITANT. (Frommilitans, “fighting.”) A term applied to the Church on earth, as engaged in a warfare with the world, sin, and the devil; in distinction from the Churchtriumphantin heaven. It is used in the prefatory sentence of the prayer after the Offertory in our Communion Service, and was first inserted in the Second Book of King Edward VI.

MILLENARIANS and MILLENNIUM. A name which is given to those who believe that Christ will reign personally for a thousand years upon earth, their designation being derived from the Latin words,mille, “a thousand,” andannus, “a year.” In the words of Greswell, we may define their doctrine and expectation, generally, as the belief of a second personal advent or return of ourLord Jesus Christ, some time before the end of the present state of things on the earth; a resurrection of a part of the dead in the body, concurrently with that return; the establishment of a kingdom, for a certain length of time, upon earth, of whichJesus Christwill be the sovereign head, and good and holy men who lived under the Mosaic dispensation before the gospel æra, or have lived under the Christian, since, whether previously raised to life, or found alive in the flesh at the time of the return, will be the subjects, and in some manner or other admitted to a share of its privileges.

This is what is meant by the doctrine of the Millennium in general: the fact of a return ofJesus Christin person before the end of the world; of a first or particular resurrection of the dead; of a reign ofChrist, with all saints, on the earth; and all this before the present state of things is at an end, and before time and sense, whose proper period of being is commensurate with the duration of the present state of things, have given place to spirit and eternity in heaven.

The Millenarian, says the same learned writer, Mr. Greswell, expects the following events, and as far as he can infer theirconnexion, in the following order, though that is not, in every instance, a point of paramount importance, or absolute certainty, on which room for the possibility of a different succession of particulars may not be allowed to exist.

First, a personal reappearance of the prophet Elijah, before any second advent ofJesus Christ.

Secondly, a second advent ofJesus Christin person, before his coming to judgment at the end of the world.

Thirdly, a conversion of the Jews to Christianity, collectively, and as a nation.

Fourthly, a resurrection of part of the dead, such as is called, by way of distinction, “the resurrection of the just.”

Fifthly, the restitution of the kingdom to Israel, including the appearance and manifestation of the Messiah to the Jews, in the character of a temporal monarch.

Sixthly, a conformation of this kingdom to a state or condition of society of whichChristwill be the head, and faithful believers, both Jews and Gentiles, will be the members.

A distribution of rewards and dignities in it, proportioned to the respective merits or good deserts of the receivers.

A resulting state of things, which though transacted upon earth, and adapted to the nature and conditions of a human society as such, leaves nothing to be desired for its perfection and happiness.

Bishop Newton, in his “Dissertations on the Prophecies,” says, with reference to the millennium, when these great events shall come to pass, of which we collect from the prophecies, this is to be the proper order: the Protestant witnesses shall be greatly exalted, and the 1260 years of their prophesying in sackcloth, and of the tyranny of the beast, shall end together; the conversion and restoration of the Jews succeed; then follows the ruin of the Ottoman empire; and then the total destruction of Rome and of antichrist. When these great events, I say, shall come to pass, then shall the kingdom ofChristcommence, or the reign of the saints upon earth. So Daniel expressly informs us that the kingdom ofChristand the saints will be raised upon the ruins of the kingdom of antichrist (vii. 26, 27). “But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end; and the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.” So likewise St. John saith, that, upon the final destruction of the beast and the false prophet, (Rev. xx.,) “Satan is bound for a thousand years: and I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness ofJesus Christand for the word ofGod, which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands: and they lived and reigned withChrista thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.” It is, I conceive, to these great events, the fall of antichrist, the re-establishment of the Jews, and the beginning of the glorious millennium, that the three different dates in Daniel of 1260 years, 1290 years, and 1335 years, are to be referred. And as Daniel saith, (xii. 12,) “Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1335 years;” so St. John saith, (Rev. xx. 6,) “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.” Blessed and happy indeed will be this period: and it is very observable that the martyrs and confessors ofJesus, in Papist as well as Pagan times, will be raised to partake of this felicity. Then shall all those gracious promises in the Old Testament be fulfilled, of the amplitude and extent, of the peace and prosperity, of the glory and happiness of the Church in the latter days. “Then,” in the full sense of the words, (Rev. xi. 15,) “shall the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of ourLord, and of hisChrist, and he shall reign for ever and ever.” According to tradition, these thousand years of the reign ofChristand the saints will be the seventh millenary of the world; for asGodcreated the world in six days, and rested on the seventh, so the world, it is argued, will continue six thousand years, and the seventh thousand will be the great Sabbatism, or holy rest of the people ofGod; “One day (2 Pet. iii. 8) being with theLordas a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” According to tradition, too, these thousand years of the reign ofChristand the saints are the great “day of judgment,” in the morning or beginning whereof shall be the coming ofChristin flaming fire, and the particular judgment of antichrist and the first resurrection; and in the evening or conclusion whereof shall be the general resurrection of the dead, “small and great; and they shall be judged, every man, according to their works!”

MINIMS. A religious order, in theChurch of Rome, whose founder was St. Francis de Paulu, so called from the place in Calabria, where he was born in 1416.

He composed his rule in 1493, and it was approved by Pope Alexander VI., at the recommendation of the king of France. This pontiff changed the name ofHermits of St. Francis, which these monks bore, into that of Minims, (theLeast,) because they called themselves in humilityMinimi Fratres Eremitæ, and gave them all the privileges of the religious mendicant or begging friars. In 1507, the holy founder of this order died, at the age of ninety-one years, and was canonized by Pope Leo X., in 1519. His body was preserved in the church of the convent of Plessis, until the Huguenots, in 1562, dragged it out of its tomb, and burnt it with the wood of a crucifix belonging to the church. His bones, however, were saved out of the fire by some zealous Catholics who mixed with the Calvinist soldiers, and were distributed afterwards among several churches.

This order is divided into thirty-one provinces, of which twelve are in Italy, eleven in France and Flanders, seven in Spain, and one in Germany. It has, at present, about 450 convents. The Minims have passed even into the Indies, where there are some convents which do not compose provinces, but depend immediately on the general.

What more particularly distinguishes these monks from all others, is the observation of what they call thequadragesimal life, that is, a total abstinence from flesh, and everything which has its origin from flesh, as eggs, butter, cheese, excepting in case of great sickness. By this means they make the year one continued Lent fast. Their habit is coarse black woollen stuff, with a woollen girdle of the same colour, tied in five knots. They are not permitted to quit their habit and girdle night nor day. Formerly they went barefooted, but for these last hundred years they have been allowed the use of shoes.

MINOR CANONS. Priests in collegiate churches, next in rank to the canons and prebendaries, but not of the chapter, who are responsible for the performance of the daily service. In cathedrals of the old foundation, they are not often found, their duties being generally performed there by priest-vicars. There are minor canons at St. Patrick’s, Hereford, and Chichester, and formerly were at Salisbury; and at all those places there are priest-vicars also: twelve minor canons at St. Paul’s, and seven at Windsor, where there are only lay-vicars besides. It appears from the original statutes of St. Patrick’s and St. Paul’s, that the minor canons held a middle place between the canons and vicars; and that besides their attendance on the daily service, they were required to take the place of the major canons when required. At Hereford, they are responsible for the reading of the daily prayers, the vicars choral for the Litany and lessons; which seems to mark this office as being more presbyteral than that of the vicars.

As the number of minor canons is generally but four or five, (at St. Patrick’s statutably six, though there never have been more than four,) it would appear as if these offices were originally instituted to supply the place of the four junior canons, whose proper duty it was to perform the daily service of the choir. Thus, in theCauses Celebres, viii. 345, on remarking on the constitution of the cathedral of Verdun, it is stated that, “par le service de chœur, on entend l’obligation des quatre chanonies qui sont dans les ordres sacrés, de porter la chappe, et de faire chœur tous les jours de l’année à leur tour. Cette fonction pénible a déja été retranchée; elle a été exercée par des chapelains, gagés par les nouveaux chanonies,” &c.Chaplainand minor canon are convertible terms in many churches abroad, as at St. Peter’s at Rome, where there are fifty minor canons or chaplains. (Eustace’s Classical Tour.) At Rouen there were eightMoindees Chanonies. They were elsewhere called semi (or demi) prebendaries.

The minor canons of St. Paul and of St. Patrick form corporate bodies, and had their common hall and collegiate buildings in ancient times. There is also a college of vicars-choral at St. Patrick’s. At Hereford the minor canonries are held by priest-vicars; but they have separate estates, as minor canons, with designation, like prebendaries, for their individual stalls.

In the cathedrals of the new foundation there are no priest-vicars, but all the inferior clerical members are minor canons. They ought to be all priests, and skilled in church music, according to the statutes, a qualification required by the laws of all cathedrals. Formerly the minor canons were more numerous than now, being commensurate to the number of the prebendaries: e. g. twelve at Canterbury, twelve at Durham, ten at Worcester: a number by no means too great for the due and solemn performance of the service. They were in fact, but not in name, the vicars of the prebendaries.—Jebb.

MINISTER. This is the Latin term to designate that officer who is styled deacon in Greek. The term was applied generally to the clergy about the time of the great rebellion, since which time it has been used to denote the preacher of any religion. Joseph Mede protested against our calling presbyters ministers of the Church, or of such or such a parish: we should call them, he observes, ministers ofGod, or ministers ofChrist, not ministers of men, because they are onlyGod’sministers, who sends them, but the people’s pastors, to teach, instruct, and oversee them. Were it not absurd to call the shepherd the sheep’s minister? The word has, however, obtained such general currency, that it would be pedantic to refuse to use it. The word seems generally to imply an assistant, whether presbyteral or diaconal, in Divine service. Thus in the statutes of the cathedrals of the new foundation, the minor canons and other members of the choir are calledminister. These represent the deacons, readers, chanters, &c. of the ancient Church.

Some trace of the division of the service between the superior and inferior clergy, (the priest and the deacon,) is perhaps still visible in our liturgy. The wordministeris prefixed, in the order both for Morning and Evening Prayer, to those parts of the service only where there is exhortation, or in which the people audibly join, or which are said kneeling, such as the General Confession,Lord’sPrayer, Apostles’ Creed, and Lesser Litany.Ministeralso occurs in one of the rubrics respecting the reading of the lessons, which the custom of the Church, both Eastern and Western, has always permitted to the inferior ministers. The wordpriestis prefixed to the absolution, and to all those prayers which the clergyman performs standing; such as the versicles before the psalms, beginning at the Gloria Patri, and those before the collects. To the collects themselves no direction is prefixed. There are a few exceptions which may be accounted for.

MINORESS. A nun under the rule of St. Clair.

MIRACLE. An effect that does not follow from any of the regular laws of nature, or which is inconsistent with some law of it, or contrary to the settled constitution and course of things: accordingly, all miracles pre-suppose an established system of nature, within the limits of which they operate, and with the order of which they disagree.

The following statement is true beyond controversy:—Man cannot, in the present constitution of his mind, believe that religion has a Divine origin, unless it be accompanied with miracles. The necessary inference of the mind is, that if an Infinite Being act, his acts will be superhuman in their character; because the effect, reason dictates, will be characterized by the nature of its cause. Man has the same reason to expect thatGodwill perform acts above human power and knowledge, that he has to suppose the inferior orders of animals will, in their actions, sink below the power and wisdom which characterize human nature. For, as it is natural for man to perform acts superior to the power and knowledge of the animals beneath him, so reason affirms that it is natural forGodto develope his power by means and in ways above the skill and ability of mortals. Hence, ifGodmanifest himself at all—unless, in accommodation to the capacities of men, he should constrain his manifestations within the compass of human ability—every act ofGod’simmediate power would, to human capacity, be a miracle. But, ifGodwere to constrain all his acts within the limits of human means and agencies, it would be impossible for man to discriminate between the acts of theGodheadand the acts of the manhood. And man, if he considered acts to be of a Divine origin which were plainly within the compass of human ability, would violate his own reason.

Suppose, for illustration, thatGoddesired to reveal a religion to men, and wished them to recognise his character and his benevolence in giving that revelation. Suppose, further, thatGodshould give such a revelation, and that every appearance and every act connected with its introduction were characterized by nothing superior to human power; could any rational mind on earth believe that such a system of religion came fromGod? Impossible! A man could as easily be made to believe that his own child, who possessed his own lineaments, and his own nature, belonged to some other world, and some other order of the creation. It would not be possible forGodto convince men that a religion was from heaven, unless it was accompanied with the marks of Divine power.

Suppose, again, that some individual were to appear either in the heathen or Christian world—that he claimed to be a teacher sent fromGod, yet aspired to the performance of no miracles—that he assumed to do nothing superior to the wisdom and ability of other men. Such an individual, although he might succeed in gainingproselytes to some particular view of a religion already believed, yet he could never make men believe that he had a special commission fromGodto establish a new religion, for the simple reason that he had no grounds more than his fellows, to support his claims as an agent of the Almighty. But if he could convince a single individual that he had wrought a miracle, or that he had power to do so, that moment his claims would be established in that mind as a commissioned agent from Heaven. So certainly and so intuitively do the minds of men revere and expect miracles as the credentials of the Divine presence.

This demand of the mind for miracles, as testimony of the Divine presence and power, is intuitive with all men; and those very individuals who have doubted the existence or necessity of miracles, should they examine their own convictions on this subject, would see that, by an absolute necessity, if they desired to give the world a system of religion, whether truth or imposture, in order to make men receive it as of Divine authority, they must work miracles to attest its truth, or make men believe that they did so. Men can produce doubt of a revelation in no way until they have destroyed the evidence of its miracles; nor can faith be produced in the Divine origin of a religion until the evidence of miracles is supplied.

The conviction that miracles are the true attestation of immediate Divine agency, is so constitutional (allow the expression) with the reason, that so soon as men persuade themselves they are the special agents ofGodin propagating some particular truth in the world, they adopt likewise the belief that they have ability to work miracles. There have been many sincere enthusiasts, who believed that they were special agents of Heaven; and, in such cases, the conviction of their own miraculous powers arises as a necessary concomitant of the other opinion. Among such, in modern times, may be instanced Emanuel Swedenborg, and Irving, the Scotch preacher. Impostors also, perceiving that miracles were necessary in order that the human mind should receive a religion as Divine, have invariably claimed miraculous powers. Such instances recur constantly from the days of Elymas down to the Mormon, Joseph Smith.

All the multitude of false religions that have been believed since the world began, have been introduced by the power of this principle. Miracles believed, lie at the foundation of all religions which men have ever received as of Divine origin. No matter how degrading or repulsive to reason in other respects, the fact of its establishment and propagation grows out of the belief of men that miraculous agency lies at the bottom. This belief will give currency to any system, however absurd; and, without it, no system can be established in the minds of men, however high and holy may be its origin and its design.

Such, then, is the constitution which the Maker has given to the mind. Whether the conviction be an intuition or an induction of the reason,Godis the primary cause of its existence; and its existence puts it out of the power of man to receive a revelation fromGodhimself, unless accompanied with miraculous manifestations. If, therefore,Godever gave a revelation to man, it was necessarily accompanied with miracles, and with miracles of such a nature, as would clearly distinguish the Divine character and the Divine authority of the dispensation.—Plan of the Philosophy of Salvation.

MIRACLES, or MIRACLE-PLAYS. (SeeMoralities.)

MISCHNA, or MISNA. A part of the Jewish Talmud. From a word which signifiesrepetition: i. e. a secondary law. It is believed by the Jews to be the tradition delivered, unwritten, to Moses byGod; and preserved only by the doctors of the synagogue till the time of Rabbi Judas the Holy, who committed it to writing aboutA. D.180. It is in fact the canon and civil law of the Jews; treating of tithes, festivals, matrimonial laws, mercantile laws, idolatry, oaths, sacrifices, and purifications. The heads of the synagogue who are said to have preserved the Mischna, were thought to have had the privilege of hearing theBath-Col, or oracular voice of God. (SeeBath-Col.) The Mischna contains the text; and the Gemara, which is the second part of the Talmud, contains the commentaries; so that the Gemara is, as it were, a glossary to the Mischna.

MISERERE. The seat of a stall, so contrived as to turn up and down, according as it is wanted as a support in long standing, or as a seat. Misereres are almost always carved, and often very richly; more often, too, than any other part of the wood-work, with grotesques.

MISSAL. (SeeMass.) In the Romish Church, a book containing the services of the mass for the various days of the year. In the ancient Church, the several parts of Divine service were arranged in distinctbooks. Thus the collects and the invariable portion of the Communion Office formed the book called theSacramentary. The lessons from the Old and New Testaments constituted theLectionary, and the Gospels made another volume, with the title ofEvangelistarium. TheAntiphonaryconsisted of anthems, &c. designed for chanting.

About the eleventh or twelfth century it was found convenient, generally, to unite these books, and the volume obtained the name of the Complete or PlenaryMissal, or Book of Missæ. Of this description were almost all the liturgical books of the Western Churches, and the arrangement is still preserved in our own.—Palmer’s Origines Liturgicæ.

MISSION. A power or commission to preach the gospel. Thus our blessedLordgave his disciples and their successors the bishops their mission, when he said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

It certainly is essential that the true ministers ofGodshould be able to prove that they have not only the power, but the right, of performing sacred offices. There is an evident difference between these things, as may be seen by the following cases. If a regularly ordained priest should celebrate the eucharist in the church of another, contrary to the will of that person and of the bishop, he would have thepowerof consecrating the eucharist, it actually would be consecrated; but he would not have therightof consecrating; or, in other words, he would not havemissionfor that act. If a bishop should enter the diocese of another bishop, and, contrary to his will, ordain one of his deacons to the priesthood, the intruding bishop would have the power, but not the right, of ordaining; he would have no mission for such an act.

In fact, mission fails in all schismatical, heretical, and uncanonical acts, becauseGodcannot have given any man a right to act in opposition to those laws which he himself has enacted, or to those which the apostles and their successors have instituted, for the orderly and peaceable regulation of the Church: he “is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints” (1 Cor. xiv. 33); and yet, were he to commission his ministers to exercise their offices in whatever places and circumstances they pleased, confusion and division without end must be the inevitable result.

Mission can only be given for acts in accordance with the Divine and ecclesiastical laws, the latter of which derive their authority from the former; and it is conferred by valid ordination. It would be easy to prove this in several ways; but it is enough at present to say, that no other method can be pointed out by which mission is given. Should the ordination be valid, and yet uncanonical, mission does not take effect until the suspension imposed by the canons on the person ordained is in some lawful manner removed.

Mr. Palmer, from whom the above remarks are taken, shows, in hisOrigines Liturgicæ, that the English bishops and clergy alone have mission in England.

MISSIONARY. A clergyman, whether bishop, priest, or deacon, deputed or sent out by ecclesiastical authority, to preach the gospel, and exercise his other functions, in places where the Church has hitherto been unknown, or is in the infancy of its establishment.

MITRE. The episcopal coronet. From Eusebius it seems that St. John wore an ornament which many have considered to be a mitre (φέταλον).

The most ancient mitres were very low and simple, being not more than from three to six inches in elevation, and they thus continued till the end of the thirteenth century. In the fourteenth century they gradually increased in height to a foot or more, and became more superbly enriched; their contours also presented a degree of convexity by which they were distinguished from the older mitres. The two horns of the mitre are generally taken to be an allusion to the cloven tongues as of fire, which rested on each of the apostles on the day of Pentecost.

Mitres, although worn in some of the Lutheran Churches, (as in Sweden,) have fallen into utter desuetude in England, even at coronations. They were worn however at the coronations of Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth. See Hiereugia Anglicana, p. 81, et seq. In which work, however, at p. 89, there is an assertion of Dr. Milner’s, which is incorrect, viz. that they were worn at the coronation of George III. In the detailed accounts of that ceremony (see e. g. the Annual Register for 1761) the bishops are described as carrying their square caps, and putting them on when the lay peers assumed their coronets. The mitre is now merely an heraldic decoration, and, as such, occasionally carried at funerals.

MODUS DECIMANDI. This is when lands, or a yearly pension, or some money or other thing, is given to a parson in lieu of his tithes.

MONASTERIES. Convents or houses built for those who profess the monastic life, whether abbeys, priories, or nunneries. (For the origin of monasteries, seeAbbeyandMonk.)

In their first institution, and in their subsequent uses, there can be no doubt that monasteries were amongst the most remarkable instances of Christian munificence, and they certainly were in the dark ages among the beneficial adaptations of the talents of Christians to pious and charitable ends. They were schools of education and learning, where the children of the great received their education; and they were hospitals for the poor: they afforded also a retirement for the worn-out servants of the rich and noble; they protected the calmer spirits, who, in an age of universal warfare, shrunk from conflict, and desired to lead a contemplative life. But the evils which grew out of those societies seem quite to have counterbalanced the good. Being often exempted from the authority of the bishop, they became hotbeds of ecclesiastical insubordination; and were little else but parties of privileged sectaries within the Church. The temptations arising out of a state of celibacy, too often in the first instance enforced by improper means, and always bound upon the members of these societies by a religious vow, were the occasion of great scandal. And the enormous wealth with which some of them were endowed, brought with it a greater degree of pride, and ostentation, and luxury, than was becoming in Christians; and still more in those who had vowed a life of religion and asceticism.

The dissolution of houses of this kind began so early as the year 1312, when the Templars were suppressed; and, in 1323, their lands, churches, advowsons, and liberties, here in England, were given by 17 Edward II. stat. iii. to the prior and brethren of the hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. In the years 1390, 1437, 1441, 1459, 1497, 1505, 1508, and 1515, several other houses were dissolved, and their revenues settled on different colleges in Oxford and Cambridge. Soon after the last period, Cardinal Wolsey, by licence of the king and pope, obtained a dissolution of above thirty religious houses for the founding and endowing his colleges at Oxford and Ipswich. About the same time a bull was granted by the same pope to Cardinal Wolsey to suppress monasteries, where there were not above six monks, to the value of eight thousand ducats a year, for endowing Windsor and King’s College in Cambridge; and two other bulls were granted to Cardinals Wolsey and Campeius, where there were less than twelve monks, to annex them to the greater monasteries; and another bull to the same cardinals to inquire about abbeys to be suppressed in order to be made cathedrals. Although nothing appears to have been done in consequence of these bulls, the motive which induced Wolsey and many others to suppress these houses, was the desire of promoting learning; and Archbishop Cranmer engaged in such suppression with a view of carrying on the reformation. There were other causes that concurred to bring on their ruin: many of the monks were loose and vicious; they were generally thought to be in their hearts attached to the pope’s supremacy; their revenues were not employed according to the intent of the donors; many cheats in images, feigned miracles, and counterfeit relics, had been discovered, which brought the monks into disgrace; the Observant friars had opposed the king’s divorce from Queen Catharine; and these circumstances operated, in concurrence with the king’s want of a supply, and the people’s desire to save their money, to forward a motion in parliament, that, in order to support the king’s state, and supply his wants, all the religious houses which were not able to spend above £200 a year, might be conferred upon the Crown; and an act was passed for that purpose, 27 Henry VIII. c. 28. By this act about 380 houses were dissolved, and a revenue of £30,000 or £32,000 a year came to the Crown; besides about £200,000 in plate and jewels. The suppression of these houses occasioned discontent, and at length an open rebellion: when this was appeased, the king resolved to suppress the rest of the monasteries, and appointed a new visitation, which caused the greater abbeys to be surrendered apace; and it was enacted by 31 Henry VIII. c. 13, that all monasteries which had been surrendered since the 4th of February, in the twenty-seventh year of his Majesty’s reign, and which thereafter should be surrendered, should be vested in the king. The knights of St. John of Jerusalem were also suppressed by the 32nd Henry VIII. c. 24. The suppression of these greater houses by these two acts produced a revenue to the king of above £100,000 a year, besides a large sum in plate and jewels. The last act of dissolution in this king’s reign was the act of 37 Henry VIII. c. 4, for dissolving colleges, free chapels, chantries, &c., which act was further enforced by 1 Edward VI. c. 14. By this act were suppressed 90 colleges,110 hospitals, and 2374 chantries and free chapels.

Whatever were the offences of the race of men then inhabiting them, this destruction of the monasteries was nothing less than sacrilege, and can on no ground be justified. They were the property of the Church; and if, while the Church cast off divers errors in doctrine which she had too long endured, she had been permitted to purge these institutions of some practical errors, and of certain flagrant vices, they might have been exceedingly serviceable to the cause of religion. Cranmer felt this very forcibly, and begged earnestly of Henry VIII. that he would save some of the monasteries for holy and religious uses; but in vain. Ridley also was equally anxious for their preservation. It is a mistake to suppose that the monasteries were erected and endowed by Papists. Many of them were endowed before most of the errors of the Papists were thought of: and the founders of abbeys afterwards built and endowed them, not as Papists, but as churchmen; and when the Church became pure, she did not lose any portion of her right to such endowments as were always made in supposition of her purity. (See Num. xviii. 32; Lev. xxv. 23, 24; Ezek. xlviii. 14.)

Although much of the confiscated property was profligately squandered and consumed by the Russells, the Cavendishes, &c., still, out of the receipts, Henry VIII. founded six new bishoprics, viz. those of Westminster, (which was changed by Queen Elizabeth into a deanery, with twelve prebends and a school,) Peterborough, Chester, Gloucester, Bristol, and Oxford. And in eight other sees he founded deaneries and chapters, by converting the priors and monks into deans and prebendaries, viz. Canterbury, Winchester, Durham, Worcester, Rochester, Norwich, Ely, and Carlisle. He founded also the colleges of Christ Church in Oxford, and Trinity in Cambridge, and finished King’s College there. He likewise founded professorships of divinity, law, physic, and of the Hebrew and Greek tongues in both the said universities. He gave the house of Greyfriars and St. Bartholomew’s Hospital to the city of London, and a perpetual pension to the poor knights of Windsor, and laid out great sums in building and fortifying many ports in the Channel. It is observable that the dissolution of these houses was an act, not of the Church, but of the State, in the period preceding the Reformation, by a king and parliament of the Roman Catholic communion in all points except the king’s supremacy; to which the pope himself, by his bulls and licences, had led the way.

Of the monasteries which had been attached to cathedrals before the Reformation, the heads were called Priors, (which answered to dean,) never Abbots; as the bishop was considered as virtually the abbot. The bishop of Ely actually occupied, as he still does, the abbot’s place in the choir, (i. e. the stall usually assigned by the dean,) as he did since the Reformation at Carlisle, though in the latter place he had a throne also. Christ Church monastery in Dublin, which had always been a cathedral chapter, was also secularized at the Reformation.

MONASTERY. In architectural arrangement, monastic establishments, whether abbeys, priories, or other convents, followed nearly the same plan.

The great enclosure, (varying, of course, in extent with the wealth and importance of the monastery,) and generally with a stream running beside it, was surrounded by a wall, the principal entrance being through agatewayto the west or north-west. This gateway was a considerable building, and often contained a chapel, with its altar, besides the necessary accommodation for the porter. Thealmery, or place where alms were distributed, stood not far within the great gate, and generally a little to the right hand: there, too, was often a chapel with its altar. Proceeding onwards the west entrance of the church appeared. The church itself was always, where it received its due development, in the form of a Latin cross; a cross, i.e. of which the transepts are short in proportion to the nave. Moreover, in Norman churches, the eastern limb never approached the nave or western limb in length. Whether or no the reason of this preference of the Latin cross is found in the domestic arrangements of the monastic buildings, it was certainly best adapted to it; for the nave of the church with one of the transepts formed the whole of one side and part of another side of a quadrangle; and any other than a long nave would have involved a small quadrangle, while a long transept would leave too little of another side, or none at all, for other buildings. How the internal arrangements were affected by this adaptation of the nave to external requirements, we have seen under the headCathedral, to which also we refer for the general description of the conventual church.

Southward of the church, and parallel with the south transept, was carried the western range of the monastic offices; butit will be more convenient to examine their arrangement within the court. We enter then by a door near the west end of the church, and passing through a vaulted passage, find ourselves in thecloister court, of which the nave of the church forms the northern side, the transept part of the eastern side and other buildings, in the order to be presently described, complete the quadrangle. Thecloistersthemselves extended around the whole of the quadrangle, serving, among other purposes, as a covered way from every part of the convent to every other part. They were furnished, perhaps always, withlavatories, on the decoration and construction of which much cost was expended; and sometimes also with desks and closets of wainscot, which served the purpose of ascriptorium.

Commencing the circuit of the cloisters at the north-west corner, and turning southward, we have first thedormitory, ordorter, the use of which is sufficiently indicated by its name. This occupied the whole of the western side of the quadrangle, and had sometimes a groined passage beneath its whole length, called theambulatory, a noble example of which, in perfect preservation, remains at Fountains. The south side of the quadrangle contained therefectory, with its correlative, thecoquinaorkitchen, which was sometimes at its side, and sometimes behind it. The refectory was furnished with a pulpit, for the reading of some portion of Scripture during meals. On this side of the quadrangle may also be found, in general, thelocutorium, orparlour, the latter word being, at least in etymology, the full equivalent of the former. Theabbot’s lodgecommonly commenced at the south-east corner of the quadrangle; but, instead of conforming itself to its general direction, rather extended eastward, with its own chapel, hall, parlour, kitchen, and other offices, in a line parallel with the choir or eastern limb of the church. Turning northwards, still continuing within the cloisters, we come first to an open passage leading outwards, then to thechapter-house, or its vestibule; then, after another open passage, to the south transept of the church. Immediately before us is an entrance into the church, and another occurs at the end of the west cloister.

The parts of the establishment especially connected withsewerage, were built over or close to the stream; and we may remark that, both in drainage, and in the supply of water, great and laudable care was always taken.

The stream also turned theabbey mill, at a small distance from the monastery. Other offices, such asstables,brew-houses,bake-houses, and the like, in the larger establishments, usually occupied another court; and, in the smaller, were connected with the chief buildings in the only quadrangle. It is needless to say that, in so general an account, we cannot enumerate exceptional cases. It may, however, be necessary to say, that the greatest difference of all, that of placing the quadrangle at the north instead of the south side of the church, is not unknown; it is so at Canterbury and at Lincoln, for instance.

The subject may be followed out in the several plans of monasteries scattered among our topographical works, and in a paper read by Mr. Bloxam before the Bedfordshire Architectural Society, and published in their Report for 1850.

MONKS. The word monk, being derived from the Greekμόνος,solus, signifies the same as a solitary, or one who lives sequestered from the company and conversation of the rest of the world, and is usually applied to those who dedicate themselves wholly to the service of religion, in some monastery (as it is called) or religious house, and under the direction of some particular statutes, or rule. Those of the female sex who devote themselves in like manner to a religious life, are called nuns. (SeeNuns.)

There is some difference in the sentiments of learned men concerning the original and rise of the monastic life. But the most probable account of this matter seems to be as follows:

Till the year 250, there were no monks, but only ascetics, in the Church. (SeeAscetics.)

In the Decian persecution, which was about the middle of the third century, many persons in Egypt, to avoid the fury of the storm, fled to the neighbouring deserts and mountains, where they not only found a safe retreat, but also more time and liberty to exercise themselves in acts of piety and Divine contemplations; which sort of life became so agreeable to them, that when the persecution was over, they refused to return to their habitations again, choosing rather to continue in those cottages and cells which they had made for themselves in the wilderness.

The first and most noted of these solitaries were Paul and Anthony, two famous Egyptians, whom therefore St. Jerome calls the fathers of the Christian hermits. Some indeed carry up the original of the monastic life as high as John Baptist and Elias.But learned men generally reckon Paul the Thebæan, and Anthony, as the first promoters of this way of living among the Christians.

As yet there were no bodies or communities of men embracing this life, nor any monasteries built, but only a few single persons scattered here and there in the deserts of Egypt, till Pachomius, in the peaceable reign of Constantine, procured some monasteries to be built in Thebais in Egypt, from whence the custom of living in societies was followed by degrees in other parts of the world, and in succeeding ages.

Macarius peopled the Egyptian desert of Scetis with monks. Hilarion, a disciple of Anthony’s, was the first monk in Palestine or Syria. Not long after, Eustathius, bishop of Sebaste, brought monachism into Armenia, Paphlagonia, and Pontus. But St. Basil is generally considered as the great father and patriarch of the Eastern monks. It was he who reduced the monastic life to a fixed state of uniformity, who united the Anchorets and Cœnobites, and obliged them to engage themselves by solemn vows. It was St. Basil who prescribed rules for the government and direction of the monasteries, to which rules most of the disciples of Anthony, Pachomius, and Macarius, and the other ancient fathers of the deserts, submitted. And to this day, all the Greeks, Nestorians, Melchites, Georgians, Mingrelians, and Armenians, follow the rule of St. Basil.

The monastic profession made no less progress in the West. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, retiring to Rome, about the year 339, with several priests, and two Egyptian monks, made known to several pious persons the life of Anthony, who then lived in the desert of Thebais; upon which many were desirous to embrace so holy a profession. To this effect several monasteries were built at Rome, and this example was soon followed all over Italy. Benedict of Nursia appeared in that country in the early part of the sixth century, and published his rule, which was universally received throughout the West; for which reason that saint was styled the patriarch of the Western monks, as St. Basil was of the Eastern.

France owes the institution of the monastic life to St. Martin, bishop of Tours, in the fourth century; who built the monasteries of Lugugé and Marmontier. The Council of Saragossa, in Spain, anno 380, which condemns the practice of clergymen, who affected to wear the monastical habits, is a proof that there were monks in that kingdom in the fourth century, before St. Donatus went thither out of Africa, with seventy disciples, and founded the monastery of Sirbita.

Augustine, being sent into England by Gregory the Great, in the year 596, to preach the faith, at the same time introduced the monastic state into this kingdom. It made so great a progress here, that, within the space of 200 years, there were thirty kings and queens who preferred the religious habit to their crowns, and founded stately monasteries, where they ended their days in retirement and solitude.

The monastic profession was also carried into Ireland by St. Patrick, who is looked upon as the apostle of that kingdom, and multiplied there in so prodigious a manner, that it was called the Island of Saints.—Broughton.

The monastic life soon made a very great progress all over the Christian world. Rufinus, who travelled through the East in 373, assures us there were almost as many monks in the deserts, as inhabitants in the cities. From the wilderness (contrary to its original institution) it made its way into the towns and cities, where it multiplied greatly: for the same author informs us, that, in the single city of Oxirinca, there were more monasteries than private houses, and above 30,000 monks.

The ancient monks were not, like the modern, distinguished into orders, and denominated from the founders of them; but they had their names from the places where they inhabited, as the monks ofScetis,Tabennesus,Nitria,Canopusin Egypt, &c. or else were distinguished by their different ways of living. Of these the most remarkable were,

1. The anchorets, so called from their retiring from society, and living in private cells in the wilderness. (SeeAnchorets.)

2. The Cœnobites, so denominated from their living together in common. (SeeCœnobites.)

All monks were, originally, no more than laymen: nor could they well be otherwise, being confined by their own rules to some desert or wilderness where there could be no room for the exercise of the clerical functions. Accordingly St. Jerome tells us, the office of a monk is, not to teach, but to mourn. The Council of Chalcedon expressly distinguishes the monks from the clergy, and reckons them with the laymen. Gratian himself, who is most interested for the moderns, owns it to be plain from ecclesiastical history, that to the time of Pope Sircius and Zosimus, the monks were only mere monks, and not of the clergy.

In some cases, however, the clerical and monastic life were capable of being conjoined; as, first, when a monastery happened to be at so great a distance from its proper church, that the monks could not ordinarily resort thither for Divine service, which was the case of the monasteries in Egypt and other parts of the East. In this case, some one or more of the monks were ordained for the performance of divine offices among them. Another case, in which the clerical and monastic life were united, was, when monks were taken out of monasteries by the bishops, and ordained for the service of the Church. This was allowed, and encouraged, when once monasteries were become schools of learning and pious education. In this case they usually continued their ancient austerities; and upon this account the Greeks styled themἱερομοναχοι, clergy-monks. Thirdly, it happened sometimes that a bishop and all his clergy embraced the monastic life by a voluntary renunciation of property, and enjoyed all things in common. Eusebius Vercellensis was the first who brought in this way of living, and St. Augustine lived thus among the clergy of Hippo. And so far as this was an imitation of cœnobitic life, and having all things in common, it might be called a monastic as well as a clerical life.

The Cœnobites, or such monks as lived in communities, were chiefly regarded by the Church, and were therefore under the direction of certain laws and rules of government, of which we shall here give a short account. And,

First, All men were not allowed to turn monks at pleasure, because such an indiscriminate permission would have been detrimental both to the Church and State. Upon this account the civil law forbids any of those officers calledcurialesto become monks, unless they parted with their estates to others, who might serve their country in their stead. For the same reason servants were not to be admitted into any monastery without their masters’ leave. Indeed, Justinian afterwards abrogated this law by an edict of his own, which first set servants at liberty from their masters, under pretence of betaking themselves to a monastic life. The same precautions were observed in regard to married persons and children. The former were not to embrace the monastic life, unless with the mutual consent of both parties. This precaution was afterwards broke through by Justinian; but the Church never approved of this innovation. As to children, the Council of Gangra decreed that if any such, under pretence of religion, forsook their parents, they should be anathematized. But Justinian enervated the force of this law likewise, forbidding parents to hinder their children from becoming monks or clerks. And as children were not to turn monks without consent of their parents, so neither could parents oblige their children to embrace a monastic life against their own consent. But the fourth Council of Toledo,A. D.633, set aside this precaution, and decreed that, whether the devotion of their parents, or their own profession, made them monks, both should be equally binding, and there should be no permission to return to a secular life again, as was before allowable, when a parent offered a child before he was capable of giving his own consent.

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