mit that, however abundant in other respects the age of which we are now speaking may

mina etiam nullo interrogante prodebant. Ille se Jovem, ille Mercurium fatebatur," &c. Dialogus iii. § 6.

"Post cœnam autem, jam inclinante vespera, invitat nos ad arborem palmam (eremita) cujus interdum pomis uti solebat; quæ fere duobus millibus aberat..... Ubi ad illam, ad quam nos humanitas nostri hospitis ducebat, arborem pervenimus, leonem ibi offendimus; quo viso, ego et ille dux meus intremuimus; sanctus vero ille incunctanter accessit; nos, licet trepidi, secuti sumus. Fera paululum (cerneres imperatam a Deo) modesta discessit et constitit dum ille adtigua ramis humilioribus poma decerperet. Cumque plenam palmulis manum obtulisset, accurrit bestia, accepitque tam libere quam nullum animal domesticum, et cum comedisset, abscessit. Nos hæc intuentes et adhuc trementes facile potuimus expendere quanta in illo fidei virtus, et quanta in nobis esset infirmitas."

"Alium æquè singularem virum vidimus, parvo tugurio, in quo non nisi unus recipi posset, habitantem. De hoc illud ferebatur, quod lupa ei solita erat adstare cœnanti; nec facile unquam bestia falleretur, quin illi ad legitimam horam refectionis occurreret, et tamdiu pro foribus expectaret, donec ille panem, qui cœnulæ superfuisset, offerret; illam manum ejus lambere solitam, atque ita, quasi impleto officio, et præstitâ consolatione discedere. Sed forte accidit, ut sanctus ille, dum fratrem qui ad eum venerat, deducit abeuntem, diutius abesset, et non nisi sub nocte

F

have been in works of true piety and in fervour of religious feeling, still that at all events

remearet. Interim bestia ad consuetudinarium illud cœnæ tempus occurrit. Vacuam cellulam, cum familiarem patronum abesse sentiret, ingressa, curiosius explorans ubi esset habitator, casu contigua cum panibus quinque palmicia sportella pendebat. Ex his unum præsumit et devorat ; deinde perpetrato scelere discedit. Regressus Eremita vidit sportulam dissolutam non constante panum numero. Damnum rei familiaris intelligit, ac prope limen panis absumpti fragmenta cognoscit. Sed non erat incerta suspicio, quæ furtum persona fecisset. Ergo cum sequentibus diebus secundum consuetudinem bestia non venisset, nimirum audacis facti conscia, ad eum venire dissimulans cui fecisset injuriam, ægre patiebatur Eremita se alumnæ solatio destitutum. Postremo illius oratione revocata, septimum post diem affuit, ut solebat ante, cœnanti. Sed ut facile cerneres verecundiam pœnitentis, non ausa propius accedere, dejectis in terram profundo pudore luminibus, quod palam licebat intelligi quandam veniam precabatur. Quam illius confusionem Eremita miseratus jubet eam propius accedere, ac manu blanda caput triste permulcet. Dein pane duplicato ream suam refecit. Ita indulgentiam consecuta, officii consuetudinem deposito moerore reparavit.... Tua hæc virtus, Christe; tua sunt hæc, Christe, miracula. Ne cui autem hoc incredibile forte videatur, majora memorabo. Fides Christi adest, me nihil fingere, neque incertis auctoribus vulgata narrare; sed

strong judgment and calm good sense were not to be numbered among its excellences.

....

quæ mihi per fideles viros comperta sunt, explicabo. Habitant plerique in eremo sine ullis tabernaculis, quos anachoretas vocant Ad quendam hoc ritu atque hac lege viventem, duo ex Nitriâ monachi....auditis ejus virtutibus tetenderunt: quem diu multumque quæsitum tandem mense septimo repererunt extremo illo deserto, quod est Memphis contiguum demorantem: quas ille solitudines jam per annos duodecim dicebatur habitare. Qui, licet omnium hominum vitaret occursus, tamen agnitos non refugit, seque carissimis per triduum non negavit. Quarto die aliquantulum progressus, cum prosequeretur abeuntes, leænam miræ magnitudinis ad se venire conspiciunt. Bestia, licet tribus repertis, non incerta quem peteret anachoretæ pedibus advolvitur, et cum flexu quodam et lamentatione procumbens indicabat gementis pariter et rogantis affectum. Movit omnes, et præcipue illum, qui se intellexerat appetitum. Præcedentem sequuntur. Nam præiens et subinde restans, subinde respectans, facile poterat intelligi, id eam velle, ut, quo illa ducebat, anachoreta sequeretur. Quid multis? Ad speluncam bestiæ pervenitur, ubi illa adultos jam quinque catulos male fœta nutriebat; qui, ut clausis luminibus ex alvo matris exierant, cæcitate perpetua tenebantur. Quos singulos de rupe prolatos, ante anachoretæ pedes, mater exposuit. Tum demum sanctus animadvertit quid bestia postularet; invocatoque Dei nomine, contrectavit manu lumina clausa

And yet let it be remembered, that through this very period, and through periods even still darker than this, must the oral traditions of the church have descended, and have descended unimpaired, if they are to be accepted by us at the present day as sound portions of the primitive teaching of the Apostles. Surely we might as reasonably expect that the Jordan, could it recover its original and obliterated channel, would re-appear from the saltness of the Dead Sea as fresh and pure as when it first entered it, as that mere verbal communications on some of the most mysterious problems, that can possibly occupy the thoughts of man, should have passed on from individual to individual for the space of eighteen centuries, unadulterated by the false. theories with which they would necessarily come into collision, the exaggerations of mis

catulorum; ac statim cæcitate depulsa, apertis oculis bestiarum diu negata lux patuit.... Mira dicturus sum leænam post quinque dies ad auctorem tanti beneficii revertisse eidemque inusitata feræ pellem pro munere detulisse." De Virtutibus Monachorum, Dial. i. cap. 7, 8, 9.

taken piety, the dreams of superstition, or the mistakes of ignorance.

And yet such is the rival which we are earnestly called upon at this moment, and by influential members of our own church, to set up as of equal and concurrent authority with holy writ! Most of my readers are probably well acquainted with the efforts which have been made for some time past in this University, by means of periodical publications, and on more than one marked occasion, by exhortations from the pulpit, to establish the opinions which I am now deprecating. With regard to the authors of these publications and discourses, I wish to speak of them, so far as I am acquainted with them personally or by common report, with all the respect that they justly deserve, for their admitted learning, their talents, and the purity and holiness of their lives. But I cannot, nor do I wish to conceal my opinion, that the doctrines which they advocate, should they become popular, would in other hands be essentially injurious to the cause of pure Protestantism, and with