potent and imperative. As Rome grew stronger the outside bishops grew weaker, and Rome pronounced the decisions of the couucils not infallible until they had received the sanction of the pope.

ARROGANCE OF BISHOPS.

The effect of these councils has been to increase the pride, conceit, and self-importance of the bishops. Constantine, in the great Council of Nice, had pretended to a great degree of humility, and took a seat lower than the bishops, professing it was not for him to assume authority superior to theirs. This consideration which the emperor accorded to them they afterward claimed as their right, and no men in the world have been more conceited, supercilious, arrogant, and dictatorial. The son and successor of Constantine was denounced by bishops as a heretic, and was excluded from the councils on the ground that no layman, even though an emperor, had any right to be present at the discussions of bishops. Bishops afterward refused the sacrament to the Emperor Valerius, because they thought his theological belief was not quite in accordance with their standard. The Emperor Theodosius attempted to enter within the sacred inclosure of the church of Milan when Ambrose haughtily indicated by a gesture that the emperor must take a lower seat with the laity. The emperor had the grace to take the place assigned him, and after that even the deacons held themselves superior to their emperor in spiritual power. When messengers from the Arian Empress Justina and her son accused Ambrose of tyranny in not allowing the imperial family one church in Milan for their own mode of worship, he proudly replied: "In ancient times priests bestowed empire; they did not condescend to assume it. Kings have desired to be priests rather than priests to be kings."

When Athanasius returned from exile, the people of Alexandria waved incense before him as he passed through the streets. Chrysostom says when the bishop of Antioch came to Constantinople the multitude went out to meet him, and as many as could came and kissed his hands and feet. Jerome

says the populace sometimes sang hosannas to their bishop as they had done to Christ. Paul of Samosata was displeased when he entered a church if the audience did not receive him with applause, and the hosannas, introduced as an occasional salutation to the bishops, became a prominent part of the ceremonial of the church. Ambrose says that kings and princes did not disdain to bow their necks to the knees of the priests and kiss their hands, and it is recorded that this was the customary respect paid to himself.

The universal adulation and homage to bishops and priests, though grounded in religious reverence, was not unmingled with selfish policy and fear of their great authority in spiritual and temporal concerns. Of all the power lodged in their hands none was more dreaded than excommunication. In the early times a person guilty of misconduct was expelled from the church by vote of the community to which he belonged; but this power steadily passed from the people into the hands of bishops, and as years sped on the forms increased in severity. The Christians vied with the most cruel pagan nations, including the Druids, in the severity of their forms of excommunication. Athanasius excommunicated one of the priests in his bishopric, and gave orders that the poor man should have neither fire nor water. Synesius excommuni'cated a magistrate who grievously oppressed the people of Libya, and who could not be persuaded to alter his despotic course. At length Synesius expelled him from the church, and issued orders to all churches, on pain of being considered guilty of schism, not to allow him to partake of the sacrament, to hear prayers, to attend worship, or even to be buried. with any Christian ceremonies. Private citizens were required to exclude him from their tables and their houses, on pain of themselves being excluded from all religious privileges. His accomplices and their wives and children were also included in the sentence, though they had no participation in the crime.

In the primitive days of Christianity those who were guilty of misconduct confessed their wrong-doing before the full congregation and were publicly prayed for. But in the fifth century the bishop of Rome-the pope--substituted the cus

tom of private confession to the priests, which had the tendency to greatly increase their power, as they had the right to prescribe such penance as they pleased.

HERMITS AND MONKS.

An account of this impracticable, useless class of men in Hindostan, Thibet, and Egypt was given in the first volume of this work. It will not be forgotten that those recluses had their origin in paganism, and that their mode of life and their supposed purity were miserable conceptions which Christianity borrowed from the heathens. The Jews also had similar orders; including the Nazarites and Essenes. Egypt had her Gymnosophists and Therapeuts. The latter were an ancient sect in the time of Philo, who wrote about them; while Eusebius, it will be remembered, insisted that they were identical with Christians, and that the sacred writings were the gospels and epistles of the latter.

The most noted Christian hermits were Paul the Hermit, Anthony, Paul the, Simple, Helarion, Martin, and some others. These had numerous admirers among the superstitious devotees of the church, and it was believed of them that they were far more holy than other people, and that they performed astonishing miracles; all of which, however, shows how easy and willing people are to be gulled and imposed upon.

MONASTERIES.-Anchorites and recluses have abounded in nearly all the ancient religions of the world. We see that this was particularly the case in India, Thibet, and Egypt; and monasteries abounded there, and are still found in great numbers. There can be no doubt but what the habit of monastic life was borrowed by Christians from pagan relig ions. The copy of Christian monasticism was so near like the original as to leave no doubt upon that subject; besides, it does not appear that either Christ or his disciples ever instituted anything of the kind.

The first Christian monastery was erected on the island of Tabenna, in the Nile. Pachomius, the founder, an Egyptian monk, died in the year 348, and during his lifetime the monks

attached to it numbered three thousand.

The order increased so rapidly that in less than a hundred years there were fifty thousand of them. They of course had many good traits. Beggars and travelers invariably received gratuitous food and shelter by calling upon them, as was from time immemorial practiced by the Hindoo monasteries and the lamaseries of Thibet. The monks wore long linen tunics, fastened with a girdle, to which they added a sheepskin cloak in the winter. They usually went barefoot, but sometimes wore wooden sandals to protect them from extreme heat and cold. They lived on bread and water, to which on feast occasions was sometimes added the luxury of a little oil, or salt, an olive, or a fig. They ate in companies of tens, and in perfect silence. They were bound to obey their superiors without remonstrance or question. Each had his separate cell. Every morning, evening, and night the horn as with the Mohammedans, summoned them to prayer. On some occasions portions of scripture were read, but ordinarily no one spoke or sneezed, or sighed or yawned, or even looked up. They took a vow of poverty and lived faithfully up to it, as to all other vows and rules, which were exceedingly strict. The slightest deviation was punished by penance, incarceration, or scourging. A complete suppression of all natural desires and passions was required.

Sometimes their cells were so small that they were compelled to sit doubled up in a most uncomfortable manner. Some exposed themselves to the fury of storms and the heat of the sun, unsheltered in the open air. Some laid in deep caves where not a ray of light could penetrate; some in deep clefts of almost inaccesible rocks. Some in the retired chambers of silent tombs. Some in the dens of wild beasts, and some again in iron cages, with weights hung to their arms or feet. Some retired to districts where no rain fell, and where they could obtain no drink but the dew, which they lapped from the rocks. Some never cut their nails, hair, or beard. Some wore a very coarse garment unwashed until it dropped from them. Others wore only the crudest kind of garments made of barks and leaves. Sleep being a refreshment of the body they regarded as sinful and not to be indulged in. An hour of

unbroken sleep was regarded as sufficient for a night. They were awakened by each other at various hours of the night to engage in prayer and penance. Their food was berries, roots, and vegetables; their only drink water. They often fasted for days together. If by accident or otherwise they looked upon a woman they inflicted upon themselves severe punishment by way of penance for the crime.

Thus these ascetics, hermits, and monks imagined that by living such horrid, senseless, filthy, and wretched lives they were particularly pleasing a just and merciful God, who was made happy by his subjects making themselves most miserable.

NUNS.—In the same way that Christian monks were patterned after the monks of pagan religions, so were Christian. nuns a borrowed idea from the virgins of India, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. For thousands of years it has been believed by the devotees of various religions that their gods were most highly pleased with those who denied themselves the pleasures of life, especially those who totally abstained from sexual indulgences. As the vestal virgins of pagan Rome were believed to be holier, purer, and more angelic than other females, so were the virgins of Christian Rome regarded in the same manner. Nor were the latter any more strict than the former. The pagan gods seemed equally implacable in this respect to the Christian God. All seemed to regard it as sinful for mortals to indulge in natural desires and appetites.

The same Pachomius who established monasteries for men, likewise founded separate establishments for women, where sacred vows of celibacy were taken and lived up to. These latter were called nuns, from a Coptic word signifying mother. Women seem quite as emulous of this kind of sanctity as men. The Christian nuns of Egypt alone numbered thirty thousand in the time of St. Jerome. He introduced monasteries and nunneries into the Roman empire. The enthusiasm which he then stirred up in favor of that monastic and celibate life was indeed wonderful. His argument was, "As the Lord had angels to attend upon him in heaven, he ought also have angels devoted to him on earth." This proved very attractive to impressible young maidens, who each felt a great desire to