the conscience hath lost *." In relation to conversational intercourse, there is another occasion for remarking the supernatural influence of this purity; for of that abject temper which fears to offend God by actions, and, as if in compensation, revels in the abuse of the unruly member, gloating on such images as show humanity in closest alliance with sordid creatures of the earth, we find no trace in these ages, when desire of beatitude necessarily produced a Platonic delicacy of expression. No one who dwelt within tidings of the school could ever fancy that, provided he abstained from works that have no relish of salvation in them, he might resemble Diogenes in speech. Peter Aldobrandini used to say, that a person who had contracted the cynic style, whatever might be the purity of his manners in other respects, did not deserve the name of man, as he must have lost all sense of the dignity of his nature. The sentence of the great apostle against evil words, and the comment of St. Bernard, who held the hearer guilty as the wretch who uttered them, quelled the tyrannous gust of those discoloured souls which loved the confines of impurity †. With respect to that development of the heart's renovation which consisted in a scrupulous adherence to the dictates of conscience, it is obvious that the history of the ages of faith would furnish an immense field for interesting and curious discourse. "A man ought rather to suffer death than consent to sin venially:"-this is what St. Thomas teaches t. And even profane history has continual occasion to tell of men who made their lives conform to this rule. In fact, wherever we read of one like Thomas Welles, abbot of Croyland in the reign of Henry III., vir venerabilis et eximiæ sanctitatis § (and where do we find a page in the annals of the middle ages without allusion to such men?) we may be assured that this was the solemn and inflexible principle of his life. Let us hear Louis of Blois, who in few words lays open the heart of Catholics in ages of faith: "Where is that Petr. Lombard. lib. Sent. Prolog. + Drexelius de Univers. Vitiis Linguæ, xxxiv. § Hist. Croyland, in Rer. Angl. Script. tom. i. fear of God which is to exist for ever-the perfect fear? Attend!-I am about to propose a question which I beg you will address to yourself: If God should come in the midst of us, and should enable us to hear his voice (and certainly he never ceases to do so in his Scriptures), and should say to each of us, 'You wish to commit sin: well, then, commit sin; do what you like; refuse yourself nothing; seize whatever pleases you; destroy whatever gives you offence; if you should be inclined to rob, rob -if to strike, strike-if to serve such or such an object, serve it; let no one resist you; let no one say to you, What are you doing? do not that; why have you done that? Let every thing that can flatter you, be yours; live in the midst of this abundance of every thing that can please you, not only for a time, but for ever;-only, you must never behold my face!?-my brethren, you shudder! -well, then, this shudder is that perfect fear of which I speak. It teaches me that it dwells in your heart, and it is that which shall endure for endless ages. Why would your hearts be seized with such fear if God should say, 'You shall never see my face; you shall abound in all earthly goods; you shall swim in delights; I do not force you to renounce them; you shall keep all that—what more do you wish?' This chaste and perfect fear would mourn no less, would shed no fewer tears, and it would cry out, Ah, Lord, take away from me all the rest, but suffer me to behold thy face! God of virtue,' would it cry with the Psalmist, convert us, and show us thy face, and we shall be saved * !"" The object we are now following might naturally lead us on the ground of penitential history, to speak of that desire to cancel sin of which we formerly gave instances. But, without retracing our steps, it will be sufficient for our present purpose to produce a few examples of that sensitiveness of conscience which arose from purity of heart, or from the strong desire of attaining to it. Now what do the records of the middle ages attest? We can judge from a few specimens respecting the produce that might be gathered from this deep abundant mine. Passages, then, of this kind occur. Brother Astorg, a monk of Mans Ada, of the Cistertian order, came humbly into presence of Pope Innocent III., saying, that while in the • Louis de Blois, Psychagog. lib. ii. cap. 6. the world, exercising the office of a physician, he gave medicine to a certain monk, but, being engaged in other affairs, he delayed returning to him. The other, after taking the medicine, neglected to use the care which he had enjoined, refrained not from things he had prohibited, and in consequence incurred death. Astorg, though by advice of his abbot raised to sacred orders, suffered from the reproach of his conscience, because, if he had practised more exact diligence towards the patient, perhaps he would not have died. The Pope, however, commanded him to minister under the divine fear in the orders which he had received, and only to be more diligent in his observance of the rule in consideration of what had occurred. Again, the same pontiff is consulted respecting a certain monk who, believing that he could cure a woman who had a tumour in the throat, by opening it with an instrument as a surgeon, performed that operation; and when the tumour had subsided, he prescribed to her not to expose herself to the wind in any manner; but the woman, neglecting his orders when the harvest was reaping, exposed herself incautiously to the wind, so that much blood came from the opening, and the woman died, acknowledging that it was by her own imprudence. The question now was, whether that monk, being a priest, could lawfully exercise the sacerdotal office. The Pope replied, that although he sinned in taking another's office upon himself, yet, if he did it through pity and not through cupidity, and if he was well skilled in the surgical art, and if he gave all his attention, he is not to be condemned for the woman's fault, so grievously that, after worthy satisfaction, he should not be received to mercy and permitted to celebrate. Otherwise all sacerdotal office is to be interdicted to him absolutely. Another consultation is to this effect: A certain scholar, fearing that robbers had entered the hospice where he lay, taking a little sword, rose from his bed, went to seek a light, and, at the door, found the thief, who began to struggle with him, threw him on the ground, and wounded him almost to death; the scholar, repelling force by force, wrested the sword from the robber and struck him again, but still with moderation; upon which the thief took flight, and escaped. At break of day his fellow-scholars * Epist. Inn. III. lib. xii. 60. sought the robber, and found him wounded; they then brought him before the potesta of Vicenza, to whom he denied having been the robber. The potesta sent his officers to the same scholar, to ask what he knew, who gave up the short weapon which he had taken from him, and also the shoes which he had taken off his feet lest he should make a noise, but said he knew nothing more. The potesta gave up the robber to suffer the penalty, who, after a cruel punishment, went to a convent and there died after three days. The scholar, moved with compunction and fear, desired to know whether he could be promoted to holy orders; and the Pope decided that there was no impediment *. Dithmar, the predecessor of St. Adalbert, in the see of Prague, in the tenth century, exhibited terrible remorse on his death-bed: 66 Alas!" said he, "how changed am I from what I once was, and from what I could wish to be! Wretch that I am, I have lost my days! With an allmerciful God my other offences might be pardonable; but when I consider the crimes of the people committed to my charge-a people whose only guide is their pleasure, whose only law is their own inclination,-when I consider all this, then, indeed, I bewail my apathy; and I must bewail it through eternity! And now I am doomed to take the downward path to a region where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." "Dithmar," says the modern historian who cites these words, "was a man of strict morals; he had the learning and gravity becoming his station; and his only fault, the only cause of his self-condemnation, was want of zeal +." Gerlac, a monk of Walchenrieth, explained his case in the following manner to Pope Innocent III. :-He said that when he used to celebrate mass he frequently, through negligence, pronounced the words of the canon in a disordered manner, on account of which he sometimes repeated twice those words and other things which the priest is bound to perform with the utmost care. Therefore, being moved with vehement grief, he cut off the end of one finger of his left hand. The Pope decided that he should abstain from celebrating mass, but that, after performing the penance enjoined, he might minister * Id. lib. xiv. 159. † Dunham, Hist. Ger. Emp. 11. in all other offices *. Pope Innocent writes to the Bishop of Nevers in these terms:-"There has come into our presence a priest of Naizin, of the Cistercian order, saying, that while he was in a secular habit, some servants asked him anxiously where was a certain man whom they were seeking; and he, not knowing for what purpose they sought him, told them the place, to which they instantly hastened, but found him not; though afterwards they found him elsewhere, and put him to death. He, being wounded in conscience, went and disclosed what he had done to the Archbishop of Bourges, who prohibited him from saying mass for a time. And now, having entered the Cistercian order, he asks mercy from us. Therefore, since he is to be commended for asking advice from us, quia bonarum mentium est ibi culpam agnoscere ubi culpa non est,' we write to your fraternity, desiring that you will inquire respecting this affair, and if it be so as he represents, that you grant him power to celebrate +." Of this delicacy of conscience we find repeated mention even in profane histories. Conrad von Schwarzenberg, a crusader in 1203, is thus described :-" So great was his integrity, that whenever he recollected having uttered what was not true, in jest or through accident, he used to ask pardon in secret ." But we need not proceed with such evidence. It is surely only a just conclusion that, when acts or omissions of this nature could so disturb the consciencewhen the offence they gave it was so great that men were induced to practise to the very letter the precept of Christ, and cut off a limb, the moral sense must have been keenly susceptible-the horror excited by conviction of sin profound, and the desire of innocence truly fervent and sincere. Moreover purity of heart was not regarded in the middle ages as a privilege reserved only for a few, but it was known to belong essentially to every individual amongst that perfect people whom the Precursor came to prepare, as the Church observes in her anthem for the eve of St. John. According to the remark of a great German writer, Epist. lib. ii. 194. † Id. lib. ii. 227. Gunther, c. xi. ap. Hurter Geschichte Inn. III. 1. |