superstition, where humility is but the veil to adorn pharisaical display,-where everything is done in order to be seen of men,-where the fundamental notions of Christian piety are so utterly perverted and reversed, that a Saint is one whose inward imaginations and habitual propensities would be intolerable, even to a well-regulated heathen.

Though Wilfrid, however, had "no glittering equipage" just then, his austerities gradually brought him both power and riches, and the author tells us how jealous Queen Ermenburga was—

when she saw how the good bishop was courted by high and low, how the nobles sought to him for counsel, how a court of abbots did obeisance to him, how the sons of princes and peers stood round him proud to serve in such a service.-Ibid. p. 75...

All which, I should have thought, was not very desirable to a truly mortified mind. But, be this as it may, it is certain that the writers of these Lives do constantly speak of admiration, and homage, and popularity, as the fruit and reward of asceticism, in such a manner as to demonstrate what is the real spirit of their moral and religious system, however unconscious they may be of it themselves. Observe how this writer speaks, and how clearly he confesses that mortifications and self-inflictions are a source of power to the ascetic.

"Look at his riches," said she [Ermenburga] "look at his retainers of high birth, his gorgeous vestments, his jewelled plate, his multitude of obedient monasteries, the

towers and spires and swelling roofs of all his stately buildings; why, your kingdom is but his bishopric.— pp. 75, 76.

Which might be supposed, from the former description of his walking and riding, to be a slander on Wilfrid. The author does not treat it as such.

He says,―

Ermenburga was like the world: to the world's eye this was what a churchman looked like in catholic ages: yet the world's eye sees untruly. The gorgeous vestments, the jewelled plate-these are in the church of God, the sanctuary of the pious poor: outside [sic] of that is the hair shirt, and then the iron girdles, and the secret (?) spikes corroding the flesh, and the long weals of the heavy dişcipline, and the horny knees, and the craving thirst, and the gnawing hunger, and the stone pillow, and the cold vigil. Yet does the world exaggerate the churchman's power? Nay, it cannot take half its altitude; his power is immeasurably greater: but it does not reside, not a whit of it, in the vestments or the plate, in the lordly ministers or the monkish chivalry, but in the mystery of all that apparel of mortification just enumerated, that broken will and poverty of spirit to which earth is given as a present possession, no less than Heaven pledged as a future heritage. The church is a kingdom, and ascetics are veritable kings. p. 76.

No words can more clearly express the pharisaical nature of the system Mr. Newman is endeavouring to propagate. The ascetic is powerful and popular: -so powerful and popular-that princes become jealous and alarmed. Do they overrate his power or popularity? They do not. They only mistake its source. The real secret of his power and in

VOL. I.

I

It is

fluence is his austerities; and the mode by which he uses them to obtain power is, by letting them be seen-concealing them just enough to invest himself with mystery-to excite interest, and awaken curiosity; and now and then letting the secret escape so as to secure that power and popularity which, in his estimation, is the heritage a pure and holy God has promised to the poor in spirit. This is plainly the meaning of the passage. capable of no other. For, if these Christian fakeers did not take care to let the world know of the hair shirt, and the iron girdles, and the secret spikes corroding the flesh, and the long weals of the heavy discipline, and the horny knees, and the craving thirst, and the gnawing hunger, and the stone pillow, and the cold vigil, how could their power reside" in the mystery of all that apparel of mortification?"how could such arts of pious suicide give them any power or influence at all?

One's heart dies within one, at such a disgusting picture of selfish worldliness making religion the tool to advance its ambitious designs. Is it possible to imagine the love of the world to exist in more consuming intensity, than in the bosom of that man, who can subject himself to such tortures as these, merely that his fellow-sinners may do obeisance to him, and bow down before his power? And yet these are the men who talk of high and holy catholicity! These are the men who sneer at

the "high and dry," and scoff at the antiquated piety of the church of England! Surely it is the divine mercy that has permitted them to go to such lengths of fanaticism, in order that their folly should be manifest to all men.

I do not mean by this, that I believe persons who do such things must be guilty of a deliberate attempt to impose on mankind. Self-deception, I have no doubt, is far more prevalent than hypocrisy. And he who habitually imposes on himself has his notions of truth and falsehood confused, and,without being very distinctly conscious of what he is about,—does a thousand things which, if practised by a man of another temper, could be attributed to nothing short of dishonesty and fraud. Some men have such a propensity for effect, that they are acting even when alone.

CHAPTER XVIII.

PHARISAICAL AUSTERITIES-ST. GERMAN.

In reading these lives, it will, I hope, be remembered, that it is rather the author's notion of what a Saint should be which they convey, than an exact account of what he really was. The pretensions of these books to be regarded as anything better than fables would need a separate consideration. But my reason for making the observation at present is, to remind my reader, that it is quite possible the persons depicted were not guilty of such practices of pharisaical display, as these authors lead one to suppose. However, it is not just now a question of real moment what sort of persons they were, or, in fact, whether they ever existed at all. The question is, what are the notions of sanctity and Christian morality which Mr. Newman and his party are, through these popular fictions, endeavouring to propagate? Let any one of common understanding read the following picture of St. German's austerities, and ask himself, how it is possible for any human being to regulate his life in such a manner, and honestly covet concealment. I say, honestly,—for whether his purpose, in endeavouring to attract attention to his mortifications, be a bad and selfish one, or not,a purpose of one kind or other he must have. must intend to make an impression of some sort.

He