t the Book of Life--of a
minister of God without the fountain of truth--that however favorably we
may be prone to regard them, a thought will arise that the absence of
this sacred book may perhaps be referred to the indolence of the monkish
pen, or to the laxity of priestly piety. But such I am glad to say was
not often the case; the Bible it is true was an expensive book, but can
scarcely be regarded as a rare one; the monastery was indeed poor that
had it not, and when once obtained the monks took care to speedily
transcribe it. Sometimes they only possessed detached portions, but when
this was the case they generally borrowed of some neighboring and more
fortunate monastery, the missing parts to transcribe, and so complete
their own copies. But all this did not make the Bible less loved among
them, or less anxiously and ardently studied, they devoted their days,
and the long hours of the night, to the perusal of those pages of
inspired truth,[55] and it is a calumny without a shadow of foundation to
declare that the monks were careless of scripture reading; it is true
they did not apply that vigor of thought, and unrestrained reflection
upon it which mark the labors of the more modern student, nor did they
often venture to interpret the hidden meaning of the holy mysteries by
the powers of their own mind, but were guided in this important matter by
the works of the fathers. But hence arose a circumstance which gave full
exercise to their mental powers and compelled the monk in spite of his
timidity to think a little for himself. Unfortunately the fathers,
venerable and venerated as they were, after all were but men, with many
of the frailties and all the fallabilities of poor human nature; the pope
might canonize them, and the priesthood bow submissively to their
spiritual guidance, still they remained for all that but mortals of dust
and clay, and their bulky tomes yet retain the swarthiness of the tomb
about them, the withering impress of humanity. Such being the case we,
who do not regard them quite so infallible, feel no surprise at a
circumstance which sorely perplexed the monks of old, they unchained and
unclasped their cumbrous "Works of the Fathers," and pored over those
massy expositions with increasing wonder; surrounded by these holy
guides, these fathers of infallibility, they were like strangers in a
foreign land, did they follow this holy saint they seemed about to
forsake the spiritual direction of one h