verish a plentiful fortune; the scarcity of gold and silver was
supplied by the alienation of land; and the princely donations of Pepin
and Charlemagne are expressly given for the _remedy_ of their soul. It
is a maxim of the civil law, that whosoever cannot pay with his purse,
must pay with his body; and the practice of flagellation was adopted
by the monks, a cheap, though painful equivalent. By a fantastic
arithmetic, a year of penance was taxed at three thousand lashes; and
such was the skill and patience of a famous hermit, St. Dominic of the
iron Cuirass, that in six days he could discharge an entire century, by
a whipping of three hundred thousand stripes. His example was followed
by many penitents of both sexes; and, as a vicarious sacrifice was
accepted, a sturdy disciplinarian might expiate on his own back the
sins of his benefactors. These compensations of the purse and the
person introduced, in the eleventh century, a more honorable mode of
satisfaction. The merit of military service against the Saracens of
Africa and Spain had been allowed by the predecessors of Urban the
Second. In the council of Clermont, that pope proclaimed a _plenary
indulgence_ to those who should enlist under the banner of the cross;
the absolution of all their sins, and a full receipt for _all_ that
might be due of canonical penance. The cold philosophy of modern times
is incapable of feeling the impression that was made on a sinful and
fanatic world. At the voice of their pastor, the robber, the incendiary,
the homicide, arose by thousands to redeem their souls, by repeating
on the infidels the same deeds which they had exercised against their
Christian brethren; and the terms of atonement were eagerly embraced
by offenders of every rank and denomination. None were pure; none were
exempt from the guilt and penalty of sin; and those who were the least
amenable to the justice of God and the church were the best entitled
to the temporal and eternal recompense of their pious courage. If they
fell, the spirit of the Latin clergy did not hesitate to adorn their
tomb with the crown of martyrdom; and should they survive, they could
expect without impatience the delay and increase of their heavenly
reward. They offered their blood to the Son of God, who had laid down
his life for their salvation: they took up the cross, and entered with
confidence into the way of the Lord. His providence would watch over
their safety; perhaps his visible and m