, he becomes more merciful, (l. iii. p. 83, 84,) and
allows different degrees of glory, like the sun, moon, and stars. In
his lively comparison of a king and a monk, (l. iii. p. 116-121,) he
supposes (what is hardly fair) that the king will be more sparingly
rewarded, and more rigorously punished.]

[Footnote 26: Thomassin (Discipline de l'Eglise tom. i. p. 1426-1469)
and Mabillon, (Oeuvres Posthumes, tom. ii. p. 115-158.) The monks were
gradually adopted as a part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy.]

[Footnote 27: Dr. Middleton (vol. i. p. 110) liberally censures the
conduct and writings of Chrysostom, one of the most eloquent and
successful advocates for the monastic life.]

[Footnote 28: Jerom's devout ladies form a very considerable portion
of his works: the particular treatise, which he styles the Epitaph of
Paula, (tom. i. p. 169-192,) is an elaborate and extravagant panegyric.
The exordium is ridiculously turgid: "If all the members of my body were
changed into tongues, and if all my limbs resounded with a human voice,
yet should I be incapable," &c.]

[Footnote 29: Socrus Dei esse coepisti, (Jerom, tom. i. p. 140, ad
Eustochium.) Rufinus, (in Hieronym. Op. tom. iv. p. 223,) who was justly
scandalized, asks his adversary, from what Pagan poet he had stolen an
expression so impious and absurd.]

[Footnote 30: Nunc autem veniunt plerumque ad hanc professionem
servitutis Dei, et ex conditione servili, vel etiam liberati, vel
propter hoc a Dominis liberati sive liberandi; et ex vita rusticana et
ex opificum exercitatione, et plebeio labore. Augustin, de Oper. Monach.
c. 22, ap. Thomassin, Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. iii. p. 1094. The
Egyptian, who blamed Arsenius, owned that he led a more comfortable life
as a monk than as a shepherd. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p.
679.]

[Footnote 31: A Dominican friar, (Voyages du P. Labat, tom. i. p. 10,)
who lodged at Cadiz in a convent of his brethren, soon understood that
their repose was never interrupted by nocturnal devotion; "quoiqu'on ne
laisse pas de sonner pour l'edification du peuple."]

[Footnote 32: See a very sensible preface of Lucas Holstenius to the
Codex Regularum. The emperors attempted to support the obligation of
public and private duties; but the feeble dikes were swept away by
the torrent of superstition; and Justinian surpassed the most sanguine
wishes of the monks, (Thomassin, tom. i. p. 1782-1799, and Bingham,
l. vii. c. iii. p. 253.) Not