MISCELLANEOUS. [The Editor is not to be held responsible for the opinions expressed in this department of the Remembrancer.] ON THE CHARACTER OF ST. MARTIN, BISHOP OF TOURS, IN REFERENCE TO THE EIGHTH CHAPTER OF MR. PALMER'S "COMPENDIOUS ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY." "Cautè lege" is one of the marginal notes which the Benedictine editors frequently annex to passages, even of their most admired authors, and it is to be hoped that Mr. Palmer will not be offended by the application of these monitory words to his very interesting "Compendious Ecclesiastical History." His love of christian antiquity has led him into some incautious statements, especially where the character and example of those who figure in the Romish Calendar are concerned. In the 8th chapter of this work, (entitled " Fruits of Faith, exemplified in the Saints and Martyrs, A.D. 320-680,") St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, has a very conspicuous place assigned to him among "many of the most truly pious and holy men, whom these ages produced." (p. 53.) We would ask Mr. Palmer, what constitutes holiness and piety? and what are the "fruits of faith?" and we are sure that he would answer,-"Goodness-Righteousness-Truth." (Eph. v. 9.) He would also allow, that a want of truth, that "vain-glorying," "fraud," " deceitfulness," "cunning craftiness," and "lying," derogate from holiness and piety. Of these Martin was guilty-either wilfully, as an impostor: or blindly, as a man under "a strong delusion that he should believe a lie." (2 Thess. ii. 11.) In either case, Martin was no more fit to be held up as an example to those, who are invited to contemplate the "Fruits of Faith," than Johanna Southcote, or Swedenburg. "St. Martin is said to have been enabled to work miracles for the conversion of the heathen." So writes Mr. Palmer (p. 63), having previously observed, "We learn from Christian writers, that miracles were occasionally performed in the second and third centuries for the conversion of the heathen, or to confirm the faith of Christians. St. John Chrysostom says, that in his time (the end of the fourth century) they had ceased. It seems by no means improbable, however, that God may have permitted some signs to have been wrought in later ages for the conversion of unbelievers." (P. 26.) We approach the subject of miracles with too much reverence to limit them to time or place, but we must judge of the credibility of an alleged miracle by the occasion, the evidence, and the character of it. Chrysostom testifies, that miracles had ceased in his time-therefore to say the least, they must have been rare and infrequent. Martin, however, a contemporary of Chrysostom, pretended to work miracles, not 'occasionally," but very often; and it was not only that he performed some signs," (by which term, I suppose Mr. Palmer means some few signs,) but very many signs, of the most improbable description, have said to have been wrought by him. They were so many as to be compared with those of the apostles,* and to constitute the principal subject of no less than twelve treatises, composed just before, or just after his death. 66 Sozimus, 1. 3. c. 14, cited by Tillemont, vol. x. p. 13. Sulpicii Severi de Vita B. Martini Liber 1. Sulpicii Severi Epistola ad Eusebium Presbyterum contra Epist. 1. Sulp. Sev. ad Aurelium Diaconum, de Obitu et Apparitione Epist. 1. Epist. 1. Dialogi 2. Sulpicii Severi ad Bassulam. Quomodo B. Martinus ex hac [A Roman Council, under Gelasius I., pronounced these Paulini Nolani Episc. de Vita S. Martini. Libri 6.* Now there is sufficient evidence in the accounts of Martin, written by his contemporaries, to show, that he was an unlearned man, and unable to preach and persuade the heathen by argument into an acceptance of the gospel.-In charity, therefore, it may be presumed, that an overheated imagination, rather than depravity, and a vehement "zeal, not according unto knowledge," led him to have recourse to a false method of persuasion, and to magnify himself and his office by the practice of austerities, calculated to excite the wonder of the ignorant: and by an account of visions and signs and wonders, which, from their very extravagance, must come under the apostolical denunciation. (1 Tim. iv. 1.) When Martin was elected Bishop of Tours, there were prelates who objected to his consecration; and no doubt they had good reasons enough for opposing the elevation of such a man to the episcopate, if it were only upon the grounds which Sulpicius states, viz. his repulsive appearance, rendered, in their eyes, contemptible by the sordidness of his dress, and the uncleanliness of his person.† Any affectation is contemptible, and none more so than the affectation of rags and dirt. But Mr. Palmer observes thus upon the affair, almost in the words of Sulpicius, "After his consecration he still retained the same habits of life, the same humility of heart, and the same poverty of attire, which had always distinguished him: but to this was united all the authority and gravity of a bishop." (P. 62.) Compare Sulp. de Vita Mart. c. 6. Almost all we know of Martin is derived from the writings of Sulpicius Severus, and Paulinus of Nola; and although it soon became the fashion to exalt him to the highest rank of sanctity, yet bishops and clergy, who were living in his neighbourhood, expressed their dissatisfaction at the undue merit assigned to him, and signified their unbelief of the miracles said to have been performed by him. This his biographer affirms was done out of envy. But in fact Martin was either an impostor, or a fanatic of doubtful sanity, whose pretended miracles would disgrace the most barbarous age of ignorance and credulity. For the most part miracles, imputed to men of unusual reputation for holiness, have had their origin in the blind admiration, and love of the marvellous, entertained by those who lived after them, and it required some fulness * Doubts are entertained as to the authorship of this metrical Life of Martin. "Pauci tamen, et nonnulli ex episcopis, qui ad constituendum Antistitem fuerant evocati, impie repugnabant, dicentes, scilicet contemptibilem esse personam, indigesse Episcopatu, hominem vultu despicabilem, veste sordidum, crine deformem."-Sulpicius Severus de Vita B. Martini, cap. 6. num c. 26. Sulp. Sev. ad Eusebium contra æmulos Virt. Martini. Ibid. de Vita Martini, Atque, O nefas dolendum et ingemiscendum! non alii fuere insectatores ejus, licet pauci admodum, non alii tamen quam episcopi ferebantur.” of time to ripen belief in their miraculous performances. Half the saints, to whom miraculous power is imputed, never claimed such privileges for themselves. But Martin assumed to himself the character of a favoured servant of God, and proclaimed, that the order of Nature had been suspended in his behalf. "Mihi ipse referebat," "vel plerumque ipso referente," is the language of his biographer. (Sulp. Sev. Epist. ad Euseb. Presb. and Dial. de Virtut. et Mirac. Martini, 2.) Nothing more incredible, more ridiculous, or more blasphemous, was ever recorded, than the stories which Martin related of his own achievements, or of things which happened to himself. His confidential communications to Sulpicius and to others of his followers, must have been either the inventions of a daring fabulist, or the hallucinations of a disordered imagination, and in either case they disqualify him to be held up as a christian exemplar. If they were hallucinations, they proceeded from erroneous views of religious duty: they were the result of a wrong estimate of what the gospel demands of us, and of stimulants to piety which weaken body and mind; and consequently Martin did not exemplify "Fruits of Faith," but of superstition. The good and the bad were so much mixed up in him, that it requires the nicest delineation of character to make any use of his name, in a mere sketch of christian biography. Many eminent men whom the Church reverences have had their moments of aberration; but Martin's whole career displayed instances of a perverted mind. Even in ordinary matters his judgment was questionable, as when he asserted that the Emperor Nero would reappear with Antichrist as the scourge of the world. But what shall we say of such tales as the following, selected out of dozens of marvellous adventures of the same kind. Martin had some suspicion of a shrine in the neighbourhood of his monastery, where the ashes of a martyr were said to repose and to sanctify the place. He repaired thither, and prayed that God would enable him to ascertain whether a saint had been buried there or not. Behold, as he prayed, an apparition stood by his side, with a disgusting and truculent countenance, and told him that he was the ghost of the robber, who had been executed, and whose bones lay under the altar, and were revered as the relics of a saint.* An angel came and plastered the wounds of Martin, after an accident that had befallen him.† Two angels, armed with spears and shields, appeared to him, and told him that they were sent by God to fight with him against certain heathen adversaries.+ The devil often tempted him under the figure of Jupiter, or Mercury, or Venus, or Minerva, but was soon put to flight with the sign of the "Tum conversus ad lævam vidit prope assistere umbram sordidam, trucem : imperat nomen meritumque ut loqueretur: nomen edicit, de crimine confitetur, latronem se fuisse, ob scelera percussum, vulgi errore celebratum," &c.—Sulpicius Sev. de Vita Martini, c. 8. Upon such contemptible fabrications as this relic-worship rested. "Angelus visus est eluere vulnera, et salubri unguine contusi corporis membra contingere."-Ibid. c. 22. "Tum subito ei duo angeli hastati atque scutati instar militiæ cælestis se obtulerunt, dicentes missos se a Domino."-Ibid. c. 12. * cross, and a prayer. But on one occasion, a form stood before him in the midst of a halo of soft and purple light. He was arrayed in royal vestments; a diadem of gold and jewels was upon his head : golden sandals bound his feet: his countenance was benign and serene, and nothing could be more unlike to Satan than that resplendent presence. "It is Christ, whom thou dost behold," said the vision: "I am come to manifest myself to thee." Martin was silent. "Martin, wherefore dost thou doubt? I am Christ." "The Lord hath not foretold," replied Martin, "that he will come clothed in purple and crowned with gold. I will not believe in the presence of Christ, unless he appear as the crucified, and exhibit the marks which he received on the cross. Immediately the apparition vanished, and left such a stench behind him, that it was quite evident he was the devil. This relation Sulpicius declares he received from Martin's own mouth, "ex ipsius Martini ore cognovi." Indeed, according to his own account, it was no uncommon thing for Martin to hold conversation with the spirits of light, as well as of darkness. One day Sulpicius and Postumianus were keeping their vigils on the outside of Martin's cell, the door of which was closed: suddenly they heard a talking within, which had such an awful effect upon them as made them tremble. This went on for two hours, when the saint came out, and Sulpicius entreated him to tell them with whom he had been conversing. After much importunity the saint said, "I will tell you, but I beseech you not to repeat it. Agnes and Tecla, and Mary were with me;" and then he described the dress and appearance of the beatified visitants, and declared that it was not the first time that they had visited him, and he confessed also that the apostles, Peter and Paul, were often seen by him.§ "Christ is my witness," said Sulpicius, the narrator, "that I lie not; and who is so sacrilegious as to suppose that St. Martin would tell a falsehood?"|| Well might the wise and the good of that day protest, as they did, against the fables with which Sulpicius, in his blind confidence in the veracity of Martin, degraded the annals of the Christian Church. Martin's example of " deceiving others was soon followed by his disciples, and one, whom he pretended to raise from the dead, and who was the first from whom Sulpicius learnt to venerate the saint, gave this revolting account of his own death and resuscitation. "He used to tell us," said Sulpicius, "that his spirit was conducted before the tribunal of the Judge, and was about to receive his sad sentence, when “Nam interdum in Jovis personam, plerumque Mercurii, persæpe etiam se Veneris ac Minervæ transfiguratum vultibus offerabat : adversus quem semper interritus, signo se crucis et orationis auxilio protegebat."-Sulp. Sev. de Vita Martini, c. 24. "Ad hanc ille vocem statim ut fumus evanuit, et cellulam tanto fætore complevit, ut indubia indicia relinqueret diabolum se fuisse. Hoc ita gestum, ut supra retulimus, ex ipsius Martini ore, cognovi, ne quis forte existimet fabulosum.”— Ibid. c. 25. ↑ "Constat autem etiam angelos ab eo plerumque visos, ita ut conserto invicem apud eum sermone loquerentur."-Ibid. c. 24. §"Nec vero illo tantum die, sed frequenter se ab eis confessus est visitari: Petrum etiam et Paullum Apostolos videri a se sæpius, non negavit."-Sulp. Sev. Dial. 2. de Virt. et Mir. B. Martini, c. 14. "Incredibiliora forte dicturus sum, sed Christo teste non mentior; nisi quisquam est tam sacrilegus, ut Martinum æstimet fuisse mentitum."-Ibid. c. 14. two angels suggested to the Judge, that this was the soul for whom Martin would pray: whereupon he was ordered to be taken back by those two angels, and to be restored to Martin and to life."* It is to be deeply regretted that the subject of such monstrous fables should figure in the pages of Mr. Palmer, and in a chapter exemplifying the "Fruits of Faith," without some expressions to caution the reader against his pretensions to miraculous power. Martin may have been a devotee of the first order; he may have been charitable, forgiving, and kindhearted; but we cannot recognise the true "self-denying spirit," or "humility of heart," in a man who built his reputation of sanctity on "pious frauds" of this kind; nor can we "feel sympathy" for that species of "holy zeal," which the christian ascetic exhibits, in common with the Hindoo faquir, by frightful austerities and macerations, and other acts of personal infliction. We trust Mr. Palmer may be persuaded to reconsider his mode of treating these subjects, and that he will not continue to write in a manner, from which he may be thought to lend his respected name and powerful pen to the revival of a system injurious to the true interests of Christianity. I remain, Sir, &c. W. S. GILLY. ON RESERVE IN PREACHING THE DOCTRINE OF THE ATONEMENT. SIR, It is now some years since the learned and able author of the history of the Arians startled his readers by expressing his approbation of the supposed practice of the Church of the third and fourth centuries in concealing from young converts the mysterious doctrines of the Trinity, Atonement, &c. and revealing them, only after a long probation, to those, who had shown themselves worthy of such knowledge by patient continuance in well-doing. It was, however, but the opinion of an individual upon past events, not distinctly involving any practical consequences and most were satisfied, perhaps, by thinking that the author's favourite Alexandrian Church, in their well-meant attempts to recommend Christianity by rounding off the salient angles which kept it and heathen philosophy at too great a distance, had been led imperceptibly to assimilate the two systems, and to adopt a division of doctrine into exoteric and esoteric, which was unknown to the simpler days of the apostolic Church. But when a similar opinion is held practically, and it is recommended to the clergy to observe a cautious reserve in communicating some of the most momentous articles of our faith, the question demands fuller and more serious consideration. Without, then, treating the subject controversially, I would venture to throw out a few remarks, in the hope that it may induce some of your correspondents to investigate, more fully, an opinion which is of so great importance both to ministers and their people. "Idem tamen referre erat solitus, se corpore exutum ad tribunal judicis ductum, deputatumque obscuris locis et vulgaribus turbis tristem excepisse sententiam; tum per duos angelos judici fuisse suggestum hunc esse pro quo Martinus oraret; ita per eosdem angelos se jussum reduci, et Martino redditum, vitæque pristinæ restitutum."Sulp. Sev. de Vita Martini, c. 5. |