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Article AN ACCOUNT OF THE MONKS, ← Page 2 of 3 →
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An Account Of The Monks,
supernatural history . It was their firm persuasion , that the air , which they breathed , was peopled with invisible enemies ; with innumerable daemons , who watched every occasion , and assumed every form , to terrify , and above ali to ' tempt , their unguarded virtue . The imagination , and even the senses , were deceived by the illusions of distempered fanaticism ; and the hermit , whose midnight prayer was oppressed binvoluntary slumbermiht easil
y , g y confound the phantoms of horror or delight , which had' occupied his sleeping , and his waking dreams . The monks were divided into two classes : the Coenobites , who lived under a common , and regular discipline ; and the Anachorets , who indulged their unsocial , independent fanaticism . The most devoutor the most ambitiousof the iritual brethrenrenounced
, , sp , the convent , as they had renounced the world . The fervent monasteries of E gypt , Palestine , and Syria , were surrounded by a Laura , a distant circle of solitary cells ; and the extravagant pennance of the Hermits was stimulated by applause and emulation . They sunk under the painful wei ght of crosses and chains ; and
their emaciated limbs were confined by collars , bracelets , gauntlets , and greaves of massy and ri gid iron . All superfluous incumbrance of dress they contemptuousl y cast away ; and some savage saints of both sexes have been admired , whose naked bodies were only covered by their long hair . They aspired to reduce themselves to the rude and miserable state in which the human brute is scarcel above his kindred
y distinguished animals : and a numerous sect of Anachorets derived their name from their humble practice of grazing in the fields of Mesopotamia with the common herd . They often usurped the den of some wild beast whom they affected to resemble ; they buried themselves in some gloomy cavern , which art or nature had scooped out of the rock ; arid the ' marble quarries of Thebais still inscribed
are with the monuments of their pennance . The most perfect Plermits are supposed to have passed many days without food , many nights without sleep , and many years without speaking ; and glorious was the man ( I abuse that name ) who contrived any cell , or seat of a peculiar construction , which mfo-hfc expose him , in the most inconvenient posture , to the inclemency of the seasons .
Among these heroes of the monastic life , the name and geniusof Simeon Stylites have been immortalized by the singular invention of an aerial pennance . At the age of thirteen , the young Syrian deserted the profession of a shepherd , and threw himself into an austere monastry . After a long and painful noviciate , in -which Simeon was repeatedly saved from pious suicide , he established his residence mountain
on a , about thirty or forty miles to the eastofAntioch . Within the space of a mandra , or circle of stones , to winch he had attached himself by a ponderous chain , heascended a column , which was successively raised from the he ' io-lit of nine , to that of sixty feet from the ground . In this last , and lofty station , the Syrian Anachoret resisted the heat of thirty summers .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Account Of The Monks,
supernatural history . It was their firm persuasion , that the air , which they breathed , was peopled with invisible enemies ; with innumerable daemons , who watched every occasion , and assumed every form , to terrify , and above ali to ' tempt , their unguarded virtue . The imagination , and even the senses , were deceived by the illusions of distempered fanaticism ; and the hermit , whose midnight prayer was oppressed binvoluntary slumbermiht easil
y , g y confound the phantoms of horror or delight , which had' occupied his sleeping , and his waking dreams . The monks were divided into two classes : the Coenobites , who lived under a common , and regular discipline ; and the Anachorets , who indulged their unsocial , independent fanaticism . The most devoutor the most ambitiousof the iritual brethrenrenounced
, , sp , the convent , as they had renounced the world . The fervent monasteries of E gypt , Palestine , and Syria , were surrounded by a Laura , a distant circle of solitary cells ; and the extravagant pennance of the Hermits was stimulated by applause and emulation . They sunk under the painful wei ght of crosses and chains ; and
their emaciated limbs were confined by collars , bracelets , gauntlets , and greaves of massy and ri gid iron . All superfluous incumbrance of dress they contemptuousl y cast away ; and some savage saints of both sexes have been admired , whose naked bodies were only covered by their long hair . They aspired to reduce themselves to the rude and miserable state in which the human brute is scarcel above his kindred
y distinguished animals : and a numerous sect of Anachorets derived their name from their humble practice of grazing in the fields of Mesopotamia with the common herd . They often usurped the den of some wild beast whom they affected to resemble ; they buried themselves in some gloomy cavern , which art or nature had scooped out of the rock ; arid the ' marble quarries of Thebais still inscribed
are with the monuments of their pennance . The most perfect Plermits are supposed to have passed many days without food , many nights without sleep , and many years without speaking ; and glorious was the man ( I abuse that name ) who contrived any cell , or seat of a peculiar construction , which mfo-hfc expose him , in the most inconvenient posture , to the inclemency of the seasons .
Among these heroes of the monastic life , the name and geniusof Simeon Stylites have been immortalized by the singular invention of an aerial pennance . At the age of thirteen , the young Syrian deserted the profession of a shepherd , and threw himself into an austere monastry . After a long and painful noviciate , in -which Simeon was repeatedly saved from pious suicide , he established his residence mountain
on a , about thirty or forty miles to the eastofAntioch . Within the space of a mandra , or circle of stones , to winch he had attached himself by a ponderous chain , heascended a column , which was successively raised from the he ' io-lit of nine , to that of sixty feet from the ground . In this last , and lofty station , the Syrian Anachoret resisted the heat of thirty summers .