[the Monks'] Minds Were Inaccessible

The Voice Of History Is Often Little More Than The Organ Of Hatred Or Flattery.

But How Shall We Excuse The Supine Inattention Of The Pagan And Philosophic World To Those Evidences Which Were Presented By The Hand Of Omnipotence, Not To Their Reason, But To Their Senses? During The Age Of Christ, Of His Apostles, And Their First Disciples, The Doctrine Which They Preached Was Confirmed By Innumerable Prodigies. The Lame Walked, The Blind Saw, The Sick Were Healed, The Dead Were Raised, Daemons Were Expelled, And The Laws Of Nature Were Frequently Suspended For The Benefit Of The Church.

Every Event, Or Appearance, Or Accident, Which Seems To Deviate From The Ordinary Course Of Nature Has Been Rashly Ascribed To The Immediate Action Of The Deity.

The Chaste Severity Of The Fathers In Whatever Related To The Commerce Of The Two Sexes Flowed From The Same Principle -- Their Abhorrence Of Every Enjoyment Which Might Gratify The Sensual And Degrade The Spiritual Nature Of Man. It Was Their Favourite Opinion, That If Adam Had Preserved His Obedience To The Creator, He Would Have Lived For Ever In A State Of Virgin Purity, And That Some Harmless Mode Of Vegetation Might Have Peopled Paradise With A Race Of Innocent And Immortal Beings.

[the Monks'] Minds Were Inaccessible To Reason Or Mercy . . .