had previously entered into the marriage state. By the ancient canons no priest was allowed to have any female in his house, unless she were his mother, his sister, his aunt, or some person above suspicion. But the celibacy of the clergy, though first prescribed by law in the western church A.D. 385, was never enjoined in the eastern church; and even some of the boldest advocates of monachism rejected the notion that it was necessary for the clergyman to be unmarried. It was openly declared at the Council of Constance that no remedy could be devised for stopping the licentiousness of the clergy but that of granting them permission to marry. Not long afterwards it was proposed that each church should have two married priests who were to do duty upon alternate weeks, and during the week of their ministration to preserve continence. Even at the Council of Trent, when the stroke fell that so welded the mighty fetter as to have rendered it hitherto proof against all attempts to break it asunder, the question was agitated, that if settled in a different manner would have brought a sweet serenity into many a circle that has only been brooded over by the worst passions of hell. By the 10th canon of the 24th session it was decreed, "Si quis dixerit, statum conjugalem anteponendum esse statui virginitatis, vel caelibatus, et non esse melius ac beatius manere in virginitate, aut caelibatu, quam jungi matrimonio; anathema sit:" i. e. "Whoever shall affirm that the conjugal state is to be preferred to a life of virginity or celibacy, and that it is not better and more conducive to happiness to remain in virginity or celibacy, than to be married, let him be accursed."

The legends of the Budhists agree with the records of the western historians in presenting the existence of a sect of religionists in India called gymnosophists, who were either literally naked, or had no clothing worthy of the name. Qne of the epithets by which they are designated is equivalent to "air-clad." Some of these ascetics retired to the woods, whilst others resided among men, in order that they might give the most convincing proof that their passions were entirely subdued. In the age of Gótama they appear to have been held in high honour, and to have been regarded as possessing a virtue that raised them to superhuman pre-eminence. They could only perpetuate these honours by a strict observance of their professions; but at times there were individuals who disregarded the precepts of the community, and emulated the extravagancies of the Gnostics; teaching, like them, that as everything outward is utterly

E

and entirely indifferent to the inward man, the outward man may give himself up to every kind of excess, provided the inward man be not thereby disturbed in the tranquillity of his contemplation; and representing themselves as like the ocean, that receives everything, but is still, from its own greatness, free from pollution, whilst other men are like the small collection of water that is defiled by a single earth-clod. The Brahmanical system could only be kept up by procreation, and it was therefore expressly ordained (Manu, v. 45) that "if a brahman have not begotten a son, yet shall aim at final beatitude, he shall sink to a place of degradation. "By the procreation of children (Inst. ii. 28) the human body is rendered fit for a divine state." In more mature age a course of asceticism was commenced; and then he who could most completely assimilate himself to the denizens of the forest around him was the most exalted sage.

In the dasa-sil binding upon the priest of Budha, the precept that enjoins the practice of celibacy is the third in order, The depravity of the people among whom it was promulgated is seen in the stringency of its requirements. It was not an intact virginity that was held up to honour; but true continence during the period in which any one professed to be prawarjita, or to have renounced the world. Gótama was a married man, and had a son, Ráhula, previous to his entrance upon the course of asceticism by which he became a supreme Budha. This feature of the system opened the privileges of the priesthood to a greater number of postulants; but it must often have brought deep sorrow into the domestic circle. Yet in this it was only in consistence with the habitudes of a more recent period, as we see in the instance of Paul the Simple, who resigned his wife and children to another with a smile, when he departed to embrace the monastic life. By Justinian (Novell. cxxiii. c. 40) it was ordained that when a married person, whether it were the husband alone or the wife alone, entered a monastery, the marriage was dissolved; but this law did not meet with universal approval.

Among the practices forbidden in the Pátimokkhan* the following are included :-Sexual intercourse with any being of whatever kind, or in whatever form; wilful pollution; contact with the person of a woman; impure conversation with a woman; the commendation of acts of impurity in the presence of a woman; acting the

*Gogerly's Translation of the Patimokkhan, Ceylon Friend, Oct. 1839, &c.

part of a procurer; sitting on the same seat as a woman in any private place; giving the robe to a priestess, who is not a relation, to be smoothed or washed; receiving a robe from a priestess; procuring a fleece of wool to be prepared by a priestess who is not a relation; sleeping with any one not a priest more than two or three times; reclining on the same place as a woman; preaching more than five or six sentences to a woman, except in the presence of a man who understands what is said; delivering exhortations to the priestesses, without permission of the chapter, or when permitted, after sunset; except in case of sickness, going to the resi dence of the priestesses to deliver exhortations; giving a robe to a priestess who is not a relation; sewing, or causing to be sewed, the robe of a priestess who is not a relation; except in a caravan, and when danger is apprehended, travelling in company with a priestess ; sailing on the water with a priestess by appointment, except in passing from one bank to another; receiving food given on the request of a priestess; sitting in private with a priestess; sitting with a woman on a couch in a secluded place; being alone with a woman; tickling with the fingers; sporting in the water; accompanying a woman on a journey, though it be only to the end of the village; entering the harem of a king without giving previous notice; taking food from a priestess, unless she be a relation; and allowing a priestess to prescribe what food shall be given at a public meal.

The priest is told at his ordination that when the head is taken off it is impossible that life can be retained in the body; and that in like manner the priest who holds sexual intercourse with any one, is thereby incapacitated from continuing to be a son of Sákya,

In addition to the ordinances that refer to the outward conduct, the priests are directed to live in a state of entire abstraction from the world, so that when in the midst of enticements to evil, all impurity may be avoided. The door of the eye is to be kept shut. When the outer gates of the city are left open, though the door of every separate house and store be shut, the enemy will enter the city and take possession; in like manner, though all the ordinances be kept, if the eye be permitted to wander, evil desire will be produced. It is better to have a red-hot piece of iron run through the eye, than for the eye to be permitted to wander, as by this

*Kámawachan.

means evil desire will be produced, and the breaking of all the precepts will follow. The mind will then be like a field of grain that has no hedge, or a treasure-house with the door left open, or a dwelling with a bad roof through which the rain continually falls. The same may be said of all the other senses; and it is therefore requisite that they be kept under strict restraint.

Numerous examples are given of priests who are said to have attended to these advices, and gained therefrom the benefits they are intended to impart. On a certain day, when Maha Tissa resided in the rock Chétiya, he went to the city of Anuradhapura to receive alms, and in the way met a female who had quarrelled with her husband, and was returning in consequence to her parents. She was a beautiful woman, and arrayed in a very splendid manner. Wishing to attract the attention of the priest, she smiled; but by so doing she showed her teeth, and on seeing them he thought only of the impermanence of the body; by which means he attained rahatship. Soon afterwards he met her husband in the street, who asked him if he had seen a woman; but he replied that he had seen only a loathsome skeleton; whether it were that of a male or female he could not tell.

A priest who had recently taken the obligations, on going to receive alms saw a beautiful female, by the sight of whom his mind was agitated. On this account he went to Ananda, a relative of Gotama Budha, and informed him of what had occurred. Ananda told him that he must reflect upon the subject in a proper manner, and that he would then see that the form he had looked upon was in reality utterly destitute of beauty; that it was filthy, defiled, unreal, and impermanent; by this means the agitation of his mind would pass away. This evil arose from the want of caution, as the priest had not kept a guard over the sense of sight.

There was another priest, Chittagutta, who resided in the Karandu-léna, a cave in the southern province of Ceylon, upon the walls of which were painted, in a superior manner, the stories of the Budhas. The cave was visited by some priests, who greatly admired the paintings, and expressed their admiration to Chittagutta; but he replied that he had lived there sixty years and had never seen them, and that he should not now have known of their existence if it had not been for their information. There was near the door of the cave a large ná-tree; but he only knew that the tree was there from the fall of the pollen and flowers. The tree

itself he never saw, as he carefully observed the precept not to look upwards or to a distance. The king of Mágam having heard of his sanctity, invited him to come to his palace that he might worship him; but though he sent three messages, the priest was not willing to leave his cave. The king therefore bound up the nipple of a woman who was giving suck to her child, sealed it with the royal seal, and declared that it should not be broken until the priest came. When Chittagutta heard of what the king had done, out of compassion he went to the palace. The monarch worshipped him on his arrival, and told him that a transient sight of him was not sufficient, as he wanted to keep the precepts another day. This he did in order that he might detain the priest; and in this way seven days passed over. At his departure the king and his queens worshipped him, and the king carried his alms-bowl some distance; but he merely said in return, "May you prosper!" When some other priests expostulated with him, for not being more respectful, and told him that he ought to have said, "May you prosper, great king! May you prosper, illustrious queens!" he replied that he knew not to whom he was speaking; he had not even noticed that they were persons of rank. On arriving at the cave, he walked at night to exercise the rite of meditation, when the déwa of the ná-tree caused a light to shine, by which the greatness of his abstraction was perceived, and the deities of the rocks around called out in approval. During the same night he became a rahat. From this may be learnt the benefit of keeping the eyes from wandering; they must not be permitted to roll about, like those of a monkey, or of a beast of the forest when in fear, or of a child; they must be directed downwards.*

The monks of the Greek and Roman churches have seen, in a similar manner, the necessity of placing a guard over their eyes, and of being circumspect in their intercourse with women. Aphraates, the Persian anchoret, would never speak to a woman but at a distance, and always in as few words as possible. When the sister of Pachomius, the Egyptian ascetic, went to his monastery to see him, he sent her word that no woman could be allowed to enter the enclosure, and that she ought to be contented by hearing that he was alive. The Roman anchoret, Arsenius, would seldom see strangers who came to visit him, saying that he would only use his eyes to behold the heavens. Bernard is said to have walked a whole day

* Wisudhi Margga Sanné.