Note 4 — SECTION VIII. SKETCH OF THE ENTHUSIASM OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

This conjecture, hazarded in 1829, would seem now to be not unlikely to be, to some extent, realized.

[5] The errors and extravagances generated by the monastic life did not ordinarily extend to the fundamental principles of Christianity. The monks were, for the most part, zealously attached to the doctrine of the Nicene creed; and the church owes to many of them its thanks for the constancy with which they suffered in its defence.