Macedonians, and Apollinarians. The name of the faith of Athanasius, in a while, occasioned the mistake of ascribing it to him, as his composition. This gave it authority enough to be cited and appealed to as standard, in the disputes of the middle ages, between Greeks and Latins about the Procession; and the same admired name, together with the intrinsic worth and value of the form itself, gave it credit enough to be received into the public service in the Western Churches; first in France, next in Spain, soon after in Germany, England, Italy, and at length in Rome itself; while many other excellent creeds drawn up in councils, or recommended by emperors, yet never arrived to any such honour and esteem as this hath done. The truly good and great author, (as I now suppose him,) though ill used by the then Pope of Rome, and not kindly treated, with respect to his memory, in after ages, has nevertheless been the mouth of all the Western Churches, and some Eastern too, for a long tract of centuries, in celebrating the glories of the coeternal Trinity. And so may he ever continue, till the Christian Churches can find out (which they will not easily do) a juster, or sounder, or more accurate form of faith than this is."

His other works are, the Life of St. Honoratus, his predecessor; An Heroical Poem on the Beginning of the Book of Genesis; and a short Letter to Eucherius, Bishop of Lyons; which are inserted in the seventh volume of the Biblioth. Patr.-Cave. Dupin. Waterland.

HILDEBRAND.

HILDEBRAND, afterwards known as Gregory VII., was born between the years 1010 and 1020 of lowly parentage. He was most probably educated at the monastery of St. Mary, on Aventine Hill, at Rome, under the auspices of his uncle the abbot. Disgusted with the immorality of

Rome, he fixed his residence, when he arrived at man's estate, at Cluni in Burgundy. In this place he soon attracted the notice of his superiors, by the powers of his mind and his application to study. Either at Cluni, or before he left Italy, he had assumed the monastic habit. After a time he determined to return to Rome, but on his way to Italy appeared at the court of Henry III., where he became a popular preacher; the monarch, with, we presume, evangelical discernment, declaring that he had never heard any one preach with such boldness the pure and unadulterated word. But when he was at Rome, his strictness so offended the self-indulgent churchmen of that city, that he was only prevented, as he said, by a dream from quitting it for ever. mained at Rome, and became the supporter and friend of Gregory VI,, and accompanied that pontiff, when deposed, into Germany, On the death of Gregory VI. he retired again to Cluni, and was appointed the prior of that monastery, enjoying another short interval of retirement and uninterrupted devotion.

He re

Here he remained until summoned to attend upon Leo IX., a summons to which he refused to give heed, unless the pontiff rendered the imperial appointment of himself canonical by the election of the clergy and people of Rome.

Nothing could have been worse than the state of the Church at this peried: as a contemporary remarks, "Holiness had disappeared, justice had perished, truth had been buried, Simon Magus lording it over the Church, whose bishops and priests were given to luxury and fornication."

Under Leo, acting with the advice of Hildebrand, a reformation was commenced; a reformation rendered necessary by circumstances, conducted by those who had authority to reform, and only failing in its ultimate success by the enforcement of the celibacy of the clergy. The constrained celibacy of the clergy led to further evils,

which demanded another reformation. Still it is to be borne in mind that when Hildebrand first became a public character, the infamies prevalent among the clergy were such as to have endangered the very existence of society. This he determined to correct, and he succeeded. Hildebrand commenced as a reformer on a small scale; having purified the monastery of St. Paul, over which he was placed by the pope. To this monastery he was devoted through life, and felt himself to be benefited by the prayers of its reverend and pious monks.

On the death of Leo, the eyes of men were turned to his friend and counsellor, Hildebrand, as his successor; but he resisted the proposal, and persuaded his supporters to send him as their envoy to the imperial court, with power to select whom he might deem fittest for the exigences of the time, and to demand of the emperor that person, in their name, as the future pontiff.

In this he acted as a truly great man; and his wisdom was displayed, to the surprise of all, in his selecting Gebherd, Bishop of Eichstadt, the emperor's personal friend, who had been opposed to the papal reforms conducted under Hildebrand's counsels. The new Pope assumed the name of Victor II.

Victor had been averse to the honour thrust upon him, and was never quite reconciled to Hildebrand, for whose sake he disliked monks in general. But Hildebrand was not to be despised, and was sent by Victor as his legate to France, there to complete the reformation Leo had begun; an office which he executed with his usual decision and judgment.

At the death of Victor, Hildebrand was again thought of by a large party as the fittest person to be made the pope, and was recommended to the notice of the electors by the very person who became Stephen IX. By Stephen IX., Hildebrand was honoured with every mark of confidence and esteem, and the independence of the Roman see was resolutely maintained. And when Stephen was

on the point of death, he conjured the most influential of the clergy and people to elect no pontiff without the concurrence of Hildebrand, who was then absent on a legation in Germany.

On Stephen's death, while the better part of the Roman clergy and laity were waiting for Hildebrand, John, Bishop of Veletri, was by the violence of faction nominated as pope, under the name of Benedict X. But by the decision of Hildebrand, he was put to flight, and Gerard, Bishop of Florence, was installed in the chair of St. Peter, by the name of Nicholas II. To this pontiff, as to his predecessors, Hildebrand acted as chief minister and adviser; and in this pontificate, by a decree of the council of Lateran, the election of future popes was virtually placed in the hands of the cardinals, though the rights of the emperor were to appearance maintained.

Nicholas was succeeded by Alexander II., and one of his first acts was the nomination of Hildebrand to be chancellor of the apostolical see. By the imperial party, an anti-pope was elected, in the person of Cadalons, Bishop of Parma, who seemed at one time almost trium. phant; but the cause of Alexander, under the guidance of Hildebrand, at length prevailed; and the cause of Alexander was in fact the cause of the Church's indepen dence asserted against the imperial court. It was said of Alexander, that he found the Church a handmaid, and left her free. This amiable and excellent pope died in 1073, and Hildebrand was his successor, elected by the acclamations of the people, and the unanimous vote of the cardinals. A more unanimous and joyous election never took place than that which called Gregory VII. to the papal throne. The mind of Gregory was too deeply impressed with the difficult nature of the duties which would devolve upon him, if he carried out his intentions of reforming the Church, to enable him to contemplate his elevation with any feelings but those of anxiety; though in the counsels of the papacy it was not probable

that any great change would take place by the elevation of one who had virtually guided them for so long a time. Hildebrand was only in deacon's orders at the time of his election, he was ordained priest the following week, and was afterwards consecrated to the episcopate.

He waged unceasing war against simony and clerical marriage, regarding these as the causes of the low standard of divinity and tone of morals among the clergy. In advocating the celibacy of the clergy he certainly committed a lamentable error, but it must be remembered that public opinion had so long condemned the marriage of the clergy, that the clergy could seldom obtain wives, except among persons in stations inferior to their own, so that instead of elevating their wives, their wives lowered their husbands in public estimation. As to simony, Gregory perceived that it could not be prevented, unless the independence of the Church was clearly asserted. And hence originated the controversy about investiture.

The investiture of bishops and abbots commenced undoubtedly when, lands and territories having been. granted to the hierarchy, the prelates of the Church became identified with the dignitaries of the empire. By the laws of the times none were considered as lawful possessors of lands until, having repaired to their respective sovereigns, as the supreme proprietors, they had received at their hands a solemn mark by which their respective grants were assigned to them. Such was the practice with respect to the nobility, and those who had. distinguished themselves in military exploits. Nor would the bishops and clergy have refused, by doing homage, or by receiving the emblems of their appointment from the sovereign, to have acknowledged that for their temporalities they were indebted to the state. The offence was taken at the particular form which prevailed: the symbols adopted were the sacerdotal ring and pastoral staff. And we can easily understand why the use of such symbols