the other, and the breath of life does not pass through them. Moreover the earth cries against them, and the heavens proclaim their iniquities. I took the greatest pains to cut off the poisonous branches of vice among them, but it would have been easier to turn wolves into sheep, or beasts into men; for the Ethiopian will not change his skin, nor the leopard his spots. As often as I could collect any of them in the church, that I might have an opportunity of holding some conference with them, they shut their ears like the adder; and like the mountains of Gilboa, on which no dew nor rain descends, they were deaf to all wholesome advice, and careless about their own dangers. They rushed headlong, like stallions, to every vice. I did all in my power to correct them, and with all possible kindness, for their conduct gave me constant grief at the heart. But 'they hated him who stopped them in the gate, and abominated him who spoke health to them.' I betook myself to prayer; I spoke groaning in the bitterness of my heart; and, that fat might not be wanting to the sacrifice, I seasoned my groaning with tears. The king and the archbishop wrote them tremendous letters. I assured them most positively that the pope would take away their place and nation, and that they should be turned out of house and home. But the more they were threatened the more obstinate they were; the more they were exhorted, the more contemptuous did they grow. They were few in number, but their iniquities made them a multitude; the generations of vipers were multiplied. From the seed of Canaan came forth an evil and provoking race, sons of Belial, wicked children. They wished to possess the sanctuary of God as an inheritance, and therefore, when a canon died, and any respectable man was appointed, the nephew, or son, of the deceased, claimed that which is the Lord's patrimony as his. He then betook himself to the woods, joined the robbers and banditti who plunder by fire and the sword, and fell on the new canon so as to destroy him. When I saw that these insensible men were drawing near to the grave; and that I could produce no impression on them, I desired to be cut off entirely from men whose vices did not end with the end of life."[5] In the gross immoralities of the clergy of the middle ages, which form a standing theme of lamentation with so many of the councils and writers of the period, are seen the result of forced celibacy. While the censors of ecclesiastical morals maintained that unnatural system, it was vain for them to be ever struggling with its inevitable consequences--it was useless with one hand to apply any medicines for the cure of a disease to which with the other they were continually administering the most feverish stimulants.