Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/420

396 396 RISE OF XIMENES. PART support him in all that was practicable ; and she ! lost no time in presenting the affair, through her agents, in such a light to the court of Rome, as might work a more favorable disposition in it. In this she succeeded, though not till after multiplied delays and embarrassments ; and such ample pow- 1497. ers were conceded to Ximenes, in conjunction with the apostolic nuncio, as enabled him to consummate his grand scheme of reform, in defiance of all the efforts of his enemies. ^^ Its operation Thc reformation thus introduced extended to the .md effects. religious institutions of every order equally with his own. It was most searching in its operation, reach- ing eventually to the moral conduct of the subjects of it, no less than the mere points of monastic dis- cipline. As regards the latter, it may be thought of doubtful benefit to have enforced the rigid inter- pretation of a rule, founded on the melancholy prin- ciple, that the amount of happiness in the next world is to be regulated by that of self-inflicted suffering in this. But it should be remembered, that, however objectionable such a rule may be in itself, yet, where it is voluntarily assumed as an im- perative moral obligation, it cannot be disregarded without throwing down the barrier to unbounded license ; and that the reassertion of it, under these circumstances, must be a necessary preliminary to any effectual reform of morals. 33 Quintanilla, Archetypojib. 1, by Ximenes, in his Memorial to cap. 11-14. — Rio! discusses the Philip V., apud SemanaiioErudito, various monastic reforms effected torn. iii. pp. 102- 110.