giving dignity to
woman's estate. If she was mistreated and desired protection, she could
find refuge in this sanctuary. She became the Bride of Christ, and
through the protection of the convent, man was forced to be civil, and
chivalry came to take the place of force.

Most monasteries have been mendicant institutions. As early as the year
Five Hundred we read of the monks going abroad a-questing, a bag on
their backs. They begged as a business, and some became very expert at
it, just as we have expert evangelists and expert debt-raisers. They
took anything that anybody had to give. They begged in the name of the
poor; and as they traveled they undertook to serve those who were poorer
than themselves. They were distributing agents.

They ceased to do manual labor and scorned those who did. They traversed
the towns and highways by trios and asked alms at houses or of
travelers. Occasionally they carried cudgels, and if such a pair asked
for alms it was usually equal to a demand. These monks made
acquaintances, they had their friends among men and women, and often
being far from home they were lodged and fed by the householders. In
some instances the alms given took the form of a tax which the sturdy
monks collected with startling regularity. We hear of their dividing the
country up into districts, and each man having a route that he jealously
guarded.

They came in the name of the Lord--they were supposed to have authority.
They said, "He who giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord." They
blessed those who gave, and cursed those who refused. Some of them
presumed to forgive the sins of those who paid. And soon the idea
suggested itself of forgiving in advance, or granting an indulgence.
They made promises of mansions in the skies to those who conformed, and
threatened with the pains of hell those who declined their requests. So
the monks occasionally became rich.

And when they grew rich they often became arrogant, dictatorial,
selfish, gluttonous and licentious. They undertook to manage the
government which they had before in their poverty renounced. They hired
servants to wait upon them. The lust of power, and the lust of the
flesh, and the pride of the heart all became manifest.

However, there were always a few men, pure of heart and earnest in
purpose, who sought to stem the evil tendencies. And so the history of
monasticism and the history of the Church is the record of a struggle
against idleness and corrup