oses. Oftentimes criminals were pardoned
through the intercession of abbots on condition that they would retire
to a monastery. The jilted lover and the commercial bankrupt, the
deserted or bereaved wife, the pauper and the invalid, the social
outcast and the shirker of civic duties, the lazy and the fickle were
all to be found in the ranks of the monastic orders. Ceasing to feel any
interest in the joys of society, they had turned to the cloister as a
welcome asylum in the hour of their sorrow or disappointment. To some it
was an easy way out of the struggle for existence, to others it meant an
end to taxes and to military service, to still others it was a haven of
rest for a weary body or a disappointed spirit. Thus many specific,
individual considerations acted with the general desires for salvation
and solitude to strengthen and to perpetuate the institution.

_Beliefs Affecting the Causative Motives_

In the first chapter it was shown that a variety of views respecting the
relation of the body and the soul influenced the origin and development
of Christian monasticism. It will not now be necessary to repeat what
was there said. The essential teaching of all these false opinions was
that the body was in itself evil, that the gratification of natural
appetites was inherently wrong, and that true holiness consisted in the
complete subjection of the body by self-denial and torture. Jerome
distinctly taught that what was natural was opposed to God. The Gnostics
and many of the early Christians believed that this world was ruled by
the devil. The Gnostics held that this opposition of the kingdom of
matter to God was fundamental and eternal. The Christians, however,
maintained that the antagonism was temporary, the Lord having given the
world over to evil spirits for a time. The prevailing opinion among
almost all schools was that a union with God was only possible to those
who had extinguished bodily desires.

The ascetic theory undoubtedly derived much support from the views held
concerning the teachings of the Bible. The Oriental monks frequently
quoted from their sacred books to justify their habits and ideals. In
like manner, the Christian monks believed that they, and they alone,
were literally obeying the commands of Christ and his apostles. This
phase of the subject will receive attention when the three vows of
monasticism are considered.

In the West, two conditions, one political and social, the other
re