ity along the lines of brotherly love and
cooeperation. A Christian may consistently be a rich man, provided he
uses his wealth in furthering the true interests of society, and
realizes, as respects his own person, that "a man's life consisteth not
in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." The error of
monasticism consists in making poverty a virtue and an essential
condition of the highest holiness. It is true that some callings
preclude the prospect of fortune. The average clergyman cannot hope to
amass wealth. The resident of a social settlement may possess capacities
that would win success in business, but he must forego financial
prospects if he expects to live and labor among the poor. In so far as
the monks deliberately turned their backs on the material rewards of
human endeavors that they might be free to devote themselves to the
service of humanity, their vow of poverty was creditable and reasonable.
But they erred when they exalted poverty as of itself commending them in
a peculiar degree to the mercy of God.

2. The Vow of Celibacy. "The moral merit of celibacy," says Allen, "was
harder to make out of the Scripture, doubtless, since family life is
both at the foundation of civil society and the source of all the common
virtues." The monks held that Christ and Paul both taught and practiced
celibacy. In the early and middle ages celibacy was looked upon by all
churchmen as in itself a virtue. The prevailing modern idea is that
marriage is a holy institution, in no sense inferior in sacredness to
any ecclesiastical order of life. He who antagonizes it plays into the
hands of the foes to social purity and individual virtue.

The ideas of Jerome, Ambrose, and all the early Fathers, respecting
marriage, are still held by many ecclesiastics. One of them, in
defending the celibacy of existing religious orders, says: "Celibacy is
enjoined on these religious orders as a means to greater sanctification,
greater usefulness, greater absorption in things spiritual, and to
facilitate readier withdrawal from things earthly." He gives two reasons
for the celibacy of the priesthood, which are all the more interesting
because they substantially represent the opinions held by the Christian
monks in all ages: First, "That the service of the priest to God may be
undivided and unrestrained." In support of this, he quotes I. Cor., 7:
32, 33, which reads: "But I would have you free from cares. He that is
unmarried is ca