t Christians, as was supposed
(_Acts_ ii. 34; iv. 32); and no one was allowed to have anything of his
own. Thus we are told that when a monk was found at his death to have
left a hundred pieces of silver, which he had earned by weaving flax,
his brethren, who were about three thousand in number, met to consider
what should be done with the money. Some were for giving it to the
Church; some, to the poor. But the fathers of the society quoted St.
Peter's words to Simon the sorcerer, "Thy money perish with thee"
(_Acts_ viii. 20); and on the strength of this text (which in truth had
not much to do with the matter), they ordered that it should be buried
with its late owner. St. Jerome, who tells the story, says that this was
not done out of any wish to condemn the dead monk, but in order that
others might be deterred from hoarding.

These different kinds of monks were first established in various parts
of Egypt; but their way of life was soon taken up in other countries;
and societies of women, who were called _nuns_ (that is to say
_mothers_), were formed under the same kind of rules.

One thing which had much to do with making monkish life so common was,
that when persecution by the heathen was at an end, many Christians felt
the want of something which might assure them that they were separate
from the world, as Christ's true people ought to be. It was no longer
enough that they should call themselves Christians; for the world had
come to call itself Christian too. Perhaps we may think that it would
have been better if those who wished to live religiously had tried to go
on doing their duty in the world, and to improve it by the example and
the influence of holy and charitable lives, instead of running away from
it. And they were certainly much mistaken if they fancied that by hiding
themselves in the desert they were likely to escape temptation. For
temptations followed them into their retreats, and we have only too many
proofs, in the accounts of famous monks, that the effect of this mistake
was often very sad indeed. And we may be sure that if the good men who
in those days were active in recommending the life of monks had been
able to foresee how things would turn out, they would have been much
more cautious in what they said of it.

It was not every one who was fit for such a life, and many took it up
without rightly considering whether they _were_ fit for it. The kind of
work which was provided for them was not e