CHAPTER III. THE MONASTIC SYSTEM, AND ITS RELATION TO THE WE have seen that, in the first ages, the opposition to heathen corruption caused Christianity to appear preeminently as a world-conflicting power, which gave rise to the onesided ascetic tendency; and this tendency, as we have already remarked, was called forth in the age of which we are now speaking by the opposition to a secularized Christianity, to a heathen life continued under the semblance of Christianity. Such an opposition tended especially to promote the spread of monkery, in which the free ascetic character acquired a more fixed and regulated form. Hence numerous monastic societies were formed in the vicinity of a great corrupt city such as Antioch; and they often formed a salutary counteractive to the corruption of such places. Many individuals who felt dissatisfied and vacant amidst all the splendour of earthly glory, and all earthly pleasures, visited the cells of the monks from curiosity, or to obtain consolation or advice under some emergency. Here they saw how to men who possessed nothing of the splendour or joys of the world, and who had limited their natural wants in every possible way, the repose, dignity, and serenity of a higher life were revealed, of which they themselves had previously no conception. They met here many a one who had withdrawn from splendid places of honour, to find among the poor monks what he had vainly sought for in the pomps of the world. Hence it might happen that a person, struck by the spectacle before him, would be seized with a sense of the nothingness of earthly glory, renounce everything, and associate himself with the monks. By intercourse with God in prayer, and by the devout study of the Scriptures, many became really sanctified -such persons as those who read the Scriptures (as the monk Marcus expresses it)" so that full of humility they applied everything which they read to themselves, and judged not others, but themselves, according to it." But when they learned to know themselves in the light of the divine word, NUMEROUS MONASTIC SOCIETIES. 183 according to their inmost being, a deeper knowledge of human nature was disclosed to them than to those who without selfinspection had an opportunity of knowing many men as to their outward appearance. The monk who was not disposed to deceive himself by the semblance of good works strove with warmer longing after true holiness and purity of the inner man, and he could thus attain to so much deeper knowledge of the nature of sin and of the true righteousness proceeding from Christ, as in later times the inner experiences of Luther's monastic life became the fountain of the whole Reformation. Such experiences also were those of the monk Marcus in the fourth century. "Every good," he says, "is given by God: Christ is all to believers;" and, "Seek not for perfection in human virtues, for in them nothing perfect is to be found. The perfection of the law of freedom is hidden in the cross of Christ. The kingdom of heaven is not the reward of works, but prepared as the gracious gift of the Lord for his faithful servants. Some think they have a sound faith, and yet do not fulfil the divine commands; others endeavour to fulfil them, but expect the kingdom of heaven as a reward due to them; both these classes miss the right way to the kingdom of heaven. The Lord owes no reward to his servants; but if they do not serve him in the right way, they do not obtain freedom. If Christ died for us, and we live not to ourselves but to Him who died for us, and rose again, then are we bound to serve him, even to death. How can we then regard adoption into God's family as a reward which we can claim? Christ is our Lord according to his divine nature, and according to the humanity assumed by him, since he created us out of nothing; and when we were dead through sin, he redeemed us by his own blood, and has given grace to those who believe in him. All of us who have been worthy of the bath of regeneration perform good works, not to merit reward, but in order to preserve the purity imparted to us.' Thus Marcus always insists on the necessary connection between the whole work of Christ for and in men, and their progressive sanctification, and points out that the latter is founded on the former; he always combats the onesidedness by which the one is separated from the other, as when he says, We must not by our fault get again entangled in the 66 yoke of bondage, but preserve our freedom by keeping the commandments; and in proportion to our doing that, we shall attain a knowledge of all truth. And we must know for certain that in proportion as we neglect these commands, we are brought under the influence of sin. Let us not believe the speculations of men, but the Holy Scriptures; that Christ died for our sins; that we are buried with him by baptism; and that he who is dead is justified from sin; and that sin will not be able to reign over us, if we obey his commands. But if we do not observe them, we are unbelievers, and are under the dominion of sin. For it does not merely belong to the gospel that we should be baptized into Christ, but likewise that we should obey his commands. If we say that by our works sin will be destroyed, then Christ has died in vain, and all that is affirmed of his work is false; and if baptism be not something complete by itself, but they think by their conflicts to attain completeness, then in such persons the law of freedom is made void, the whole essence of the new covenant is destroyed, and they make Christ unrighteous if he prescribed to the baptized works of freedom, and yet against their will they are the servants of sin, and the grace of God is no more grace, but the reward of our conflict. If we are justified by works, there is no more grace; but if it is by grace, then work is no more work (nothing outward subsisting for itself), but it is the command of our liberator,* the work of freedom and of faith. Have you not heard that the commands of Christ given after baptism are a law of freedom? as the Holy Scripture saith: So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty,' (James ii. 12) [Marcus correctly recognizes in these words the agreement of James and Paul]; and 2 Peter i. 9: He that lacketh these things hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.' From what has been said, he acknowledges purification by baptism, which indeed takes place in a hidden manner, but shows its reality by the observance of the commandments. Those who as believers have received power to fulfil the commands, the Lord exhorts to fight, not as if they could thereby atone for sin, but that they may not return again to that which * Εἰ γὰρ ἐξ ἔργων, οὐκ ἔτι χάριτι (ἀναρεῖται ἁμαρτια)· εἰ δὲ χάριτι, τὸ ἔργον οὐκ ἔστιν ἔργον, ἀλλ ̓ ἐντολὴ τοῦ ἐλευθερώσαντος, καὶ ἔργον iλevlepiaç Kai TIOTεws.-Marcus, de Baptism. (Galland. viii. p. 37.) CORRECT VIEWS OF THE FIRST MONKS. 185 they have left behind. And the observance of these commands does not itself expel sin, for this is only effected through the cross, but it guards the boundaries of the freedom that is vouchsafed us. As to those persons who quote Rom. vii. 14, and following verses. against this doctrine of the internal freedom of Christians, Marcus justly replies, that the apostle here speaks in the person of an unbelieving Jew, in order to show the Jews that men without the grace of Christ cannot be freed from sin; and he appeals to ver. 25 as the exclamation of a redeemed person. He then says: The heavenly lawgiver, Christ, has himself inscribed the spiritual law by his Spirit in the hearts of believers. Learn from the Apostle Paul that by baptism thou hast put on Christ; thou hast received power and weapons to overcome evil thoughts. We must not believe that by our conflict we can blot out Adam's sin, nor the sins committed by ourselves after baptism; for that can be effected only through Christ. For he himself works in us to will and to do." And on the heavenly life of believers he says: "We know that the heavenly Jerusalem, and the blessings which the righteous shall receive at the resurrection, are above; but the pledge and the first-fruits are already in the hearts of firm believers, as those who are already spiritually-minded; so that we, being confident of future things, despise the present, and love God even to death. On this account the apostle, in Heb. xii. 22, says, not 'ye will come,' but 'ye are come to the city of the living God."" We find similar attestations in favour of true inward Christianity in the monk Nilus: "" Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy. (Psa. xxxiii. 18.) Whoever does not think that he can be justified by works, places the hope of his salvation in God's mercy alone. For when he hears that God will reward every one according to his works, and thinks of his own sinful works, he is filled with fear. But that he may not be swallowed up by anguish, he looks to the grace of God." The same writer says also, in another epistle : Thou writest that a heathen who acknowledges that he is a sinner, has said to thee: If thou art a Christian, thou hast no preeminence before me, for thou also art a sinner.' Propound to him, therefore, this parable: A householder has two dogs, the one that rages, and would tear his master in pieces, he 66 orders him to be killed; the other that loves his master, and, full of attachment, always follows in his steps, he keeps, cherishes, and supports.' Nilus meant by this that what distinguishes one of these sinners from the other is love to God, from whom he had been estranged by sin; that love which longs for freedom from all that is ungodlike, which accepts the forgiveness of sins, and resigns itself to the Redeemer in order to be progressively sanctified and purified by him. In love itself is given, notwithstanding all the impurity that still cleaves to man, the principle from which all progressive purity must proceed. That true love is here intended which shows itself in action. Nilus was very far from approving a slavish disposition which seeks to gain over by flattery the Being whose vengeance is feared, which ought not to be called love, but rather the hypocrisy of fear. That such was the meaning of his expressions appears from what he wrote to a person who excused his sins, by saying that no man could boast of having a holy heart: But the worst thing is that you do not come to the Lord Christ, who can change your heart into a holy one, and that you do not ask him to bestow this gift upon you; for Christ can purify your heart by the Holy Spirit. Who was more sinful than that publican? but because he said, God be merciful to me a sinner!' he went down from the temple justified rather than the pharisee. Yet it was not that prayer that purified him, but the disposition with which he uttered it; and above all the love of God to man, who wills not that we should perish, but calls us to repentance." 66 Such were the views of the most enlightened monks. But there were many others who imagined that they had overcome sin by chastising their bodies; they trusted so much the more to the righteousness of their works, because the simple, uniform, and quiet life of monkery, which they made no use of for the purpose of self-examination, subjected them to no trials by which they might have been brought to correct self-knowledge. Jerome, who might have known this from his own experience, and yet, alas! too often forgot that experience! thus writes to a friend who was a monk: "In solitude sometimes pride creeps in, and when a person has fasted a little and seen no one, he thinks himself to be some great one; he forgets whence he came and whither he is |