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A. S. Martin. ASCETICISM.— Asceticism may be defined as a form of self - discipline which consists in tlie habitual renunciation of the things of the flesh, with a view to the cultivation of the life of the spirit. It is a deliberate attempt to eliminate and uproot the sensuous, to banish it altogether from the sphere of consciousness. It is not content Avith a doctrine of mere subordination. It does not stop short Avith teaching men to govern their wants, to subject them to the service of a higher end and purpose. It bids men stifle and suppress them, or at least resist them to the utmost of their ability. The body is represented as the enemy of the soul, and the way of perfection is identified with the progressive extirpation of the natural instincts and inclinations by means of fasting, celibacy, voluntary poverty, and similar exercises of devotion. Hence asceticism may be described as the gospel of negation,— negation of the world and negation of the flesh, each of wliich is apt to be confounded with negation of the devil.
It is the purpose of the present article to inquire Avhat traces, if any, of such asceticism are to be found in the practice and preaching of Jesus. As a i)reliminary, liowever, it will be necessary notice briefly the main forms of asceticism which were prevalent in Palestine in the time of Christ.
The Jewish ascetics of the 1st cent, may be divided roughly into three classes. (1) Hr.st, there were the Essenes, who lived togetlier in monastic colonies, shared all things in common, and practised voluntary poverty. I'lnlo says that they were inditferent to mniiry, i-l.a~ure, and worldly position. Their food was limu. a m rijian- tity and carefully regulated in n-spcct ..f c|uahty. They ate no animal flesh, drank no wme, and abstained from the use of oil for purposes of anoint- in" The stricter members of the brotberliood eschewed marriage. The idea of this rigorous asceticism seems to have been that the objects of sense, as such, were unholy, and that man's natural cravings could not be Ratified without sin. Hence the Essenes may be said to have prepared the way for the Gnostic doctrine of dualism and of matter as the seat and abode of evil. In this place, liow- ever, the principles of the Essenes need not further be discussed. They are not referred to in tlie Gospels, and the suggestion that John tlie liajitist or Jesus Himself came under their inlhu-mc (aiiiiot for a moment be entertained. (2) Scrondly, tlu'ru was a class of hermit ascetics who tied away from the allurements and temptations uf snriety, and -ave themselves up to a life of rigid sell-diseiphne in the solitude of the wilderness. M o meet witli an example of this class in the Banus, mentioned by Josephus, who lived in the desert, clothed him- self with the leaves of trees, ate notliinj' save tlie natural produce of the soil, and bathed day and night in cold water for purity's sake (Jos. Vit. 2). A hermit of a somewhat dift'erent type was John the Baptist. He, too, dwelt in the desert, wore for dress a rough garment of camel's hair with a leathern girdle, and subsisted on carob-beans (?) and wild honey. We learn from a saying of Jesus that his ri"orous mode of life astonished the people, who "ave out that he was possessed by a demon (Mt 11'^ LU 7^). But the asceticism of John seems
to have been an incident of his environment and vocation, and was not regarded as an end in itself. He made no attempt to convert his hearers into ascetics. While it is true that his immediate disciples were addicted to fasting, presumably with his sanction (iMt 9", Mk 2'8, Lk 5i^), yet in the fragments of his popular sermons which have been preserved there is no trace of any exhorta- tion to ascetic exercises. The moral preparation for the Kingdom, by repentance and works of righteousness, was the substance of his teaching (Mt 3'-l^ Lk 3'-"). (3) Lastly, there were many pious Jews who cultivated asceticism of a milder and less striking kind, who, like Anna, 'served Ciod witli fasting and prayers night and day ' (Lk 2=^). Tlie more strict among the Pharisees paid jiarticular attention to abstinence from food, and.
addition to ordinary fasts, were accustomed to observe all Mondays and Thursdays in tlie year as days of fasting (Lk 18'^). The asceticism of the Pliarisees, however, was a formal performance which resulted naturally from their legal and cere- monial conception of religion. It expressed itself chiefly in fasting, and did not include either volun- tary poverty or abstinence from marriage.
Such being the principal types of contemporary asceticism, it remains to inquire. What attitude did Jesus Himself take up in relation to this asceticism ? How far did He identify the life of ri.-liteousness with that 'vita religiosa' which lias found its fullest expression in Monasticism V To answer this question we must consider (1) the practice ot Jesus, and (2) the teaching of Jesus so far as it bears upon the subject.