ready indicated in some measure the character of mon- achism, as we have traced its origin and progress. It remains to consider briefly the spirit as well as the re- sults of monasticism. In sui-veying monasticism as an institution coming down from the 4th century till the Reformation, we freely admit that, in the circum- stances in which the world found itself placed dur- ing that period of time, it was far from being an un- mitigated evil. In its origin, at least, it was a great human effort to remedy the moral disorder hy which mankind in all ages are infected. When children raise a ladder upon the hill-top with the design that upon it they may climb upwards, and thus draw near to God, we cannot make light of their motives, even though we should smile at their plans ; and so every attempt of man to eradicate the selfishness of his nature, to turn back the tide of the world's corruption, and to el- evate himself in the scale of moralit}-, is so far praise- worthy, even though we have no faith that this is to be done by men and women entering voluntai-ily into a prison, shutting themselves up, and barring the world out. " It was the spirit of monachism," says Nean- der, " which gave special prominence to that Christian point of view from which all men were regarded as orig- inally equal in the sight of God ; which opposed the consciousness of God's image in liuman nature, to the grades and distinctions flowing out of the relations of the state. . . . The spirit of contempt for earthly show, the spirit of universal philanthrop}', revealed itself in the pure appearances of monachism, and in much that proceeded from it" (ii, 251 ; comp. p. 238). In the dark- est of the ages, souls trul}' pious, there can be no doubt, often withdrew to such places that thej' might without distraction prepare for another world. In times of lawless force and bloodshed, every one knows that the monaster}' was an asylum where weak and timorous spirits, ill able to cope with the rude society ia which tliey found themselves, could retire for shelter and safety. The old monks, in their earliest and best days, before their indolence was fostered by wealth and lux- ury, were often the only examples of peaceful industry in a district, and taught their less skilful neighboi-s how to till the earth, and draw from the reluctant soil a more generous return for their labor. In their lonely cells they often spent their leisure in copying valua- ble manuscripts and producing original works, which, though seldom rising to the rank of classics, have pre- served many valuable facts, and are true photographs of the bright and the dark, the comely and ungainly feat- ures of their times. "The cloisters, moreover," says Neander, " were institutions of education, and, as such, were the more distinguished on account of the care they bestowed on religious and moral culture, because education generally in this period . . . had fallen into neglect" (ii, 252). Perhaps it is not too much to say that in the deluge of barbarism that overflowed the civilization of Christendom in the early mediseval ages, the Scriptures and the classics must have perished had it not been that they were deposited in those monastic edifices, for which the wildest pagans, in many in- stances, entertained a superstitious respect. More- over, in cases without number, the monastery was a missionary training-school, planted within the limits of some heathen land, from which the monks went forth courageously and devotedly to propagate the re- ligion of the age, such as it was, in the surrounding^ districts — to be the pioneers of civilization and the ad- vance-guard of Christianity among a rude and idola- trous population. The conversion of the pagan Eng- lish, and particularly of the southern kingdoms, to the faith of Christ, was mainly due to the energy and sac- rifice of the monks and bishops of Rome, and it was accompanied by a parallel conversion to the authority of St. Peter. It was at that time a vast and unspeak- able blessing to England to be brouglit in this way into association with other people, and to become thus an integral part of the Christian commonwealth. The
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ideal of the divine life which was set before the young and crude converts was impressive, and upon the whole beneficial, even though it lacked the freedom and nat- uralness of true life, and cramped and resisted the grace of God. Dean Slilman tells us that the calm example of the domestic virtues in a more polished, but often, as regards sexual intercourse, more corrupt state of morals, is of inestimable value, as spreading around the parsonage an atmosphere of peace and hap- piness, and offering a living lesson on the blessings of conjugal fidelity. But such Christianity would have made no impression on a people who still retained something of their Teutonic severity of manners, and required, therefore, sometliing more imposing — a stern- er and more manifest self-denial — to keep up their re- ligious veneration. The detachment of the clergy from all earthly ties left them at once more unremittingly devoted to their unsettled life as missionaries. It is probable tliat the isolation and the self-torture of the monks did produce a deep impression on those wlio had neither moral energy nor mental concentration equal to such a task. It is possible that the claims of a hierarchy were more rapidly introduced by tliese means, so that it became more easy to create new insti- tutions, to organize Christian worship, to build vast ec- clesiastical edifices, to promote literature, to divide the labor of Christian workmen, as soon as the available strength of young Christendom was all brought under severe drill, taught to monopolize the highest grace, and investsd with preternatural powers. In old feudal times, when the strong were so ready to domineer over the weak, and societ}' had so little thought of provid- ing for the unfortunate, in the monastery, spirits bruised and bleeding found advice, the sick found medicine, the hungrj' poor found bread, and the be- nighted and storm-stayed traveller entertainment and rest. It would be uncandid not to admit, with very little exception indeed, the statement of count Monta- lembert that the monasteries ''were for ten centuries and more the schools, the archives, the liljrarics, tlie hostelries, the studios, the penitentiaries, and the hos- pitals of Christian society."