5. Monastic life, instead of being subservient to holiness of heart, was in the vast majority of cases injurious to the monks themselves. The fearful language of Jerome is full of instruction : " O quo ties ego ipso in eremo constitutus in ilia vasta solitudine, quae exusta solis ardoribus, horridum monachis praestat habitacu-
lum, putavi me Romanis interesse deliciis Ille igitur ego,
qui ob Gehennae metum tali me carcere ipse damnaveram, scorpi- orum tantum socius et ferarum, saepe choris intereram puellarum. Pallebant ora jejuniis, et mens desideriis aestuabat in frigido cor- pore, et ante hominem sua jam in carne praemortuum, sola libidi- num incendia bulliebant." 1 In the day when that which is hidden shall be made manifest, there will probably be no such fearful revelation of self-torture as that made by unveiling the secret life of the inmates of monastic institutions. They are in necessary conflict with the laws of nature and with the law of God.
The Protestants adopted the rule announced by Calvin:2 " Omnia non legitima nee rite concepta, ut apud Deum nihili sunt, sic nobis irrita esse debere." For, he immediately adds, as in human contracts only that continues binding, which he to whom the promise is made wishes us to observe, so it is to be supposed that we are not bound to do what God does not wish us to do, simply because we have promised Him to do it. On these grounds the Reformers with one accord pronounced all mo- nastic vows to be null and void. Thus the Gospel became a proclamation of liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to those who were bound.
§ 8. The Fourth Commandment.
Its Design.
The design of the fourth commandment was, (1.) To com- memorate the work of creation. The people were commanded to remember the Sabbath-day and to keep it holy, because in six days God had made the heavens and the earth. (2.) To pre-
1 Epistola xxii ; Ad Eustochium, Paula Filiam, De Custodia Virginitatis, Opera, ed. Migne, Paris, 1845, vol. i. p. 398. This long epistle is addressed to a young Roman lady of rank and wealth ; and is designed to confirm her in her resolution not to marry. It is founded on the assumption that virginity was not only a great virtue, but also that a spe- cial reward, a glory not otherwise attainable, was attached to it. He says to her : " Cave, quseso, ne quando de te dicat Deus : • Virgo Israel cecidit, et non est qui suscitet earn ' (Amos v. 2). Audenter loquar : Cum omnia possit Deus, suscitare virginem non potest post ruinam. Valet quidem liberare de poena, sed non vult coronare corruptam." Ibid. p. .394. He enjoins upon her all kinds of ascetic observances even while confessing their iD efficacy in his own case.
2 Jnstitutio, iv. xiii. 20; edit. Berlin, 1834, vol. ii. p. 349. vol. in. 21
322 PART IH. Ch. XIX. — THE LAW
serve alive the knowledge of the only living and true God. If heaven and earth, that is, the universe, were created, they must have had a creator ; and that creator must be extramundane, ex- isting before, out of, and independently of the world. He must be almighty, and infinite in knowledge, wisdom, and goodness ; for all these attributes are necessary to account for the wonders of the heavens and the earth. So long, therefore, as men believe in creation, they must believe in God. This accounts for the fact that so much stress is laid upon the right observance of the Sab- bath. Far more importance is attributed to that observance than to any merely ceremonial institution. (3.) This command was designed to arrest the current of the outward life of the people and to turn their thoughts to the unseen and spiritual. Men are so prone to be engrossed by the things of this world that it was, and is, of the highest importance that there should be one day of frequent recurrence on which they were forbidden to think of the things of the world, and forced to think of the things unseen and eternal. (4.) It was intended to afford time for the instruc- tion of the people, and for the public and special worship of God. (5.) By the prohibition of all servile labour, whether of man or beast, it was designed to secure recuperative rest for those on whom the primeval curse had fallen : " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." (6.) As a day of rest and as set apart for intercourse with God, it was designed to be a type of that rest which remains for the people of God, as we learn from Psalms xcv. 11, as expounded by the Apostle in Hebrews iv. 1- 10. (7.) As the observance of the Sabbath had died out among the nations, it was solemnly reenacted under the Mosaic dispensa- tion to be a sign of the covenant between God and the children of Israel. They were to be distinguished as the Sabbath-keeping people among all the nations of the earth, and as such were to be the recipients of God's special blessings. Exodus xxxi. 13: " Ver- ily my Sabbaths ye shall keep : for it is a sigh between me and you throughout your generations ; that ye may know that I am the Lobd that doth sanctify you." And in verses 16, 17, " Where- fore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever." And in Ezekiel xx. 12, it is said, " Moreover, also, I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them."