and deceptive tricks,” was exacted from the people by the monks, most of which adhered “to their unfaithful fingers.”  While Lecky eloquently praises the monks for their beautiful deeds of charity, “following all the windings of the poor man’s grief,” still he condones in the strongest terms the action of Henry VIII. in transferring the monastic funds to his own treasury:  “No misapplication of this property by private persons could produce as much evil as an unrestrained monasticism.”

It would be unjust, however, to censure the monks for not recognizing the evil social effects of indiscriminate alms-giving.  While their system was imperfect, it was the only one possible in an age when the social sciences were unknown.  It is difficult, even to-day, to restrain that good-natured, but baneful, benevolence which takes no account of circumstances and consequences, and often fosters the growth of pauperism.  The monks kept alive that sweet spirit of philanthropy which is so essential to all the higher forms of civilization.  It is easier to discover the proper methods for the exercise of generous sentiments, than to create those feelings or to arouse them when dormant.

Monasticism and Religion

No doctrine in theology, or practice of religion, has been free from monastic influences.  An adequate treatment of this theme would require volumes instead of paragraphs.  A few points, however, may be touched upon by way of suggestion to those who may wish to pursue the subject further.

The effect of the monastic ideal was to emphasize the sinfulness of man and his need of redemption.  To get rid of sin—­that is the problem of humanity.  A quaint formula of monastic confession reads:  “I confess all the sins of my body, of my flesh, of my bones and sinews, of my veins and cartilages, of my tongue and lips, of my ears, teeth and hair, of my marrow and any other part whatsoever, whether it be soft or hard, wet or dry.”  This emphasis on man’s sinfulness and the need of redemption was sadly needed in Rome and all down the ages.  “It was a protest,” says Clarke, “against pleasure as the end of life ...  It proved the reality of the religious sentiment to a skeptical age....  If this long period of self-torture has left us no other gain, let us value it as a proof that in man religious aspiration is innate, unconquerable, and able to triumph over all that the world hopes and over all that it fears.”

Thus the monks helped to keep alive the enthusiasm of religion.  There was a fervor, a devotion, a spirit of sacrifice, in the system, which acted as a corrective to the selfish materialism of the early and middle ages.  Christian history furnishes many sad spectacles of brutality and licentiousness, of insolent pride and uncontrolled greed, masked in the garb of religion.  Monasticism, by its constant insistence upon poverty and obedience, fostered a spirit of loyalty to Christ and the cross, which served