Saints (arranged according to the Catholic calendar, and completed to the 31st Dec), first 1745 ; often since (best ed. Lond. 1812-'13, in 12 vols. ; another, Baltimore, 1844, in 4 vols). Gibbon : Chap, xxxvii. (Origin, Progress, and Eftects of Monastic Life ; very unfavorable, and written in lofty philosophical contempt). Henrion (R. C.) : Histoire des ordres religieux, Par. 1835 (deutsch bearbeitet von S. Fehr, Tilb. 1845, 2 vols.), F. V. Biedenfeld : Ursprung u. s. w. siimmtlicher Monchsorden Im Orient u. Occident, Weimar, 1837, 3 vols. Schmidt (R. C.) : Die Monchs-, Nonnen-, u. geistlicheu Ritterorden nebst Or- densregehi u. AbbUdungen., Augsb. 1838, sqq. H. H. Milman (Angli- can) : History of Ancient Christianity, 1844, book iii. ch. 11. H, Ruffner (Presbyterian) : The Fathers of the Desert, New York, 1850, 2 vols, (full of curious information, in popular form). Count de Mox- talembert (R. C.) : Les Moines d'Occident depuis St. Benoit jusqu'u St. Bernard, Par. 1860, sqq. (to embrace 6 vols.) ; transl. into English : The Monks of the West, etc., Edinb. and Lond. 1861, in 2 vols. (vol. i. gives the history of monasticism before St. Benedict, vol. ii. is mainly devoted to St. Benedict ; eloquently eulogistic of, and apologetic for, monasticism). Otto^ Zockler : Kritische Geschichte der Askese. Frankf. a. M. 1863./0omp. also the relevant sections of Tillemoxt, Fleury, Schrookh (vols. V. and viii.), Xeander, and Gieseler. § 28. Origin of Christian Monasticism. Comparison loith other fm^ms of Asceticism. HosPiNiAN : De origine et progressu monachatus, I. vi., Tig. 1588, and en- larged, Genev. 1669, fol. J. A. Mohler (R. C.) : Geschichte des Monchthums in der Zeit seiner Entstehung u. ersten Ausbildung, 1836 (in his collected works, Regensb. vol. ii. p. 165 sqq.). Isaac Taylor (Independent) : Ancient Christianity, Lond. 1844, vol. i. p. 299 sqq. A. Vogel: Ueber das Monchthum, Berl. 1858 (in the " Deutsche Zeit- sehrift fiir christl. Wissenschaft," etc.). P. Schaff : Ueber deu Ur- sprung und Churakter des Monchthums (inDorner's, etc. " Jahrbiicher • fiir deutsche Theol.," 1861, p. 555 ff.). J. Cropp: Origenes et causre monachatus. Gott. 1863.^ V/ ;4W*-^/ -C'^^/ ^7 S/Idcinqa^itc^^ ^'^ ^yi^>^^^^^ J/^rA/V^^n,^ § 28. ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN MONASTICISM. 140 In the beginning of the fourth century monasticism appears in the history of the church, and thenceforth occupies a dis- tinguished phice. Beginning in Egypt, it spread in an irresis- tible tide over the East and the West, continued to be the chief repository of the Christian life down to the times of the Reformation, and still remains in the Greek and Roman churches an indispensable institution and the most productive seminary of saints, J3riests, and missionaries. With the ascetic tendency in general, monasticism in par- ticular is found by no means only in the Christian church, but in other religions, both before and after Christ, especially in the East. It proceeds from religious seriousness, enthusiasm, and ambition ; from a sense of the vanity of the world, and an inclination