and p. 673 sqq. (on Vigilantius). Vogel : De Vigilautio hajretico orthodoxo, Gott. 1756. G. B. Lindner : De Joviniano et Vigilantio purioris doc- trinoe antesignanis, Lips. 1839. "W. S. Gilly : Vigilantius and his Times, Lond. 1844. Comp. also Neander: Der heil. Joh. Ohrysos- tomus, 3d ed. 1848, vol. i. p. 53 sqq, ; and Kirchengesch, iii. p. 508 sqq. (Torrey's translation, ii. p. 265 sqq.). Baur : Die christliche Kirche von 4-6 ten Jahrh. 1859, p. 311 sqq. Although monasticism was a mighty movement of the age, • Comp. Mabillon, Ann. Bened. 1. v. c. 24, 2Y ; F. de Ste. Martlie, Vie de Cas- siodore, 1684^7 7 J J. j^/^^,^X..A>^-/^ '^•^' ^'^-^ ''^/^ § 46. OPPOSITION TO MONASTICISM. JOVESTIAN. 227 engaging either tlie cooperation or the admiration of the wliole church, yet it was not exempt from opposition. And opposi- tion sprang from very different quarters : now from zealous defenders of heathenism, like Julian and Libanius, who hated and bitterly reviled the monks for their fanatical opposition to temples and idol-worship ; now from Christian statesmen and emperors, like Valens, who were enlisted against it by its with- drawing so much force from the civil and military service of the state, and, in the time of peril from the barbarians, encour- aging idleness and passive contemplation instead of active, heroic virtue ; now from friends of worldly indulgence, who found themselves unpleasantly disturbed and rebuked by the religious earnestness and zeal of the ascetic life ; lastly, hov/- ever, also from a liberal, almost protestant, conception of Christian morality, which set itself at the same time against the worship of Mary and the saints, and other abuses. This last form of opposition, however, existed mostly in isolated cases, was rather negative than positive in its character, lacked the spirit of wisdom and moderation, and hence almost entirely disappeared in the fifth century, only to be revived long after, in more mature and comprehensive form, when monasticism had flilfilled its mission for the world. To this class of opponents belong Helvidius, Jovinian, Vigilantius, and Aerius. The first three are known to us through the passionate replies of Jerome, the last through the Panarion of Epiphanius. They figure in Catholic church his- tory among the heretics, while they have received from many Protestant historians a place among the " witnesses of the truth " and the forerunners of the Reformation. We begin with Jovinian, the most important among them, who is sometimes compared, for instance, even by Keander, to Luther, because, like Luther, he was carried by his own ex- perience into reaction against the ascetic tendency and the doctrines connected with it. He wrote in Eome, before the year 390, a work, now lost, attacking monasticism in its ethical principles. He was at that time himself a monk, and probably remained so in a free way until his death. At all events he never married, and, according to Augustine's account, he ab- 228 THIfiD PEKIOD. A.D. 311-590.