Chapter XVI

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[410] Cf. Taylor, _Ancient Ideals_, chaps. xv., xvi.; _Classical Heritage_, chaps. ii., iii.

[411] Hosea i.-iii.

[412] Sulpicius Severus, _Epist._ iii.

[413] These words occur in Jerome’s famous letter (_Ep._ xiv.), in which he exhorts the wavering Heliodoras to sever all ties and affections: “Do not mind the entreaties of those dependent on you, come to the desert and fight for Christ’s name. If they believe in Christ, they will encourage you; if they do not,--let the dead bury their dead. A monk cannot be perfect in his own land; not to wish to be perfect is a sin; leave all, and come to the desert. The desert loves the naked. O desert, blooming with the flowers of Christ! O solitude, whence are brought the stones of the city of the Great King! O wilderness rejoicing close to God! What would you, brother, in the world,--you that are greater than the world? How long are the shades of roofs to oppress you? How long the dungeon of a city’s smoke? Believe me, I see more of light! Do you fear poverty? Christ called the poor “blessed.” Are you terrified at labour? No athlete without sweat is crowned. Do you think of food? Faith fears not hunger. Do you dread the naked ground for limbs consumed with fasts? The Lord lies with you. Does the infinite vastness of the desert fright you? In the mind walk abroad in Paradise. Does your skin roughen without baths? Who is once washed in Christ needs not to wash again. And in a word, hear the apostle answering: The sufferings of the present time are not to be compared with the glory to come which shall be revealed in us!”

[414] In my _Classical Heritage_, pp. 136-197, I have given an account of the origins of monasticism, and of its distinctive western features. There I have also set out the Rule of Benedict, with sketches of the early monastic character.

[415] Cyprian said in the third century, addressing himself to Christian virgins: “Dominus vester et caput Christus est ad instar ad vicem masculi” (_De habitu virginum_, 22). To realize how near to the full human relationship was this wedded love of Christ, one should read the commentaries and sermons upon Canticles. Those of a later time--St. Bernard’s, for example--are the best, because they sum up so much that had been gathering fervour through the centuries. One might look further to those mediaeval instances that break through mysticism to a sensuousness in which the man Christ becomes an almost too concrete husband for ecstatic women. See _post_,