ORIGINS 23 



connection were broken or its influence counter- 

 acted." ("Mission and Expansion of Christian- 

 ity," I, 32.) We thus see that the later deduc- 

 tions concerning the sin inherent in the flesh, 

 which are noted in Augustin 's teaching and since, 

 may have been a contribution of Oriental myth- 

 ical thought, brought under the formative power 

 of Hellenizing thought something read into 

 Christianity, and not a just product of it. 



Augustin thought of sin as something phys- 

 ical, something inhering in the flesh, and did not 

 confine it to the will and the moral nature. To 

 him a "movement" of the flesh could be a sin, 

 even when that "movement" was subjugated by 

 the will and denied gratification. This is as ab- 

 surd as to affirm sin of the animals of the field 

 or the interaction of chemical forces.* 



* While Augustin has stated more explicitly than any other the doctrine of the 

 medieval Church concerning the evil nature of the "movements" of the flesh, yet there 

 is evidence that his belief far antedated him. It can hardly be traced to the Jews in the 

 form in which he held it, for they have a saying in the Talmud which reflects a different 

 sontiment. It says: "These four are reckoned as dead the blind, the leper, the poor, 

 and the childless." But the sentiment was so strong in the time of Origen, who lived 

 from 185-254 A. D., that in his youth in his aspiration for purity he mutilated himself 

 for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. (Eusebius H. E., vi, 8.) If any of the fathers of the 

 Church deserves to be styled the "greatest of the fathers," it was this Origen, undoubt- 

 edly the most learned of them all. The volumes that he wrote are said to have been 

 numbered in the thousands, and his impress on the Church has never perished. 



Meanwhile the doctrines of virginity and celibacy grew apace and the foundations 

 of marriage were undermined, leading to the greatest crimes and scandals that ever dis- 

 graced the Christian Church. For many centuries marriage was regarded as a purely 

 civil contract, and in that form bitterly assailed by the Church fathers. Chastity was 

 preached not because it was a good thing in itself, but because man's fall and the neces- 

 sity for his redemption was traced to an indiscretion committed in the Garden of Eden. 

 All intercourse between the sexes was discountenanced; to have children under any cir- 

 cumstances was a sin. Young people were enjoined to enter into vows of celibacy, and 

 multitudes of them did so. Marriage was regarded as evil and vicious. Decrees were 

 made forbidding married women to approach the altar or to touch the Eucharist, and 

 it was even declared to be doubtful whether married persons cohabiting with each other 



