3. Of course there soon appeared a class of persons who sought to attain to this closer union; and they adopted the method of life practiced among the pagan philosophers who wished to excel in virtue. They considered many things forbidden to them which were proper for ordinary Christians to {181} indulge in; such as wine, flesh, matrimony, and secular business. They thought the holiness of life they aspired to could sooner be attained by emaciating the body by fastings, watchings, excessive toil, hunger, insufficient and coarse raiment. In short, they "thought to merit heaven by making earth a hell." Those who engaged in this kind of life soom came to distinguish themselves by their dress as well as by the austerity of their lives. They soon began to withdraw themselves from association with their fellow Christians and the world and retire to the deserts and the wilderness, where by severe meditation they sought to abstract their minds from external objects and those things which minister to sensual delights. They sometimes lived alone but oftener in association with those devoted to the same manner of life. 4. When peace was assured to the Christian church, early in the fourth century, the number of those who became ambitious for this austere righteousness greatly increased, until vast multitudes of monk and sacred virgins spread with remarkable rapidity throughout Christendom. About the year 305, A. D., the practice of collecting these people into associated communities and regulating their mode of living by fixed rules was introduced. St Anthony of Egypt was the prime mover in this work. Thus monasteries and nunneries were established; and in a short time the east, especially, swarmed with persons who abandoned the conveniences, associations and business of ordinary life, to pine away in these institutions and hardships and sufferings, in order to attain a closer communion with God and a more excellent salvation. 5. Origin of the False Idea of Moral Life.--"The Christian church would have remained free from these numerous tortures of the mond and body," remarks Dr. Mosheim, "had not that great and fascinating doctrine of the ancient philosophy gained credence among Christians that to attain to happiness and communion with God, the soul must be freed from the influence {182} of the body, and for this purpose the body must be subdued." [100] 6. As a further evidence that these false notions of life and virtue came from the pagan philosophy rather than from the Christian religion, we quote again from Mosheim: