t had been claimed, it was tainted with Oriental
philosophy and allied with Egyptian magic, and hence could not develop
ethical standards.

It is easy to observe how the ideas of Christian learning came into
direct competition with the arrogant self-assumption and the hollowness
of the selfish teachings of the old Graeco-Roman schools. The
Christian doctrine, advocating the development of the individual life,
intimate relations with God, the widening of social functions, with its
teachings of humility, and humanity, could not tolerate the instruction
given in these schools. Moreover, the Christian doctrine of education
consisted, on the one hand, in preparing for the future life, and on
the other, in the preparation of Christian ministers to teach this
future life. As might be expected, when narrowed to this limit,
Christian education had its dwarfing influence. If salvation were an
important thing and salvation were to be obtained only by the denial of
the life of this world, then there would be no object in perpetuating
learning, no attempt to cultivate the mind, no tendency to develop the
whole man on account of his moral and intellectual worth. The use of
secular books was everywhere discouraged. As a result the instruction
of the religious schools was of a very meagre nature.

Within the monasteries devotional exercises and the study of the
Scriptures represented the chief intellectual development of the monks.
The Western monks required a daily service and a systematic training,
but the practice of the Eastern monks was not educational in its nature
at all. After a while persons who were not studying for religious vows
were admitted to the schools that they might understand the Bible and
the services of the church. They were taught to write, that they might
copy the manuscripts of the church fathers, the sacred books, and the
psalter; they were taught arithmetic, that they might be able to
calculate the return of Easter and the other festivals; they were
taught music, that they might {359} be able to chant well. But the
education in any line was in itself superficial and narrow.

The Benedictine order was exceptional in the establishment of better
schools and in promoting better educational influences. Their
curriculum consisted of the Old and New Testaments, the exposition of
the Scriptures by learned theologians, and the discourses, or
conversations, of Cassianus; yet, as a rule, the monks cared litt