Christian, according to
monasticism, is poor, celibate and obedient. The three fundamental
monastic vows should therefore receive special consideration.

1. The Vow of Poverty. The monks of all countries held the possession of
riches to be a barrier to high spiritual attainments. In view of the
fact that an inordinate love of wealth has proved disastrous to many
nations, and that it is extremely difficult for a rich man to escape the
hardening, enervating and corrupting influences of affluence, the
position of the monks on this question is easily understood. The
Christian monks based their vow of poverty upon the Bible, and
especially upon the teachings of Christ, who, though he was rich, yet
for our sakes became poor. He said to the rich young man, "Sell all that
thou hast and give to the poor." In commissioning the disciples to
preach the gospel He said: "Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass
in your purses; nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, nor
shoes." In the discourse on counting the cost of discipleship, He said:
"So therefore, whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he
hath, he cannot be my disciple." He promised rewards to "every one that
left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children,
or lands for my name's sake." "It is easier," He once said, "for a
camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of heaven." He portrayed the pauper Lazarus as participating in
the joys of heaven, while the rich Dives endured the torments of the
lost. As reported in Luke, He said, "Blessed are ye poor." He Himself
was without a place to lay His head, a houseless wanderer upon
the earth.

The apostle James cries to the men of wealth: "Go to now, ye rich men,
weep and howl, for your miseries that shall come upon you." John said:
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

Whatever these passages, and many others of like import, may signify, it
is not at all strange that Christians, living in times when wealth was
abused, and when critical Biblical scholarship was unknown, should have
understood Christ to command a life of poverty as an indispensable
condition of true holiness.

There are three ways of interpreting Christ's doctrine of wealth. First,
it may be held that Jesus intended His teachings to be literally obeyed,
not only by His first disciples but by a