Excerpt from The Imitation of Christ The Brotherhood of the Common Life was one of those monastic communities which grew up in a natural and healthy way from small beginnings \to meet a real need. It was founded by Gerrard Groot, who was born at Deventer in 1340, and who after considerable success in the paths of learning, abandoned all thought of worldly advancement, in order more closely to serve God and his fellow-men. He was not, however, the only founder. Florentius Redewyn, who had been a Canon of the Cathedral of Utrecht, and possessed of considerable wealth, had been moved by Groot's simple and impressive teaching, and abandoned his preferments in order to join his friend. Together they formed a small band of earnest men at Deventer, who devoted themselves to help others by directing them in their studies, and by making copies of the Bible, and of the Breviary and Missal and of the writings of the saints, which was a charitable work at that time' when printing had not yet been invented. These bound them selves together at first to live a common life of good will. They were intent upon being in the world but not of the world, and, as a matter of fact, they commended themselves and their teachings to others by their simple and sensible um worldliness. They encouraged one another, and helped those whom they could reach - to conquer self, to subdue and purify passion, to mortify self-will, and to live a simple, devout, but busy life, keeping God always before them. Idleness they dis countenanced. They made copies of the Bible and other books They tilled the ground and worked at useful handicrafts, those of them who were ordained gave themselves to preaching and other clerical duties. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.