Sin not to be committed to detect sin. 469 MENDA CIUM. ficos yet that thou unshakenly hold and defend, that in divine CONTRA religion it is at no time whatever right to tell a lie. And, as for concealed heretics, that, as we are not to find out concealed adulterers by committing of adulteries, nor murderers by committing of murders, nor practisers of black arts by malepractising of black arts, so neither must we seek to find out liars by telling lies or blasphemers by blaspheming: according to the reasonings which we have in this volume so copiously set forth, that unto the goal of the same, which we fixed to be in this place, we have with difficulty come at last. S. AUGUSTINE OF THE WORK OF MONKS. From the Retractations, ii. 21. To write the Book on the Work of Monks, the need which compelled me was this. When at Carthage there had begun to be monasteries, some maintained themselves by their own hands, obeying the Apostle; but others wished so to live on the oblations of the faithful, that doing no work whence they might either have or supply the necessaries of life, they thought and boasted that they did rather fulfil the precept of the Gospel, where the Lord saith, Behold the fowls of heaven and the lilies of the field, Matt. vi. 26. Whence also among laics of inferior purpose, but yet fervent in zeal, there had begun to arise tumultuous contests, whereby the Church was troubled, some defending the one, others the other part. Add to this, that some of them who were for not working, wore their hair long. Whence contentions between those who reprehended and those who justified the practice, were, according to their party affections, increased. On these accounts the venerable old Aurelius, Bishop of the Church of the same city, desired me to write somewhat of this matter; and I did so. This book begins, "Jussioni tuæ, sancte frater Aureli." This work is placed in the Retractations next after that' On the Good of i. 1. THY bidding, holy brother Aurelius, it was meet that I should comply withal, with so much the more devotion, by how much the more it became clear unto me Who, out of thee, did speak that bidding. For our Lord Jesus Christ, dwelling in thine inner part, and inspiring into thee a solicitude of fatherly and brotherly charity, whether our Argument of Monks against manual labour. 471 OPERE RUM. 2 Thess. sons and brothers the monks, who neglect to obey blessed DE Paul the Apostle, when he saith, If any will not work, MONAneither let him eat, are to have that licence permitted unto CHOthem; He, assuming unto His work thy will and tongue, hath commanded me out of thee, that I should hereof write some- 3, 10. what unto thee. May He therefore Himself be present with me also, that I may obey in such sort that from His gift, in the very usefulness of fruitful labour, I may understandthat I am indeed obeying Him. 25-34. 2. First then, it is to be seen, what is said by persons of that profession, who will not work: then, if we shall find that they think not aright, what is meet to be said for their correction? 'It is not,' say they,' of this corporal work in which either husbandmen or handicraftsmen labour, that the Apostle gave precept, when he said, If any will not work, neither let him eat. For he could not be contrary to the Gospel, where the Lord Himself saith, Therefore I say unto Matt. 6, you, be not solicitous for your life, what ye shall eat, neither for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Consider the fowls of heaven, that they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye rather of more worth than they? But who of you by taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? And concerning raiment, why are ye solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they labour not, neither spin; but I say unto you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these. But if the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, God so clotheth; how much more you, (0 ye) of little faith! Be not therefore solicitous, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clad? for all these things do the Gentiles seek. And your heavenly Father knoweth that ye need all these. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these shall be added unto you. Be not therefore solicitous for the morrow: for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Lo, say they, where the Lord biddeth us be without care concerning our food and clothing: how then could the Apostle think contrary to MONA RUM. 5-10. 472 Spiritual work alleged as sufficient. DE the Lord, that he should instruct us that we ought to be in OPERE such sort solicitous, what we shall eat, or what we shall CHO- drink, or wherewithal we shall be clothed, that he should even burden us with the arts, cares, labours of handicraftsmen? Wherefore in that he saith, If any will not work, neither let him eat; works spiritual, say they, are what we must understand: of which he saith in another 1 Cor. 3, place, To each one according as the Lord hath given: I have planted, Apollos hath watered; but God gave the increase. And a little after, Each one shall receive his reward according to his own labour. We are God's fellowworkers; God's husbandry, God's building are ye: according to the grace which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder I have laid the foundation. As therefore the Apostle worketh in planting, watering, building, and foundationlaying, in that way whoso will not work, let him not eat. For what profiteth in eating spiritually to be fed with the word of God, if he do not thence work others' edification? As that slothful servant, what did it profit to receive a talent and to hide it, and not work for the Lord's gain? Was it that it should be taken from him at last, and himself cast into outer darkness? So, say they, do we also. We read with the brethren, who come to us fatigued from the turmoil of the world, that with us, in the word of God, and in prayers, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, they may find rest. We speak to them, console, exhort, building up in them whatever unto their life, according to their degree, we perceive to be lacking. Such works if we wrought not, with peril should we receive of the Lord our spiritual sustenance itself. For this is it the Apostle said, If any one will not work, neither let him eat. Thus do these men deem themselves to comply with the apostolic and evangelic sentence, when both the Gospel they believe to have given precept concerning the not caring for the corporal and temporal indigence of this life, and the Apostle concerning spiritual work and food to have said, If any will not work, neither let him eat. ii. 3. Nor do they attend to this, that if another should say, that the Lord indeed, speaking in parables and in similitudes concerning spiritual food and clothing, did warn that Our Lord forbade care for earthly goods. 473 DE OPERE MONA RUM. not on these accounts should His servants be solicitous; (as He saith, When they shall drag you to judgment-seats, take no thought what ye shall speak. For it will be given you in CHOthat hour what ye shall speak: but it is not ye that speak, Mat.10, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you. For 19. 20. the discourse of spiritual wisdom is that for which He would not that they should take thought, promising that it should be given unto them, nothing solicitous thereof;) but the Apostle now, in manner Apostolical, more openly discoursing and more properly, than figuratively speaking, as is the case with much, indeed well-nigh all, in his Apostolic Epistles, said it properly of corporal work and food, If any will not work, neither let him eat: by those would their sentence be rendered doubtful, unless, considering the other words of the Lord, they should find somewhat whereby they might prove it to have been of not caring for corporal food and raiment that He spake when He said, Be not solicitous what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed. As, if they should observe what He saith, For all these things do the Gentiles seek; for there He shews that it was of very corporal and temporal things that He spake. So then, were this the only thing that the Apostle has said on this subject, If any will not work, neither let him eat; these words might be drawn over to another meaning: but since in many other places of his Epistles, what is his mind on this point, he most openly teaches, they superfluously essay to raise a mist before themselves and others, that what that charity adviseth they may not only refuse to do, but even to understand it themselves, or let it be undertood by others; not fearing that which is written, He would not understand that Ps.36,3. he might do good". 4. First then we ought to demonstrate that the blessed iii. Apostle Paul willed the servants of God to work corporal works which should have as their end a great spiritual reward, for this purpose that they should need food and clothing of no man, but with their own hands should procure these for themselves: then, to shew that those evangelical precepts from which some cherish not only their sloth but a Ps. 35, 4. (36, 3.) noluit intelligere ut bene ageret.' |