was meet that I should comply withal, with thee. May He therefore Himself be present
OF THE WORK OF MONKS.
[DE OPERE MONACHORUM. |
From the Retractations, ii. 21.
To write the Book om the Work of Monks, the need whicn 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 fulfill 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
This Book begins, " Jussioni tuz, sancte frater Aureli." did so.
This work is placed 1 in the Retractations next after that "On the Good of Meneetth Ashe whieh belongs to the year 4or.
1. Tuy bidding, holy brother Aurelius, it was meet that I should comply withal, with that I should hereof write somewhat 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 labor, I may understand that I am indeed obeying Him.
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 sons and brothers the monks, who neglect to obey blessed Paul the Apostle, when he saith, '' If any will not work, neither let him eat,''* are to have that license permitted unto them; He, assuming unto His work thy will and | tongue, hath commanded me out 6f thee,
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 labor, 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 Him-
I 2 Thess. iii. 10. [See R.V.]
ST. AUGUSTIN.
504 THE WORKS OF 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. Sueh 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 self saith, '" Therefore I say unto 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 labor 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, (O 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 the Lord, that he should instruct us that we ought to be in such sort solicitous, what we shall eat, or what we shall drink, or wherewithal we shall be clothed, that he should even burden us with the arts, cares, labors 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 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 labor. We are God's fellow-workers; 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 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."
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 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 that hour what ye shall speak: but it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.''3 For 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 wellnigh 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 shows 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 meanfoundation-laying, 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
3 Matt. x. 19, 20.
t Matt. vi. 25-34. 2 1 Cor. iii. 5-xo.