this, and saying, "The light of thy body is thine eye: if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light; but if thine eye 5 De Christ i.
520 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
be evil, thy whole body shall be full of dark- ness;" that is, such will be thy deeds as shall be thine intention for which thou doest them. For indeed that He might come to this, He had before given precept concerning alms, saying, " Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where rust and moth doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where thy treasure shall be, there will thy heart be also.1" Thereupon He subjoined, "The light of thy body is thine eye: " that they, to wit, which do alms, do them not with that intention that they should either wish to please men, or seek to have repayment on earth of the alms they do. Whence the Apostle, giving charge to Timothy for warning of rich men, " Let them," says he "readily give, communicate, treasure up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on the true life." 2 Since then the Lord hath to the future life directed the eye of them which do alms, and to an heavenly reward, in order that the deeds themselves may be lull of light when the eye shall be simple, (for of that last retribution is meant that which He says in another place, " He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me. He that re- ceiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, his reward shall not be lost," 3) lest haply after he had reproved the eye 4 of them which bestow things needful upon the indigent both prophets and just men and disciples of the Lord, the eye of the persons to whom these things were done should be- come depraved, so that for the sake of re- ceiving these things they should wish to serve Christ as His soldiers: " No man," saith He, "can serve two masters." And a little after: "Ye cannot/' saith He, "serve God and mammon." s And straightway He hath added, " Therefore I say unto you, be not solicitous for your life what ye shall eat, nor for the body what ye shall put on."
35. And that which follows concerning birds of the air and lilies of the field, He saith to this end, that no man may think that God careth not for the needs of His servants; when His most wise Providence reacheth unto these in creating and governing those. For it must not be deemed that it is not He that feeds and clothes them also which work with their hands. But lest they turn aside the Christian service of warfare unto their purpose of getting these things, the Lord in this premonisheth His servants that in this ministry which is due to His Sacrament, we should take thought, not for these, but for His kingdom and righteousness: and all these things shall be added unto us, whether working by our hands, or whether by infirmity of body hindered from working, or whether bound by such occupation of our very war- fare that we are able to do nothing else. For neither does it follow that because the Lord hath said, " Call upon Me in the day of trib- ulation and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me,"6 therefore the Apostle ought not to have fled, and to be let down by the wall in a basket that he might escape the hands of a pursuer,7 but should rather have waited to be taken, that, like the three chil- dren from the midst of the fires, the Lord might deliver him. Or for this reason ought not the Lord either to have said this, "If they shall persecute you in one city, flee ye to another," 8 namely, because He hath said, " If ye shall ask of the Father any thing in My name, He will give it you."9 As then whoever to Christ's disciples when fleeing from persecution should cast up this sort of question, why they did not rather stand, and by calling upon God obtain through His marvellous works in such wise deliverance, as Daniel from the lions, as Peter from his chains, they would answer that they ought not to tempt God, but He would then and then only do the like for them, if it should please Him, when they had nothing that they could do; but when He put flight in their power, although they were thereby delivered, yet were they not delivered but by Him: so likewise to servants of God having time and strength after the example and precept of the Apostle to get their living by their own hands, if any from the Gospel shall raise a question concerning the birds of the air, which sow not nor reap nor gather into stores, and concerning lilies of the field that they toilnot neither do they spin; they will easily answer, " If we also, by reason of any either infirmity or occupation cannot work, He will so feed and clothe us, as He doth the birds and the lilies, which do no work of this kind: 7 Acts ix. 25; 2 Cor. xi. 33. 9 John xvi. 23.
OF THE WORK OF MONKS.
521 but when we are able, we ought not to tempt our God; because this very ability of ours, we have it by His gift, and in living by it, we live by His bounty Who hath bounteously bestowed upon us that we should have this ability. And therefore concerning these necessary things we are not solicitous; be- cause when we are able to do these things, He by Whom mankind are fed and clothed cloth feed and clothe us: but when we are not able to do these things, He feeds and clothes us by Whom the birds are fed and the lilies clothed, because we are more worth than they. Wherefore in this our warfare, neither for the morrow take we thought: because not for the sake of these temporal things, whereunto pertaineth To-morrow, but for the sake of^those eternal things, where it is evermore To-day, have we proved our- selves unto Him, that, entangled in no secu- lar business, we may please Him.1 36. Since these things are so, suffer me awhile, holy brother, (for the Lord giveth me through thee great boldness,) to address these same our sons and brethren whom I know with what love thou together with us dost travail in birth withal, until the Apostolic discipline be formed in them. O servants of God, soldiers of Christ, is it thus ye dissem- ble the plottings of our most crafty foe, who fearing your good fame, that so goodly odor of Christ, lest good souls should say, "We will run after the odor of thine ointments,"2 and so should escape his snares, and in every way desiring to obscure it with his own stenches, hath dispersed on every side so many hypocrites under the garb of monks, strolling about the provinces, no where sent, no where fixed, no where standing, no where sitting. Some hawking about limbs of mar- tyrs, if indeed of martyrs; others magnifying their fringes and phylacteries;3 others with a lying story, how they have heard say that their parents or kinsmen are alive in this or that country, and therefore be they on their way to them: and all asking, all exacting, either the costs of their lucrative want, or the price of their pretended sanctity. And in the meanwhile wheresoever they be found out in their evil deeds, or in whatever way they become notorious, under the general name of monks, your purpose is blasphemed, a purpose so good, so holy, that in Christ's name we desire it, as through other lands so through all Africa, to grow and flourish. Then are ye not inflamed with godly jeal- ousy? Does not your heart wax hot within 3 Reg. S. Ben. c. 1. Cass. Coll. xviii. 7.
you, and in your meditation a fire kindle,4 that these men's evii works ye should pursue with good works, that ye should cut off from them occasion of a foul trafficking, by which your estimation is- hurt, and a stumbling- block put before the weak? Have mercy then and have compassion, and show to man- kind that ye are not seeking in ease a ready subsistence, but through the strait and nar- row way of this purpose, are seeking the kingdom of God. Ye have the same cause which the Apostle had, to cut off occasion from them which seek occasion, that they who by their stinks are suffocated, by your good odor may be refreshed.
37. We are not binding heavy burdens and laying them upon your shoulders, while we with a finger will not touch them. Seek out, and acknowledge the labor of our occu- pations, and in some of us the infirmities of our bodies also, and in the Churches which we serve, that custom now grown up, that they do not suffer us to have time ourselves for those works to which we exhort you. For though we might say, " Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit there- of? Who feedeth a flock, and partaketh not of the milk of the flock?"5 yet I call our Lord Jesus, in Whose name I fearlessly say these things, for a witness upon my soul, that so far as it concerns mine own conveni- ence, I would much rather every day at cer- tain hours, as much as is appointed by rule in well-governed monasteries, do some work with my hands, and have the remaining hours free for reading and praying, or some work pertaining to Divine Letters,6 than have to bear these most annoying perplexities of other men's causes about secular matters, which we must either by adjudication bring to an end, or by intervention cut short. Which troubles the same Apostle hath fast- ened us withal, (not by his own sentence, but by His who spake through him,) while yet we do not read that he had to put up with them himself: indeed his was not the sort of work to admit of it, while running to and fro in his Apostleship. Nor hath he said, " If then ye have secular law-suits, bring them be- fore us;" or, "Appoint us to judge them;" but, "Them which are contemptible in the Church, these," saith he, " put ye in place. To your abashment I say it: is it so that there is not among you any wise man who can judge between his brother, but brother goeth to law with brother, and that before 4 Ps. xxxix. 3. [See R.V.] 6 Reg. S. Ben. c. xlviii.
5 1 Cor. ix. 7.
522 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
infidels? " * So then wise believers and saints, having their stated abode in the different places, not those who were running hither and hither on the business of the Gospel, were the persons whom he willed to be charged with examination of such affairs. Whence it is no where written of him that he on any occasion gave up his time to such matters; from which we are not able to ex- cuse ourselves, even though we be contemp- tible; because he willed even such to be put in place, in case there were lack of wise men, rather than have the affairs of Christians to be brought into the public courts. Which labor, however, we not without consolation of the Lord take upon us, for hope of eternal life, that we may bring forth fruit with pa- tience. For we are servants unto His Church, and most of all to the weaker mem- bers, whatsoever members we in the same body may chance to be. I pass by other innumerable ecclesiastical cares, which per- chance no man credits but he who hath ex- perienced the same. Therefore we do not bind heavy burdens and place them on your shoulders, while we ourselves touch them not so much as with a finger; since indeed if with safety to our office we might, (He seeth it, Who tries our hearts!) we would rather do these things which we exhort you to do, than the things which we ourselves are forced to do. True it is, to all both us and you, while according to our degree and office we labor, both the way is strait in labor and toil; and yet, while we rejoice in hope, His yoke is easy and His burden light, Who hath called us unto rest, Who passed forth before us from the vale of tears, where not Himself either was without pressure of griefs. If ye be our brethren, if our sons, if we be your fellow-servants, or rather in Christ your ser- vants, hear what we admonish, acknowledge what we enjoin, take what we dispense. But if we be Pharisees, binding heavy burdens and laying them on your shoulders;2 yet do ye the things we say, even though ye disap- prove the things we do. But to us it is a very small thing that we be judged by you,3 or of any human assize.4 Of how near and dear5 charity is our care on your behalf, let Him look into it Who hath given what we may offer to be looked into by His eyes. In fine: think what ye will of us: Paul the Apostle enjoins and beseeches you in the Lord, that with silence, that is, quietly and obediently ordered, ye do work and eat your own bread.6 Of him, as I suppose, ye be- 1 i Cor. vi. 4-6.
4 Ab /influx no die.
2 Matt, xxiii. 3. S Germana.
3 1 Cor. iv. 3.
6 2 Ihess. iii. 12.
lieve no evil, and He who by him doth speak, on Him have ye believed.
38. These things, my brother Aurelius, most dear unto me, and in the bowels of Christ to be venerated, so far as He hath be- stowed on me the ability Who through thee commanded me to do it, touching work of Monks, I have not delayed to write; making this my chief care, lest good brethren obey- ing apostolic precepts, should by lazy and disobedient be called even prevaricators from the Gospel: that they which work not, may at the least account them which do work to be better than themselves without doubt. But who can bear that contumacious persons resisting most wholesome admonitions of the Apostle, should, not as weaker brethren be borne withal, but even be preached up as holier men; insomuch that monasteries founded on sounder doctrine should be by 1 this double enticement corrupted, the dis- ' solute license of vacation from labor, and the j false name of sanctity? Let it be known then to the rest, our brethren and sons, who are accustomed to favor such men, and through 1 ignorance to defend this kind of presumption, that they need themselves most chiefly to be corrected, in order that those may be cor- rected, nor that they become " weary in well- doing." 7 Truly, in that they do promptly and with alacrity minister unto the servants of God the things they need, not only we blame them not, but we most cordially em- brace them: only let them not with perverse mercy more hurt these men's future life, than to their present life they render aid.
39. For there is less sin, if people do not praise the sinner in the desires of his soul, and speak good of him who practiseth iniqui- ties.8 Now what is more an iniquity than to wish to be obeyed by inferiors, and to refuse to obey superiors? The Apostle, I mean, not us: insomuch that they even let their hair grow long: a matter, of which he would have no disputing at all, saying, " If any chooseth to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the Church of God.9 Now this I command;"10 which gives us to understand that it is not cleverness of reasoning that we are to look for, but authority of one giving command to attend unto. For whereunto, I pray thee, pertaineth this also, that people so openly against the Apostle's precepts wear long hair? Is it that there must be in such sort vacation, that not even the barbers are to work? Or, because they say that they 10 E. V. follows text rec. toOto &i irapayy(X\u)v ovk eiraivu), but good MSS. and Versions besides the Ital. and Vulg. have toOto Se 7rapayyeAAio ovk i-TTaiviav, hoc autem ftraecijiio lion laudans.
OF THE WORK OF MONKS.
523 imitate the Gospel birds, do they fear to be, as it were, plucked, lest they be not able to fly? I shrink from saying more against this fault, out of respect for certain long-haired brethren, in whom, except this, we find much, and well-nigh every thing, to venerate. But the more we love them in Christ, the more solicitously do we admonish them. Nor are we afraid indeed, lest their humility reject our admonition; seeing that we also desire to be admonished by such as they, wherever we chance to stumble or to go aside. This then we admonish so holy men, not to be moved by foolish quibblings of vain persons, and imitate in this perversity them whom in all else they are far from resembling. For those persons, hawking about a venal hypocrisy, fear lest shorn Sanctity be held cheaper than lone-haired: because forsooth he who sees them shall call to mind those ancients whom we read of, Samuel and the rest who did not cut off their hair.1 And they do not consider what is the difference between that prophetic veil, and this unveiling which is in the Gospel, of which the Apostle saith, " When thou shalt go over2 unto Christ, the veil shall be taken away."3 That, namely, which was signified in the veil interposed between the face of Moses and the beholding of the people Israel,4 that same was also signified in those times by the long hair of the Saints. For the same Apostle saith, that long hair is also instead of a veil: by whose authority these men are hard pressed. Seeing he saith openly, " If a man wear long hair, it is a disgrace to him." "The very disgrace, '' say they, "we take upon us, for desert of our sins: " holding out a screen of simulated humility, to the end that under cover of it they may carry on their trade of self-importance.5 Just as if the Apostle were teaching pride when he says, " Every man praying or prophesying with veiled head shameth his head;"6 and, "A man ought not to veil his head, forsomuch as he is the image and glory of God."7 Conse- quently he who says, " Ought not," knows not perchance how to teach humility! How- ever, if this same disgrace in time of the Gospel, which was a thing of a holy meaning8 in time of Prophecy, be by these people courted as matter of humility, then let them be shorn, and veil their head with haircloth. Only then there will be none of that attract- ing of people's eyes in which they trade,9 be- cause Samson was veiled not with haircloth, but with his long hair.
1 Numb. vi. 5 2 Cum transieris. Gr. T)vCko. &' av €7r«TTpei|/T), sc. 6 'IcrparjA Chrys. Theod. or ris Origen. 3 2 Cor. iii. 16.
7 1 Cor. xi. 14. 8 Sacramentum. 9 Species ilia venalis.
40. And then that further device of theirs, (if words can express it), how painfully ridiculous is it, which they have invented for defense of their long locks! "A man," say they, "the Apostle hath forbidden to have long hair: but then they who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of God are no longer men." O dotage unparalleled! Well may the person who says this arm him- self against Holy Scripture's most manifest proclamations, with counsel of outrageous impiety, and persevere in a tortuous path, and essay to bring in a pestiferous doctrine that not "Blessed is the man who hath not. walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and in the way of sinners hath not stood, and in the chair of noisome wickedness I0 hath not sat." For if he would meditate in God's law day and night, there he should find the Apostle Paul himself, who assuredly professing high- est chastity saith, "I would that all men were even as I: " and yet shows himself a man, not only in so being, but also in so speaking. For he saith, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; when I became a man, I put away childish things." I2 But why should I mention the Apostle, when concerning our Lord and Saviour Himself they know not what they think who say these things. For of Whom but Him is it said, "Until we come all to unity of faith and to knowledge of the Son of God, to the Perfect Man, to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ; that we be no longer babes, tossed and carried about with every wind of doctrine, in sleight of men, in cunning craftiness for machination of error."13 With which sleight these persons deceive ignorant people, with which cunning craftiness and machinations of the enemy both they themselves are whirled round, and in their whirling essay to make the minds of the weak which cohere unto them so (in a manner) to spin round with them, that they also may not know where they are. For they have heard or read that which is written, " Whosoever of you have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ: where is no Jew nor Greek; no bond nor free; no male nor female.'' I4 And they do not understand that it is in reference to concupiscence of carnal sex IS that this is said, because in the inner man, wherein we are renewed in newness of our mind, no sex of this kind exists. Then let them not deny themselves to be men, just because in respect of their masculine sex they work not. For wedded Christians also who '« Pestilentite.
" Ps. i. 1.
J3 Eph. iv. 13, 14.
*5 2 Cor. iv. 16.
5^4 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.