9. Likewise, Second Thessalonians 3: If anyone does not wish to work, let him not eat: the Gloss says: "The Apostle wills that servants of God work bodily, so that they may have the means to live and not be compelled by want to beg for necessities"; but this is the way of mendicants: therefore it is not for servants of God to beg, according to the Apostle.
10. Likewise, on the same chapter, on the text: That we might give you an example to follow; the Gloss says: "He who frequently comes to another's table, given over to idleness, must needs flatter the one who feeds him"; but to flatter is contrary to truth and perfection: therefore, etc.
11. Likewise, in Causa twelve, question one, Videntes , Pope Urban says that "bishops ought to minister all necessities to all who wish to live the common life, as best they can, so that no one among them may be found in need." And afterwards: "If anyone in present or future times shall strive to tear this away, let him be struck with the aforementioned condemnation": therefore it is against canonical sanctions that any should live the common life in the Church while being in need and begging in it.
12. Likewise, in On Consecration, distinction one, it is prohibited that a church be consecrated unless it is first endowed: therefore if a church ought not to be consecrated unless those who minister in it have the means of sustenance, much more strongly neither should any religious order be instituted without a sustaining possession.
13. Likewise, in civil law it is prohibited that the able-bodied beg, by the law On Able-Bodied Beggars; but the Church ought to be more well-ordered than the commonwealth: if therefore that the able-bodied beg is against the right governance of the commonwealth, much more is it against the sublimity of evangelical perfection.
14. Likewise, this same thing is shown by reason. To beg is an indifferent act; but an indifferent act does not become a work of perfection by the addition of an end, as is manifestly apparent in other works, such as going to church and giving alms: therefore etc.
15. Likewise, it belongs to perfection to serve freely and generously and to flee from obligations for the sins of others: but he who receives alms obligates himself to intercede for the sins of others: if therefore an obligation of this kind does not accord with perfection, therefore etc.
16. Likewise, those of this kind who beg by profession either do this because they are poor, or because they are preachers. If because they are poor: therefore all the poor who beg are perfect, which is against Augustine in the book On the Work of Monks, who reproves monks who beg and wish to do no work. If because they are preachers: therefore no one among them who does not preach ought to beg: the contrary of which we see every day.
17. Likewise, to preach is something spiritual: but he who gives what is spiritual and receives what is temporal is like Gehazi, who received money from Naaman on account of the spiritual benefit previously shown to him; but this is damnable: therefore it is damnable for a preacher to beg: therefore it does not belong to evangelical perfection.
18. Likewise, it belongs to the perfect to abstain from every appearance of evil ; but it is an evil appearance that preachers seek temporal things, because in this they are like false preachers: therefore etc.
19. Likewise, such men either have authority in preaching or they do not. If they do not: therefore they do wrong in preaching, therefore they merit nothing; if they do: but those who have authority can demand by right of power: therefore such men by begging do injury to the authority of preaching the Gospel: therefore in this they are not perfect, but impious.
20. Likewise, it is safer and more perfect to follow men who are more proven and wiser: but the most proven and wisest men in religious life were Basil, Benedict, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory, Hilary, and Paulinus: but such men so relinquished their own possessions that they possessed things in common, nor are they read to have begged: therefore this manner of begging, newly introduced by Dominic and Francis, seems to be superstitious and vain, since it would seem foolish to prefer the sense and spirit of two poor men to so great a wisdom and sublimity of the preceding Saints and doctors.
But to the contrary: 1. Matthew 10: Do not possess gold, nor silver, nor money in your belts, nor a wallet for the journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals: Gloss: "Let them carry with them neither necessities themselves nor a storehouse: nothing beyond the clothing with which one can be content." But in this the form of perfection is handed down to the Apostles themselves, and what belongs to perfection is perfect to imitate: therefore to go through the world in such a manner pertains to evangelical perfection. But this is to beg and to live on alms: therefore this pertains to evangelical perfection.
2. Likewise, Mark 6: He commanded them to take nothing for the journey, neither bread nor money in their belt; therefore either He commanded this to them as prelates, or as perfect ones. If as prelates: then prelates would still be bound to this: which is manifestly false. Therefore He commanded this to them as perfect men: but perfection is proposed commonly to all for imitation, because it is said: Let him who can grasp it, grasp it: therefore to live in this way pertains to evangelical perfection.
3. Likewise, Luke 9: Take nothing for the journey, neither staff, nor wallet, nor bread, nor money: Gloss: " Not to carry a staff is not to be anxious about those things which are necessary for human sustenance, because these things are owed to preachers"; if therefore the Lord urged the Apostles, whom He also sent to preach among the unbelievers, to exclude anxiety about necessary sustenance: much more strongly, when the Gospel is preached to the faithful, it belongs to perfection not to be anxious about such things, but to be content with the food and clothing given to oneself.
4. Likewise, Luke 9: Whoever shall receive a child in my name; Interlinear gloss: "a poor one"; and the other Gloss: "He who receives an imitator of Christ receives Christ": therefore when a poor man imitating Christ is received, Christ is received. If therefore it belongs to evangelical perfection to be poor and an imitator of Christ: it belongs to evangelical perfection to wish to be received in such poverty for Christ's sake. If therefore such a one seeks by begging, he does not depart from evangelical perfection.
5. Again, Luke 10: Do not carry a purse or a bag. The Gloss: "So great ought the preacher's trust in God to be that, even if he does not foresee the expenses of the present life, he nonetheless knows most certainly that they will not fail him, lest, while the mind is occupied with temporal things, he preach eternal things less effectively." Therefore, it contributes to a more unhindered preaching of the truth that one not make provision of temporal things for oneself, but expect them to be given by others when one is in need: therefore such a mode of living is consonant with truth and evangelical perfection.
6. Again, Luke 16: Make for yourselves friends from the mammon of iniquity, so that when you fail, they may receive you into eternal tabernacles. The Gloss: "Not any poor whatsoever, but those who can receive into eternal tabernacles"; but such are the poor in spirit, whose is the kingdom of heaven: therefore it is according to divine counsel that alms be given to such poor and that they be received by them. But what is consonant with divine counsel does not conflict with evangelical perfection: therefore, etc.
7. Again, Jerome, in Against Vigilantius, treating the aforementioned word, says: "Can those poor, among whose filth and bodily squalor burning lust holds sway, possess eternal tabernacles—they who possess neither present nor future things? For not simply the poor, but the poor in spirit are called blessed, of whom it is written: Blessed is he who understands concerning the needy and the poor; in the evil day the Lord will deliver him. In sustaining the poor of the common people, there is need not at all of understanding, but of almsgiving; in the holy poor, there is blessedness in understanding, that you give to him who blushes to receive, and when he has received, grieves—reaping carnal things and sowing spiritual things."
8. Again, 2 Corinthians 8: Let your abundance supply their want, so that their abundance also may be a supplement to your want. The Gloss: "Let your abundance of earthly things supply their want, so that conversely the abundance of their spiritual merits, who are devoted to divine things, may be a supplement to your want. " If, therefore, it pertains to the perfection of the Lord's body that its members share with one another in the manner of giving and receiving: it contributes to the perfection of the Church and of the Gospel that the just poor seek and receive sustenance from the worldly and imperfect rich.
If you say that they can receive but not ask: this amounts to nothing, because the worldly rich can ask for the prayers of spiritual men to relieve the want of their merits: therefore conversely the spiritual poor can ask for corporal alms for the sustenance of their bodies.
9. Likewise, this same thing is shown by the example of Christ. Psalm: But I am a beggar and poor: Gloss: "Christ says this of Himself: I am a beggar in the form of a servant. A beggar is one who asks from another, a pauper is one who does not suffice for himself." But it is certain that this is not understood of Christ with respect to spiritual gifts or goods, because He was a comprehensor and full of all grace: therefore it is understood with respect to temporal goods, and thus with respect to those He was a beggar and asked from another.
10. Likewise, Psalm: He persecuted the needy and begging man: Gloss: "namely Christ. To persecute the poor is sheer cruelty. Others indeed sometimes suffer such things on account of riches and honors." Either, therefore, Christ is called a beggar because He begged from the Father, or because He begged from man. If because He begged from the Father: then all men are beggars, the rich as well as the poor: therefore to persecute Christ in this way would not have been the height of cruelty; if because He begged from men, we have what was proposed: therefore etc.
11. Likewise, Mark 11: Having looked around at all things, He went out to Bethany: Gloss: "to see if anyone would receive Him as a guest; for He was of such great poverty and flattered no one, so that in so great a city He could find no lodging"; but it is certain that if He had wished to hire lodging, He would have found a place to hire: therefore He was looking around as a poor man and beggar.
12. Likewise, Luke 19: Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay in your house: Gloss: "Uninvited, He invites Himself"; but to invite another to receive one as a guest is nothing other than to beg and to ask: therefore etc.