Begging

BEGGING, to beg, mendicare, mendicusDeut. xv. 4, 7. — xv. 11.. Moses exhorting the Israelites to Alms -giving, says, To the end that there be no poor among you ; for the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it. And a little lower ; If there be among you a poor man of one of thy Brethren, within any of thy gates, in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor Brother. The Hebrew Text of this place does not speak of begging. Besides we very well know, that there were at all times poor persons and beggars among the Jews as well as among other people. God himself in the same Chapter says, The poor shall never cease out of the land. And we see by the Gospel, that there were several beggars in Jerusalem, and other places in the land¹. Lazarus was poor, and forced to beg ; and so was the man born Mark x. 46. Luke xviii. 35. John ix. 8. Luke xvi. 20.blind, who was cured by Jesus Christ, and some other blind men at Jericho. The true sense therefore of the passage in Moses is, that God will so plentifully bless the lands of the Hebrews in the sixth year, that tho’ there be no harvest in the sabbatical year, nevertheless there will be no poor among them, provided they faithfully observe his precepts ; or it was his design to recommend charity and alms-giving to them in such a manner that there should be no poor among them. Be so charitable and liberal of your alms, that there may be no indigent person seen in Israel. The Jews still at this day observe great discipline, in order to prevent as much as possible, there being any poor among them². They give alms, and make collections in publick and private for the poor ; and it³ is very rare to see any beggars of their Nation, in places, where they are numerous and powerful e.

Some have been of opinion that Jesus Christ and his Apostles were reduced to such a degree of poverty, as to beg. The Author of a Sermon upon Sunday in the Octave of the Epiphany, printed under the name of S. Bernard, but written in reality by Alfred Abbot of Rieval, of the Cistercian Order in England, who lived in the twelfth Age⁴, says expressly, that Jesus Christ begg’d from door to door during his three days stay at Jerusalem, when he remained there without the knowledge of his parents, being at that time twelve years of age. Quasi unus è turba pauperum stipem per ostia mendicabat. S. Thomas⁵ in his Answer to William of S. Amour, who had attacked the Preaching Friars, on the score of their begging, and maintained, that neither our Saviour nor his Apostles ever begg’d, endeavours to prove, that Jesus Christ in reality did beg; for example at Jericho, when he said to Zachæus, Make haste and Luke xix. 5.come down; for to day I must abide at thy house. But it must be confessed, that this passage does no way prove, that our Saviour begg’d on this occasion, and Alfred’s opinion is of no consequence, because it is founded only upon a conjecture, and a very uncertain fact. But we know indubitably, that our Saviour had some persons, who followed him, and supplied his wants, they — viii. 3.ministred unto him of their substance. He had a common purse, into which was put whatsoever was voluntarily offered to him. Judas had the bag, and bare what was put John xii. 6.therein. Lastly, Jesus Christ before his preaching, was of a trade, and worked at it with his Father Joseph, Is not this the Carpenter? The Disciples also had trades, Mark vi. 3.which they exercised even during their preaching. See what S. Paul says, Acts xx. 34. These hands have ministred to my necessities, and to them that were with me. See also 1 Cor. iv. 12. Ephes. iv. 28. Acts xviii. 2, 3, &c. See hereafter the Article Poor.

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