house wherein they enter, eating and drinking of what they have, because saith he, "the labourer is worthy of his hire." When he the Son of God himself, accompanied by his disciples, went about preaching the kingdom of heaven, he was followed by many holy women, who ministered to him out of their substance, Luke viii. 3. It even appears that the alms bestowed on him were reserved. for a future day, for it is written, John xii. 16, that the traitor Judas, "having the purse, carried what was put therein," and hence arose the supposition of the other Apostles, when the Saviour said to Judas after the last supper, " what thou dost do quickly," that he was desired, as having the purse, "to buy what was wanted for the festival day," or to give something to the poor, John, xiii, 29. The hospitality exercised by the first believers, or their voluntary offerings, were, it thus appears, the means of support selected by the AUTHOR and FINISHER of our faith, for himself and his disciples. After his ascension into heaven, we find, Acts ii. 45, that the primitive Christians had a community of goods, and out of the common stock "there was distributed to each, as each one had need." The history of Ananias and Saphira, related in Acts iv. 21, 23, as also the speech of Peter on the election of deacons, chap. 6, show the place

which the ministers of the Church held in what regarded the distribution or application of the temporal goods intrusted to them. It is not, however, from these facts that the discipline of the primitive Church, as to the maintenance of her ministers is to be learned, but rather from the Epistles of St. Paul. He, 1 Cor. ix. proves from the law of nature, from that of Moses, and from the express words of Jesus Christ himself, that the faithful are bound to support those who preach the Gospel, or serve the altar. "Who," he asks, "serveth as a soldier, at any time, at his own "charges? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth "not of the fruit thereof? Who feedeth a flock, " and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Doth

"not the law also say these things. For it is "written in the law of Moses: thou shalt not "muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out

"the corn. If we have sown unto you spiritual "things, is it a great matter if we reap your car"nal things? Know you not that they who work " in the holy place, eat the things that are of the "holy place, and they that serve the altar, partake "with the altar. So, also, the Lord ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live by the Gospel."

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The Apostle having fixed, as it were, on a firm

basis, the right of the clergy to a competent support, exhorts, in the strongest language, the faithful to communicate freely of their goods to such of the brethren as happened to be in want, and also exhibits himself and his fellow-labourers, as agents in those works of charity, performed at his suggestion. His letter to the Galatians, those to the Corinthians, to Timothy, to the Philippians, prove this so fully and satisfactorily, that a general reference to those epistles is deemed sufficient. So the apostolic times themselves make manifest. 1st, That the ministers of religion have an indefeasible right to a suitable maintenance; 2nd, That the faithful provided such maintenance by voluntary donations; 3rd, That the ministers of religion were the depositories, or agents, to whom the alms bestowed for the relief of the indigent brethren were confided.

It next remains for us to ascertain what was the nature of the provision, or rather of what species of offerings or free gifts that provision consisted, in the first ages, or up to the time of the EMPEROR CONSTANTINE. On this point the letters and sermons of St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, and the writings of Tertullian, especially his “ Apologies," furnish very ample details. The former tells us,

that at the celebration of the holy mysteries, offerings of bread and wine were made by the faithful upon the altar, and contributions in money also given, from which the clergy, the widows and orphans, were relieved or supported. Tertullian enters into a more minute detail; stating that persons were elected to preside over, and take charge of these donations. These persons, on a certain day in each month, received the voluntary offerings of the faithful, or, as he calls them, the "deposits of piety, to be "expended," he continues, “not in feastings and drinking, or ungrateful dissipation, but in feeding the hungry, in burying the dead, and providing for male and female orphans; for the decrepid through age, for those suffering from shipwreck, or working in the mines, or who were imprisoned, or subjected to loss for professing the faith."

We know from the 19th canon of the synod of Elvira of Spain, that during a portion of this period some of the clergy, and even bishops were engaged in traffic, and that others of them, not content with the ordinary means of support, or not finding it sufficient, went through the province in quest of gain. The council prohibits those practises, and what is somewhat singular, it even con

demns, in its 48th canon, the accepting at the time of baptism, such voluntary offerings as might then be made, least any thing sacred might seem to be sold. In fine, St. Cyprian, L. 1, Ep. 9, sums up in a few words, the whole subject of which we treat, saying, "as the priests and levites of the Old Testament received tithes from the eleven tribes, that they might devote themselves without interruption to the service of the altar, so the clergy receive at present their support, (of gifts and offerings) that they may not be implicated in worldly concerns, or depart from the altar and sacrifices.".

The E. history of Eusebius, and what has been written by Prudentius on the martyrdom of St. Lawrence, are sufficient to show, that even during the period now under consideration, many churches had not only sufficient means to support the clergy and poor attached to them, but had even acquired considerable property both moveable and immoveable. The Church of Rome surpassed all others, both in wealth and in deeds of surpassing liberality, exercised not only in the surrounding provinces, but even in Syria, Arabia, and to the remotest extremities of the Roman Empire.

The administration of all Church Property,