and innocently take. And this raises a Question, Whether Begging be a lawful Way of maintaining ourselves? If a Man may lawfully beg, and can by begging raise a fufficient Maintenance, then it does not neceffarily follow, that because we must not steal, therefore we must labour; for it may be answered, we may beg. In this Question we must distinguish concerning Perfons; for fome have a Right to be maintained by Charity; and those who have a Right to this kind of Maintenance, have a Right to afk for it, that is, to beg the Charity of all well-difpofed Chriftians. Charity is the Inheritance of the Poor; it is, as I may fay, their Property: And therefore for any one, who is not an Object of Charity, to live by Charity, is invading the Right and Property of the Poor; which is by much the worst Way of stealing.

Who are not Objects of Charity, the Apostle plainly tells us in another Place, If any Man will not work, neither let him eat; that is, if a Man can work, and will not, he ought to ftarve. Now, no Man ought to starve, who ought to be maintained by Charity; for fuch have a Right to eat of Charity: From whence it follows, that

fuch as can labour, but will not, have no Right to Charity, and confequently have no Right to ask it: And therefore Begging, for fuch as are able to labour, is an unlawful Calling. It is indeed but a more fpecious Theft: For first, you do not fairly obtain the Confent of the Proprietor to part with what you by begging extort from him; which is a neceffary Condition in all just and lawful Acquifitions. You represent yourself as an Object of Charity, pretend Age, or Sickness, or Lameness, or some other Indifpofition, which renders you incapable of an honeft Calling. The charitable Man, as bound in Duty, relieves thefe Neceffities, and, out of what he allots for Charity, gives fomething to you. Here you manifeftly deceive him; for, did he know you, he would give you nothing; and therefore, by your false Pretences, you fraudulently obtain his Consent to part with his Money to you: This is a direct Cheat. Secondly, you diminish the Maintenance of such as are truly Objects of Charity. If the Money that is given charitably in this Kingdom were applied only to proper Objects, our Streets need not be crowded with Beggars: But fince Begging has been found

to

to be a profitable Trade, it has diverted the Maintenance of the Poor to a parcel of idle, lazy Hypocrites, who are taught to whine and beg with as much Art and Care, as others are taught their lawful Trades and Mysteries. These common Beggars are public Robbers of the Poor, and live out of their peculiar Inheritance. The Money which well-difpofed People allot of their Subftance for the Maintenance of the Poor, thefe infinuating Hypocrites, by their pretended Wants and Neceffities, appropriate to themselves; fo that their Employment is like to that of a Pirate, they lie in wait to intercept whatever comes to the Relief and Support of the Poor. Now if common Begging is but a disguised Kind of Robbery, and really injurious both to Rich and Poor, it follows, that this Crime, like all others, falls under the Care and Correction of the Civil Magistrate, and that Laws made to restrain this Evil, and to punish idle Vagabonds, are founded in Reason and Juftice; and accordingly all wife States have made Provifion to prevent and to punish this Evil.

Since then it is neither lawful for

you to

beg, nor to steal, it follows, that you muft labour, and by your own Industry and Dili

gence

gence maintain yourself, and fuch others as have a Right to be maintained by you. The Apostle adds, that you must labour, working with your Hands: Which is your Duty when you are not capable of any better Work; for fuch as cannot live without it, muft live by bodily Labour. But the Injunction is more general, and includes all Kinds of Labour and Toil, or Study, by which Men may be ferviceable to themselves and others: And it may properly be asked, how far this Duty extends? And it will, I conceive, be no unfeasonable Digreffion to inquire, whether only fuch are obliged to labour, who cannot live without it; or whether those who have enough to fupport themselves without either ftealing or begging, are not likewife obliged to turn to fome honest Calling and Employment?

Man, I think, was not made to be idle ; God has not given him Senfe and Understanding to fit still and do nothing. If Man was made only to eat and drink, then indeed it would follow, that those who have enough to eat and drink, need do nothing else: But if he is made for, and is capable of nobler Employment; then it is a very abfurd Thing to afk, whether a Man may be idle, VOL. III. provided

I

provided he wants nothing? For if he is not made merely to serve his own Wants, then his wanting nothing can never be a Reason` for his doing nothing. The neceffary Affairs of the World cannot be managed by the Labour of the Hand only: The Head must be employed in all Matters of Policy and Government, in preferving Peace and Order in the World; and in all Matters that concern the future and present Well-being of Mankind. These are Matters of higher Moment than to fall under the Direction of Artificers. These are Things of the laft Confequence, and must be regarded; and therefore it is the Duty of fome to qualify themselves for these Purposes. And every Man owes it as a Duty to God and his Country to render himself serviceable according to the Station he is in, and to qualify himself to discharge fuch Offices of Truft and Power, as generally fall to the Share of Men of his Rank and Degree; that when he is called upon by Authority to take any Office upon him, he may be able to discharge it with Credit to himself, and Benefit to others. Those of the highest Degree among us reckon it among their Titles of Honour that they are born Counsellors of the Kingdom: The Confequence,