his hands, because those precepts
of the natural law which regard the good of the many are not binding
on each individual, but it suffices that one person apply himself to
this business and another to that; for instance, that some be
craftsmen, others husbandmen, others judges, and others teachers, and
so forth, according to the words of the Apostle (1 Cor. 12:17), "If
the whole body were the eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole
were the hearing, where would be the smelling?"

Reply Obj. 2: This gloss is taken from Augustine's _De operibus
Monachorum,_ cap. 21, where he speaks against certain monks who
declared it to be unlawful for the servants of God to work with their
hands, on account of our Lord's saying (Matt. 6:25): "Be not
solicitous for your life, what you shall eat." Nevertheless his words
do not imply that religious are bound to work with their hands, if
they have other means of livelihood. This is clear from his adding:
"He wishes the servants of God to make a living by working with their
bodies." Now this does not apply to religious any more than to
seculars, which is evident for two reasons. First, on account of the
way in which the Apostle expresses himself, by saying: "That you
withdraw yourselves from every brother walking disorderly." For he
calls all Christians brothers, since at that time religious orders
were not as yet founded. Secondly, because religious have no other
obligations than what seculars have, except as required by the rule
they profess: wherefore if their rule contain nothing about manual
labor, religious are not otherwise bound to manual labor than
seculars are.

Reply Obj. 3: A man may devote himself in two ways to all the
spiritual works mentioned by Augustine in the passage quoted: in one
way with a view to the common good, in another with a view to his
private advantage. Accordingly those who devote themselves publicly
to the aforesaid spiritual works are thereby exempt from manual labor
for two reasons: first, because it behooves them to be occupied
exclusively with such like works; secondly, because those who devote
themselves to such works have a claim to be supported by those for
whose advantage they work.

On the other hand, those who devote themselves to such works not
publicly but privately as it were, ought not on that account to be
exempt from manual labor, nor have they a claim to be supported by
the offerings of the faithful, and it is of these that Augusti