CHAPTER VI

THE FUNDAMENTAL ERROR OF THESE OPINIONS EXPOSED

IN order to refute this error, once and for all, we must examine the fallacy on which it is based. Now, the premises on which the followers of Vigilantius construct their argument are erroneous, and for this reason. They assume that perfection consists, chiefly, in the observance of the Counsels; and that the Commandments, compared to the Counsels, are as the imperfect compared to the perfect. Therefore, they say, we must go from Commandments to Counsels, as from imperfection to perfection. But this proposition is false. We know from the very words of Our Lord (Matt. xxii. 37), that the first and chief commandment of the Law is the love of God and of our fellow-men. "The first commandment is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The perfection of the Christian life consists, essentially, in obeying these two precepts. Hence, the Apostle says to the Colossians (iii. 14), "But above all these things, have charity, which is the bond of perfection." On this passage the Gloss observes, that charity makes other things perfect, in so far, that is to say, as they are ordered in charity. For charity binds all things together. Again, when Our Lord had been giving the precepts of brotherly love, (Matt. v. 48), He added, "Be ye therefore perfect as also your Heavenly Father is perfect."

             St. Jerome says, commenting on the words in St. Matt. xix. 27, "Behold, we have left all things and have followed thee": "Whereas it does not suffice to have left all things, he (Peter) adds, 'and have followed thee.' For the Apostles followed the Lord not so much in bodily presence, as in affections of the heart." Again, St. Ambrose, alluding to the words, "follow me" (Luke v.), says: "Christ commands him (Levi) to follow Him, not with his feet, but with the desires of his mind." It is thus abundantly evident, that the perfection of the Christian life consists in charity towards God. And there is a very solid reason for this conclusion. The perfection of anything consists, as we know, in its attainment of its end. Now, the end of the Christian life is that charity, to which all things must be ordered, and which, as St. Paul says (1 Tim. i. 5), is "the end of the commandment," or, as the Gloss says, in its comment on this text, "is the perfection of the precept, that is to say of all precepts, for the love of God and of our neighbour is the fulfilment of all."

             It behoves us to distinguish, in our judgment, between an end, and the means to an end. In considering the means to an end, we must fix some certain measure, by which the means may be proportioned to the end. But, in what regards the end itself, there is no question of measure, but each one prosecutes his end to the best of his ability. A physician tempers his remedies, lest they should be in excess. He has no fear of excess in the health which he wishes to restore by those remedies, but he desires that such health should be as perfect as possible. In like manner, the commandment to love God, which is the end of the Christian life, knows no limits. No one can say that this degree or that, of the love of God is enjoined by this precept, or, that where the love of God exceeds the Commandment it becomes a Counsel. Every man is bound to love God as much as he can. This truth is embodied in the very words of the precept: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart." Every one must obey this commandment, according to his ability, some with greater, and some with less perfection. He totally fails to observe it, who does not, in his affections, prefer God before all things. He that loves Him as His last End, above all other things, fulfils the precept, either more or less perfectly, according as he is more or less impeded by his affection for created things. St. Augustine says (Lib. LXXXIII. Quaest.): "The poison of charity is the hope of acquiring or retaining temporal things. That is to say, if such things be looked on as a last end. The food of charity is the lessening of cupidity. Its perfection consists in the extinction of earthly desire."

             But there is another perfect manner of observing this precept, which cannot be achieved in this life. For, as St. Augustine says in his book De Perfectione Justitiae, "In that fulness of charity which will reign in our heavenly country, the precept of charity, 'thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart,' etc., will be perfectly obeyed." "Why," he continues, "should not this perfection be anticipated by man, although, in this life, he may not attain to it? He does not run aright, who knows not whither he is running. But how can he know, if he be not taught by any precepts?" Therefore, to this, as to their end, are directed the commandments of love of God and of our neighbour, together with all other counsels and commands. Hence, St. Augustine says in Ench.: "God gives us certain commandments, such as: 'thou shalt not commit adultery'; and other things such as: 'It is good for a man not to touch a woman,' are not enjoined on us by precept, but set before us as a spiritual counsel. Such things are rightly done, when they are referred to the love of God, and to the love of our neighbour, for His sake."

             Nevertheless, the manner in which the precept of Charity is to be fulfilled by certain precepts of the Law, is different to that in which it is to be accomplished by the Counsels. For some things are so designed to a particular end, that the end cannot be attained without them. Such is the case with food and the maintenance of life. Other things, again, serve to attain an end with peculiar certainty and completeness. Thus, though food is necessary for the continuance of physical life, medicine serves for the more easy and certain preservation of health. Now, some of the commandments are given for the first of these two reasons, namely as a necessary means of attaining to charity. For instance, no one can fulfil the precept of charity who worships false gods, and thus withdraws from the love of God, or who commits murder, or theft, which are contrary to the love of our neighbour. But the Counsels are given to us, in order that we may fulfil the precept of charity, in the second way of which we have spoken. Hence, the Apostle, speaking of the Counsel of virginity, expressly says that its object is to enable us to love God. "He that is without a wife, is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God. But he that is with a wife, is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife" (1 Cor. vii. 32).

             Again, we see from St. Matt. xix., that our Lord gave the Counsel of poverty, as a means whereby He was to be followed; and following Him, as we have shown, consists in charity. Now charity is lessened by cupidity, but cupidity, and love of money, is diminished, or wholly eradicated, by the renunciation of earthly possessions. St. Augustine, in his Epistle to Paulinus and Therasia, says that, "our love for the goods that we have acquired, is much stronger than our desires for those that we do not possess. It is one thing, indeed, to have no will to gain those things that are lacking to us, but quite another to divest ourselves of those that we already possess." Both these Counsels are, also, intended to facilitate charity towards our neighbour. All that Our Lord lays down in St. Matt. v. about brotherly love, ought to be the abiding disposition of the soul. And it is clear, that His precepts on this head, will be most easily obeyed by the man who is not hampered by self-interest. He who has no will to possess anything, will be better prepared to part with his coat and his cloak, than he who desires possessions.

             Since charity is not only the end, but also the foundation of all virtues, and of all the precepts given us for the attainment of virtue, it follows, that, as by means of the Counsels man advances towards the more perfect love of God and of his neighbour, so, likewise, the more perfect observance of the Counsels is furthered by obedience to those Commandments which are necessary to charity. He who has the intention of practising continence or poverty for the love of Christ, is a long way from committing adultery or theft. The various exercises of the religious life, such as watching, fasting, and retirement from worldly affairs, tend, furthermore, to preserve man from vice, and to facilitate his practice of perfect virtue. Thus, the observance of the Counsels, leads to the observance of the other Commandments. Of course, we do not mean that keeping the Commandments is the end proposed by those who practise the Counsels. No one, for instance, embraces virginity in order that he may abstain from adultery, or leads a life of poverty, as a safeguard against theft; but the Counsels are practised as a means of advancing in the love of God and of our neighbour. For, greater things are not made for lesser ones as their end. From all this it becomes clear, that the Counsels pertain to perfection of life, not because perfection necessarily consists in their observance, but because they are the way, or means, to perfection. St. Augustine bears this out when, in his book, De moribus Ecclesiae, he says, speaking of the life of religious, "Let all our endeavour be to restrain concupiscence, and to preserve brotherly love." Again, in the same work, he writes, "Charity is there, (in religious life), chiefly cultivated: virtue, words, manner, countenance, all are agreeable to charity."

             Again, in the Collatio patrum, the Abbot Moses says, "For this (to wit for the sake of purity of heart and charity), we do and suffer all things, and on this account we renounce kinsfolk, country, honours, riches and all manner of earthly joy. To gain these virtues we undertake fasting, watching, labour, and nakedness; and for these we practise reading, and all other virtues. For, we desire to prepare our hearts and to keep them pure from defiling thoughts, and, by these means, to rise to the perfection of charity." Hence, we learn that obedience to the Commandments may be either perfect or imperfect, according as we practise a more or less perfect means of keeping them. For we may, as we have shown, practise by means of the Counsels, perfect obedience to the Commandments; or we may, by living in the world without the Counsels, keep them imperfectly.

             Therefore, to teach that a man must first be exercised in keeping the Commandments, before he passes to the Counsels, is tantamount to saying, that he must first obey the Commandments imperfectly, rather than, at once, strive to keep them perfectly. This is, of course, an absurdity, whether we consider the Commandments themselves, or the mode of observing them. For, who could be so foolish, as to dissuade a man from loving God and his neighbour perfectly, by bidding him first to love them imperfectly? Is not such a fallacy condemned by the divine precept of charity: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart"? Or, need we fear lest we should learn to love God so quickly, that we shall love Him beyond due measure? "Blessing the Lord (says Eccli. xliii. 32), exalt Him as much as you can: for He is above all praise." And St. Paul says, "So run that you may obtain" (1 Cor. ix. 24). Again, "Let us hasten, therefore, to enter into that rest" (Heb. iv. 11). For, with what energy soever a man may enter on the road of perfection, he will still have much progress to make, before he arrives at final perfection in his Heavenly home. The argument is equally absurd, if we consider the means used for attaining to perfection. Who would tell a man who aspired to virginity or continence, that it would be best for him first to live chastely in wedlock? Or who would bid a man who wished to practise poverty, first to live justly in the enjoyment of riches, as if wealth were a preparation for poverty, rather than an impediment to it? The young man who did not accept from Our Lord the Counsel of poverty, (Matt. xix.) went away sad, because of his possessions.

             We have, hitherto, been observing the connection between the Counsels and the precepts of charity, but our arguments hold equally good, with regard to the other precepts of the Law. For, if the practice of the Counsels, and the exercises of the Religious life, are a safeguard against breaking the Commandments, is it not clear that some men may need them, in order, by their means, to avoid the occasions of sin? Should we advise a young man to live among women, and bad companions, in order that, by practising chastity in the world, he might afterwards observe it in the cloister? Is this virtue easier in the world, than in the religious life? The same reasoning applies to other virtues and vices.

             Those who hold the opposite opinion, resemble generals, who would fain expose their raw recruits to the heat of battle. Those who live in the world, and keep the Commandments, can make greater progress in virtue if they become religious. For, we must remember, that if, on the one hand, a secular life spent in obedience to the Commandments is a good preparation for the practice of the Counsels, yet, on the other hand, a life in the world presents a great obstacle to the observance of the Counsels. Hence, St. Gregory says in the beginning of his Morals: "When my conscience was urging me to leave the world, many secular cares began to press upon me, as if I were to be detained in the world, not from love of its beauty, but by that which was more serious, viz. anxiety of mind. But at length, escaping eagerly from all such cares, I sought the monastery gate."