The statements of the fathers.
The statements of the fathers.
§ 92. Here are to be assigned the statements of the fathers with which they prove that the divine Law is the perfect norm for all the virtues, that we cannot fulfill it perfectly in this life because of the corruption of our nature, that by faith we are righteous before God, that imperfections and weaknesses adhere to our works, that remnants of original sin cling to the reborn, that renewal in this life ought to grow every day, that no reason for boasting before God has been left to us, etc.
Irenaeus (bk. 4, ch. 24, p. 250): “The Son of God has given freedom to those who serve God lawfully with a ready spirit and with all their heart. To those who hold God in contempt and are not subject to Him, etc.; to those who pretend that they are observing more than the things they have been commanded to do, as if they prefer their own diligence even to God Himself but inwardly are filled with hypocrisy, cupidity, and all evil—to such He brings eternal destruction.”
Moreover, Thomas, Anselm, and Gerson mitigated some things about the counsels in the customary doctrine of those times. From his collation of the fathers, Thomas [ST, 2.2., q. 184, art. 3] cites the statement: “Fasting, vigils, poverty, etc., are not perfection but the instruments of perfection, because the end of this discipline does not lie in themselves. Rather, one reaches the goal through them.”
Anselm says that there is only one true religion under one supreme abbot, who is Christ. The remaining religions he calls “artificial religions” [religiones factitias] because they were instituted by men to remove hindrances so that one could dedicate himself to the true religion.
Gerson acknowledges that it is false to say that the Commandments of the Law were ordered toward the virtues under a certain measure and degree and that what is beyond this is within the category of a counsel. He claims that the counsels are involved with matters that are instruments that move things forward, dispose, and lead, so that perfection may be acquired more quickly and more easily.