Article 2: Are the counsels aimed at the commandments?
Question 10
The next questions related to our appetitive power. The first were about goods. The second were about evils.
The first two questions were about martyrdom: (1) Can one offer oneself up to be martyred without perfect charity? and (2) Is suffering martyrdom for Christ a commandment?
Article 1
We turn, then, to the first question. It seems that one cannot offer oneself up to be martyred without perfect charity:
Consider the verse of the Psalms: Therefore, I love your commandments above gold and topaz.77 The gloss says that the least charity loves God’s law more than tons of gold and silver,78 and for the same reason loves it more than all temporal things. But we give up what we love less for what we love more. Therefore, with the least charity one can give up all temporal things and even one’s own life for Christ.
But to the contrary: If one can offer oneself up to be martyred without perfect charity, then by the same token one can suffer martyrdom without perfect charity. But that seems false, given the verse of John 15: Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.79 Therefore, one cannot offer oneself up to be martyred without perfect charity.
Answer: There are two things to consider about virtuous actions: what is done and the way it is done. The same action done with a perfect virtue can sometimes be done not only by someone with a little virtue, but even by someone without a virtue. A person without justice, for example, can still perform a just action. But if we consider the way it is done, someone without a virtue cannot act like someone with it, nor can someone with a little virtue act like someone with a lot. For someone with a lot acts easily, readily, and with pleasure, which is not true of someone without a virtue, or with only a little.
Accordingly, the act of offering oneself up to be martyred or of suffering martyrdom can be done not only with perfect charity but also with imperfect charity, and—what is more—even by someone without charity. As the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 13: If I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have charity, etc.80 But perfect charity does so readily and with pleasure, as we see with Lawrence and Vincent, who were both cheerful while being tortured.81 That could not be done with imperfect charity, or by someone without charity.
That makes the reply to the objections clear.
Article 2
We turn, then, to the second question. Suffering martyrdom for Christ’s sake does not seem to be a commandment:
Giving up one’s possessions seems less than laying down one’s own body, as Gregory says in the homily I am the good shepherd.82 But not even abandoning all one’s possessions for Christ’s sake falls under a commandment. Therefore, giving up one’s own body to be martyred does not fall under a commandment either.
But to the contrary: In book XIII of The City of God, Augustine says: Formerly it was said to human beings: If you sin, you will die. But now it is said to the martyrs: Die, lest you sin.83 Yet what we must do lest we sin falls under a commandment. Therefore, the death of martyrs falls under a commandment.
Answer: There are two ways for something to fall under a commandment: absolutely or as a matter of mental preparation. For a commandment implies something due. Hence, things fall under a commandment absolutely when they are due for a prior reason—as, for instance, with the commandment to honor your parents or to love God. Yet sometimes the reason something is due does not yet obtain, although it can arise. Hence, it does not fall under a commandment absolutely, but as a matter of mental preparation, meaning that one ought to be prepared to do it when the reason it is due arises. This is how Augustine explains the commandments the Lord gives in Matthew 5: If anyone strikes you on one cheek, turn the other to him as well.84 If it is needed and the salvation of others calls for it, then one ought to be prepared to do it.
That is how suffering martyrdom for Christ’s sake falls under a commandment, since one ought to be mentally prepared to let oneself be killed before denying Christ or committing mortal sin. It is also how abandoning one’s possessions falls under a commandment. As a Christian, one ought to be mentally prepared to suffer being stripped of one’s own goods rather than denying Christ or committing mortal sin.85
Question 11
The next questions were about evil acts—namely impulses.
There were two such questions: (1) Are impulses always sins? and (2) Are they mortal sins for nonbelievers?
Article 1
We turn, then, to the first question. Impulses always seem to be sins:
In book II, distinction 21 of the Sentences, the Master says that there cannot be a temptation of the flesh without sin.86 But every impulse involves a temptation of the flesh. Therefore, every impulse involves sin.
But to the contrary: The gloss on the verse Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies of Romans 6 says: He is not forbidding concupiscence, which cannot be avoided.87 But what cannot be avoided is not a sin.88 Therefore, concupiscence—an impulse—is not a sin.
Answer: An impulse implies a sort of movement toward an endpoint, and when it comes to human acts, this movement is a matter of our appetite. Now, human beings have three kinds of appetite. The first is natural, since our appetitive power relates to the vegetative soul, as does our power to digest, eliminate, and assimilate. The second appetite is sensual, and is moved by the apprehension of our senses. The third appetite is voluntary, and is moved by the judgment of reason.
Now, sin (which we are discussing now) has the character of guilt, which only applies to voluntary acts that are in some way under the sinner’s control. The acts of our natural appetite (like the acts of all the other powers of the vegetative soul) are not subject to the rule of reason. Hence, the acts of this appetite cannot involve guilt. No one is guilty for being hungry or thirsty, for instance, and the same goes for every other act of this kind. The acts of our sense-appetite are subject to the rule of reason, since reason anticipates them, and can command or forbid them as well. Hence, such movements can have the character of guilt. If they follow the judgment of reason, they can even be mortal sins, like the movements of our external members controlled by reason. If they precede the judgment of reason, however, such movements are still sins if they aim at something impermissible, since the person could have repressed them. But the sins are venial and very slight, as Augustine makes clear in book XII of On the Trinity.89 Hence such movements are called sinful impulses. The movements of our higher—i.e., voluntary—appetite follow the judgment of reason, and can thus be mortal sins.
Hence, we grant the first argument.
To the objection made to the contrary: Concupiscence cannot be avoided in the sense that impulses of concupiscence are bound to arise: when one is resisted, another arises. But each one of them is avoidable, which is why each has the character of sin, though not the character of complete sin, which is mortal sin.
Article 2
We turn, then, to the second question. The impulses of nonbelievers seem to be mortal sins:
1. In his book On Grace and Free Will, Anselm says: Condemnation ensues for those who are not in Christ Jesus, if they experience concupiscence, even if they do not consent to it.90 But experiencing concupiscence means having an impulse of concupiscence. Hence, nonbelievers (who are not in Christ Jesus) commit mortal sin when they have such impulses, since only mortal sin deserves condemnation.
2. Everyone is obligated to possess original justice, which represses concupiscence. But every impulse of concupiscence violates this obligation, and every violation of an obligation has the character of mortal sin. Therefore, every impulse of concupiscence is a mortal sin.
But to the contrary: The higher you stand, the worse you fall.91 But believers stand higher than nonbelievers, and yet their impulses are not mortal sins. Much less, then, are the impulses of nonbelievers mortal sins.
Answer: As we have said, an impulse is a sensual movement that precedes rational deliberation. But sensuality and rationality have the same nature in believers and nonbelievers, and it is because of the nature of sensuality and rationality that a sensual movement without any rational deliberation cannot be a mortal sin. For mortal sin consists of turning away from God, and one only turns away from God by reason. Hence, turning away from God—which makes for mortal sin—has to involve reason, as Augustine shows in book XII of On the Trinity.92
Therefore, the impulses of nonbelievers are not mortal but, rather, venial sins.
1. So, to the first objection: Those words of Anselm are based on what the Apostle says in Romans 8, where he concludes that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh.93 Hence, there seems to be some condemnation for those who are not in Christ Jesus, even if they do not walk according to the flesh and consent to the impulses of the flesh; otherwise, there would be no difference between those who are in Christ Jesus and those who are not. Hence, there is some condemnation for those who are not in Christ Jesus if they experience the impulses of the flesh, even without consenting to them.
But just how that condemnation is to be understood is shown by what the Apostle says right before. For he had just said that the restoration of grace begins in the minds of those who are in Christ Jesus, not in their flesh. As he had just said: Therefore, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin94—i.e., the law of the urges that still remain in our bodily members. Hence, in order to show that those who are in Christ Jesus are no longer subject to the former condemnation in spite of their impulses and urges, the Apostle concludes that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, if they do not walk according to the flesh, since the condemnation for original sin is undone by the grace of Christ, even though sinful urges still remain active in their flesh. Nor do they incur condemnation for any actual sin, since they do not walk according to the flesh. In nonbelievers, however, original sin remains not only actual but also culpable. Hence, they still face some condemnation for original sin, though not for any actual sin, as long as they do not consent to concupiscence. Thus, none of this implies that the impulses of nonbelievers incur the condemnation of mortal sin; it only implies that they face the connected condemnation of original sin.
2. To the second objection: The obligation of original justice applies to nonbelievers because of the human nature they inherited from our first parent, on whom original justice was bestowed. Hence, anything relating to their lack of original justice is a matter of natural sin (i.e., original sin), and not actual sin, which includes mortal sin.
Question 12
Article 1
The first question is: (1) Should children without experience keeping the commandments be received into the religious life, or obligated to enter it by taking an oath or vow, or encouraged to enter it by means of benefits?
It seems not:
1. The perfection of the counsels pursued by religious originated with Christ. But Christ first gave the counsel of perfection to a young man who kept the commandments, as Matthew 19 makes clear.95 Therefore, only people with experience keeping the commandments should be obligated to enter or received into the religious life.
2. In his comments on Ezekiel, Gregory says: No one suddenly becomes the greatest; to become great one must begin by doing lesser things, in order to come to do great ones.96 But the counsels (which relate to the perfect life) are great things, whereas the commandments (which relate to common justice) are lesser ones. Therefore, children ought to gain experience keeping the commandments before going on to the counsels.
3. Exodus 21 says: If someone digs a pit . . . and an ox or ass falls into it, the owner of the pit will pay the price of the beasts.97 But leading children who still lack experience keeping the commandments into the religious life is like digging a pit for them, since they often leave after entering the religious life and then fall into despair, which is like a spiritual pit. Therefore, those who lead them in are guilty of sin.
4. Contributions to the common good should not be suppressed. But it contributes to the common good for people to use their freedom to do good. Therefore, they should not be deprived of such freedom by the obligation of an oath or vow.
5. In his rule, blessed Benedict (the renowned monastic founder) established that those who seek the religious life should not receive an easy entry but, rather, the spirit should be tested to see whether it is of God.98 Much less, then, should anyone be encouraged to enter by means of gifts or benefits.
6. Gregory says, and it states in d. XLVIII of the Decretum: We know that newly built walls cannot bear the weight of beams until their initial wetness has dried; if they are made to bear weight before they have hardened, the entire building will collapse.99 But children who still lack experience keeping the commandments are like walls that have yet to dry. Therefore, they should not be made to bear beams, i.e. the weight of the religious way of life.
7. The religious state is a state of penance. But children are exempt from every obligation to do penance, as it says in the Decretum, On Penance, d. IV.100 Therefore, they should not be led into the religious life.
8. As it says in C. XX, q.3 of the Decretum: What one does not desire and choose, one does not love when possessed, and what one does not love, one easily abandons.101 But before children gain experience, their choices are not stable, and thus neither is their love. Hence, they easily abandon the religious life if they are led into it at that age.
9. Proverbs 14 says: Riches gotten quickly will dwindle.102 But it seems too quick for those who still lack experience keeping the commandments to run on to the counsels. Hence, it seems that their spiritual riches will easily dwindle. Therefore, such people should not be led into the religious life.
10. No less care should be taken with entering the religious life than with receiving holy orders. But those who have not received minor orders are forbidden from receiving major orders. Therefore, those who have not yet kept the commandments should not go on to keep the counsels in the religious life.
11. Two things are necessary for human beings: knowing the truth and doing good. Now, when it comes to knowing the truth, it is considered foolish to apply oneself to more difficult things before understanding easier ones. Therefore, when it comes to doing good, it is foolish to pursue the counsels before gaining experience with the commandments.
12. Everyone in the religious life has the responsibility to take care of other people or at least of themselves. But when choosing people to take care of the Church, we have to choose the better ones. Hence, when accepting people for the religious life, we have to choose the better ones, which are the ones with experience keeping the commandments. Therefore, those are the people who should be led into the religious life.
13. If something good in itself becomes an occasion of sin, then it should be abandoned. Take, for instance, the bronze serpent that Moses made at the Lord’s command in order to heal the sons of Israel, as recorded in Numbers 21.103 Hezekiah later destroyed it, since it had become an occasion for idolatry.104 Or again, a blessing is good in itself, but it is blameworthy for a lesser person to give a blessing in the presence of a greater one. Now, the religious life is good in itself, but entering the religious life becomes an occasion of sin for those without experience keeping the commandments, since they then leave it. Therefore, leading those without such experience into the religious life should be avoided.
14. Gregory says, and it states in d. XLVIII of the Decretum: Someone who skips the steps and tries to climb the steep slopes to the summit must want to fall.105 But passing on to the counsels without keeping the commandments means skipping a step, and thus wanting to fall. Therefore, no one should be led to do so.
15. In book II, Damascene says that it is no good to enjoy incorruption while still untried and inexperienced, in case one should fall into pride and come under the condemnation of the devil.106 By the same token, therefore, it is no good for people who are untried and inexperienced at keeping the commandments to take up the contemplative state of the religious life.
16. In book VI of his Morals, Gregory says: After embracing Leah, Jacob then received Rachel, for a perfect person is first wedded to the active life in order to bear fruit, and then united to the contemplative life in order to rest.107 But the active life consists of keeping the commandments, whereas the religious state concerns the contemplative life. Therefore, no one should be led into the religious life before gaining experience keeping the commandments.
17. No one should promise something impermissible to give. But it is impermissible to give someone something for entering the religious life. As C. I, q.2 of the Decretum says: We have never read of the Lord’s disciples, or of anyone converted by their ministry, persuading someone to worship God by means of gifts.108 Therefore, no one should be encouraged to enter the religious life by means of such promises.
18. By law, no one should be accepted to serve in a physical war without having experience using weapons.109 But the religious life is a state of spiritual warfare. Hence, no one should be received into the religious life without first having experience keeping the commandments, which are spiritual weapons.
19. Those who cannot bind themselves to lesser things cannot bind themselves to greater ones. But children under the age of fourteen cannot bind themselves to marriage (a lesser thing). Therefore, they cannot bind themselves to the religious life.
20. In Mark 5, we read that the Lord did not allow the cured demoniac to get into the boat with him.110 Now, the boat represents the cross and the religious life, while the cured demoniac represents converts from sin. Therefore, newly converted sinners should not be received into the religious life before gaining experience keeping the commandments.
21. We ought to possess the fruit of good works when we leave Egypt, as a gloss on Exodus 12 says.111 But leaving Egypt means leaving the world and entering the religious life. Therefore, those who want to enter the religious life ought to possess the fruit of good works from first keeping the commandments.
22. In his book On the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Augustine says that every presumption should be checked.112 But it seems to be the greatest presumption to want to climb to the heights of the counsels without yet having kept the commandments. Therefore, those who want to do so should be checked, and not encouraged to enter the religious life.
23. In the same book, Augustine says that greater things should be given to greater people and lesser things to lesser ones.113 But the counsels are greater things, and hence should not be offered to inexperienced children. Therefore, children who still lack experience keeping the commandments should not be drawn into the religious life.
1. Cause XX, q.2 of the Decretum says: Parents are not permitted to give their children to the religious life after the age of fourteen; but thereafter children are permitted to take up the religious way of life themselves, either with their parents’ consent, or by their own volition and determination alone.114 But people are not suddenly experienced at keeping the commandments when they turn fourteen. Therefore, children can enter the religious life even before they have experience keeping the commandments.
2. It is more serious to begin ruling oneself and others than to enter the religious life and live under someone else’s rule. But Solomon began ruling himself and others when he was still a child. Hence 1 Chronicles says: King David said to the whole assembly: Solomon my son, whom God has chosen, is still a tender child.115 Much more, therefore, can children without experience keeping the commandments be led or received into the religious life.
3. A vow is not impermissible if fulfilling it would not render one guilty. But as Ambrose says: Those who make a vow of continence in childhood are not rendered guilty by fulfilling their vow.116 Therefore, it is not impermissible to bind oneself to the religious life by a childhood vow.
4. Nothing is impermissible that does not draw people away from good. But prompting them to better things does not draw people away from good, and the religious state (in which the counsels are kept) is better than the secular state (in which only the commandments are kept). Therefore, it does not seem impermissible to lead children into the religious life by means of an oath or vow, or by means of benefits, before they have experience keeping the commandments.
5. Cause XX, q.1 of the Decretum says: The profession of virginity will be sure once a girl has reached adulthood and would usually be considered ready for marriage.117 But men and women are not suddenly experienced at keeping the commandments when they reach that age. Therefore, people are permitted to bind themselves to the religious life by taking an oath or vow before they have experience keeping the commandments.
6. If such an obligation (the obligation of an oath or vow to enter the religious life made by children without experience keeping the commandments) were impermissible, that would either be because it is evil in itself or because it is forbidden. But it is not evil in itself, since keeping and fulfilling such a promise would then be worse, and persevering in it would be worst of all. Yet we observe just the opposite: those who fulfill promises they made as children, and persevere in those promises, are most commended. But such an obligation is not impermissible because of being forbidden either. It is not forbidden by the Old Law. As Numbers 30 says: If a woman vows something, and binds herself with an oath, while she is in her father’s house and still a child, and if her father learns of the vow she has promised and of the oath by which she has bound her soul, and he remains silent, she will be bound by the vow: whatever she promised and vowed, she will fulfill in deed. But if her father. . . opposes it when he hears of it, then both her vows and her oaths will be void, and she will not be bound to what she promised, since her father opposed it.118 And such an obligation is not forbidden by canon law: a decree of Pope Leo appeals to the authority of the same passage of scripture.119 And it is not forbidden by the law of the gospel either. The gospel leads people to withdraw from the world and pursue the works of perfection most of all. Therefore, it is permissible for children who still lack experience keeping the commandments to be obligated to enter the religious life by taking an oath or vow.
Answer: The answer to this question is only in doubt because some contentious people have been trying to obscure the truth. Hence, Augustine’s words from book II of The City of God apply here: The souls of fools suffer from a greater and more repugnant ailment. Even after all the reasons have been given . . . they still retain their unreasonable beliefs, because they are too blind to see the obvious . . . and they defend it—viz. their blindness—as if it were the truth. . . . This makes it necessary to speak at length about things that are generally clear, as though submitting things for the inspection of people who will not look at them, but will only (as it were) touch them. . . . Yet how will our discussion end, if we always have to respond to those who respond to us? For those who cannot understand what we say, or whose minds are so hardened in their opposition that even if they did understand it, they would not accept it—they respond to us . . . and “speak arrogantly” and are tirelessly inane. If we chose to refute their contrary claims as often as they hardheadedly determined to contradict our arguments in any way, without even thinking about what they are saying, you see how endless and exhausting and pointless it would be.120 So, this is what we shall do to show the truth clearly and palpably (so to speak). Any groundless claims to the contrary should be dismissed, so that we do not have to repeat ourselves endlessly for no reason. And if anyone wants to contradict us, they should write down what they have to say, so that other knowledgeable people can judge whether they teach the truth.
Now, for us to address each part of the question, first realize that there is nothing evil in itself about children being received into the religious life even before the age of puberty. In fact, it is beneficial and fruitful, since we always master things more fully and firmly when we learn to do them as children. As Proverbs 22 says: A young man set in his way will not depart from it even when he grows old.121 That is why the apostles established the practice of receiving children—even babies—into the Christian religion, so that they could be raised in it and thus adhere to it more fully and firmly. As Dionysius says in the last chapter of The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy: Children raised according to the holy law will acquire the disposition of habitual holiness, and avoid every error of an unclean life. Realizing this, our divine leaders—i.e., the apostles—saw the good of receiving children.122 Now, the Christian life surpasses the life of nonbelievers much more than the religious life surpasses the life of seculars, especially given that the state of all Christians in the early Church was the most perfect religious life. As Acts 4 says: The community of believers was of one heart and one soul; no one said that any of the things that he possessed was his own, but they held everything in common.123 Every religious community was founded to imitate this pattern of life. Hence, the founders of such communities were motivated to receive children into the religious life for the same reason as the apostles. We see this, for instance, with blessed Benedict, who received Maurus at age twelve and Placid at age seven in order to raise them in the religious life, as we read in book II of the Dialogues.124
But we need to make a distinction here. Before children reach the age of puberty, their parents are responsible for them by natural law, since they lack the discretion that would enable them to rule themselves well. That is why children can be given to the religious life at that age, if their parents offer them, and the offering will be binding, especially if the children confirm their parents’ offering when they reach the age of puberty. Hence Gregory says, as C. XX, q.1 of the Decretum states: You added, if a father or mother gives their newborn son or daughter over to the discipline of a rule in a monastic enclosure, are they allowed to leave and unite in marriage after they reach the age of puberty? We refuse this completely, since it is wrong to loosen the voluntary bonds of children whose parents have offered them to God.125 If children that age give themselves to the religious life by their own volition, their offering can be confirmed by their parents’ agreement or consent. Hence C. XX, q.1 of the Decretum says: If one or both parents of minors at any age have given their children of either sex a religious tonsure or a proper religious habit, or if they did not disapprove after learning that their children had received them without their—i.e., the parents’—knowledge or consent, instead letting their children retain their tonsure or habit with them or with the bishop or at the convent, then their children will never be allowed to return to secular dress.126 But once children have reached the age of puberty, they can enter the religious life even against their parents’ will, and may not be excluded. Indeed, they should be encouraged all the more. As Gregory says in a homily: Some are led to the good life as children, some as adolescents, some younger, some older, and some at the most advanced age.127 Since people cannot be excluded at any age, they certainly cannot be excluded as children. As Chrysostom says in his comments on Matthew: Who deserves to come to Christ, if mere infancy excludes one from him? . . . If they are going to be saints, why do you prevent children from coming to their father? And if they are going to be sinners, why do you issue the judgment of condemnation before witnessing their sins?128 This same judgment of condemnation is issued by people who say that children should not be received into the religious life on the grounds that they will leave and become worse.
Other people add that children should first gain experience keeping the commandments and then go on to keep the counsels in the religious life. But this is based on a misunderstanding. They are thinking that the commandments pave the way to the counsels, yet that is not the case. Rather, the counsels pave the way to keeping the commandments, since the counsels free people from the occupation with worldly things that makes it difficult to preserve their innocence. Hence Hilary says in his comments on Matthew: Innocence bears a heavy burden while occupied with increasing wealth; the servant of God cannot avoid the vices of this world in pursuit of the things of this world.129 That is why the Lord says in Matthew 19 that it is difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, since it is difficult for people to keep the commandments—thereby entering the kingdom—without following the counsels and abandoning their wealth.130 Therefore, in order for children to preserve their innocence in keeping the commandments, they should be prepared and as it were protected by observing the counsels; they should not be excluded, even if they seem to lack experience keeping the commandments. As Origen says in his comments on Matthew: Some, speaking as children . . . brought children and babies to the Savior . . . but others, who appeared more perfect, . . . before they learned the nature of justice . . . rebuked those who brought (still inexperienced) children and babies to Christ. But the Lord urged his disciples to consider the good of the children. . . . Therefore, we ought to listen to his words, so that the value we place on higher wisdom . . . does not make us look down on the Church’s little ones, as if we ourselves were great, . . . and prevent children from coming to Jesus.131
The second part of the question is about whether children should be obligated to enter the religious life, before entering the religious life, by taking an oath or vow to do so. The answer is obviously yes. Compare this to doing evil. The more our will is set on doing evil, the worse it is. The case of the obstinate, for instance, and of those who sin out of wickedness makes this clear. The same is true for doing good. The more our will is set and intent on doing good, the better it is. Now, it is good for children to enter the religious life. Hence, it is much better for their will to be set on doing so, which is done by taking an oath or vow. Hence David said: I have sworn an oath and determined to keep your just judgments.132 And in his letter to Paulina and Armentarius Augustine says: What a happy necessity to be compelled to do something better.133
The last part is about whether they should be encouraged to enter the religious life by means of benefits. It is certainly impermissible to make a contract or an agreement to give people a payment or some other earthly benefit so that they will enter the religious life. But it is not impermissible to give them temporal benefits in order to remove an obstacle preventing them from entering the religious life, or to provide for their upbringing and education in order to make them fit for the religious life; indeed, it is praiseworthy to do so. It is similarly praiseworthy to give people temporal benefits to encourage them to be favorable toward oneself, not for one’s own glory, but for the glory of God and the salvation of one’s neighbor. As the Apostle says of himself in 1 Corinthians 10: I try to please everyone in everything.134 Likewise, God encourages some people to do good by means of temporal benefits, and in certain churches temporal goods are used to encourage people to serve in that church. Such goods are not payments received for serving God but, rather, secondary incentives to do so. As the Lord says in Matthew 6: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things—viz. the necessities of life—will be given to you as well.135
1. So, to the first objection: Just as Christ called a young man with experience keeping the commandments to follow the counsels, Matthew called a publican without experience keeping the commandments—indeed, entangled in sin—to do so as well. From this we can gather that both those with experience keeping the commandments and those without such experience should be called to follow the counsels in the religious life.
2. To the second objection: There are two ways to mark differences in rank. One way applies to different states or conditions. But a person does not have to gain experience in a lesser state or condition before pursuing a greater state or condition. Those who want to become soldiers, for instance, do not first gain experience weaving; they train for war from childhood. Those who want to become clerics do not practice living as laypeople first; they are taught how to live as clerics from childhood. Likewise, those who want to become religious do not have to practice living as seculars first; instead, it is best for them to practice living as religious from childhood, so that they will be better at it. Hence Lamentations 3 says: It is good for a man when he has borne the yoke from his youth.136 But differences in rank can also apply within the same state or condition. That is what Gregory means when he says that to become great we should begin with lesser things in order to come to great ones. Just as soldiers begin with the basics of warfare, and just as clerics begin with the basics of the clerical life, religious begin with the basics of the religious life in order to become the greatest.
3. To the third objection: There are two kinds of occasions: those given and those taken. A person is given an occasion to fall down or into a pit when someone does or says something less than correct, which gives the person an occasion to fall down. Those who give such an occasion are guilty of their neighbor’s downfall. Yet sometimes an occasion is not given but, rather, taken, which happens when someone leads a person to something good and the person becomes worse from it. But we should not stop encouraging something good because a person takes it as an occasion to fall down. Hence the Lord did not stop preaching the truth because it scandalized the Pharisees, as it says in Matthew 15.137 And Augustine says in his letter to Boniface, as it states in C. XXIII, q.4, Piety itself of the Decretum: If there were many people in a house about to collapse, and at least one of them could be saved, but since we tried to save one, the others killed themselves by jumping down, we would mourn for the others, but be consoled by having saved at least one.138
4. To the fourth objection: Freedom is incompatible with the necessity of coercion, which is an absolute necessity. Such necessity should never be used. But freedom is not incompatible with the necessity that comes from adopting an end to be pursued. Using such necessity contributes to the common good, otherwise we would not need to confirm agreements by making promises, or take oaths in human affairs. Hence, it is much more beneficial for people to obligate themselves to pursue divine things, which are better.
5. To the fifth objection: Religious communities make entry difficult by giving those who enter a trial year in which to experience the difficulties of the religious life.
6. To the sixth objection: A wall that has yet to dry should not be made to bear the weight of beams, but there is no reason why the wall should not be dried. And a wall that is wet with the corruption of its secular character can be dried by the religious life. Hence, it is appropriate for people to gain experience in the religious life before bearing the weight of a superior or of holy orders. That is the kind of weight Gregory is talking about, as the previous part of the chapter quoted and as his second homily on Ezekiel make clear.139
7. To the seventh objection: The religious state is both a state of penance and of practice in the school of perfection. Hence, sinners should be received into the religious life for the sake of penance, and innocent children should be received into it as a school of perfection, in order to preserve their innocence more perfectly.
8. To the eighth objection: If children were led into the religious life completely against their will, then there would be reason to fear them falling away in the future. But since the children obligate themselves by their own will and thus enter the religious life, that reasoning does not apply.
9. To the ninth objection: Just as “large” and “small” and “a lot” and “a little” are relative terms, as the Philosopher says,140 so too are “quick” or “fast” and “slow.” For quick or fast is what moves a lot in a little time.141 Hence, riches dwindle if they are gotten quickly with respect to the required rate. This would be the case, for instance, if a person had just undertaken some state in life and immediately tried to do what the perfect in that state do, disregarding the basics of that state. But such riches would not be gotten quickly if the person undertook the practice of perfection as a school—which is what the religious life is—from childhood. For the heights of Christian perfection are such that even if one undertakes the practice of such perfection from childhood, there is always more to accomplish. As Augustine says to Volusianus about Christian doctrine: The Christian scriptures are so deep that even if I studied them and nothing else from the earliest childhood to the latest old age . . . with the greatest devotion, and even greater talent, I would still be making progress and learning everyday.142
10. To the tenth objection: The various orders are like various ranks within the one clerical life, which is why those pursuing major orders have to begin with minor orders. But those pursuing holy orders do not have to gain experience relevant to a lower state, viz. the lay life. The same goes for the religious life. Those who enter the religious life have to begin with the basics in order to be able to reach the greatest heights of the religious life, but they do not have to gain experience with the secular life first.
11. To the eleventh objection: In the case of knowledge, one has to begin with lesser things in a subject in order to go on to greater things within that same subject. But not everyone who wants to learn a higher subject has to gain experience with a lower subject (those who want to learn the liberal arts, for instance, do not first have to gain experience with the mechanical arts); one only has to do that when a lower subject paves the way to a higher one. But the secular life does not pave the way to the religious life; it leads away from it. Hence at the beginning of his Morals, Gregory says: While my mind still forced me to serve the world at least in appearance, many things began . . . to grow out of my care for this same world, which made me bound to it no longer in appearance, but—what is worse—in my mind.143 Instead, keeping the counsels paves the way to more safely and perfectly keeping God’s commandments, which is necessary even in the secular life.
12. To the twelfth objection: That argument fails for a number of reasons. First, because people are not chosen to enter the religious life so that they can care more for themselves or others than they did before, but so that they can live under the obedience and care of another. Second, because not everyone grants that we have to choose the better person to serve as a prelate; some consider it sufficient to choose a good one. Third, because even if we did have to choose the better person, we would not have to choose the better person absolutely speaking, but the person better suited for the office. And though children are not better than adults absolutely speaking, they are better suited to be raised in the religious life. Hence in his book On Likenesses, Anselm compares those raised in the religious life from childhood to angels and compares others to human beings, since angels have enjoyed eternal life from the beginning, whereas human beings come to do so over the course of time.144 Fourth, because only one person is chosen to be a bishop, whereas many can be accepted to enter the religious life. That is why it is more necessary to choose the better person in the former case than it is in the latter.
13. To the thirteenth objection: Sin is not the only thing that provides the occasion to fall down; what appears evil does so as well. Hence in the last chapter of 1 Thessalonians, the Apostle says: Abstain from every appearance of evil.145 Now, the bronze serpent was good in itself, given its establishment, but appeared evil because of its similarity to idolatry. Hence, it was praiseworthy to take it away from people prone to idolatry, although it did not have to be abandoned. And a blessing is good in kind, but requires the right circumstances to be an act of virtue, which means that it has to fit the person, place, and time. But it does not fit the person when a lesser person gives a blessing in the presence of a greater one. As Hebrews 7 says: Without any dispute, the inferior is blessed by the superior.146
14. To the fourteenth objection: Pursuing the counsels does not amount to skipping the steps and trying to climb the steep slopes to the summit.147 It amounts to removing things that can prevent one from keeping the commandments, as we have said.
15. To the fifteenth objection: That saying of Damascene actually supports the opposite conclusion. God does not give people incorruptibility immediately after their rebirth because it would not be good for them; it would be an occasion for pride. For an abundance of temporal and bodily goods serves as the matter for pride. Therefore, it is good for people to avoid pride by going on to keep the counsels, abandoning an abundance of temporal goods.
16. To the sixteenth objection: The embrace of Rachel represents contemplative rest, which cannot be achieved immediately after people begin to follow the counsels, but only after practicing good works for a long time. Nevertheless, it is easier to achieve such rest by observing the counsels than by practicing the commandments in the secular life.
17. To the seventeenth objection: If people are encouraged to enter the religious life with an agreement to give them temporal goods like the agreements used to buy and sell things, then it is impermissible to give such goods. But if one offers a person such goods without an agreement, then it is not impermissible to give such goods. Hence after the words quoted there, the same chapter continues: except perhaps by unconditionally providing for the needs of the poor.148 And it goes on: yet still . . . without any agreement or contract.149
18. To the eighteenth objection: The religious life is a state of spiritual warfare for those who have made great progress in it, but for those who have only just entered, it is like beginner’s training. Yet to make the greatest progress, one has to undergo such training from childhood, as Vegetius says of the training for temporal warfare in his book On Military Affairs.150
19. To the nineteenth objection: Before the age of puberty children cannot bind themselves to a consummated bodily marriage, which is like vowing to remain perpetually in the religious life. But the promise of a future marriage (as with engagements) can be made before that age, which is like binding oneself to enter the religious life.
20. To the twentieth objection: As the gloss on that same passage explains, the cured demoniac’s desire to be in the boat with Christ represents the desire of those who have been cleansed from sin, who desire to depart and to be with Christ.151 But their desire is not immediately fulfilled; they first have to labor in this life by proclaiming the word of God. Hence, the passage is clearly irrelevant to this question.
21. To the twenty-first objection: The more experience people have doing good when they leave Egypt (i.e., the world) and enter the religious life, the easier their progress will be. But since so many dangers threaten the secular life and hinder the practice of virtue, it is safer to avoid such hindrances from the beginning by keeping the counsels.
22. To the twenty-second objection: It is harder to keep the commandments in the secular life than in the religious life: it takes great virtue to keep oneself free of the world’s vices while living in the world. Hence Ecclesiasticus 31 says: Blessed is the rich man who is found blameless.152 Then it adds: Who is he? And we will praise him, for he has done wonderful things in his life.153 Thus, it would seem to be a greater presumption—if it is a presumption at all—to trust oneself to remain blameless while living in the world, rather than to doubt that one has such virtue, and to go into the religious life in order to make it easier to keep oneself free from sin. That is what Zacchaeus did, since he was small in stature: in order to see Christ, he climbed a sycamore tree (i.e., a fig tree),154 which stands for the religious life.
23. To the twenty-third objection: Greater things should be given to greater people in each state of life. But those who want to pursue a greater state should lay the foundations for that state while they are still lesser people. As Ecclesiasticus 25 says: What you have not gathered in your youth, how will you reap in old age?155 Hence, those who want to pursue the perfection of the religious life should become accustomed to it from the earliest age.
Article 2
The second question is: (2) Are the counsels aimed at the commandments?
It seems not:
1. The aim of something comes after it, since an end is the first thing intended and the last thing done.156 Yet keeping the commandments is done before following the counsels. We see this in Matthew 19, when the young man said that he had kept the commandments of the law from his youth and was then given the counsel of perfection.157 Therefore, the counsels do not seem aimed at the commandments as an end—just the opposite.
2. An end is more perfect than things aimed at an end. But the counsels are more perfect than the commandments: the counsels relate to the state of perfection, while the commandments relate to common justice. Hence, the counsels are in addition to the commandments. This is clear from what the Lord says to the young man who had kept the commandments in Matthew 19: One thing you still lack.158 If you would be perfect, etc.159 Therefore, the counsels are not aimed at the commandments—just the opposite.
3. As the Philosopher says in book II of the Physics, ends relate to things aimed at an end as premises relate to conclusions.160 But premises relate to conclusions in such a way that first the premises are accepted and then the conclusions are accepted, not the other way around, since sometimes truth is concluded from falsehood.161 Hence, ends relate to things aimed at an end in such a way that first the end is accepted, and then things aimed at the end are accepted. Yet it is not the case that first the commandments are accepted and then the counsels are accepted. After all, many people keep the commandments but not the counsels. Therefore, the counsels are not aimed at the commandments as an end.
4. In his book On Holy Virginity, Augustine says: It is astoundingly foolish . . . to think that virginity is only to be observed for the sake of the present life.162 But keeping the commandments relates to the present life. Therefore, the counsel of virginity is not to be followed for the sake of the commandments. The same reasoning applies to the other counsels as well.
5. The commandments seem to relate to the active life, whereas the counsels relate to the contemplative life. Hence where Matthew 19 lists the commandments of the law, the gloss says: Behold the active life.163 But afterward where it adds: If you would be perfect, etc., the gloss says: Behold the contemplative life.164 Yet the active life is aimed at the contemplative life, not the other way around. Therefore, the commandments are aimed at the counsels, not the other way around.
6. We read that the Lord fed crowds miraculously twice. First, he fed five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes, as Matthew 14 says.165 Then, he fed four thousand men with seven loaves and a few little fish, as Matthew 16 says.166 Now, as the gloss on Matthew 14 says: The five thousand (for our five bodily senses) are those in the secular state who know how to use external things rightly; their five loaves are the commandments of the law still needed for their instruction. The four thousand are those who completely renounce the world; their seven loaves are the evangelical perfection that exalts them and the spiritual grace that restores them.167 But the Lord fed the five thousand with five loaves before feeding the four thousand with seven loaves. Therefore, the commandments lead the way to the counsels, not the other way around.
7. Preparations come before and are aimed at perfection. But the commandments are preparations for the counsels. As the gloss of Jerome on the beginning of Mark says: The holy gospels are comprised of four things: commandments, commands, testimonies, and examples. In the commandments lies justice, in the commands charity, in the testimonies faith, and in the examples perfection,168 to which the counsels relate. Therefore, the commandments seem to be aimed at the counsels, not the other way around.
8. Nothing comes before the first. But as a gloss on the Psalms says: Charity first moves the foot to return to life.169 Yet the commandments are given for acts of charity. Hence, nothing comes before the commandments in the spiritual life. Therefore, the counsels are not aimed at the commandments—just the opposite.
9. The gloss on the verse As a weaned child at its mother’s breast, etc., of the Psalms says: Just as bodily procreation involves five phases . . . , so too does spiritual procreation. The first phase is conception, the second is gestation in the womb, the third is birth, the fourth is nursing in arms, and the fifth is weaning. So too we are first conceived in the womb of our mother the Church when we are taught the rudiments of the faith. Then we are nourished in the womb as we progress in these same fundamentals. Then we are nursed with milk in the arms of the Church . . . until we are big enough to leave our mother’s breast . . . for our father’s table.170 Later it adds: But many subvert this order, such as heretics and schismatics, who leave the breast too early and hence perish.171 Now, leaving the breast means going from easier to more difficult things. But the counsels are more difficult than the commandments. Hence, those who pursue the counsels without first learning to keep the commandments seem to put themselves at risk of perishing. Therefore, the commandments are aimed at the counsels, not the other way around.
10. In his comments on Ezekiel, Gregory says that doing good by command is for beginners.172 But things for beginners are aimed at more perfect things, not the other way around. Therefore, the commandments are aimed at the counsels, not the other way around.
11. Virtue imitates nature.173 But in the formation of an animal’s body, nature forms the parts relevant to its existence (i.e., the principal members) before forming the parts relevant to its flourishing. Therefore, in the development of virtue, the commandments (which relate to virtue’s existence) come before the counsels (which relate to its flourishing), thus leading to the previous conclusion.
12. The order of acting follows the order of learning. But in the order of learning, one has to begin with easier things and thus come to more difficult ones. In the order of acting, therefore, one has to keep the commandments (which are easier) and then go on to the counsels.
13. The gloss on Matthew 5 says that the Lord’s sermon is the path for us to take.174 But the Lord’s sermon places the commandments before the counsels: in Matthew 5 the Lord first cites the commandment given to the ancients, and then adds its perfect fulfillment.175 Therefore, it seems that observing the commandments is to be placed before the observance of the counsels.
14. The least of any kind of thing is aimed at the greatest of that kind. But keeping the commandments is the least one can do in the Christian life, while following the counsels is the greatest. Therefore, the commandments are aimed at the counsels.
15. In his comments on Matthew, Jerome says: One who fails to keep the commandments of the law cannot do anything else more perfect.176 Therefore, we must keep the commandments before the counsels, and thus the commandments are aimed at the counsels.
16. One thing is prior to another when the implication of the one by the other is not reciprocal.177 But the implication of the commandments by the counsels is not reciprocal: if one keeps the commandments, it does not follow that one keeps the counsels. Therefore, observing the commandments is naturally prior, and thus aimed at the observance of the counsels.
But to the contrary:
1. In the Enchiridion, Augustine says: All the things that God commands (e.g., You shall not commit adultery) and all the things that are not commanded but taught as spiritual counsels (e.g., It is good for a man not to touch a woman) are done rightly when they are done for the love of God and the love of neighbor for God’s sake.178 But the love of God and neighbor fall under a commandment, as Matthew 22 makes clear.179 Therefore, the counsels are aimed at the commandments.
2. Elective things are aimed at necessary things, since choice is of things aimed at an end.180 But the counsels are elective, whereas the commandments are necessary. Therefore, the counsels are aimed at the commandments.
3. The means of doing a thing more fully are aimed at that thing. But the commandments are kept more fully and completely by means of the counsels. Therefore, the counsels are aimed at the commandments.
Answer: The commandments are given for acts of virtue. Now, there are two kinds of acts of virtue—viz. internal and external—and both fall under the commandments of the law. Hence in Against Faustus, Augustine says that since the Jews only understood murder as the killing of the human body . . . the Lord explained that every hostile impulse to harm a brother counts as a kind of murder; again, they thought that the adultery forbidden by the law only meant impermissibly joining with a woman in the body, but the Lord showed that even internal concupiscence relates to adultery.181 Clearly, then, even internal acts of virtue fall under the commandments.
So, the counsels are aimed at the commandments, both in their internal and in their external acts of virtue, but in different ways.
They are aimed at their internal acts of virtue as an end. Every internal act of the moral virtues relates to purity of mind—i.e., to the freeing of the human mind from disordered feelings and from the desire for external things. Furthermore, all the virtues (both moral and theological) are aimed at the love of God and neighbor. And all the counsels are aimed at purity of mind and at these two things—viz. the love of God and neighbor—as an end. Hence it says in the Conferences: Whatever can lead us . . . to purity of heart, we should pursue with all our strength, and whatever draws us away from it, we should avoid as dangerous and vicious. This is why we do and bear all things; this is why we leave parents, homeland, honors, riches, the delights of this world, and every kind of pleasure—namely to maintain a perpetual purity of heart.182 Later it adds: We know this is why we ought to pursue the hunger of fasts, vigils, labors, bodily nakedness, reading, and every other virtue, so that by such means we might be able to prepare our hearts and preserve them from the harm of every evil feeling, and by the support of such steps climb to the perfection of charity.183 Augustine says the same thing in his book On the Customs of the Church: The whole purpose is to conquer concupiscence and maintain brotherly love, not to reject any food as unclean.184 In the same place he says: Charity is the primary concern—charity in diet, charity in speech, charity in dress, charity in expression.185 Hence in 1 Corinthians 7, the Apostle teaches that the aim of the counsel of virginity is that the unmarried woman thinks of the things of God, how to please God.186 And in Matthew 19, the Lord’s aim with the counsel of poverty is that the man should follow him, which calls for upright and pure internal feelings. As to their internal acts, therefore, the counsels are aimed at the commandments as an end.
But as to their external acts (i.e., You shall not kill, You shall not steal, etc.187), the counsels are not aimed at the commandments as an end. People do not preserve their virginity in order to abstain from adultery, or renounce their own things for the purpose of not stealing from others. For the external works of the counsels are greater than the external works of the commandments. Nevertheless, the counsels are aimed at such acts in the sense of performing them more fully and observing them more firmly: those who abandon their own things refrain from robbing others even more so. Hence in book XIX of Against Faustus, Augustine says: The Lord commended all the parts of the Hebrew law he quoted, so that anything he said in addition was either to explain more clearly what it said, or to achieve more fully what it intended.188 And in his book On the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, he says that when the things added for the sake of perfection are done, the things laid down as a beginning are done even more so.189
Accordingly, therefore, the counsels are aimed at the internal acts of the commandments as an end, but are aimed at the external acts of the commandments so as to keep them more fully and firmly by removing the obstacles to doing so. And the first aim is the cause of the second: for the right ordering of the mind’s internal feelings causes the firm performance of such external acts.
1. So, to the first objection: Some people say that the rich young man was lying when he claimed to have kept the commandments, especially the one commandment cited there, which is about an internal act, viz.: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Hence in his comments on Matthew, Origen says: It is written in the Gospel . . . according to the Hebrews, that when the Lord said to him: Go and sell all you have . . . the rich man began to scratch his head unhappily. And the Lord said to him: How can you say: I have kept the law and the prophets? . . . it is written in the law: You shall love your neighbor as yourself, and behold, many of your brothers—sons of Abraham—are covered in dung and dying of hunger, while your house is full of so many goods, none of which are given to them. . . . It is impossible to fulfill the aforementioned commandment . . . and be rich, especially with such possessions.190 Jerome defends the same view. In his comments on Matthew, he says: The young man is lying. If he had actually fulfilled the commandment: You shall love your neighbor as yourself, how could he have gone away sad after hearing: . . . sell all you have and give to the poor?191
But Chrysostom and other commentators say that the young man was not lying.192 Hence, either view can be held. For there are two ways to observe the commandment: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. One way is imperfectly, which is when people do not do anything to their neighbor that they would not want done to themselves and support their neighbor without any cost to themselves. The other way is perfectly, which is when people meet their neighbor’s bodily needs as they meet their own. Thus, the commandment is not fulfilled perfectly by very rich people who keep their wealth for themselves and allow their neighbors to go without. Now, the counsels are aimed at keeping the commandments perfectly. Hence, for those who observe the commandments imperfectly, the Lord added the counsels, by which the commandments can be perfectly observed.
2. To the second objection: The perfect life consists essentially in the commandments with their internal acts of virtue. For charity is the bond of perfection, as the Apostle says in Colossians 3.193 Hence, after the Lord gave the commandments of charity in Matthew 5, he added: Be therefore perfect.194 But the perfect life consists instrumentally in the counsels and their external acts, since the counsels are instrumental means of achieving that perfection more easily. Hence it says in the Conferences: Fasts, vigils, meditation on the scriptures, nakedness, and the deprivation of every faculty are all instruments of perfection, not perfection itself. The end of that discipline does not consist in such things; they are only a means to that end.195 And in his book On the Perfection of Righteousness, Augustine says: So, let us heed the commandments of perfection, not hesitating to pursue the perfection of charity.196 And in his comments on Matthew, Jerome says: Behold we have left everything and have followed you, he says, because it is not enough merely to leave everything; thus he adds what is perfect: and have followed you. What then shall we have? That is to say: We have done what you commanded; how then will you reward us?197 Hence, the imperfect observance of the commandments relates to common justice, whereas the perfect life consists in the full observance of the commandments.
3. To the third objection: There are two ways for something to be aimed at an end. One way is for it to be needed for an end because the end cannot exist without it. This is how food, for instance, is aimed at preserving bodily life. The other way is for it to be needed for an end because the end cannot be achieved as well without it. This is how a horse, for instance, is aimed at a journey: a journey is not impossible without a horse, but a horse makes it better. Similarly, the counsels are aimed at the commandments, not because the commandments—both in their internal and their external acts—cannot be observed without them (After all, Abraham was both rich and married and yet perfect before God, as Genesis 17 says: Walk before me and be perfect.198), but because the counsels are the fastest and easiest way to achieve the perfect observance of the commandments.
4. To the fourth objection: Augustine said that in order to reject the view of certain people who believed that virginity was only needed to avoid the bodily difficulties experienced in marriage. Even though the commandments are kept in this life, they do not relate to this life, but connect to the life to come.
5. To the fifth objection: The commandments relate to both the active and the contemplative life, but the counsels are instruments of the contemplative life. Yet that list is of the commandments aimed at our neighbor, which relate to the active life.
6. To the sixth objection: Experience keeping the commandments can be perfect and imperfect. Hence, one cannot say that the number five thousand relates to the commandments, while the number four thousand relates to the counsels. Rather, the former relates to the imperfect observance of the commandments, which even occurs sometimes in the secular life, while the latter relates to the perfect observance of the commandments, at which the counsels are aimed. Nevertheless, the fact that the Lord fed the five thousand before the four thousand does not mean that experience in secular life is required before entering the religious life. Those who enter the religious life do not immediately become perfect, but are gaining experience pursuing perfection, just as those who enter schools of logic do not immediately become logicians, but are learning to be so. Hence, the religious life is a school of perfection.
7. To the seventh objection: The examples given in the gospels are the examples of Christ, which relate not only to the counsels, but also to the perfect observance of the commandments. Hence the same gloss adds: Examples, such as: Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart.199
8. To the eighth objection: There are many levels of charity. The first is incipient charity, the next proficient charity, and the last perfect charity. Hence, in the spiritual life charity is the beginning and the end.
9. To the ninth objection: In their external acts, the counsels are more difficult to observe than the commandments. But in their internal acts, the commandments are far more difficult to observe perfectly: it is more difficult to abandon one’s desires than one’s possessions. And the external acts of the commandments are more difficult to observe without the counsels, as what we have said makes clear.
10. To the tenth objection: Beginners are at the stage of being instructed by others, which is why they are motivated to do things by command, as much in the secular life as in the religious life. But once they are perfect, they act from an interior disposition as though by themselves, both with the counsels and with the commandments.
11. To the eleventh objection: As we have said, charity is both the beginning and the end of the spiritual life. Hence, first comes inchoate charity, which relates to the existence of the spiritual life, followed by the charity relevant to the perfection of the spiritual life. Nevertheless, things related to something’s flourishing are aimed at conserving the things related to its existence.
12. To the twelfth objection: Even in education one first learns the things that make other things perfectly understandable, even if the other things are easier to know and grasp in some common way. For instance, knowing how to argue in the way that even uneducated people are able to use reason is easier than knowing the rules of logic. Yet the rules of logic are still learned first, so that one can argue more perfectly than uneducated people commonly argue. Likewise, keeping the commandments in an imperfect way is easier than keeping the counsels. Nevertheless, those who aim to keep the commandments perfectly should begin with the instruments of the counsels.
13. To the thirteenth objection: What the Lord adds there are not counsels but, rather, commandments. The very words the Lord uses there make this clear, as does Augustine’s commentary in his book On the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount.200
14. To the fourteenth objection: Keeping the commandments in an imperfect way is the least one can do in the spiritual life, but keeping them perfectly is the greatest.
15. To the fifteenth objection: The more perfect things of the gospel are not only the counsels but also the commandments, as what we have said makes clear.
16. To the sixteenth objection: Even if one thing is in some way naturally prior to another when the implication of the one by the other is not reciprocal,201 that does not necessarily mean that the one is always temporally prior to the other. For instance, not every living thing is a thinking thing, and yet living is not temporally prior to thinking in the case of angels, since angels have a perfect life of thought from the very beginning of their existence. Similarly, those who want to keep the commandments fully ought to take up the counsels from the very beginning, even though not everyone who keeps the commandments keeps the counsels.
1 Augustine, Eighty-Three Different Questions, q.46.
2 Ibid.
3 Aristotle, On the Heavens I, 11 (281a17–25).
4 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics II, 6 (1106a15–17).
5 Wisdom 12:17.
6 Psalms 146:5.
7 Augustine, Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homily 40, 9.
8 Aristotle, On the Heavens I, 11 (281a17–25).
9 Ibid.
10 Augustine, The City of God XI, 34.
11 Genesis 1:7.
12 Psalms 148:4–5.
13 Augustine, Literal Commentary on Genesis II, 5.
14 Ibid. I, 19.
15 Cf. ibid. I, 20.
16 Basil, Hexaemeron, Homily III, 8.
17 Augustine, Literal Commentary on Genesis II, 4.
18 Cf. Aristotle, On the Heavens III, 2 (301a15–20); On the Soul I, 5 (410b4–7); Metaphysics III, 4 (1000a27–b3).
19 Cf. Augustine, The City of God VIII, 11.
20 Cf. Aristotle, On the Heavens I, 2–4 (268b11–271a33).
21 Augustine, Literal Commentary on Genesis II, 1.
22 Cf. Augustine, Commentary on Genesis Against the Manicheans I, 6 (12).
23 Cf. ibid.
24 Hebrews 1:3.
25 Augustine, Literal Commentary on Genesis IV, 12.
26 Wisdom 1:14.
27 Cf. Augustine, Eighty-Three Different Questions, q.21.
28 Aristotle, On Generation and Corruption II, 11 (338b11–19).
29 Augustine, The City of God XXII, 20.
30 John Damascene, On Orthodox Faith, c. 81.
31 Cf. Aristotle, Topics IV, 6 (128b9); Physics IV, 8 (215a9–11).
32 Augustine, On the Trinity VII, 1.
33 Cf. Dionysius, The Divine Names, c. 2, 3.
34 Hilary, On the Councils, 58.
35 Augustine, Literal Commentary on Genesis II, 6.
36 Augustine, On the Trinity XV, 14, 23.
37 Boethius, On the Trinity, c. 6.
38 Anselm, On the Procession of the Holy Spirit, c. 1.
39 Cf. Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III, q.50, a.2.
40 Cf. Sermon of the Arians, 7; Augustine, Against a Sermon of the Arians, c. 9.
41 Psalms 15:10.
42 Cf. John Damascene, On Orthodox Faith III, 28.
43 Augustine, Literal Commentary on Genesis VIII, 12.
44 Aristotle, Physics VIII, 3 (254a11–14).
45 Hugh of St. Victor, On the Sacraments II, Part 14, c. 8.
46 Cf. Aquinas, On the Form of Absolution, c. 1 & c. 2.
47 Psalms 31:5.
48 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 16:7.
49 Rather, Decretum II, C. xxvi, q. 2, c. 24.
50 Matthew 15:5–6.
51 1 Corinthians 11:3.
52 This is not found in the Decretals.
53 Cf. Matthew 18:15–17.
54 Acts 5:29.
55 Bernard, On Precept and Dispensation III, 6.
56 Cf. 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6.
57 Rather, 2 Corinthians 13:3.
58 Decretum I, d. l, c. 56.
59 Cf. 2 Corinthians 13:8.
60 Galatians 5:2.
61 1 Corinthians 11:34.
62 1 Corinthians 16:1–2.
63 That is, without the cleric committing sin. Cf. Decretals V, tit. 1, c. 12.
64 Rather, Deuteronomy 17:8–10.
65 Rather, Genesis 47:6.
66 Cf. Ordinary Gloss on James 2:3; Augustine, Letter 167, 18.
67 Decretum II, C. viii, q.1, c. 6. Cf. Jerome, Commentary on Titus, 1, 5.
68 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics VI, 2 (1139a27–28).
69 Aristotle, On Generation and Corruption II, 11 (337b7).
70 Aristotle, Categories, 6 (4b8–10).
71 See Aquinas, Commentary on Aristotle’s On Interpretation I, ll. 13–14.
72 Aristotle, Categories, 5 (4a36–b2).
73 Aristotle, On Interpretation, 1 (16a3–8).
74 Aristotle, On the Soul III, 6 (430a31–b1).
75 Aristotle, On Interpretation, 2 (16a33–b1).
76 Titus 1:9.
77 Psalms 118:127.
78 Rather, Interlinear Gloss on Psalms 118:72; Gloss of Peter Lombard on Psalms 118:72. Cf. Augustine, Expositions of the Psalms, Psalm 118, 72.
79 John 15:13.
80 1 Corinthians 13:3.
81 Cf. Acts of St. Vincent Martyr in Acts of the Saints, January 22.
82 Gregory, Forty Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 15.
83 Augustine, The City of God XIII, 4.
84 Matthew 5:39.
85 Cf. Hebrews 10:34.
86 Peter Lombard, Sentences II, d.29, c. 6, n. 3.
87 Ordinary Gloss on Romans 6:12.
88 Cf. Augustine, On Free Choice III, 18, 50.
89 Cf. Augustine, On the Trinity XII, 15 & 18.
90 Cf. Anselm, The Compatibility of God’s Foreknowledge, Predestination, and Grace with Free Will, c. 3, §7.
91 A common adage.
92 Cf. Augustine, On the Trinity XII, 12.
93 Romans 8:1.
94 Romans 7:25.
95 Matthew 19:16–21.
96 Gregory, Homilies on Ezekiel II, Homily 3, 3.
97 Exodus 21:33–34.
98 The Rule of St. Benedict, c. 58.
99 Gregory, Register of Letters V, 58; Decretum I, d. xlviii, c. 2.
100 Rather, Decretum III, On Consecration, d. iv, c. 118, 2.
101 Decretum II, C. xx, q.3, c. 4.
102 Rather, Proverbs 13:11.
103 Numbers 21:6–9.
104 Cf. 4 Kings (2 Kings) 18:4.
105 Gregory, Register of Letters IX, 219; Decretum I, d. xlviii, c. 2.
106 John Damascene, On Orthodox Faith II, 30.
107 Gregory, Morals VI, 37, 61.
108 Decretum II, C. i, q.2, c. 2.
109 Gerard of Abbeville, A Twofold Question, q. 2.
110 Mark 5:19.
111 Rather, Ordinary Gloss on Exodus 15:17.
112 This is not found in Augustine.
113 Augustine, On the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount I, 1, 2.
114 Decretum II, C. xx, q.2, c. 1, 1.
115 1 Chronicles 29:1.
116 Rather, Decretum II, C. xxxii, q.2, c. 13.
117 Decretum II, C. xx, q.1, c. 1.
118 Numbers 30:4–6.
119 Cf. Decretum II, C. xxxii, q.2, c. 14.
120 Augustine, The City of God II, 1.
121 Proverbs 22:6.
122 Pseudo-Dionysius, The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, c. 3, 11.
123 Acts 4:32.
124 Gregory, Dialogues II, 3.
125 Pope Gregory II, Letter to Boniface (726); Decretum II, C. xx, q.1, c. 2.
126 Rather, Decretum II, C. xx, q.2, c. 1.
127 Gregory, Forty Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 19, 2.
128 Pseudo-John Chrysostom, Unfinished Work on Matthew, Homily 32.
129 Hilary, Commentary on Matthew, c. 19, 9.
130 Cf. Matthew 19:23.
131 Origen, Commentary on Matthew XV, 7–8.
132 Psalms 118:106.
133 Augustine, Letter 127, 8.
134 1 Corinthians 10:33.
135 Matthew 6:33.
136 Lamentations 3:27.
137 Matthew 15:12–15.
138 Decretum II, C. xxiii, q.4, c. 24, 5.
139 Decretum I, d. xlviii, c. 2; Gregory, Homilies on Ezekiel I, Homily 2, 3.
140 Aristotle, Categories, 7 (6b9).
141 Aristotle, Physics IV, 10 (218b16).
142 Augustine, Letter 137, 1, 3.
143 Gregory, Morals I, Letter to Leander, 1.
144 Cf. On Likenesses, c. 78.
145 1 Thessalonians 5:22.
146 Hebrews 7:7.
147 Gregory, Register of Letters IX, 219; Decretum I, d. xlviii, c. 2.
148 Decretum II, C. i, q.2, c. 2.
149 Ibid.
150 Vegetius, On Military Affairs I, 4.
151 Interlinear Gloss on Mark 5:18–19. Cf. 1 Philippians 1:23.
152 Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 31:8.
153 Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 31:9.
154 Cf. Luke 19:1–10.
155 Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 25:5.
156 Cf. Aristotle, Physics II, 9 (200a15–24); Metaphysics VII, 7 (1032b6–21); Nicomachean Ethics III, 3 (1112b23–24).
157 Cf. Matthew 19:16–21.
158 Rather, Luke 18:22.
159 Matthew 19:21.
160 Cf. Aristotle, Physics II, 9 (200a15–24); Averroes, Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics II, 89.
161 Cf. Aristotle, Posterior Analytics I, 32 (88a20–21).
162 Augustine, On Holy Virginity, 13.
163 Ordinary Gloss on Matthew 19:18.
164 Interlinear Gloss on Matthew 19:21.
165 Matthew 14:15–21.
166 Rather, Matthew 15:34–38. Cf. Matthew 16:9–10.
167 Ordinary Gloss on Matthew 14:21.
168 Ordinary Gloss on Mark 1.
169 Ordinary Gloss on Psalms 120:3; Gloss of Peter Lombard on Psalms 120:3.
170 Gloss of Peter Lombard on Psalms 130:2.
171 Ibid.
172 Gregory, Homilies on Ezekiel I, Homily 10, 31.
173 Cf. Aristotle, Physics II, 2 (194a21–22).
174 Ordinary Gloss on Matthew 5:25.
175 Cf. Matthew 5:21–48.
176 This is not found in Jerome. But cf. Gregory, Forty Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 40, 9.
177 Aristotle, Categories, 12 (14a34–35).
178 Augustine, Enchiridion XXXII, 121.
179 Cf. Matthew 22:37–40.
180 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics III, 2 (1111b26–27).
181 Augustine, Against Faustus XVIII, 23.
182 John Cassian, Conferences I, 5.
183 Ibid., 7.
184 Augustine, On the Customs of the Church I, 33, 71.
185 Ibid., 73.
186 1 Corinthians 7:34 & 32.
187 Exodus 20:13 & 15.
188 Augustine, Against Faustus XIX, 27.
189 Augustine, On the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount I, 8, 20.
190 Origen, Commentary on Matthew XV, 14.
191 Jerome, Commentary on Matthew II, on 19:20.
192 Cf. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew, Homily 63, 1; Bede, Commentary on Luke V, on 18:21; Bede, Commentary on Mark III, on 10:20–21; Remigius of Auxerre, Commentary on Matthew, on 19:20.
193 Colossians 314.
194 Matthew 5:48.
195 Cassian, Conferences I, 7, 3.
196 Augustine, On the Perfection of Righteousness, c. 8, 19.
197 Jerome, Commentary on Matthew III, on 19:27.
198 Genesis 17:1.
199 Ordinary Gloss on Mark 1.
200 Cf. Augustine, On the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount I, 19, 21.
201 Aristotle, Categories, 12 (14a34–35).