Chapter 2 — Arguments used by those who maintain that none should be admitted to the religious life who are not practised in the exercise of the commandments

The followers of Vigilantius strive, by sundry arguments, to prove that none should undertake to follow the counsels, unless they are already exercised in obedience to the commandments.

First, they remind us that our Saviour when he gave the counsel of poverty, told the young man that if he desired to enter into life, he must keep the commandments, and only when the youth professed to have kept the commandments, did Christ give him the counsel concerning poverty. (Matt 19:17-21.) This shows, they say, that obedience to the commandments ought to precede observance of the counsels. Again they bring forward, in defence of their opinion, the words of Jesus Christ, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you (Matt 28:20). They also quote the following commentary of Bede upon this text: the order herein commanded to be observed is equitable. For, first, a hearer must be taught; he must then be initiated into the mysteries of the faith; and, finally, he must be instructed in the keeping of the commandments. (This text is in reality found in Rabanus Maurus Magnentius, Commentary on Matthew, bk. 8, at Matt 28:20 (PL 107:1152D); also found in Glossa ordinaria 5, 471, at Matt 28:20; cf. Jerome, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, bk. 4, ch. 28, at Matt 28:20 (CCSL 77; PL 26:218C).) From these words the conclusion is drawn that obedience to the commandments must go before the practice of the counsels.

They further allege in favour of their views the verse of Psalm 118, by your commandments I have had understanding. They cite too the words of the Gloss, I do not say that I have understood your commandments themselves, but that by them I have had understanding; for, by keeping the commandments, David attained to sublime wisdom. (Peter Lombard, Commentaries on the Psalms and St. Paul, at Ps 119:104 [Ps 118:8] (PL 191:1095D); cf. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, on Ps 118, sermon 22, para. 8: "... ad altitudinem sapientiae pervenire" (CCSL 40;CSEL 95.2; PL 37:1566).) The verse of Psalm 130 (Ps 131:2 (Ps 130:2).) is also quoted in the same sense, as a weaned child to his mother, with the following commentary upon this text, which occurs in the Gloss, as in physical so also in spiritual procreation and nourishment five periods occur. First we are conceived in the womb; we are nourished therein until we see the light; we are then carried in the arms of our mother and suckled with her milk until, being weaned, we are seated at the table of our father. (Peter Lombard, Commentaries on the Psalms and St. Paul, at Ps 131:2 [Ps 130:2] (PL 191:1171D).) The Gloss then adds: holy Church likewise observes these five periods. For the child of the Church is, so to speak, conceived on the Wednesday of the fourth week of Lent. He is, by exorcism and catechism, initiated in the rudiments of the Christian faith. He is nourished in the womb of the Church until, on Holy Saturday, he is by baptism born into spiritual light. Then, until Pentecost, he may be said to be carried in the arm of the Church and fostered at her breast; for during this season nothing laborious is enjoined, neither rising by night nor fasting. But after he has been confirmed by the Holy Spirit, the Christian is weaned, and begins to fast and to observe other toilsome practices. But (say the followers of Vigilantius) many reverse this order. Such are heretics and schismatics, who prematurely forsake their mother’s milk, and therefore come to nought. (Peter Lombard, Commentaries on the Psalms and St. Paul, at Ps 131:2 [Ps 130:2] (PL 191:1172B-C).) As it is more difficult to practise the counsels than to keep the commandments, it is reversing the right order of things for a man who is not exercised in obedience to the commandments to undertake to observe the counsels. Such an error may end in heresy or schism.

They strive, further, to strengthen this argument by the order observed by our Saviour in the miracles whereby He fed the multitudes. For, first, as we read in Mathew 14, he fed five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes; and then in Matthew 15 we see that he fed four thousand men with seven loaves and seven little fish. By the five thousand men are meant those who, living a secular life, know how to make good use of material possessions; but the four thousand fed by seven loaves, signify those who renounce the world completely, and are nourished on evangelical perfection and spiritual grace. (Cf. Glossa ordinaria 5, 256, at Matt 14:21.) Hence we are to learn that men must first be sustained by obedience to the commandments, and afterwards led to the perfection of the counsels.

Another argument, brought forward by those who follow Vigilantius, is contained in the words of St. Jerome on the beginning of the Gospel of St. Mark: the holy Gospel, he says, is composed of four elements, namely, precepts, commandments, testimonies, examples. Justice appears in the precepts, charity in the commandments, faith in the testimonies, perfection in the examples. (Glossa ordinaria 5, 475, on Jerome's prologue to the Gospel of Mark; This is in reality written by Pseudo-Jerome (Commeanus), Super Marcum.) From this passage they conclude that it is from the justice of the precepts that we are to attain to the perfection of the examples, which perfection would seem to consist in the counsels.

They further bring forward the following passage of St. Gregory (Moral., 6): it was after the embrace of Lia that Jacob came to Rachel; for the perfect man is first engaged in the fruitfulness of active life and afterwards attains to the repose of contemplation. (Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job, bk. 6, ch. 5, para. 61 (CCSL 143; PL 75:764C).) Now the religious state, which professes the practice of the counsels, belongs to the contemplative life. But the commandments lead us to the active life. The Gloss says, concerning the passage in Matthew 12, where the commandments of the law are enumerated: behold the active life. (Glossa ordinaria 5, 320, at Matt 19:17.) But when it comments on those words of our Lord in the same chapter, if you would be perfect, the Gloss adds: behold the contemplative life. (Glossa interlinearis, in Bibliorum Sacrorum cum Glossa ordinaria iam ante quidem a Strabo Fulgensi, collecta: nunc autem novis patrum, cum Graecorum, tum Latinorum expositionibus locupletata cum postilla Nicolai Lyrani (Venice: 1603), vol. 5, p. 321-322, at Matt 19:21.) Therefore, it is not fitting that a man should embrace the religious life, unless, by keeping the commandments, he has first been exercised in the active life.

Another argument, adduced by the disciples of Vigilantius in the defence of their cause, is contained in the commentary of St. Gregory on Ezekiel: no one becomes perfect at once. In true conversion a man must begin with the least things, in order that he may attain to great things. (Gregory the Great, Homilies on Ezechiel, bk. 2, homily 3, para. 3 (CCSL 142; PL 76:959C).) Now the commandments of the decalogue would appear to be the lesser things, but the counsels, which pertain to perfection, the greater. For St. Augustine, in his book De sermone Domini in monte, says: the things commanded by the law are lesser; those which Christ was to command, were greater. (Cf. Augustine, De sermone Domini in monte, bk. 1, ch. 9, para. 21 (PL 34:1239-1240).) Let no man, therefore, proceed to the observance of the greater things, namely, the practice of the counsels, unless he is first exercised in the lesser, that is to say, in keeping the commandments. Again, St. Gregory says (Decretals, XLVIII, Sicut): while walls are still new and damp, we know that they cannot bear weight; and if a roof be placed upon them before they be dry, the whole building will fall to the ground. (Gregory the Great, Epistularum, bk. 5, epistle 53 (CCSL 140; PL 77:784B-785A). Also found in Gratian, Decretum, ed. Emil Friedberg, Corpus iuris canonici 1 (Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1879), P. 1, D. 48, ch. 2, 1:174.) Again, among the sayings of St. Gregory, we find the following: he courts a fall who, despising steps, attempts to climb a height by a steep ascent. (Gregory the Great, Epistularum 9.106 (CCSL 140A; PL 77:1030B). Also found in Gratian, Decretum, P. 1, D. 48, ch. 2 (Friedberg, 1:174).) Whence they conclude that it is dangerous for anyone to presume to attain to the high perfection of the counsels, unless he be first exercised in lesser things that is to say in the commandments.

Those who hold this opinion, further observe that the commandments, even in the order of nature, precede the counsels, (Cf. Aristotle, Categories, ch. 13, 14a34.) for they are more common and more in harmony with nature. The commandments can be kept together with the counsels, but the counsels cannot be practised apart from the commandments. Hence it cannot be well ordered to aspire to the counsels, unless the observance of the commandments has gone first. Those who are of this opinion further add that if it were right that the counsels should take precedence over the commandments, those who did not practise the counsels could not be saved, for they would not be keeping the commandments.

These are the chief arguments used by those who hold that religious life should not be attempted by any, save those who are exercised in obedience to the commandments.