Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Members of the Church · On Monks (Book II)
Chapter 7: What a Counsel of Perfection Is
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. II, De Monachis (De Membris Ecclesiae, Book II), On Monks (On the Members of the Church, Book II). The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
There now follows the question on the counsels of perfection, which we proposed to treat in the second place. And first it must be explained what a counsel of perfection is, and in what it differs from a precept. Secondly, what the heretics hold, and what the Catholics. Thirdly, the truth is to be proved. Fourthly, the arguments are to be solved.
As to the first, we call a counsel of perfection a good work not commanded to us by Christ, but pointed out; not enjoined, but commended. And it differs from a precept on the part of the matter, on the part of the subject, on the part of the form, on the part of the end. On the part of the matter, in two ways. First, because the matter of a precept is easier, that of a counsel harder; for the former is taken from the principles of nature, the latter in a manner surpasses nature. For nature inclines to keeping faith with a spouse, but not so to abstaining from marriage. Ambrose (Book 1 On Virgins): “Who,” he says, “could comprehend by human wit that which nature has not included among its laws? Or who embrace with natural voice that which is above the use of nature? From heaven she summoned what she might imitate on earth.” And Jerome, or whoever was the author, in the sermon on the Assumption: “Truly,” he says, “to live in the flesh beyond the flesh is not an earthly life, but a heavenly.”
Secondly, because the matter of a precept is good, that of a counsel better and more perfect — speaking of the precepts which are concerned with the same matter with which the counsels are concerned; for a counsel includes a precept and adds something above the precept. Augustine (sermon 18 on the words of the Apostle): “But those loving women,” he says, “to whom earthly marriages grew worthless, who did not desire earthly embraces, so far accepted the precept that they did not refuse the counsel; that they might please more, they adorned themselves the more.”
On the part of the subject, counsels and precepts differ in that a precept is common to all, a counsel not so. Augustine (sermon 61 on the seasons): “Of virginity it is said, He that can take it, let him take it; of justice it is not said, He that can do it, let him do it, but, Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire.”
On the part of the form, that a precept obliges by its own force, while a counsel is placed in the choice of man. Jerome (in the epistle to Eustochium, on the keeping of virginity): “Where there is a counsel, there is the choice of the offerer; where a precept is given, there is the necessity of the servant.” And Augustine (On Holy Virginity, chapter 30): “For it cannot,” he says, “be said, Thou shalt not marry, as it is said, Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill; the latter are exacted, the former are offered. If the former are done, they are praised; unless the latter are done, they are condemned.”
On the part of the end, or effect, that a precept observed has a reward, not observed has a penalty; but a counsel, if it be not kept, has no penalty, and if it be kept, has a greater reward. Augustine (On Holy Virginity, chapter 14): “Whoever does not obey a precept is a guilty debtor of penalty.” And below: “But since, sins being avoided and remitted, eternal life is to be approached, in which there is a certain excellent glory, to be bestowed not on all who will live for eternity, but on some there; for the attaining of which it is little to have been freed from sins, unless something be vowed to the Liberator Himself — something of which not to have vowed is no crime, but to have vowed and rendered is praise: Counsel, says the Apostle, I give, etc.”
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT VII. Quid sit Consilium perfectionis . Sequitur nunc qtiaestio de consiliis perfec¬ tionis, quam secundo loco tractandam pro¬ posuimus. Ac primum explicandum erit, quid sit consilium perfectionis, et in quo dif¬ ferat a praecepto. Secundo, quid sentiant haeretici, et quid Catholici. Tertio, probanda veritas. Quarto, solvenda argumenta. Quantum ad primum, consilium perfec¬ tionis vocamus opus bonum, a Christo nobis non imperatum, sed demonstratum; non mandatum, sed commendatum. Differt au¬ tem a praecepto ex parte materiae, ex parte subjecti, ex parte formae, ex parte finis. Ex parte materiae dupliciter. Primo, quia mate¬ ria praecepti est facilior, consilii difficilior; illa enim sumpta est ex principiis naturae, haec superat quodammodo naturam : Nam ad servandam conjugi fidem natura inclinat, at non ita ad abstinendum a conjugio. Am¬ brosius lib. I de virgin. : « Quis, inquit, hu¬ mano eam possit ingenio comprehendere, quam nec natura suis inclusit legibus ? Aut quis naturali voce complecti, quod supra usum naturae sit? E coelo accersivit, quod (1) I. Cor. I, 13. — (2) I. Cor. IV, 5 et 3. 520 LIBER JI. imitaretur in terris. » Et Hieronymus, sive quicumque fuit auctor, sermone de assump¬ tione : « Profecto, inquit, in carne praeter carnem vivere non terrena vita est, sed coe¬ lestis. » Secundo, quia materia praecepti bona est, consilii melior et perfectior, loquendo de praeceptis , quae circa eamdem materiam versantur, circa quam versantur consilia ; consilium enim includit praeceptum, et ali¬ quid supra praeceptum addit. Augustinus ser. 18. de verbis Apostoli : <c Illae autem, inquit, amantes, quibus terrenae nuptiae vi¬ luerunt, quae terrenos amplexus non deside¬ raverunt, usque adeo acceptarunt praecep¬ tum, ut non recusarent consilium ; ut plus plaeerent, plus se ornaverunt. » Ex parte subjecti differunt consilia et prae¬ cepta, quod praeceptum commune sit omni¬ bus, consilium non item. Augustinus ser. 61. de tempore : « De virginitate dicitur : Qui potest capere, capiat; de justitia non dicitur : Qui potest facere, faciat, sed : Om¬ nis arbor, quae non facit fructum bonum ex¬ scindetur, et in ignem mi.ttetur. » Ex parte formae, quod praeceptum vi sua obliget, consilium in arbitrio hominis posi¬ tum sit. Hieronymus in epist. ad Eustochium de servanda virginitate : « Ubi consilium, ibi offerentis arbitrium, ubi praeceptum da¬ tur, ibi necessitas est servientis.» Et Augus¬ tinus de sancta virginitate cap. 30. : « Ne¬ que enim, inquit, sicut non moechaberis, non occides, ita dici potest, non nubes; illa exi¬ guntur, ista offeruntur : si fiunt ista, laudan¬ tur; nisi fiant illa, damnantur. » Ex parte finis, sive effectus, quod praecep¬ tum observatum habet praemium, non ob¬ servatum habet poenam : Consilium autem, si non servetur, nullam habet poenam, et si servetur, majus habet praemium. Augusti¬ nus de sancta virginitate, cap. 14. : « Prae¬ cepto quisquis non obtemperat reus est de¬ bitor poenae. » Et infra : « Sed quoniam de¬ vitatis remissisque peccatis, adeunda est vita aeterna, in qua est quaedam egregia gloria, non omnibus in aeternum victuris, sed qui¬ busdam ibi tribuenda ; cui consequendae, parum est, liberatum esse a peccatis, nisi aliquid ipsi liberatori voveatur, quod non sit criminis non vovisse, sed vovisse ac red¬ didisse sit laudis : Consilium, inquit Aposto¬ lus, do etc. »