Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Members of the Church · On Monks (Book II)
Chapter 15: The State of the Question Explained
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).
Now, that we may briefly explain in what things we dissent from the adversaries: the opinion of Luther and Calvin seems to be the same; for each teaches three things about vows. The first, that vows to worship God cannot be made except of things commanded, and accordingly that there is one common vow of the faithful — that promise which we make in Baptism.
The second, that vows of things not commanded by God can be made, if they be made not to worship God or to satisfy for sins, but to accomplish the business of this life more expeditiously, or to avoid sins, or for other good ends. For example, Calvin teaches that he who often falls into the vice of drunkenness will do rightly if he vow that he will drink water for three days if he again fall into drunkenness; in which way also he thinks that in the time of the Apostles certain widows vowed continence, that they might more expeditiously discharge the office of deaconesses.
The third, that the vows of monks are impious, void, and altogether to be dissolved, because they are made with the notion of worship, and yet are of those things which God nowhere commanded. All these Luther teaches in the book On Monastic Vows, and Calvin (Book 4 of the Institutes, chapter 13). Nor do the Augsburg Confession (article 27) and the Wurttemberg Confession (chapter on monastic vows) teach unlike things.
Peter Martyr, in the book On Celibacy and Monastic Vows, says two things at variance with the doctrine of Luther and Calvin. The first is that vows could be made in the Old Testament, as also sacrifices and the other ceremonies; but in the New Testament they cannot be made, since they are abrogated with the rest of the Jewish ceremonies. The second is that the promise which is made in Baptism is not a vow. In the third saying he agrees with Luther and Calvin.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XV. Explicatur status quaestionis. Jam vero, ut breviter explicemus, quibus in rebus ab adversariis dissentiamus : Lu- theri et Calvini sententia eadem esse vide¬ tur ; uterque enim tria quaedam de votis do¬ cet. Primum, vota ad colendum Deum non posse fieri, nisi de rebus praeceptis, proinde unum esse commune votum fidelium, pro¬ missionem illam, quam facimus in Baptismo. Secundum, vota de rebus a Deo non prae¬ ceptis posse fieri, si non ad colendum Deum, aut satisfaciendum pro peccatis, sed ad ne¬ gotia hujus vitae expeditius peragenda, aut ad vitanda peccata, aut ad alios bonos fines fiant : exempli causa docet Calvinus, eum, qui saepe in vitium ebrietatis labitur, recte facturum, si voveat, se triduo aquam bibitu- rum, si iterum inciderit in ebrietatem ; quo¬ modo etiam existimat, Apostolorum tem¬ pore viduas quasdam vovisse continentiam, ut expeditius fungerentur munere Diaconis¬ sarum. Tertium, vota Monachorum impia, irrita, et omnino solvenda esse, quod fiant cum opinione cultus, et tamen de iis rebus sint, quas Deus nusquam praecepit. Haec omnia Lutherus docet in lib. de votis monasticis, et Calvinus lib* IY Institutionum cap. 13. Nec dissimilia docent Confessio Augustana artic. 27. et Confessio Wirtcmbergensis, cap. de votis monasticis. Petrus Martyr in lib. de Cmlibatu et votis monasticis, duo dicit pugnantia cum doctrina Lutheri et Calvini. Primum est, vota in Tes¬ tamento veteri fieri potuisse, ut etiam sacri¬ ficia et caeremonias caeteras ; in novo testa¬ mento fieri non posse, cum sint abrogata cum reliquis Judaicis caeremoniis. Secun¬ dum est, promissionem, quae fit in Baptismo, non esse votum ; in tertio dicto cum Luthero et Calvino concordat.