Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Members of the Church · On Monks (Book II)
Chapter 16: That Everything Done by Vow Is Worship of God
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).
That we may come, then, to the disputations, I lay down this proposition: “Everything which is done by vow, even though otherwise it be not commanded by God, is truly and properly a worship of God.” This proposition is against Luther and Calvin, who teach that vows of things not commanded cannot be made to worship God — as though there could be some true vows which are not a worship of God. I prove, then, the assertion laid down.
First, to vow is an act of religion; therefore also to render or fulfill a vow is an act of religion, whether it be made of a thing commanded or not commanded. The antecedent is proved from that of Isaiah 19: In that day the Egyptians shall know the Lord, and shall worship him with sacrifices and gifts, and shall make vows and pay them. Where the latter are explanations of the former; for vows are gifts. Besides, this is the nature of a vow, that it order to the worship of God a thing otherwise not ordered to the worship of God, according to that of Deuteronomy 12: Whatsoever thou shalt sanctify and vow, etc. Finally, Calvin confesses (Book 4, chapter 13, §2) that to vow is an office of religion. Now the consequence is proved; for to promise and to render pertain to the same virtue; but by that which is done by vow, even though not commanded, the vow is fulfilled; therefore by it God is worshiped.
Secondly, every vow is a promise made to God, as Calvin too teaches (at the beginning of chapter 13, Book 4 of the Institutes); therefore to fulfill any vow whatever is to keep faith with God; but to keep faith with God is to worship and honor God immediately; just as, on the contrary, not to keep faith with Him is to do Him injury; therefore the fulfillment of any vow is a worship of God.
Thirdly, every oath is a worship of God, even though it be made of a thing not commanded — as if one swear that he will not drink wine, as Calvin himself affirms (Book 2, chapter 8, §23, of the Institutes); therefore a vow of the same thing will be a worship of God. The consequence is proved; for oaths and vows are so similar that in the Scriptures an oath is often taken for a vow, as appears (Numbers 30): If a woman, says the Scripture, having a husband, vow anything, and the word going out of her mouth bind her soul by an oath, she shall be guilty of the vow, she shall render what she promised, etc. Besides, as by an oath about a thing not commanded to be done we honor God, because we protest that He is the immutable Truth and the asserter of truth, so by a vow of a thing not commanded, but yet good, we honor God, because we protest to Him, as to the highest good, that the acts of the virtues please Him.
Fourthly, to render by vow something not commanded, but yet good, to false gods, is a sin, and no other than of idolatry; therefore to render to the true God by vow the same thing will be an act of latria.
Fifthly, if one vow to abstain from wine for three days, and do it not, without doubt he sins; but he does not sin by the sin of intemperance, for it is not a necessary act of temperance to abstain from wine; therefore he sins because he affects God with injury by not keeping faith with Him; therefore if he abstain, he honors God.
Sixthly, by every act of virtue, even not commanded, nor done by vow, but yet done for God’s sake, God is worshiped; therefore much more, if that act be done by vow, by it God will be worshiped. The antecedent is proved. First, by the testimony of Scripture; for (Luke 2) it is said that Anna served God with fastings and prayers, and the word is latreuousa, which properly signifies worship. Philippians 4: I am filled, having received of Epaphroditus the things you sent, an odor of sweetness, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. Hebrews, last chapter: Do not forget to do good and to impart, for by such sacrifices God is obtained. James 1: Religion clean before God is to visit the fatherless and widows, etc. All which are understood also of alms not commanded.
Secondly, from the Fathers. For Tertullian (in the book On the Resurrection of the Flesh) says: “For as sacrifices pleasing to God — I mean the conflicts of the soul — fasts, and dry and arid foods, and the squalor that is the appendage of this office. The flesh is renewed from its own discomfort; virginity too, and widowhood, and the modest concealment of marriage in secret, and its single acquaintance, are burned to God from the goods of the flesh.” Epiphanius (heresy 48) calls virginity and the renunciation of goods an approved worship of God. Jerome (Book 1 against Jovinian): “That virginity,” he says, “is a victim to Christ, whose mind no thought, whose flesh no lust has defiled.” Augustine (in the book On the Good of Widowhood, chapter 9), speaking of continence: “Let no oblation,” he says, “be withdrawn from Christ,” etc. And (Book 10 On the City of God, chapter 6) he calls a sacrifice every good work done for God’s sake; but it is certain that a sacrifice is properly a worship of God.
Seventhly, a vow of a thing commanded is not a true and proper vow, except inasmuch as that thing is conceived as not commanded, as we shall show a little later; therefore either a vow of a thing not commanded is a worship of God, or no vow is a worship of God; but this is false, therefore the former is true.
Eighthly, if a vow of a thing not commanded is not a worship of God, then neither is the very act of vowing absolutely a worship of God; for the very act of vowing is nowhere commanded. But this is against Calvin himself, who teaches that to vow is an act of religion.
Ninthly, it is proved by the examples of the Scriptures. For the first vow is read (Genesis 28): Jacob made a vow: If the Lord be with me, etc., the Lord shall be my God, and this stone which I have set up shall be called the house of God, and of all things that thou shalt give me, I will offer tithes to thee. That this is a vow of a thing not commanded appears, because otherwise Jacob would have sinned by making a conditional vow of a thing commanded. And that this vow was made to worship God appears; for to hold a stone for the house of God — that is, for an altar — and to offer tithes, are acts of religion. Another vow was David’s, of building the temple, of which (Psalm 131): Jacob vowed a vow to God, etc. That this vow was of a thing not commanded appears from 2 Kings, chapter 7, where God, having heard this vow of David and praised his will, says that He did not command a temple to be made for Him, nor did He wish it to be made by David. And that David in this passage wished to worship God appears, because to build a temple is an act of religion.
Finally, all the vows which are read in the Scriptures — Leviticus 27, Numbers 6 and 30, Deuteronomy 12 and 23 — were vows of things not commanded, as appears from the passages themselves, and yet that they pleased God appears, because He most severely exacted their fulfillment: If thou hast vowed a vow, says Deuteronomy 23, thou shalt not delay to pay it, because the Lord will require it; and if thou delay, it shall be reputed to thee for a sin; if thou wilt not promise, thou shalt be without sin. Where thou clearly seest a vow freely made severely exacted by God.
But let us solve their argument. Thus, then, they argue: All voluntary worship — that is, which God did not command — cannot please God; therefore a vow of a thing not commanded ought not to be made to worship God. The antecedent is proved; for (Colossians 2) the Apostle reprehends all ethelothreskeia — for so it is in the Greek, which our translator renders “superstition” — and (Romans 14) he says: What is not of faith is sin. By which words he indicates that it is a sin to undertake that which faith, conceived from the word of God, does not show how it is esteemed by God; but such are all voluntary worships.
To that of Colossians 2 concerning ethelothreskeia, some answer that Paul in that place does not take voluntary worship in the bad part, but in the good; yet because the Vulgate edition renders it “superstition,” and Jerome (in the epistle to Algasia, question 10), Augustine (in epistle 59 to Paulinus, question 7), Ambrose, Theodoret, Oecumenius, and all others on this passage take that word for feigned religion, it must be said that the Apostle in this passage calls voluntary worship not those actions which are not commanded by God — for that would be repugnant to very many testimonies of the Scriptures, as we have already proved — but those which are neither approved nor commended by God, nor are really by their nature matter of worship, but are empty things, and yet are usurped by some as though they were worship; such as are those which are called superstitious worships, as when some place religion in the number of washings, as the Jews of old did, and the Turks do at this time, who think that they greatly worship God if, with the whole body oftener washed, they approach to pray. For the Apostle speaks of those who abstained from certain foods as by their nature unclean, and placed religion in this, if they never touched such foods.
To that of Romans 14 I say, with the common exposition of the ancients, that faith is taken for conscience, so that the sense is that everything is a sin which is against conscience. But even admitting Calvin’s exposition, I do not see by what reasoning it is thence gathered that the worships which He Himself did not command do not please God; for faith conceived from the word of God shows not only that those things please God which He Himself commanded, but also those which He Himself counseled, and those which He neither commanded nor counseled, but which are yet of themselves good, as appears from infinite passages where He commands the vows made of one’s own accord to be rendered to Him.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XVI. Omne quod fit ex voto, esse cultum Dei. Ut igitur ad disputationes veniamus, sta¬ tuo hanc propositionem : « Omne quod fit ex voto, etiamsi alioqui non sit a Deo prae¬ ceptum, vere et proprie est cultus Dei. » Haec propositio est contra Lutherum et Cal¬ vinum, qui vota de rebus non praeceptis, docent non posse fieri ad colendum Deum ; quasi aliqua esse possint vera vota, quae non sint cultus Dei. Probo igitur positam asser¬ tionem. Primo, vovere est actus religionis, ergo et reddere sive implere votum est actus reli¬ gionis, sive fiat de re praecepta, sive non praecepta. Probatur antecedens ex illo Isaiae XIX: In illo die cognoscent sEgyptii Domi¬ num, et colent eum in hostiis et muneribus, et vota vovebunt, et solvent (1). Ubi posteriora sunt explicationes priorum ; vota enim mu¬ nera sunt. Praeterea haec est natura voti, ut rem alioqui non ordinatam ad Dei cultum, ordinet ad cultum Dei, juxta illud Deuter. XII : Quidquid sanctificareris et voveris etc. (2) Denique, fatetur Calvinus lib. IY, cap. 13, § 2. vovere esse officium religionis. Proba¬ tur jam consequentia ; nam promittere et solvere, ad eamdem virtutem pertinent ; sed per id, quod fit ex voto, etiamsi non prae¬ ceptum, impletur votum : ergo per id coli¬ tur Deus. Secundo, omne votum est promissio Deo facta, ut etiam Calvinus docet initio cap. 13, lib. IY Instit. ergo votum quodcumque im¬ plere, est fidem Deo servare; at servare Deo fidem, est Deum immediate colere et hono- (1) Isai. XIX j 21. — (2) Deut. XII, 26. 544 LIBER II. rare ; sicut e contrario fidem ei non servare, est injuriam illi facere : ergo cujuslibet voti impletio cultus Dei est. Tertio, omne juramentum est cultus Dei, etiamsi fiat de re non praecepta ; ut, si quis juret, se non bibiturum vinum, ut Calvinus ipse affirmat lib. II, cap. 8, § 23. Institutio¬ num : ergo et votum de re eadem erit cultus Dei. Probatur consequentia : nam adeo simi¬ lia sunt juramenta et vota, ut in Scripturis ssepe juramentum pro voto accipiatur, ut patet Numer. XXX : Si mulier, inquit Scrip¬ tura, habens virum voverit aliquid, et verbum de ore egrediens, animam ejus obligaverit jura¬ mento, voti rea erit, reddet quod promisit etc. (1) Praeterea, sicut per juramentum de re non praecepta facienda, honoramus Deum, quia protestamur, eum esse immutabilem verita¬ tem, et veritatis assertorem ; ita per votum de re non praecepta, sed tamen bona, Deum honoramus, quia protestamur ei, ut summo bono, placere actus virtutum. Quarto, solvere ex voto aliquid non prae¬ ceptum, sed tamen bonum, falsis Diis, est peccatum, et non aliud, quam idololatriae : ergo solvere Deo vero ex voto rem eamdem, erit actus latriae. Quinto, si quis voveat abstinere per tri¬ duum a vino, et non faciat, sine dubio pec¬ cat : at non peccat peccato intemperantiae ; non enim e^t actus necessarius temperantiae abstinere a vino : ergo peccat, quia Deum afficit injuria, non servando illi fidem : ergo si abstineat, Deum honorat. Sexto, omni actu virtutis etiam non prae¬ cepto, nec ex voto facto, sed facto tamen propter Deum, colitur Deus : ergo multo magis, si is actus fiat ex voto, eo Deus cole¬ tur. Probatur antecedens. Primo, Scripturae testimonio : nam Lucae II. dicitur Anna ser¬ viisse Deo jejuniis et orationibus, et est ver¬ bum IxTpzvovatx, quod proprie cultum signifi¬ cat, Philippen. IY : Repletus sum acceptis ab Epaphrodito, quce misistis in odorem suavitatis, hostiam placentem et acceptabilem Deo. Hebr. ult .'.Beneficentiae et communicationis nolite obli¬ visci talibus enim hostiis promeretur Deus. Ja- cobi I. : Religio munda apud Deum est visitare pupillos et viduas etc. (2) Quae omnia intelli- guntur etiam de Eleemosyna non praecepta. Secundo, ex Patribus. Nam Tertullianus lib. de Resurrecti carnis, ait : « Nam sacri¬ ficia Deo grata, conflictationes dico animae, jejunia, et seras, et aridas escas, et appen¬ dices hujus officii sordes. Garo de proprio suo incommodo instauratur, virginitas quo¬ que, et viduitas, et modesta in occulto ma¬ trimonii dissimulatio, et una notitia ejus, de bonis carnis Deo adolentur. » Epiphanius haeres. 48. virginitatem, et abdicationem rerum vocat approbatum Dei cultum. Hiero¬ nymus lib. I. in Jovinianium : « Illa, inquit, virginitas hostia est Christo, cujus nec ani¬ mum cogitatio, nec carnem libido macula¬ vit. » Augustinus lib. de bono viduitatis, cap. 9. de continentia loquens : « Nulla, in¬ quit, Christo subtrahatur oblatio etc. » Et lib. X. de Civit. Dei, cap. 6. sacrificium vo¬ cat omne opus bonum propter Deum faptum ; certum autem est, sacrificium proprie cul¬ tum esse Dei. Septimo, votum de re prsecepta non est verum et proprium votum, nisi quatenus res illa concipitur ut non praecepta, ut paulo post ostendemus ; igitur vel votum de re non praecepta cultus Dei est, vel nullum votum est cultus Dei, sed hoc est falsum, ergo illud verum. Octavo, si votum de re non praecepta, non est cultus Dei : ergo nec ipsum vovere ab¬ solute est cultus Dei ; nam ipsum vovere nusquam est praeceptum. At hoc est contra ipsum Calvinum, qui docet, vovere esse ac¬ tum religionis. Nono, probatur exemplis Scripturarum. Nam primum votum legitur, Genes. XXVIII : Votum vovit Jacob, si fuerit Dominus mecum etc. erit mihi Dominus in Deum, et lapis iste, quem erexi, vocabitur dorrius Dei, cunctorum- que quce dederit mihi, decimas offeram tibi. (3) Quod hoc sit votum de re non praecepta, pa¬ tet, quia alioqui peccasset Jacob faciendo votum conditionatum de re praecepta. Quod autem hoc votum fuerit factum ad colen¬ dum Deum, patet, nam habere lapidem pro domo Dei, id est pro ara, et offerre decimas, sunt actus religionis. Aliud votum fuitDavi- dis de exstruendo templo, de quo Psalrn. CXXXI : Votum vovit Deo Jacob etc. quod hoc votum fuerit de re non praecepta, patet ex lib. II Regum, cap. VII, ubi Deus audito hoc voto Davidis, et laudata ejus voluntate, dicit se non praecepisse, ut sibi fieret tem¬ plum, nec velle fieri a Davide. Quod autem David hoc loco voluerit colere Deum, patet, quia exstruere templum est actus religionis. (1) Num. XXX, 7. — (2) Phil. IV, 18: Hebr. XIII, 1G ; Jacob. I, 27. — (3) Gen. XXVIII, 20 et seq. CAPUT XVII. 545 Denique omnia vota, quae leguntur in Scripturis, Levitic. XXVII, Num. VI et XXX, Deuteron. XII et XXIII, vota erant de rebus non praeceptis, ut ex ipsis locis patet, et tamen quod placerent Deo, pa¬ tet, quia severissime illorum solutionem exigebat : Si votum voveris , inquit Deuter. XXIII, non tardabis reddere, quia requiret illud Dominus; et si moratus fueris , repu¬ tabitur tibi in peccatum : si nolueris polli¬ ceri , absque peccato eris (I). Ubi clare vi¬ des, votum libere factum, a Deo severe exigi. Sed solvamus argumentum illorum. Sic igitur argumentantur : Omnis cultus volun¬ tarius, id est, quem Deus non praecepit, Deo placere non potest ; ergo non debet fieri vo¬ tum de re non praecepta ad colendum Deum. Probatur antecedens ; nam Coloss. II, Apos¬ tolus reprehendit omnem I0e>o0/jvj<rxei'av, sic enim est in Graeco, quod noster interpres vertit, superstitionem, et Rom. XIV. ait : Quod non est. ex fide , peccatum est (2). Quibus verbis indicat, peccatum esse id aggredi, quod fides ex verbo Dei concepta non osten¬ dit, qualiter a Deo aestimetur ; tales autem sunt omnes cultus voluntarii. Ad illud, ad Colossens. II de sQeloQpYimeix, quidam respondent, Paulum eo loco non ac¬ cipere in malam partem cultum volunta¬ rium, sed in bonam ; tamen quia vulgata editio vertit, superstitionem, et Hieronymus in epist. ad Algasiam, quaest. 10. Augusti¬ nus in epist. 59. ad Paulinum, quaest. 7. Ambrosius, Theodoretus, QEcumenius, et alii omnes in hunc locum, accipiunt eam vo¬ cem pro simulata religione, dicendum est, Apostolum hoc loco voluntarium cultum ap¬ pellare non eas actiones, quae non sunt a Deo praeceptae, id enim repugnaret plurimis Scripturarum testimoniis, ut jam probavi¬ mus, sed eas, quae nec a Deo probatae, vel commendatae sunt, nec revera ex natura sua sunt materia cultus, sed sunt res inanes, et tamen ab aliquibus usurpantur quasi essent cultus; quales sunt qui dicuntur superstitiosi cultus, ut cum aliqui ponunt religionem in numero lotionum, ut Judaei olim faciebant, et Tureae hoc tempore faciunt, qui putant valde se colere Deum, si toto corpore saepius loto ad orandum accedant ; loquitur enim Apostolus de iis, qui se abstinebant a cibis quibusdam, tamquam natura sua immundis, (1) Deut. XXIII, 21 et 22. Tom. II. et in eo ponebant religionem, si tales cibos numquam attingerent. Ad illud ex Rom. XIV. dico, cum com¬ muni expositione veterum, fidem accipi pro conscientia, ut sensus sit, peccatum esse id omne, quod sit contra conscientiam. Sed ad¬ missa etiam Calvini expositione, non video, qua ratione inde colligatur, non placere Deo cultus, quos ipse non praecepit ; nam fides ex verbo Dei concepta, non ostendit solum placere Deo, quae ipse praecepit, sed etiam quae ipse consuluit; et quae neque praecepit, neque consuluit, sed tamen ex se bona sunt: ut patet ex infinitis locis, ubi jubet sibi reddi vota sponte facta.