Chapter — Slater, Foundation
Chapter IV: Counsels and Precepts
LUTHER rejected the distinction between the counsels and precepts of the Gospel with scorn. He says: "This distinction only shows that those who make it do not know what the Gospel is. What the Papists call counsels are, in fact, precepts, for instance the words of Our Lord:¹ If one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other; If a man will contend with thee in judgment and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him; Whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him other two.... Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you."²
¹ J. Verres, "Luther: An Historical Portrait," p. 153.
It was not merely his necessary opposition to vows of religion which he had broken that led him to adopt this attitude toward counsels in general. He was forced into it by his fundamental doctrine of justification by faith alone, and his consequent disparagement of good works. If faith alone saves us, good works fall into the background, and distinctions between them, of good and better, of precept and supererogation, become migratory. As Luther himself says: "In this faith all works are equal and one is the same as another; all difference vanishes between works, whether they be great, small, short, long, many or few. For the works are not pleasing for their own sake, but for the sake of the faith, which alone and without distinction is present, works, and lives in each and every deed, no matter how many and how various they may be, just as all the members receive life from the head, and move and have their name; and without the head no limb can live, move, or have a name."¹
In this Luther has been followed by almost all Protestant writers. "The Protestant theologians," says J. O. Hannay, "denied that there was any choice given to man between a higher and a lower kind of Christian life. The fundamental command to love the Lord with all the heart was binding upon all, and as there was no possibility of doing more than this so every failure to attain to the fullness of such love was sin."²
They assert that the Catholic doctrine of good works leads to the division of Christian morality into two stories, the lower one of the commandments and the higher of the counsels.
Whether the Catholic doctrine does this or not we shall see just now, but in the meantime let us not omit to notice what the Protestant doctrine implies. It implies that nothing short of the most absolute and most perfect love will suffice to fulfill the commandment. Not only is every act against charity sinful, but anything short of the most perfect charity possible is sinful also. In all our actions we are bound under pain of sin to act with the highest degree possible of perfect love. We are never permitted to relax our efforts. What is less good than might have been achieved is sinful. The sphere of what is permissible vanishes, every action is either the best possible or it is sinful. Such moral perfection is for the blessed in heaven, it is not possible for men on earth. It necessarily leads to that other Lutheran doctrine, that it is not possible to keep God's commandments, we all sin necessarily by every breath we draw. It also leads to that practical divorce of religion from everyday life which is so characteristic of modern Christianity. Of course Probabilism becomes a total perversion of Christianity in the light of this Protestant doctrine.
¹ Mausbach, "Catholic Moral Teaching," p. 251.
² Hastings' "Encyclopaedia of Religion," iv. 204.
The Catholic doctrine about counsels of perfection is professedly based on Holy Scripture. According to that doctrine Christian perfection is not proposed as the aim of a favored class, it is proposed to all. "Be you therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect," were words addressed by Our Lord to all His followers. The holiness of God Himself was proposed to them as their ideal of moral conduct, not that they could hope to equal the infinite perfection of God, but they were bidden to practice all kinds of virtue and never to stop in their pursuit of greater and higher attainment. This Christian moral perfection consists in charity, love of God and our neighbor. There is no greater or higher perfection than what is commanded in the words: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."¹ as are not in extreme want is the first degree of the counsel of alms-deeds" — to lend or give to such as are in extreme want is, of course, a commandment not a counsel — "to give it them is a degree higher; higher still to give all, but the highest is to give oneself, dedicating our person to their service.... Virtues have then a certain sphere of perfection, and commonly we are not obliged to practice them to the height of their excellence. It is sufficient to go so far in the practice of them as really to enter upon them. But to go farther, and to advance in perfection, is a counsel, as the acts of heroic virtues are not ordinarily commanded, but counseled only. And if upon some occasion we find ourselves obliged to exercise them, it is by reason of some rare and extraordinary occurrence, which makes them necessary for the preservation of God's grace."¹ commandments there are certain essential elements, a certain minimum of observance, without which the virtue does not exist and the commandment is not fulfilled. This is true even with regard to divine charity itself, the queen of all the virtues, the first and greatest of the commandments. There is a certain minimum without which divine charity does not exist, but rising above that minimum there is an infinity of degrees of perfection, which, step by step, leads up toward the infinite perfection of God Himself. To quote St. Francis of Sales again: "Though there are so many degrees of love amongst true lovers, yet is there but one commandment of love, which universally and equally obliges every one, with an exactly like and entirely equal obligation, though it be observed differently, and with an infinite variety of perfection; there being perhaps no souls on earth, as there are no angels in heaven, who are perfectly equal to one another in their love.... It is a love which must prevail over all our loves, and reign over all our passions. And this is what God requires of us — that among all our loves His be the dearest, holding the first place in our hearts; the warmest, occupying our whole soul; the most general, employing all our powers; the highest, filling our whole spirit; and the strongest, exercising all our strength and vigor. And inasmuch as by this we choose and elect God for the sovereign object of our soul, it is a love of sovereign election, or an election of sovereign love."¹ commanded would inevitably fall short of fulfilling the commandments. These principles help us to understand the teaching of Our Lord and St. Paul.
And this command was not given to a select few, it was given to all without exception. Catholic morality is not divided into two stories, a lower story of the commandments and a higher of the counsels. It is true that besides the commandments Catholics recognize in the Gospel counsels also. The Christian scheme of life does not consist in one dead level of uniformity. It does not consist in an impossible ideal, below which all is sin and corruption. Between the highest virtue attainable by human nature and sin there is a large field of infinitely varied perfection where all who are saved find a place, though perhaps no two are equal. As St. Francis of Sales says:
"In counsels there are various degrees of perfection. To lend to such poor people
So that in all the virtues and in all the
¹ "Treatise on the Love of God," Book viii., c. 9.
Catholic doctrine, then, does not make two stories of Christian morality; there is only one morality for all Christians. The commandments merge into counsels, and counsels in certain cases become commandments. Nobody can practice all the counsels, all should practice some, says St. Francis of Sales. One who should limit himself to the bare performance of what is
¹ "Treatise on the Love of God," Book x., c. 6.
In the first portion of the Sermon on the Mount, which we have in the fifth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, Our Lord lays down the broad principles of Christian perfection. That perfection requires the observance of both commandments and counsels, but Our Lord does not distinguish between them. The first beatitude comprises both commandment and counsel, inasmuch as a certain degree of poverty of spirit or detachment from riches is necessary for salvation, while in its higher degrees it is a counsel only. It is a matter of precept not to lose patience with those who revile and persecute us, while it is a counsel of perfection to be glad and rejoice at such trials. Not to take an unnecessary oath is a matter of precept, to be content in our speech with Yea, Yea; No, No, is, in general, a matter of counsel. Not to resist evil, and to turn the other cheek to the smiter is a matter of precept in so far as it is forbidden to seek private revenge for wrongs done to us, to forego the right of self-defense, or the right to have an injury punished by lawful authority is a matter of counsel, unless some other consideration requires that punishment should be exacted. Reprisals are not morally wrong, and the public authority, in the execution of its duty to its subjects, may be compelled to have recourse to them. To hate one's enemy is wrong and contrary to charity, to show special love for him is a matter of counsel. Luther and Protestant writers generally interpret all these texts as so many positive commands, but the only result is to remove Christian morality far from the sphere of practical human life.
The Sermon on the Mount was addressed to a great concourse of people as well as to the intimate disciples of Our Lord. It contained practical lessons of conduct for all. The most spiritual and the worldly minded alike could draw instruction from it suitable to the wants of their souls. Those who were prepared to give themselves wholly and entirely to God with the utmost generosity, as well as those who were content to save their souls, could take its lessons and apply them to their own special needs. The distinction between precepts and counsels was implicit and implied. On the other hand, in the nineteenth chapter of St. Matthew this distinction is plainly expressed. The young man asked what he was to do to have life everlasting, to save his soul. If thou wouldst enter into life, and save thy soul, keep the commandments, said Our Lord. The young man had kept them all from youth upward, and he asked if there was anything else, better, more perfect, that he could do. "And Jesus saith to him: If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven."¹ The words could hardly be plainer. In Christian morality there is something higher and better than merely keeping the commandments, though it is sufficient to keep the commandments in order to save one's soul. That higher and better course is voluntary poverty, which is not a commandment, not even for the young man —“If thou wilt be perfect," says Our Lord. It is a counsel of perfection, not because it makes those who embrace it perfect in charity, but because it removes out of their path, the love of riches, the greatest obstacle to wholehearted love of God. The evangelical counsels, then, do not form a second story in the edifice of Christian morality, they require and pre-suppose the observance of the commandments, nor do they make those who embrace them perfect; they only place them in a state of life which makes the acquire-ment of perfection comparatively easy. That is why they are called counsels of perfection.
Similarly with regard to the counsel of virginity. The disciples had said, If a man cannot have a divorce from his wife, it is expedient not to marry. "All men take not this word," was the answer, "but they to whom it is given.... He that can take, let him take it."¹ Obviously, to marry is good, God has joined husband and wife together, but there is a higher and a better calling for such as feel that they have the necessary grace; that higher and better calling is to observe perfect and perpetual chastity for the love of God.
St. Paul obviously understood it so: "Both he that giveth his virgin in marriage doth well, and he that giveth her not doth better."²
¹ Matt. xix. 11, 12.