Institutes of the Christian Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)
XI. If they deny this, I would wish them to inform me
why they dignify their order alone with the title of perfection,
and deny this character to all the callings appointed by God. I
am not unacquainted with their sophistical solution, that it is
so called, not as containing perfection in it, but because it is
the best calculated of all callings for the attainment of perfection.
When they wish to elevate themselves in the estimation
of the people, to entrap inexperienced and ignorant youths, to
assert their privileges, to extol their own dignity to the degradation
of others, they boast of being in a state of perfection.
When they are so closely pressed, that they cannot
defend such empty arrogance, they have recourse to this subterfuge—that
they have not yet attained perfection, but that
they are in a condition more favourable than any others
for aspiring towards it. In the mean time they retain the
admiration of the people, as though the monastic life, and
that alone, were angelic, perfect, and purified from every
blemish. Under this pretext they carry on a most lucrative
traffic; but their moderation lies buried in a few books. Who
does not see that this is an intolerable mockery? But let us
argue the case as if they really attributed no higher honour to
their profession, than to call it a state adapted to the attainment
of perfection. Still, by giving it this designation, they distinguish
it, as by a peculiar mark, from all other modes of life.
And who can bear that such honour should be transferred to
an institution, which has never received from God even a single
syllable of approbation, and that such indignity should be cast
on all the other callings of God, which have not only been
enjoined, but adorned with signal commendations by his most
holy word? And what an outrageous insult is offered to God,
when a mere human invention is preferred beyond all the kinds
of life which he has appointed and celebrated by his own
testimony!
XII. Now, let them charge me with a calumny in what I
have already alleged, that they are not content with the rule
which God has prescribed to his servants. Though I were
silent on the subject, they furnish more than sufficient ground
for their own accusation; for they openly teach that they
take upon themselves a greater burden than Christ laid upon
his disciples, because they promise to keep the evangelical
counsels, which inculcate the love of our enemies, and prohibit
the desire of revenge and profane swearing, and which,
they say, are not binding on Christians at large. What antiquity
will they plead here? This notion never entered into
the mind of one of the ancients. They all, with one consent,
declare that there was not a syllable uttered by Christ which
we are not bound to obey; and without any hesitation they
uniformly and expressly represent the passages in question as
commands, which these sagacious interpreters pretend to have
been delivered by Christ merely as counsels. But as we have
already shown that this is a most pestilent error, it may suffice
to have briefly remarked here, that the monachism which
exists at present, is founded on the opinion, which justly deserves
to be execrated by all believers, that some rule of life
may be imagined more perfect than the common one given by
God to all the Church. Whatever superstructure is raised on
this foundation, cannot but be abominable.
XIII. But they adduce another argument in proof of their
perfection, which they consider as most conclusive; our Lord
said to the young man who inquired what was the perfection
of righteousness, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou
hast, and give to the poor.”[1082]
Whether they do this, I shall
not now dispute; let us at present put the case that they do.
They boast, therefore, that they have been made perfect by
forsaking all that they have. If the whole of perfection consist
in this, what does Paul mean, when he says, “Though I
bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and have not charity, I
am nothing?”[1083]
What kind of perfection is that which is
reduced to nothing by the absence of charity? Here they
will be obliged to answer, that though this is the principal, yet
it is not the only work of perfection. But here also they are
contradicted by Paul, who hesitates not to make “charity,”
without any such renunciation, “the bond of perfection.”[1084]
If it is certain, that there is no discordance between the Master
and the disciple,—and Paul explicitly denies the perfection of
a man to consist in the renunciation of his property, and, on
the other hand, asserts that it may exist without that relinquishment,—it
is necessary to examine in what sense we are to
understand the declaration of Christ, “If thou wilt be perfect,
go and sell that thou hast.” Now, there will be no obscurity
in the sense, if we consider, what ought always to be
considered in all the discourses of Christ, to whom the words
are addressed. A young man inquires, “What good thing
shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life?”[1085]
As the question
related to works, Christ refers him to the law; and that
justly; for, considered in itself, it is the way of eternal life,
and is not otherwise insufficient to conduct us to salvation,
than in consequence of our depravity. By this answer Christ
declared, that he taught no other system of life than that
which had anciently been delivered in the law of God. Thus
he at the same time gave a testimony to the divine law as the
doctrine of perfect righteousness, and precluded all calumnies,
that he might not appear, by inculcating a new rule of life, to
incite the people to a departure from the law. The young
man, not indeed from badness of heart, but infected with vain
confidence, replies respecting the precepts of the law, “All
these things have I kept from my youth up.”[1086]
It is certain
beyond all doubt, that he was at an immense distance from
that which he boasted of having attained; and had his boast
been true, he would have wanted nothing necessary to complete
perfection. For it has been already proved that the
law contains in itself a perfect righteousness; and it appears
from this passage that the observance of it is called the entrance
into eternal life. To teach him how little proficiency he had
made in that righteousness, which he too confidently replied
that he had fulfilled, it was necessary to investigate and expose
a vice which lay concealed in his heart. He abounded
in riches, and his heart was fixed on them. Because he was
not sensible of this secret wound, therefore, Christ probes it.
“Go,” says he, “sell all that thou hast.” If he had been so
good an observer of the law as he imagined, he would not have
gone away sorrowful on hearing this answer. For he who
loves God with all his heart, not only esteems as worthless
whatever is inconsistent with his love, but also abominates it
as pernicious. Therefore, when Christ commands a rich and
avaricious man to relinquish all his wealth, it is just the
same as if he commanded an ambitious man to renounce all
his honours, a voluptuous man to abandon all his delicacies,
and an unchaste man to forsake all the instruments of temptation.
Thus consciences, which receive no impression from general
admonitions, require to be recalled to a particular sense of
their own guilt. It is in vain, therefore, to extend this particular
argument to a general maxim, as though Christ placed all the perfection
of man in the renunciation of his possessions, whereas
he only meant by this direction to drive this young man, who
betrayed such excessive self-complacency, into a sense of his
malady, that he might perceive himself to be still very far
from the perfect obedience of the law, to which he arrogantly
and falsely pretended. I confess that this passage was misunderstood
by some of the fathers, and that their misconstruction
gave rise to an affectation of voluntary poverty; so that
they were supposed to be the only happy persons, who renounced
all earthly things, and devoted themselves entirely
to Christ. But I trust that the explication which I have given
will be satisfactory to all good and peaceable persons, so as to
leave them in no doubt of the true meaning of Christ.
