Volume III, Treatise II, Chapter III

- Other Advantages Derived from the Obligation of Vows

Wuat is still very beneficial in vows, besides what I have already said, is, that what is performed by vow is more laudable and meritorious in the sight of God than what is voluntarily done without being thus obliged to it after this manner by vow. St. Thomas assigns three solid reasons for this, and the first is, that religion being the most excellent of all moral virtues, and a vow being an act of religion, it hence ‘follows that it enhances the value of all the acts of virtue that accompany it, making them become acts of religion, that is to say, holy, and already sacrificed and consecrated to ‘God. It is thus that it makes a fast, which is an act of temperance, become an act of religion, and attaches double merit to it—to itself as an act of temperance, and of the vow as an act of religion. Likewise, generally speaking, in all things we do out of obedience, we gain double merit, that of the thing performed, and of the obedience also through which we’perform it; so that we merit more when we act out of obedience than when we do a thing out of our own pure inclination and without being obliged to it by obedience or vow. This will be better comprehended by reasoning from the contrary — as a religious who sins against chastity commits two mortal sins, one against the sixth commandment, which he breaks, and the other against his vow, which is still worse, because it is a sacrilege he commits; so a religious who faithfully keeps the vow of chastity, has two sorts of merit, that of observing God’s commandment, and that of fulfilling the vow he has made to God; and this latter being a pure act of religion, is of far greater price and value than the former.

Secondly, what makes a vow attach new merit to our actions is, that in those which we perform by vow, we give much more to God than in those we perform without vow, because we do not only offer what is done, but we offer him also that impossibility in which we have put ourselves, of doing otherwise, and we offer him our liberty, which is the greatest oblation and sacrifice we can make him. It is good to deprive ourselves of all things for Jesus Christ. Now, by the vow of poverty we not only deprive ourselves of what we possess, but, what is far more, we take from ourselves the power of ever possessing anything. In fine, to make use of the comparison of St. Anselm and St. ‘Thomas, we give to God the tree together with the fruit, so that, as the saints say, he who gives the fruit and tree together, gives more than he that gives only the fruit, keeping the tree to himself; so religious offer more to God than those of the world do. For ‘worldlings at most give only the fruit of the tree, that is to say, their good works, but they keep the tree to > themselves;

that is to say, they always reserve the liberty of disposing of themselves, and give not themselves entirely to God, whereas religious, putting themselves entirely into his hands, give him both the tree and the fruit; they give him their actions, their words, their thoughts, their will, their liberty; in fine, they give him all things, so that they keep nothing to themselves, and nothing more remains for them to bestow. St. Bonaventure makes use of another comparison upon this subject, and says that as he who gives the property and use of a thing, gives more than he who only gives barely the use, so a religious who by vow gives and consecrates himself to God, gives him more than a secular who does not consecrate himself in this manner to him, because the secular, as I may say, gives only the use of himself to God, whereas a religious, giving his will and liberty as well as all other actions, gives himself entirely in propriety to God.

The third reason why those actions that are accompanied by vow are more meritorious than others, is, that the goodness of all exterior actions comes chiefly from the will, so that the more perfect the will is, the more perfect also are the works it produces. Now it is very certain that the more firm and constant the will, the more perfect it is, because it is farther removed from the defect which the wise man reprehends in timid persons, when he says: “The slothful man wills and wills not” (Proverbs 13:4),—and because it becomes more “fit to work with this unshaken constancy”, which philosophers look upon as one of the chief conditions of virtue, and which is infallibly acquired by the vows. Divines say that as he who is hardened in sin offends more grievously than he who sins out of frailty or sudden passion, because he sins by a will determined to evil, which they say is to sin against the Holy Ghost; even so, those good actions that proceed from a firm and determinate will to what is good, are, without doubt, of greater merit and of far greater perfection than all others can be.

We must add to all this that, on the one hand, if we consider our frailty and weakness, and on the other, the obstinacy of the Devil to tempt us, we shall find that there is not a better remedy both to fortify ourselves, and to shut and secure all the avenues against the Devil, than to bind ourselves to God by the vows we make. For, as a man that courts a young woman in order to marriage, loses his hopes and ceases his pursuit when he sees her married to another; so when the Devil perceives that a soul has taken Jesus Christ for her spouse by means of these vows, he ordinarily loses all hopes of reéngaging her any more to the world, and oftentimes totally ceases to tempt her, lest his temptation should serve only to augment her crown, and that instead of gaining upon her, he should gain only shame and.confusion to himself.

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