The San Francisco call., 1896-02-11

phhcatlon OF the principle and idea of mo-
nastlclsm. His voluntary poverty, imInacu-
late chastity and perfect obedience have fur
nished the model for all Christian monastic
institutes. While the universal law-giver does
not exact OF every one the practice Of the vir-
tues which belong to the monastic state there
is perfect harmony and no contrariety be-
tween them and the precepts of the gospel.
The evangelical counsels are the complement
OF the Christian precepts. The principle which
underlies both is one and the same. The OBJ
servance of any one of the counsels is impossi-
sible without the keeping of the correspond
ing precept. The counsels begin where the
precepts leave off.
1t is necessary for the proper understanding
OF the evangelical code of morals TO know the
distinction between the Christian precepts and
counsels and their relation TO each other.
Those who ignore this distinction always have
a one-slded and frequently distorted idea OF
the gospel. Fanaticsm, for instance, some
times would make a commandment out OF
counsel, but a principle thus stretched is sure
to snap and it ends in most cases with the
breaking OF a real precept. The diversity of
gifts and graces from God is as great as the
number of individuals. Moreover, men are
not naturally constituted alike in the moral
and spiritual any more than they are in the
physical order, hence it follows that the OBJ
seryance OF such rules as voluntary poverty,
chastity and obedience was never intended BY
our Lord for ali mankind but is only counsel
for those who have the grace and the aptitude
for following it. But with the commandments
1t is different; the keeping of them is necessary
for entrance into the kingdom of God conse.
quently all men can with ordinary grace
observe them.
This is what Christ means when he saws.
"My yoke is easy, my burden is light" But
every one who is familiar with the New Testa-
ment knows that the extraordinary virtues
poverty, chastity, obedience and every exalted
virtue are there taught, and unless they are
recognized as practicable and applicable to
particular individuals, portion of the teach
ing and example of Jesus Christ is made void.
1t avails little for Christ to teach that is good
for one to sell all that he has and give il to the
poor" to leave father, mother, wife in short
leave oil things FOLLOW hi III ,lpSs T ba
made practical These truths need 10 be insti-
tuted and exemplified in the lives of men and
gospel teaching is without effect. History
shows that for nearly 1900 years these coun-
sells, as well as the precepts of our Saviour,
nay, nave oeen followed by numbers, and, as all
of the Christian religion in the world l have
given, as every Candid man must acknowl-
edge, the only satisfactory explanation of The
origin or the monastic state.
THE INFLUENCE OF MoNAsr1c1sm UPON THE
CHURCH AND THE WORLD.
Just as the sanctity of st. John the Baptist
and the Infinite holiness of Jesus Christ drew
to them the multitude SO in the apostolic and
the age next succeeding it the lives OF many
OF the Christians, which were as detached from
the world, as mortified, as self-Genying as ever
has been known in the strictest religious
orders, brought about the conversion of vast
numbers OF people of every race. There was
not the necessity then for those who aspired 10
follow the counsels to separate themselves
rom tne general CnriStlan communities as
there has been since that time, for the constant
persecution to which they were exposed, their
ability to profess and practice their religion
only at the risk of losing eyerything-eyen
their lives-practically severed them from the
world
But the virtues which later formed the basis
OF the monastic state were all practiced in the
highest degree by many persons in the first
ages OF the church. This is such well-known
fact that the founders of the strictest religious
institutes in later times never claimed that the
observance OF their rules would constitute a
manner OF life comparable in any degree to
that of the apostles of Christ and their i'm
mediate successors. The influence of the priIi-
Gle OF selfdenial in Christianity has, as the
history OF the church shows, contributed so
largely to its extension in the world, and its
progress and triumph among all civilized ma
tons, that 1t is impossible to CONCEIVE how
Christianity could ever have prevailed or ever
have endured for so long o time without at
least the striving of elite souls to realize in
measure the high ideal proclaimed by the
Savior in the Sermon on the Mount" and
practiced by him with absolute perfection
while on the earth
Even the law of Christ cannot be discerned
by the. great mass OF sinful men unless it
shines forth in the lives of individuals who
also a1.Ii at practicing the counsels as well.
Ii the higher spiritual life had not been sus-
tanned in the church by established institutes
with rules embodying the evangelical coun-
seis, the teaching of the gospel would never
nave been complete. With the carrying of
tnem into practice, accompanied as they must
often be by the active work OF teaching,
preaching, nursing of the sick, caring for the
poor, etc, there is the same necessity for or
ganization that there is for public worship
and the administration of the sacraments.
Christianity has succeeded because it came
into the world not as naked idea, but as an
organized force, and the monastic principle,
in part, at least, took form Immediately in the
association of individuals, for we read in Holy
Scripture that the first Christians had all
things In common, selling all their possessions