Collation 1
COLLATION I.
On the four motives inducing the observance of the divine precepts and on the Decalogue in general.
Summary. - Introduction, number
1. Part I. On the motives for observance. Four things move us to observe the precepts,
2. - First, the authority of the one commanding, and indeed for a threefold reason, namely because He creates, governs, and saves us,
3-5.
Second, the threefold utility of observance, namely the obtaining of charisms, the revelation of the Scriptures, and the attainment of rewards,
6-9.
Third, the threefold peril of transgression, because the one who does not observe loses many goods, falls into abominable crimes, and merits eternal punishments,
10-12. - The last two are confirmed by Scripture,
13. - Fourth, the irreproachability of the commandments, shown in three ways, because they contain nothing impossible nor burdensome nor unjust,
14-17.
Conclusion of the first part,
18.
Part II. On the Decalogue in general. On the first and great commandment, which is the sum of the whole Law,
19.
The ten precepts are the foundations of all laws and precepts; they are enumerated,
20.
Every law commands nothing but a twofold justice, namely that which orders us toward God and toward neighbor: hence the two tables,
21.
The first table with three precepts, which are appropriated to the three divine Persons,
22.
The second table with seven others,
23. 24.
1. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.
These words are written in Matthew and are the words of our Savior, in which the sum of our whole salvation is set forth for us with respect to two things: first, with respect to the reward
of eternal retribution; there: If you wish to enter into life:
second, with respect to the merit
of human action, there: keep the commandments.
And this is the right order, because the end moves the agent to apply himself toward the due end.
Let us therefore follow the form of this great Master; and before we say anything about these precepts,
let us first speak about the observance of the precepts.
2. The Lord sets forth first the motive
, then adds the act by which we can arrive at the due end. And it should be noted that there are four things which move us to observe the commandments of God. The first is the authority
or dignity of the one commanding: the second is the utility
of observance: the third is the peril
of transgression: the fourth is the irreproachability
of the commandments. Since therefore He who commands the precepts to be observed is of great authority, and the observance of the commandments is of great utility, and in transgression great peril consists, and the commandment is irreproachable: therefore there is no one who can have an excuse regarding the observance of the commandments.
3. First, therefore, the authority
of the one commanding ought to move us to observe the commandments of God: because it is God who commands that the precepts be observed. For He is of great authority, which is evident from three things: first, because He Himself by His great power creates
us; second, because by His wondrous wisdom He rules and governs
us; third, because by His munificent benevolence He saves
us.
First I say that He who commands that the commandments of God be observed is of great authority, because by His great power He creates
us. Job: Your hands have made me and fashioned me wholly round about;
and Deuteronomy 11: Your eyes have seen all the great works of God, which He did, that you might keep His commandments.
4. Second, He is of great authority, because by His wondrous wisdom He governs
us. Whence Isaiah says: I am the Lord, teaching you profitable things, governing you in the way in which you walk. Would that you had heeded my commandments! Your peace would have been as a river.
Psalm: I have kept your commandments and your testimonies, because all my ways are in your sight.
5. Third, He is of great authority, because by His munificent benevolence He saves
us. Deuteronomy 10: And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, except that you fear the Lord your God and walk in His ways and love Him and serve the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul, and keep the commandments of the Lord?
Lord,
who created
you; God,
who governs
you; your own,
who saves
you. — It is now evident that the authority
of the one commanding ought first to move us to keep the commandments of God.
6. Second, the usefulness
of observance ought to move us to observe the commandments of God. For in keeping the commandments of God there is manifold usefulness, which is reduced to three benefits. The first benefit is the obtaining
of divine gifts;
the second is the revelation
of the Sacred Scriptures;
the third is the attainment
of heavenly rewards.
7. The first benefit, I say, in keeping the commandments of God is the obtaining
of divine gifts:
whence in John: If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will ask my Father, and He will give you another Paraclete.
8. The second benefit is the understanding of the sacred Scriptures; the Psalm: I have understood above the ancients, because I have sought your commandments. But how we may arrive at the understanding of the sacred Scriptures, Gregory shows: whence concerning the passage that the disciples, when they saw Jesus, did not understand him, but when they heard him speaking, then they understood him, Gregory says there that "by hearing God's precepts the disciples were not illuminated, but by doing them they were illuminated"; because not the hearers of the law only, but the doers shall be justified. On account of this James says in his canonical epistle: Be doers of the word of God and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves: because if anyone is a hearer of the word of God only and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man considering the countenance of his birth in a mirror. If a man sees his own face ten times in a mirror, he still will not know it well; but if he sees the face of another man outside of a mirror, he knows it well: and this is because of the strong impression of the species upon the organ of sight along a straight line, but in a mirror there is no true intuition. Similarly, when a man hears the word of God, it seems to him that he understands it well, but it immediately departs; but when he puts it to experience by working well, then he understands it.
9. The third benefit of the observance of God's commandments is the attainment of heavenly rewards. Whence it is said in Proverbs: Keep my commandments, and you shall live; and my law as the pupil of the eye. This is the reason why God gave the observance of commandments to man when he was in paradise.
It is now clear that the benefit of observance ought to move us to observe God's commandments.
10. Third, the danger of transgression ought to move us to the observance of the commandments, because the transgressor of the commandments falls into many dangers: first, because he loses many goods; second, because he rushes into abominable crimes; third, because he merits eternal punishments. — First, I say, the danger of transgression ought to move us to keep God's commandments, because transgressors lose many goods; whence in Leviticus: If you will not hear my voice and will not do all my commandments, I will visit you with want and burning heat, which shall consume your eyes and consume your souls. He says: I will visit you with want: behold, the privation of all goods; and with burning heat, which shall consume your eyes and consume your souls, because it blinds the intellect of the true and takes away the affection for the good: and on account of this, in the person of the transgressor the Psalmist says: My strength has forsaken me, and the light of my eyes, and it itself is not with me.
11. Second, transgressors of the commandments plunge into abominable crimes:
whence in Baruch: We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, that we should walk in His commandments, and we have gone away each one into the sense of his own malicious heart.
Of such transgressors the Psalm says: My people did not hear My voice, and Israel did not attend to Me, and I dismissed them according to the desires of their hearts.
For the Lord delivers such transgressors into the hands of demons. This was well signified in the third chapter of Daniel, where it is said that the three youths standing in the furnace of fire said: We have sinned and acted wickedly and transgressed;
there follows: And we have been delivered into the hands of our enemies, wicked and most vile transgressors, and to a king unjust and most wicked beyond all the earth.
12. Third, transgressors of the commandments merit eternal punishments:
the Psalm: Cursed are they who decline from Thy commandments: cursed,
because it shall be said to them: Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
Matthew twenty-five.
13. Behold, the wondrous benefit of observance and the wondrous calamity of transgression. Whence the Lord through Moses: Behold,
He says, I set before thee blessing and curse: blessing, if thou shalt keep My commandments: curse, if thou shalt not keep them.
The Lord places us in the middle and works with us wonderfully.
When someone wishes to demonstrate something to another, he proceeds against him by a twofold way, namely by ostensive reasoning
and by reasoning leading to an impossibility. Thus does the Lord: He places man in the middle between heaven and hell: in heaven is eternal glory, in hell are eternal punishments. And when the Lord shows man the glory of paradise, which he can merit by keeping the commandments, then He inclines him to the observance of the commandments by ostensive reasoning.
But when He shows him the punishments of hell, into which he will fall if he transgresses the commandments, then He inclines him by reasoning leading to an impossibility.
Behold, He sets before us curse and blessing; let us leave to Judas the traitor the curse and the snares, of whom it is said that he did not will
blessing, and it shall be far from him; and let us with blessed Matthias receive the blessing.
14. Fourth, what ought to move us to the observance of the commandments is the irreproachability
of the commandments. A commandment is called irreproachable
when it contains nothing impossible,
nor anything burdensome,
nor anything unjust.
So it is with the commandments of God.
15. First, I say, the commandments of God are irreproachable, because they contain nothing impossible:
whence in First John: This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.
He premises: this is the love of God:
for to one having charity the commandments of God are easy and sweet, but to one not having charity they seem difficult. And Augustine gives the example of a bird having feathers and a bird without feathers: and he says that for a bird having feathers it is easy to fly, but for a bird not having feathers it is difficult. Similarly, to a man of perverse will the commandments seem difficult, which to one having charity are easy. Whence it is said in Deuteronomy: This commandment which I command you today is not above you nor placed far off nor set in heaven nor placed beyond the sea, but the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
16. Second, the commandments of God are irreproachable, because they contain nothing burdensome,
but rather they are sweet. Whence it is said in Ecclesiasticus: Nothing is better than the fear of God, and nothing is sweeter than to look upon the commandments of the Lord:
the Psalm: More to be desired than gold and much precious stone, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. It is joy to the just to do judgment,
that is, justice. But we see that to an infected palate sweet food seems bitter; similarly, to a man of perverse will the commandments of God, which are easy and sweet, seem difficult.
17. Third, the commandments of God are irreproachable, because they contain nothing unjust:
whence the Apostle: The law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
On account of this he says elsewhere: I command you before God, who gives life to all things, that you keep the commandment without stain, irreproachable.
Therefore the irreproachability
of the commandments is now evident.
18. Let us therefore join together these four, namely the authority
of the one commanding, the usefulness
of observance, the danger
of transgression, and the irreproachability
of the commandments: and we shall see that there is no one who will be able to excuse himself from the observance of the precepts.
19. But which is the first and great commandment in the Law?
The Lord responds in Matthew: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two the whole Law and the Prophets depend.
Augustine shows that in this word: But it is good for me to adhere to God,
the whole of what is said is contained: You shall love the Lord your God,
etc. For we ought to love God, because this is just, holy, easy, and sweet. Whence Augustine: "Lord, who are you to me? And who am I to you, that you command me to love you, and if I do not love you, you threaten me with immense miseries?"
20. Moreover, the sacred decalogue, which was given to Moses on Mount Sinai, shows how we ought to keep the commandments of God: and I wish to show you that just as there are eight parts of speech, which are the foundation of all things that can be expressed by voice in grammar, and just as there are ten categories, which are the foundation of all things that are determined in dialectic: so the ten precepts are the foundation of all laws and divine commandments. For the Lord willed that they were not given to Moses without reason. - I shall now state these precepts in general:
Thou shalt not have strange gods.
Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain.
Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
Honor thy father and thy mother.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
Nor any thing that is his.
21. And it should be noted that every law commands nothing but justice. For law is the rule of justice; and justice is that according to which man is to be ordered toward God and toward neighbor. According to this there is a twofold justice: one, by which we are ordered toward God; another, by which we are ordered toward neighbor; and according to this two tablets were given to Moses, namely the first and the second. In the first are contained the commandments ordering us toward God; in the second are contained the commandments ordering us toward neighbor.
22. In the first tablet, I say, are contained the commandments ordering us toward God: but God is the Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. To the Father is attributed majesty, to the Son truth, and to the Holy Spirit goodness. In the Father there is supreme majesty to be humbly adored; in the Son there is supreme truth to be faithfully asserted; in the Holy Spirit there is supreme goodness to be sincerely loved. But if we ought to do these three things by eternal ordination, then it is necessary that in the first tablet there be three commandments according to these three things appropriated to the three divine persons. In the first commandment indeed is commanded the humble adoration of divine majesty, when it is said: Thou shalt not have strange gods. In the second commandment is commanded the faithful assertion of divine truth, when it is said: Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain. In the third is commanded the sincere love of divine goodness, when it is said: Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. These are the three commandments of the first tablet.
23. In the second tablet are contained seven commandments ordering us toward neighbor, which are signified by two precepts of the natural law, namely: do to another what you wish to be done to you; do not do to another what you do not wish to be done to you.
And according to these two precepts of the natural law a twofold justice is received, of which one is of innocence, the other of beneficence; and according to this twofold justice the commandment is twofold: the first of beneficence, the other of innocence.
The commandment of beneficence
is: Honor thy father and thy mother.
This commandment, however, is not only one of reverence, but is also one of service and obedience; and it pertains not only to one's father, but indeed to all who proceed from one's father.
24. The commandment, however, which pertains to innocence
must necessarily be multiplied, because it consists in this: that a man guard against giving offense to his neighbor. Now it happens that one offends his neighbor in three ways, namely in mind, word,
and deed.
Offense in deed,
however, occurs in three ways, because a man can offend his neighbor through an act either against his own person,
or against a person joined to him,
or against his earthly possessions.
And accordingly there are three commandments: Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal.
Then follows offense in word,
against which there is one commandment, namely: Thou shalt not bear false witness.
By false
moreover witness
are signified all things that a man can say against his neighbor.
Offense in the mind, however, has two roots according to the twofold concupiscence, namely of the flesh
and of the eyes.
Against the concupiscence of the flesh
there is one commandment: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
Against the concupiscence of the eyes
there is another commandment: nor his field, nor any other thing.
It is now clear in general what the ten precepts are and according to what principle they are distinguished.