Chapter IX.
On the exercise of grace with respect to things to be done, precepts, and counsels.
Concerning the precepts of divine law, this must be held: that in the Mosaic law there are judicial, figurative, and moral precepts, namely the ten precepts of the Decalogue written on two tablets by the finger of God.
Now the evangelical law tempers the judicial precepts by removing them, empties the figurative precepts by fulfilling them, and consummates the moral precepts by adding to them. It adds, moreover, teachings that instruct, promises that encourage, and counsels that perfect: of which kind are the counsel of poverty, the counsel of obedience, and the counsel of chastity, to the fulfillment of which Christ our Lord invites him who wishes to be perfect.
The reason for understanding the aforesaid is this: because the First Principle, just as it is supremely good in itself, so it is supremely just in its work and in disposing the governance of the universe. Since, therefore, it belongs to the supremely just to be zealous for justice not only in itself but also in another, and justice consists in conforming oneself to the rules of right: hence it is that it belongs to divine justice to impress and express the rules of justice upon man, not only by dictating in the manner of truth that instructs, but also by commanding and obligating in the manner of a will that commands. And since grace makes our will conformed to the divine will, it belongs to grace to dispose us to obey and submit to those rules of justice according to the dictate of the law divinely given.
Furthermore, since it happens that one obeys divine commands in two ways, namely from fear of punishment or from love of justice, and the first belongs to the imperfect, the second to the perfect: therefore God bestowed upon man a twofold law: one of fear, another of love; one generating into servitude and another transferring into the adoption of the sons of God. And accordingly, because it befits those who fear and are imperfect that they be terrified by judgments and led by the hand through signs and directed nonetheless by precepts: hence it is that the Mosaic law, which is the law of fear, contains judicial, figurative, and moral precepts. - But for the perfect and those who love, there befits the open instruction of teachings, the generous promise of rewards, and the lofty perfection of counsels: hence it is that the evangelical law contains these three. And therefore the Mosaic law is said to differ from the evangelical, because the former is of figure, the latter of truth; the former is the law of punishment, the latter of grace; the former is literal, the latter spiritual; the former kills, the latter gives life; the former is of fear, the latter of love; the former is of servitude, the latter of liberty; the former is of burden, the latter of ease.
Finally, since the rules pertaining to the necessity of justice are contained in the divine precepts, and it belongs to justice to "render to each one his due": it is necessary that certain moral precepts order us toward God: and certain toward our neighbor according to the twofold precept of charity; which the Holy Spirit willed to intimate through the mystery of the two tablets, and therefore they are said to be written by the finger of God .
And because God is triune, namely Father and Son and Holy Spirit, to whom belongs the highest majesty to be adored, truth to be professed, and charity to be embraced, according to the irascible, rational, and concupiscible powers, through the act of deed, of mouth, and of heart: therefore the commandment of the first tablet is threefold, corresponding to the three aforesaid, namely subjective adoration, truthful oath-taking, and sacred sabbath-observance.
But because the neighbor is an image of the Trinity, and to him, insofar as he bears the image of the Father, piety is owed: insofar as he bears the image of the Son, truthfulness is owed, insofar as he bears the image of the Holy Spirit, benignity is owed: hence it is that there are seven commandments which pertain to the second tablet. For with respect to piety there are two: one which commands piety, namely concerning honoring one's father: the other which forbids impiety, namely concerning not killing. With respect to truthfulness, which principally consists in word, one is taken, namely concerning not bearing false testimony. With respect to benignity, to which cupidity and concupiscence are opposed, each of which can be in deed or in heart, four are taken, namely thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, thou shalt not steal, and thou shalt not covet another's goods . And these are to be ordered according to greater or lesser injuries by which justice can be violated. And thus the rules pertaining to the necessity of justice ought to be contained in the ten precepts.
But since justice arrives at perfection when it perfectly distances itself from evil both as to worship and as to cause: and all evil arises from a threefold root, namely the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life: hence it is that there are three evangelical counsels, perfectly distancing us from the aforesaid threefold root. Which are therefore counsels because, in order that they may perfectly cause one to withdraw from evil, they separate not only from illicit things, but also from licit and permitted things which can be an occasion of evil: and through this they contain not only sufficient, but also abundant , justice, according to what befits the perfection of the evangelical law and the exercise of perfecting grace.