mes counselled and between
these there is a difference. When a command is given by lawful
superiors it must be obeyed, and that under penalty. God gave the
commandments amidst thunder and lightning on Mount Sinai, and those
commandments, as precepts of the natural law, or because corroborated
in the New Testament, persist in the main to-day, and any one who
violates them, refuses to keep them, is guilty of disobedience to God,
commits a sin. But when Christ proclaimed the counsels, He was merely
giving advice or exhortation, and hence no one was obliged to follow
them under pain of His displeasure. Suppose a mother has two sons, who
both obey exactly her every command, and one also takes her advice in
a certain matter, while the other does not; she will love the second
not less, but the first more. So of two boys, who are both favorites
of God, if one accept and the other decline a proffered vocation, He
will love the latter as before, but the former how much more tenderly!

Moreover, God loves the cheerful giver. By doing, out of an abundance
of charity and fervor, what you are not obliged to do, you gain ampler
merit for yourself, since you perform more than your duty, and at the
same time you give greater glory to God, showing that He has willing
children, who bound their service to Him by no bargaining
considerations of weight and measure. But if, through fear of threat
or punishment, you make an offering to God, your gift loses, to an
extent, the worth and spontaneity of a heart-token.

Some think that not to accept the invitation to the counsels, is to
show disregard and contempt for God's grace and favor, and hence
sinful. But how does a young person act when he declines this
proffered gift? He equivalently says, with tears in his eyes, "My
Saviour, I appreciate deeply Thy invitation to the higher life; I envy
my companions who are so courageous as to follow Thy counsel; but,
please be not offended with me if I have not the courage to imitate
their example. I beg Thee to let me serve Thee in some other way." Is
there anything of contempt in such a reply? No more than if a child
would tearfully pray its mother not to send it into a dark room to
fetch something; and as such a mother, instead of insisting on her
request, would only kiss away her child's tears, so will God treat one
who weeps because he cannot muster courage to tread closely in His
blood-stained footsteps.

The young have little relish for argumen