ic Vows.

Although many and various matters have been introduced in this article
by the suggestion of certain persons (Another text, Cod. Pflug., reads
"Preachers"), nevertheless, when all are taken into consideration with
mature thought, since monastic vows have their foundation in the Holy
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and most holy men, renowned
and admirable by miracles, have lived in these religious orders with
many thousand thousands, and for so many centuries their ordinances and
rules of living have been received and approved throughout the entire
Christian world by the Catholic Church, it is in no way to be tolerated
that vows are licentiously broken without any fear of God. For, in the
Old Testament, God approved the vows of the Nazarenes, Num 6:2ff, and
the vows of the Rechabites, who neither drank wine or ate grapes, Jer.
36:6, 19; while he strictly requires that the vow once made be paid,
Deut. 23:21f; "It is ruin to a man after vows to retract," Prov. 20:25;
"The vows of the just are acceptable," Prov. 15:8. God also teaches
specifically through the prophet that monastic vows please him. For
in Isa. 56:4, 5 it is read as follows: "Thus saith the Lord unto the
eunuchs that keep my Sabbath, and choose the things that pease me and
take hold of my covenant, Even unto them will I give in mine house
and within my walls a place and a name better than that of sons and of
daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be
cut off." But to what eunuchs does God make these promises? To those,
undoubtedly, whom Christ praises, "which have made themselves eunuchs
for the kingdom of heaven's sake," Matt. 19:12; to those, undoubtedly,
who, denying their own, come after Christ and deny themselves and follow
him, Luke 9:23, so that they are governed no longer by their own will,
but by that of their rule and superior. In like manner, according to the
testimony of the apostle, those virgins do better who, contemning
the world and spurning its enticements, vow and maintain virginity in
monasteries, than those who place their necks beneath the matrimonial
burden. For thus St. Paul says, 1 Cor. 7:28: "He that giveth her in
marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth
better." Also, concerning a widow, he continues: "She is happier if she
so abide, after my judgment." No one is ignorant of the holiness of the
hermit Paul, of Basil, Anthony, Benedict, Bernard, Dominic, Franciscus,
W