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