Whether One Ought to Induce Others to Enter Religion?
Objection 1: It would seem that no one ought to induce others to
enter religion. For the blessed Benedict prescribes in his Rule
(lviii) that "those who seek to enter religion must not easily be
admitted, but spirits must be tested whether they be of God"; and
Cassian has the same instruction (De Inst. Caenob. iv, 3). Much less
therefore is it lawful to induce anyone to enter religion.
Obj. 2: Further, our Lord said (Matt. 23:15): "Woe to you . . .
because you go round about the sea and the land to make one
proselyte, and when he is made you make him the child of hell twofold
more than yourselves." Now thus would seem to do those who induce
persons to enter religion. Therefore this would seem blameworthy.
Obj. 3: Further, no one should induce another to do what is to his
prejudice. But those who are induced to enter religion, sometimes
take harm therefrom, for sometimes they are under obligation to enter
a stricter religion. Therefore it would not seem praiseworthy to
induce others to enter religion.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Ex. 26:3, seqq. [*St. Thomas quotes
the sense, not the words]): "Let one curtain draw the other."
Therefore one man should draw another to God's service.
_I answer that,_ Those who induce others to enter religion not only
do not sin, but merit a great reward. For it is written (James 5:20):
"He who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way,
shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins";
and (Dan. 12:3): "They that instruct many to justice shall be as
stars for all eternity."
Nevertheless such inducement may be affected by a threefold
inordinateness. First, if one person force another by violence to
enter religion: and this is forbidden in the Decretals (XX, qu. iii,
cap. Praesens). Secondly, if one person persuade another simoniacally
to enter religion, by giving him presents: and this is forbidden in
the Decretal (I, qu. ii, cap. Quam pio). But this does not apply to
the case where one provides a poor person with necessaries by
educating him in the world for the religious life; or when without
any compact one gives a person little presents for the sake of good
fellowship. Thirdly, if one person entices another by lies: for it is
to be feared that the person thus enticed may turn back on finding
himself deceived, and thus "the last state of that man" may become
"worse than the first" (Luke 11:26).
Reply Obj. 1: Those who are induced to enter religion have still a
time of probation wherein they make a trial of the hardships of
religion, so that they are not easily admitted to the religious life.
Reply Obj. 2: According to Hilary (Can. xxiv in Matth.) this saying
of our Lord was a forecast of the wicked endeavors of the Jews, after
the preaching of Christ, to draw Gentiles or even Christians to
observe the Jewish ritual, thereby making them doubly children of
hell, because, to wit, they were not forgiven the former sins which
they committed while adherents of Judaism, and furthermore they
incurred the guilt of Jewish perfidy; and thus interpreted these
words have nothing to do with the case in point.
According to Jerome, however, in his commentary on this passage of
Matthew, the reference is to the Jews even at the time when it was
yet lawful to keep the legal observances, in so far as he whom they
converted to Judaism "from paganism, was merely misled; but when he
saw the wickedness of his teachers, he returned to his vomit, and
becoming a pagan deserved greater punishment for his treachery."
Hence it is manifest that it is not blameworthy to draw others to the
service of God or to the religious life, but only when one gives a
bad example to the person converted, whence he becomes worse.
Reply Obj. 3: The lesser is included in the greater. Wherefore a
person who is bound by vow or oath to enter a lesser order, may be
lawfully induced to enter a greater one, unless there be some special
obstacle, such as ill-health, or the hope of making greater progress
in the lesser order. On the other hand, one who is bound by vow or
oath to enter a greater order, cannot be lawfully induced to enter a
lesser order, except for some special and evident motive, and then
with the superior's dispensation.
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