COUNSEL

Besides the common signification of the word, it is frequently used in Scripture to signify the designs or purposes of God , or the orders of his providence. (Acts iv. 28, and Psalm lxxiii. 24.) It also signifies his will concerning the way of salvation. (Luke vii. 30; Acts xx. 27.) This word is also used by the doctors of the Romish Church, to denote those precepts which they hold to be binding upon the faithful, in virtue of an implied direction or recommendation of our Lord and his apostles. Thus the celibacy of the clergy is numbered by them among “evangelical counsels,” which, receiving the acceptance of the Church, they hold, heretically, to be equally binding with the commands of canonical Scripture.