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| Of the benefit of virginity and of continency.
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32. Of the benefit of
virginity and of continency.4381
| 4381
[This section is confined to Scripture, and goes not beyond the word of
the Divine Wisdom, as do some of the Fathers.] |
In Genesis: “Multiplying I will
multiply thy sorrows and thy groanings, and in sorrow shalt thou bring
forth children; and thy turning shall be to thy husband, and he shall
rule over thee.”4382
Of this same thing in the
Gospel according to Matthew: “All men do not receive the
word, but they to whom it is given: for there are some eunuchs
who were born so from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs
who have been constrained by men, and there are eunuchs who have made
themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who
can receive it, let him receive it.”4383
Also according to Luke:
“The children of this world beget, and are begotten. But
they who have been considered worthy of that world, and the
resurrection from the dead, do not marry, nor are married: for
neither shall they begin to die: for they are equal to the angels
of God, since they are the children of the resurrection. But,
that the dead rise again, Moses intimates when he says in the bush, The
Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living:
for all live unto Him.”4384
Also in the first Epistle of
Paul to the Corinthians: “It is good for a man not to touch
a woman. But, on account of fornication, let every man have his
own wife, and every woman have her own husband. Let the husband
render what is due to the wife, and similarly the wife to the
husband. The wife hath not power over her own body, but the
husband. And in like manner, the husband hath not power over his
own body, but the wife. Defraud not one the other, except by
agreement for a time, that ye may have leisure for prayer; and again
return to the same point, lest Satan tempt you on account of your
incontinency. This I say by way of allowance, not by way of
command. But I wish that all men should be even as I am.
But every one has his proper gift from God; one in one way, but another
in another way.”4385
Also in the same place:
“An unmarried man thinks of those things which are the
Lord’s, in what way he may please God; but he who has contracted
marriage thinks of those things that are of this world, in what way he
may please his wife. Thus also, both the woman and the unmarried
virgin thinketh of those things which are the Lord’s,
that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; but she that hath
married thinks of those things which are of this world, in what way she
may please her husband.”4386
Also in Exodus, when the Lord
had commanded Moses that he should sanctify the people for the third
day, he sanctified them, and added: “Be ye ready, for three
days ye shall not approach to women.”4387
Also in the first book of
Kings: “And the priest answered to David, and said, There
are no profane loaves in my hand, except one sacred loaf. If the
young men have been kept back from women, they shall
eat.”4388
Also in the Apocalypse: “These are they who have not
defiled themselves with women, for they have continued virgins; these
are they who follow the Lamb whithersoever He shall go.”4389
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