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| The Difficulty and Excellence of Virginity; The Study of Doctrine Necessary for Virgins.
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Discourse
I.—Marcella.
Chapter I.—The Difficulty and
Excellence of Virginity; The Study of Doctrine Necessary for
Virgins.
Virginity is something supernaturally great,
wonderful, and glorious; and, to speak plainly and in accordance with
the Holy Scriptures, this best and noblest manner of life alone is the
root2504
of immortality,
and also its flower and first-fruits; and for this reason the Lord
promises that those shall enter into the kingdom of heaven who have
made themselves eunuchs, in that passage2505
of the Gospels in which He lays down the
various reasons for which men have made themselves eunuchs.
Chastity with men is a very rare thing, and difficult of attainment,
and in proportion to its supreme excellence and magnificence is the
greatness of its dangers.2506
| 2506 [I
think evidence abounds, in the course of this allegory, that it was
designed to meet the painful discussions excited in the Church by the
fanatical conduct of Origen, vol. iv. pp. 225–226.] |
For this reason, it requires strong and generous
natures, such as, vaulting over the stream of pleasure, direct the
chariot of the soul upwards from the earth, not turning aside from
their aim, until having, by swiftness of thought, lightly bounded above
the world, and taken their stand truly upon the vault of heaven, they
purely contemplate immortality itself as it springs forth2507
from the
undefiled bosom of the Almighty.
Earth could not bring forth this draught; heaven alone
knew the fountain from whence it flows; for we must think of virginity
as walking indeed upon the earth, but as also reaching up to heaven. And hence some who have
longed for it, and considering only the end of it, have come, by reason
of coarseness of mind, ineffectually with unwashed feet, and have gone
aside out of the way, from having conceived no worthy idea of the
virginal manner of life. For it is not enough to keep the
body only undefiled, just as we should not show that we think more of
the temple than of the image of the god; but we should care for the
souls of men as being the divinities of their bodies, and adorn them
with righteousness. And then do they most care for them and tend
them when, striving untiringly to hear divine discourses, they do not
desist until, wearing the doors of the wise,2508
they attain to the knowledge of the
truth.
For as the putrid humours and matter of flesh, and
all those things which corrupt it, are driven out by salt, in the same
manner all the irrational appetites of a virgin are banished from the
body by divine teaching. For it must needs be that the soul which
is not sprinkled with the words of Christ, as with salt, should stink
and breed worms, as King David, openly confessing with tears in the
mountains, cried out, “My wounds stink and are
corrupt,”2509
because he had
not salted himself with the exercises of self-control, and so subdued
his carnal appetites, but self-indulgently had yielded to them, and
became corrupted in adultery. And hence, in Leviticus,2510
every gift, unless
it be seasoned with salt, is forbidden to be offered as an oblation to
the Lord God. Now the whole spiritual meditation of the
Scriptures is given to us as salt which stings in order to benefit, and
which disinfects, without which it is impossible for a soul, by means
of reason, to be brought to the Almighty; for “ye are the salt of
the earth,”2511
said the Lord
to the apostles. It is fitting, then, that a virgin should always
love things which are honourable, and be distinguished among the
foremost for wisdom and addicted to nothing slothful or luxurious, but
should excel, and set her mind upon things worthy of the state of
virginity, always putting away, by the word, the foulness of luxury,
lest in any way some slight hidden corruption should breed the worm of
incontinence; for “the unmarried woman careth for the things of
the Lord,” how she may please the Lord, “that she may be
holy both in body and in spirit,”2512
says the blessed Paul. But many of
them who consider the hearing of the word quite a secondary matter,
think they do great things if they give their attention to it for a
little while. But discrimination must be exercised with respect
to these; for it is not fitting to impart divine instruction to a
nature which is careful about trifles, and low, and which counterfeits
wisdom. For would it not be laughable to go on talking to those
who direct all their energy towards things of little value, in order
that they may complete most accurately those things which they want to
bring to perfection, but do not think that the greatest pains are to be
taken with those necessary things by which most of all the love of
chastity would be increased in them?E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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