8. “Honorable,” therefore,
“is marriage in all, and the bed undefiled.”1954
And this we do not so call a good,
as that it is a good in comparison of
fornication: otherwise there
will be two evils, of which the second is worse: or
fornication
will also be a good, because
adultery is worse: for it is worse to
violate the
marriage of another, than to
cleave unto an
harlot: and
adultery will be a good, because incest is worse; for it is worse
to
lie with a mother than with the
wife of another: and, until we
arrive at those things, which, as the
Apostle saith, “it is a
shame even to speak of,”
1955
all will be good in comparison of
what are worse. But who can doubt that this is false? Therefore
marriage and
fornication are not two evils,
whereof the second is worse: but
marriage and continence are two
goods, whereof the second is better, even as this temporal
health
and sickness are not two evils, whereof the second is worse; but
that
health and immortality are two goods, whereof the second is
better. Also
knowledge and
vanity are not two evils, whereof
vanity
is the worse: but
knowledge and
charity are two goods, whereof
charity is the better. For “
knowledge shall be
destroyed,”
1956
saith the
Apostle: and yet it is necessary for this time: but “
charity
shall never
fail.” Thus also this
mortal begetting, on account of
which
marriage takes place, shall be
destroyed: but
freedom from
all sexual intercourse is both angelic
exercise1957
here, and continueth for ever. But
as the repasts of the Just are better than the fasts of the
sacrilegious, so the
marriage of the
faithful is to be set before
the
virginity of the impious. However neither in that case is
repast preferred to
fasting, but
righteousness to
sacrilege; nor in
this,
marriage to
virginity, but
faith to impiety. For for this end
the
righteous, when need is, take their repast, that, as good
masters, they may give to their
slaves,
i.e., their bodies,
what is just and fair: but for this end the sacrilegious fast, that
they may serve
devils. Thus for this end the
faithful are
married,
that they may be chastely joined unto
husbands, but for this end
the impious are
virgins, that they may
commit fornication away from
the true
God. As, therefore, that was good, which
Martha was doing,
being engaged in the ministering unto the
Saints, but that better,
which
Mary, her sister, sitting at the
feet of the
Lord, and
hearing His word; thus we
praise the good of Susanna
1958
in
married
chastity, but yet we set before her the good of the
widow Anna,
1959
and, much
more, of the
Virgin Mary.
1960
It was good that they were doing,
who of their substance were ministering necessaries unto
Christ and
His
disciples: but better, who left all their substance, that they
might be freer to follow the same
Lord. But in both these cases of
good, whether what these, or whether what
Martha and
Mary were
doing, the better could not be done, unless the other had been
passed over or left. Whence we are to understand, that we are not,
on this account, to think
marriage an
evil, because, unless there
be
abstinence from it, widowed chastity, or
virgin purity, cannot
be had. For neither on this account was what
Martha was doing
evil,
because, unless her sister
abstained from it, she could not do what
was better: nor on this account is it
evil to receive a just man or
a
prophet into one’s house, because he, who wills to follow
Christ unto perfection, ought not even to have a house, in order to
do what is better.
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