18. Wherefore I admonish both
men and women who follow after perpetual continence and holy
virginity, that they so set their own good before marriage, as that
they judge not marriage an evil: and that they understand that it
was in no way of deceit, but of plain truth that it was said by the
Apostle, “Whoso gives in marriage does well; and whoso gives not
in marriage, does better; and, if thou shalt have taken a wife,
thou hast not sinned; and, if a virgin shall have been married, she
sinneth not;”2054
| 2054 1 Cor. vii. 38, 28,
40 |
and a
little after, “But she wilt be more
blessed, if she shall have
continued so, according to my
judgment.” And, that the
judgment
should not be thought human, he adds, “But I think I also have
the Spirit of
God.” This is the
doctrine of the
Lord, this of the
Apostles, this true, this sound, so to choose greater
gifts, as
that the lesser be not
condemned. The
truth of
God, in the
Scripture of
God, is better than
virginity of man in the
mind or
flesh of any. Let what is
chaste be so
loved, as that what is true
be not denied. For what
evil thought may they not have even
concerning their own
flesh, who believe that the
tongue of the
Apostle, in that very place, wherein he was commending
virginity of
body, was not
virgin from
corruption of
lying. In the first place,
therefore, and chiefly, let such as choose the good of
virginity,
hold most firmly that the holy Scriptures have in nothing spoken
lies; and, thus, that that also is true which is said, “And if
thou shall have taken a
wife, thou hast not
sinned; and, if a
virgin shall have been
married, she sinneth not.” And let them
not think that the so great good of
virgin chastity is made less,
if
marriage shall not be an
evil. Yea rather, let her hence feel
confident, rather, that there is prepared for her a
palm of greater
glory, who
feared not to be
condemned, in case she were
married,
but desired to receive a more
honorable crown, in that she was not
married. Whoso therefore shall be willing to
abide without
marriage, let them not
flee from
marriage as a pitfall of
sin; but
let them surmount it as a
hill of the lesser good, in order that
they may
rest in the
mountain of the greater, continence. It is on
this condition, forsooth, that this hill is dwelt on; that one
leave it not when he will. For, “a woman is bound, so long as her
husband liveth.”
2055
However unto widowed continence
one ascends from it as from a step: but for the sake of virgin
continence, one must either turn aside from it by not consenting to
suitors, or overleap it by anticipating suitors.
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