22. And now by plainest
witnesses of divine Scriptures, such as according to the small
measure of our memory we shall be able to remember, let it more
clearly appear, that, not on account of the present life of this
world, but on account of that future life which is promised in the
kingdom of heaven, we are to choose perpetual continence. But who
but must observe this in that which the same Apostle says a little
after, “Whoso is without a wife has thought of the things of the
Lord, how to please the Lord: but whoso is joined in marriage has
thought of the things of the world, how to please his wife. And a
woman unmarried and a virgin is divided;2063
| 2063 cf. de Bon.
Conj. 10. |
she that is
unmarried is careful
about the things of the
Lord, to be holy both in body and spirit:
but she that is
married is careful about the things of the
world,
how to please her
husband.”
2064
Certainly he saith not, hath
thought of the things of a
state without care in this
world, to
pass her time without weightier
troubles; nor doth he say that a
woman unmarried and a
virgin is divided, that is, distinguished,
and separated from her who is
married, for this end, that the
unmarried woman be without care in this
life, in order to
avoid
temporal
troubles, which the
married woman is not free from: but,
“She hath thought,” saith he, “of the things of the
Lord, how
to please the
Lord; and is careful about the things of the
Lord, to
be holy both in body and spirit.” Unless to such a degree,
perchance, each be foolishly contentious, as to essay to assert,
that it is not on account of the
kingdom of
heaven, but on account
of this present
world, that we wish to “please the
Lord,” or
that it is on account of this present
life, not on account of
life
eternal, that they are “holy both in body and spirit.” To
believe this, what else is it, than to be more
miserable than all
men? For so the
Apostle saith, “If in this
life only we are
hoping in
Christ, we are more
miserable than all men.”
2065
What? is
he who
breaks his
bread to the hungry, if he do it only on account
of this
life, a
fool; and shall he be
prudent, who chastens his own
body even unto continence, whereby he hath no intercourse even in
marriage, if it shall profit him nought in the kingdom of
heaven?
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