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| Chapter VIII
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Chapter
VIII.
Let no
one think however that herein we depreciate marriage as an institution.
We are well aware that it is not a stranger to God’s blessing.
But since the common instincts of mankind can plead sufficiently on its
behalf, instincts which prompt by a spontaneous bias to take the high
road of marriage for the procreation of children, whereas Virginity in
a way thwarts this natural impulse, it is a superfluous task to compose
formally an Exhortation to marriage. We put forward the pleasure of it
instead, as a most doughty champion on its behalf. It may be however,
notwithstanding this, that there is some need of such a
treatise, occasioned by those who travesty the teaching of the Church.
Such persons1379
“have their conscience seared
with a hot iron,” as the Apostle expresses it; and very truly
too, considering that, deserting the guidance of the Holy Spirit for
the “doctrines of devils,” they have some ulcers and
blisters stamped upon their hearts, abominating God’s creatures,
and calling them “foul,” “seducing,”
“mischievous,” and so on. “But what have I to do to
judge them that are without1380
?” asks the
Apostle. Truly those persons are outside the Court in which the words
of our mysteries are spoken; they are not installed under God’s
roof, but in the monastery of the Evil One. They “are taken
captive by him at his will1381
.” They
therefore do not understand that all virtue is found in moderation, and
that any declension to either side1382
| 1382 ἐπὶ
τὰ
παρακείμενα. Galesinius wrongly renders “in contrarias
partes.” Cf. Arist. Eth. ii. 5. | of it becomes
a vice. He, in fact, who grasps the middle point between doing too
little and doing too much has hit the distinction between vice and
virtue. Instances will make this clearer. Cowardice and audacity are
two recognized vices opposed to each other; the one the defect, the
other the excess of confidence; between them lies courage. Again, piety
is neither atheism nor superstition; it is equally impious to deny a
God and to believe in many gods. Is there need of more examples to
bring this principle home? The man who avoids both meanness and
prodigality will by this shunning of extremes form the moral habit of
liberality; for liberality is the thing which is neither inclined to
spend at random vast and useless sums, nor yet to be closely
calculating in necessary expenses. We need not go into details in the
case of all good qualities. Reason, in all of them, has established
virtue to be a middle state between two extremes. Sobriety itself
therefore is a middle state, and manifestly involves the two
declensions on either side towards vice; he, that is, who is wanting in
firmness of soul, and is so easily worsted in the combat with pleasure
as never even to have approached the path of a virtuous and sober life,
slides into shameful indulgence; while he who goes beyond the safe
ground of sobriety and overshoots the moderation of this virtue, falls
as it were from a precipice into the “doctrines of devils,”
“having his conscience seared with a hot iron.” In
declaring marriage abominable he brands himself with such reproaches;
for “if the tree is corrupt” (as the Gospel says),
“the fruit also of the tree will be like it1383
| 1383 Cf.
S. Matt. vii. 18; from which it will be
seen that Gregory confirms the Vulgate “malum” for
σαπρόν,
since he quotes it as κακὸν here. | ”; if a man is the shoot and fruitage
of the tree of marriage, reproaches cast on that turn upon him who
casts them1384
| 1384 τοῦ
προφέροντος; not “of their Creator,” or “of their
father” (Livineius). | . These persons, then, are like branded
criminals already; their conscience is covered with the stripes of this
unnatural teaching. But our view of marriage is this; that, while the
pursuit of heavenly things should be a man’s first care, yet if
he can use the advantages of marriage with sobriety and moderation, he
need not despise this way of serving the state. An example might be
found in the patriarch Isaac. He married Rebecca when he was past the
flower of his age and his prime was well-nigh spent, so that his
marriage was not the deed of passion, but because of God’s
blessing that should be upon his seed. He cohabited with her till the
birth of her only children1385
| 1385 μέχρι μιᾶς
ὠδῖνος. So
perhaps Rom. ix. 10: ῾Ρεβέκκα
ἐξ ἑνὸς
κοίτην
ἔχουσα,
i.e. ex uno concubitu. Below, c. 9 (p. 139, c. 11), Gregory uses
the same expression of one birth. | , and then, closing
the channels of the senses, lived wholly for the Unseen; for this is
what seems to be meant by the mention in his history of the
dimness of the Patriarch’s eyes. But let that be as those
think who are skilled in reading these meanings, and let us proceed
with the continuity of our discourse. What then, were we saying? That
in the cases where it is possible at once to be true to the diviner
love, and to embrace wedlock, there is no reason for setting aside this
dispensation of nature and misrepresenting as abominable that which is
honourable. Let us take again our illustration of the water and the
spring. Whenever the husbandman, in order to irrigate a particular
spot, is bringing the stream thither, but there is need before it gets
there of a small outlet, he will allow only so much to escape into that
outlet as is adequate to supply the demand, and can then easily be
blended again with the main stream. If, as an inexperienced and
easy-going steward, he opens too wide a channel, there will be danger
of the whole stream quitting its direct bed and pouring itself
sideways. In the same way, if (as life does need a mutual succession) a
man so treats this need as to give spiritual things the first thought,
and because of the shortness1386
of the time
indulges but sparingly the sexual passion and keeps it under restraint,
that man would realize the character of the prudent husband man to
which the Apostle exhorts us. About the details of paying these
trifling debts of nature he will not be over-calculating, but the long
hours of his prayers1387
| 1387 τὴν ἐκ
συμφώνου
καθαρότητα
τῇ σχολῇ τῶν
προσευχῶν
ἀφορίζων, “durch häufiges Gebet die innige Reinheit
festzustellen sucht,” J. Rupp. The Latin fails to give the full
force, “ex convenientia quadam munditiam animi in orationum
studio constituit:” σχολὴ is
abundant time from the business of life. | will secure the
purity which is the key-note of his life. He will always fear lest by
this kind of indulgence he may become nothing but flesh and blood; for
in them God’s Spirit does not dwell. He who is of so weak a
character that he cannot make a manful stand against nature’s
impulse had better1388
| 1388 κρείττων, κ. τ.
λ., “melius” (Livineius), not
“validior.” | keep himself very
far away from such temptations, rather than descend into a combat which
is above his strength. There is no small danger for him lest, cajoled
in the valuation of pleasure, he should think that there exists no
other good but that which is enjoyed along with some sensual emotion,
and, turning altogether from the love of immaterial delights, should
become entirely of the flesh, seeking always his pleasure only there,
so that his character will be a Pleasure-lover, not a God-lover. It is
not every man’s gift, owing to weakness of nature, to hit the due
proportion in these matters; there is a danger of being carried far
beyond it, and “sticking fast in the deep mire1389
| 1389 ἰλύν, a better reading
than ὕλην. Cf. Ps. lxix.
2,
“the mire of depth” (ἰλὺν
βυθοῦ). | ,” to use the Psalmist’s words.
It would therefore be for our interest, as our discourse has been
suggesting, to pass through life without a trial of these temptations,
lest under cover of the excuse of lawful indulgence passion should gain
an entrance into the citadel of the soul.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
