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[TRANSLATED BY THE REV. S. THELWALL.]
HERETICS do away with marriages; Psychics accumulate them. The
former many not even once; the latter not only once. What dost thou,
Law of the Creator? Between alien eunuchs and thine own grooms, thou
complainest as much of the over-obedience of thine own household as of
the contempt of strangers. They who abuse thee, do thee equal hurt with
them who use thee not. In fact, neither is such continence laudable
because it is heretical, nor such licence defensible because it is
psychical. The former is blasphemous, the latter wanton; the former
destroys the God of marriages, the latter puts Him to the blush. Among
us, however, whom the recognition of spiritual gifts entitles to be
deservedly called Spiritual, continence is as religious as licence is
modest; since both the one and the other are in harmony with the
Creator. Continence honours the law of marriage, licence tempers it;
the former is not forced, the latter is regulated; the former
recognises the power of free choice, the latter recognises a limit. We
admit one marriage, just as we do one God. The law of marriage reaps an
accession of honour where it is associated with shamefastness. But to
the Psychics, since they receive not the Spirit, the things which are
the Spirit's are not pleasing. Thus, so long as the things which are
the Spirit's please them not, the things which are of the flesh will
please, as being the contraries of the Spirit. "The flesh," saith (the
apostle), "lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh."[2] But what will the flesh "lust" after, except what is more of
the flesh? For which reason withal, in. the beginning, it became
estranged from the Spirit. "My Spirit," saith (God), "shall not
permanently abide in these men eternally,[3] for that they are
flesh."[4]
And so they upbraid the discipline of monogamy with being a
heresy; nor is there any other cause whence they find themselves
compelled to deny the Paraclete more than the fact that they esteem Him
to be the institutor of a novel discipline, and a discipline which they
find most harsh: so that this is already the first ground on which we
must join issue in a general handling (of the subject), whether there
is room for maintaining that the Paraclete has taught any such thing as
can either be charged with novelty, in opposition to catholic
tradition,[5] or with burdensomeness, in opposition to the "light
burden"[6] of the Lord.
Now concerning each point the Lord Himself has pronounced. For in
saying, "I still have many things to say unto you, but ye are not yet
able to bear them: when the Holy Spirit shall be come, He will lead you
into all truth,"[7] He sufficiently, of course, sets before us that He
will bring such (teachings) as may be esteemed alike novel, as having
never before been published, and finally burdensome, as if that were
the reason why they were not published. "It follows," you say, "that by
this line of argument, anything you please which is novel and
burdensome may be ascribed to the Paraclete, even if it have come from
the adversary spirit." No, of course. For the adversary spirit would be
apparent from the diversity of his preaching, beginning by adulter-
ating the rule of faith, and so (going on to) adulterating the order of
discipline; because the corruption of that which holds the first grade,
(that is, of faith, which is prior to discipline,) comes first. A man
must of necessity hold heretical views of God first, and then of His
institution. But the Paraclete, having many things to teach fully which
the Lord deferred till He came, (according to the pre-definition,) will
begin by bearing emphatic witness to Christ, (as being) such as we
believe (Him to be), together with the whole order of God the Creator,
and will glorify Him,[1] and will "bring to remembrance" concerning
Him. And when He has thus been recognised (as the promised Comforter),
on the ground of the cardinal rule, He will reveal those "many things"
which appertain to disciplines; while the integrity of His preaching
commands credit for these (revelations), albeit they be "novel,"
inasmuch as they are. now in course of revelation, albeit they be
"burdensome," inasmuch as not even now are they found bearable:
(revelations), however, of none other Christ than (the One) who said
that He had withal "other many things" which were to be fully taught by
the Paraclete, no less burdensome to men of our own day than to them,
by whom they were then "not yet able to be borne."
But (as for the question) whether monogamy be "burdensome," let
the still shameless "infirmity of the flesh" look to that: let us
meantime come to an agreement as to whether it be "novel." This (even)
broader assertion we make: that even if the Paraclete had in this our
day definitely prescribed a virginity or continence total and absolute,
so as not to permit the heat of the flesh to foam itself down even in
single marriage, even thus He would seem to be introducing nothing of
"novelty;" seeing that the Lord Himself opens "the kingdoms of the
heavens" to "eunuchs,"[2] as being Himself, withal, a virgin; to whom
looking, the apostle also—himself too for this reason abstinent—gives
the preference to continence.[3] ("Yes"), you say, "but saving the law
of marriage." Saving it, plainly, and we will see under what
limitations; nevertheless already destroying it, in so far as he gives
the preference to continence. "Good," he says, "(it is) for a man not
to have contact with a woman." It follows that it is evil to have
contact with her; for nothing is contrary to good except evil. And
accordingly (he says), "It remains, that both they who have wives so be
as if they have not,"[4] that it may be the more binding on them who
have not to abstain from having them. He renders reasons, likewise, for
so advising: that the unmarried think about God, but the married about
how, in (their) marriage, each may please his (partner).[5] And I may
contend, that what is permitted is not absolutely good.[6] For what is
absolutely good is not permitted, but needs no asking to make it
lawful. Permission has its cause sometimes even in necessity. Finally,
in this case, there is no volition on the part of him who permits
marriage. For his volition points another way. "I will," he says, "that
you all so be as I too (am)."[7] And when he shows that (so to abide)
is "better," what, pray, does he demonstrate himself to "will," but
what he has premised is "better?" And thus, if he permits something
other than what he has "willed"—permitted not voluntarily, but of
necessity—he shows that what he has unwillingly granted as an
indulgence is not absolutely good. Finally, when he says, "Better it is
to marry than to burn," what sort of good must that be understood to be
which is better than a penalty? which cannot seem "better" except when
compared to a thing very bad? "Good" is that which keeps this name per
se; without comparison—I say not with an evil, but even—with some
other good: so that, even if it be compared to and overshadowed by
another good, it nevertheless remains in (possession of) the name of
good. If, on the other hand, comparison with evil is the mean which
obliges it to be called good; it is not so much "good" as a species of
inferior evil, which, when obscured by a higher evil, is driven to the
name of good. Take away, in Short, the condition, so as not to say,
"Better it is to marry than to burn;" and I question whether you will
have the hardihood to say, "Better (it is) to marry," not adding than
what it is better. This done, then, it becomes not" better;" and while
not "better," not "good" either, the condition being taken away which,
while making it "better" than another thing, in that sense obliges it
to be considered "good." Better it is to lose one eye than two. If,
however, you withdraw from the comparison of either evil, it will not
be better to have one eye, because it is not even good.
What, now, if he accommodatingly grants all indulgence to marry
on the ground of his own (that is, of human) sense, out of the
necessity which we have mentioned, inasmuch as "better it is to marry
than to burn?" In fact, when he turns to the second case, by saying,
"But to the married I officially announce—not I, but the Lord"—he
shows that those things which he had said above had not been (the
dictates) of the Lord's authority, but of human judgment. When,
however, he turns their minds back to continence, ("But I will you all
so to be,") "I think, moreover," he says, "I too have the Spirit of
God;" in order that, if he had granted any indulgence out of necessity,
that, by the Holy Spirit's authority, he might recall. But John, too,
when advising us that "we ought so to walk as the Lord withal did,"[1]
of course admonished us to walk as well in accordance with sanctity of
the flesh (as in accordance with His example in other respects).
Accordingly he says more manifestly: "And every (man) who hath this
hope in Him maketh himself chaste, just as Himself withal is
chaste."[2] For elsewhere, again, (we read): "Be ye holy, just as He
withal was holy "[3]—in the flesh, namely. For of the Spirit he would
not have said (that), inasmuch as the Spirit is without any external
influence recognised as "holy," nor does He wait to be admonished to
sanctity, which is His proper nature. But the flesh is taught sanctity;
and that withal, in Christ, was holy.
Therefore, if all these (considerations) obliterate the licence
of marrying, whether we look into the condition on which the licence is
granted, or the preference of continence which is imposed. why, after
the apostles, could not the same Spirit, supervening for the purpose of
conducting disciplehood[4] into "all truth" through the gradations of
the times (according to what the preacher says, "A time to
everything"[5]), impose by this time a final bridle upon the flesh, no
longer obliquely calling us away from marriage, but openly; since now
more (than ever) "the time is become wound up,"[6]—about 160 years
having elapsed since then? Would you not spontaneously ponder (thus) in
your own mind: "This discipline is old, shown beforehand, even at that
early date, in the Lord's flesh and will, (and) successively thereafter
in both the counsels and the examples of His apostles? Of old we were
destined to this sanctity. Nothing of novelty is the Paraclete
introducing. What He premonished, He is (now) definitively appointing;
what He deferred, He is (now) exacting." And presently, by revolving
these thoughts, you will easily persuade yourself that it was much more
competent to the Paraclete to preach unity of marriage, who could
withal have preached its annulling; and that it is more credible that
He should have tempered what it would have become Him even to have
abolished, if you understand what Christ's "will" is. Herein also you
ought to recognise the Paraclete in His character of Comforter, in that
He excuses your infirmity[7] from (the stringency of) an absolute
continence.
Waiving, now, the mention of the Paraclete, as of some authority
of our own, evolve we the common instruments of the primitive
Scriptures. This very thing is demonstrable by us: that the rule of
monogamy is neither novel nor strange, nay rather, is both ancient, and
proper to Christians; so that you may be sensible that the Paraclete is
rather its restitutor than institutor. As for what pertains to
antiquity, what more ancient formal type can be brought forward, than
the very original fount of the human race? One female did God fashion
for the male, culling one rib of his, and (of course) (one) out of a
plurality. But, moreover, in the introductory speech which preceded the
work itself, He said, "It is not good for the man that he be alone; let
us make an help-meet for him." For He would have said "helpers" if He
had destined him to have more wives (than one). He added, too, a law
concerning the future; if, that is, (the words) "And two shall be
(made) into one flesh"—not three, nor more; else they would be no more
"two" if (there were) more—were prophetically uttered. The law stood
(firm). In short, the unity of marriage lasted to the very end in the
case of the authors of our race; not because there were no other women,
but because the reason why there were none was that the first-fruits of
the race might not be contaminated by a double marriage. Otherwise, had
God (so) willed, there could withal have been (others); at all events,
he might have taken from the abundance of his own daughters—having no
less an Eve (taken) out of his own bones and flesh—if piety had
allowed it to be done. But where the first crime (is found)homicide,
inaugurated in fratricide—no crime was so worthy of the second place
as a double marriage. For it makes no difference whether a man have had
two wives singly, or whether individuals (taken) at the same time have
made two. The number of (the individuals) conjoined and separate is the
same. Still, God's institution, after once for all suffering violence
through Lamech, remained firm to the very end of that race. Second
Lamech there arose none, in the way of being husband to two wives. What
Scripture does not note, it denies. Other iniquities provoke the
deluge: (iniquities) once for all avenged, whatever was their nature;
not, however, "seventy-seven times,"[1] which (is the vengeance which)
double marriages have deserved.
But again: the reformation of the second human race is traced
from monogamy as its mother. Once more, "two (joined) into one flesh"
undertake (the duty of) "growing and multiplying,"—Noah, (namely), and
his wife, and their sons, in single marriage.[2] Even in the very
animals monogamy is recognised, for fear that even beasts should be
born of adultery. "Out of all beasts," said (God),[3] "out of all
flesh, two shall thou lead into the ark, that they may live with thee,
male and female: they shall be (taken) from all flying animals
according to (their) kind, and from all creepers of the earth according
to their kind; two out of all shall enter unto thee, male and female."
In the same formula, too, He .orders sets of sevens, made up of pairs,
to be gathered to him, consisting of male and female—one male and one
female[4] What more shall I say? Even unclean birds were not allowed to
enter with two females each.
Thus far for the testimony of things primordial, and the sanction
of our origin, and the prejudgment of the divine institution, which of
course is a law, not (merely) a memorial inasmuch as, if it was." so
done from the beginning," we find ourselves directed to the beginning
by Christ: just as, in the question of divorce, by saying that that had
been permitted by Moses on account of their hard-heartedness but from
the beginning it had not been so, He doubtless recalls to "the
beginning" the (law of) the individuity of marriage. And accordingly,
those whom God "from the beginning" conjoined, "two into one flesh,"
man shall not at the present day separate.[5] The apostle, too, writing
to the Ephesians, says that God "had proposed in Himself, at the
dispensation of the fulfilment of the times, to recall to the head"
(that is, to the beginning) "things universal in Christ, which are
above the heavens and above the earth in Him."[6] So, too, the two
letters of Greece, the first and the last, the Lord assumes to Himself,
as figures of the beginning and end! which concur in Himself: so that,
just as Alpha rolls on till it reaches Omega, and again Omega rolls
back till it reaches Alpha, in the same way He might show that in
Himself is both the downward course of the beginning on to the end, and
the backward course of the end up to the beginning; so that every
economy, ending in Him through whom it began,—through the Word of God,
that is, who was made flesh,[7]—may have an end correspondent to its
beginning. And so truly in Christ are all things recalled to "the
beginning," that even faith returns from circumcision to the integrity
of that (original) flesh, as "it was from the beginning; and freedom of
meats and abstinence from blood alone, as "it was from the beginning;"
and the individuality of marriage, as "it was from the beginning;" and
the restriction of divorce, which was not "from the beginning;" and
lastly, the whole man into Paradise, where he was "from the beginning."
Why, then, ought He not to restore Adam thither at least as a
monogamist, who cannot present him in so entire perfection as he was
when dismissed thence? Accordingly, so far as pertains to the
restitution of the beginning, the logic both of the dispensation you
live under, and of your hope, exact this from you, that what was "from
the beginning" (should be) in accordance with "the beginning;" Which
(beginning) you find counted in Adam, and recounted in Noah. Make your
election, in which of the twain you account your "beginning." In both,
the censorial power of monogamy claims you for itself. But again: if
the beginning passes on to the end (as Alpha to Omega), as the end
passes back to the beginning (as Omega to Alpha), and thus our origin
is transferred to Christ, the animal to the spiritual—inasmuch as
"(that was) not first which is spiritual, but (that) which (is) animal;
then what (is) spiritual,"[8]—let us, in like manner (as before), see
whether you owe this very (same) thing to this second origin also:
whether the last Adam also meet you in the selfsame form as the first;
since the last Adam (that is, Christ) was entirely unwedded, as was
even the first Adam before his exile. But, presenting to your weakness
the gift of the example of His own flesh, the more perfect Adam—that
is, Christ, more perfect on this account as well (as on others), that
He was more entirely pure—stands before you, if you are willing (to
copy Him), as a voluntary celibate in the flesh. If, however, you are
unequal (to that perfection), He stands before you a monogamist in
spirit, having one Church as His spouse, according to the figure of
Adam and of Eve, which (figure) the apostle interprets of that great
sacrament of Christ and the Church, (teaching that), through the
spiritual, it was analogous to the carnal monogamy. You see, therefore,
after what manner, renewing your origin even in Christ, you cannot
trace down that (origin) without the profession of monogamy; unless,
(that is), you be in flesh what He is in spirit; albeit withal, what He
was in flesh, you equally ought to have been.
But let us proceed with our inquiry into some eminent chief
fathers of our origin: for there are some to whom our monogamist
parents Adam and Noah are not pleasing, nor perhaps Christ either. To
Abraham, in fine, they appeal; prohibited though they are to
acknowledge any other father than God.[1] Grant, now, that Abraham is
our father; grant, too, that Paul is. "In the Gospel," says he, "I have
begotten you."[2] Show yourself a son even of Abraham. For your origin
in him, you must know, iS not referable to every period of his life:
there is a definite time at which he is your father. For if" faith" is
the source whence we are reckoned to Abraham as his "sons" (as the
apostle teaches, saying to the Galatians, "You know, consequently, that
(they) who are of faith, these are sons of Abraham"[3]), when did
Abraham "believe God and it was accounted to him for righteousness?" I
suppose when still in monogamy, since (he was) not yet in circumcision.
But if afterwards. he changed to either (opposite)—to digamy through
cohabitation with his handmaid, and to circumcision through the seal of
the testament—you cannot acknowledge him as your father except at that
time when he "believed God," if it is true that it is according to
faith that you are his son, not according to flesh. Else, if it be the
later Abraham whom you follow as your father—that is, the digamist
(Abraham)—receive him withal in his circumcision. If you reject his
circumcision, it follows that you will refuse his digamy too. Two
characters of his mutually diverse in two several ways, you will not be
able to blend. His digamy began with circumcision, his monogamy with
uncircumcision.[4] You receive digamy; admit circumcision too. You
retain uncircumcision; you are bound to monogamy too. Moreover, so true
is it that it is of the monogamist Abraham that you are the son, just
as of the uncircumcised, that if you be circumcised you immediately
cease to be his son, inasmuch as you will not be "of faith," but of the
seal of a faith which had been justified in uncircumcision. You bare
the apostle: learn (of him), together with the Galatians.[5] In like
manner, too, if you have involved yourself in digamy, you are not the
son of that Abraham whose "faith" preceded in monogamy. For albeit it
is subsequently that he is called "a father of many nations,"[6] still
it is of those (nations) who, as the fruit of the "faith" which
precedes digamy, had to be accounted "sons of Abraham."[7]
Thenceforward let matters see to themselves. Figures are one
thing; laws another. Images are one thing; statutes another. Images
pass away when fulfilled: statutes remain permanently to be fulfilled.
Images prophesy: statutes govern. What that digamy of Abraham portends,
the same apostle fully teaches,[8] the interpreter of each testament,
just as he likewise lays it down that our "seed" is called in Isaac.[9]
If you are "of the free woman," and belong to Isaac, he, at all events,
maintained unity of marriage to the last.
These accordingly, I suppose, are they in whom my origin is
counted. All others I ignore. And if I glance around at their
examples—(examples) of some David heaping up marriages for himself
even through sanguinary means, of some Solomon rich in wives as well as
in other riches—you are bidden to "follow the better things;"[10] and
you have withal Joseph but once wedded, and on this score I venture to
say better than his father; you have Moses, the intimate eye-witness of
God;[11] you have Aaron the chief priest. The second Moses, also, of
the second People, who led our representatives into the (possession of)
the promise of God, in whom the Name (of Jesus) was first inaugurated,
was no digamist.
After the ancient examples of the patriarchs, let us equally pass
on to the ancient documents of the legal Scriptures, that we may treat
in order of all our canon. And since there are some who sometimes
assert that they have nothing to do with the law (which Christ has not
dissolved, but fulfilled),[12] sometimes catch at such parts of the law
as they choose; plainly do we too assert that the law has deceased in
this sense, that its burdens—according to the sentence of the
apostles—which not even the fathers were able to sustain,[13] have
wholly ceased: such (parts), however. as relate to righteousness not
only permanently remain reserved, but even amplified; in order, to be
sure, that our righteousness may be able to redound above the
righteousness of the scribes and of the Pharisees.[1] If
"righteousness" must, of course chastity must too. If, then, forasmuch
as there is in the law a precept that a man is to take in marriage the
wife of his brother if he have died without children,[2] for the
purpose of raising up seed to his brother; and this may happen
repeatedly to the same person, according to that crafty question of the
Sadducees;[3] men for that reason think that frequency of marriage is
permitted in other cases as well: it will be their duty to understand
first the reason of the precept itself; and thus they will come to know
that that reason, now ceasing, is among those parts of the law which
have been cancelled. Necessary it was that there should be a succession
to the marriage of a brother if he died childless: first, because that
ancient benediction, "Grow and multiply,"[4] had still to run its
course; secondly, because the sins of the fathers used to be exacted
even from the sons;[5] thirdly, because eunuchs and barren persons used
to be regarded as ignominious. And thus, for fear that such as had died
childless, not from natural inability, but from being prematurely
overtaken by death, should be judged equally accursed (with the other
class); for this reason a vicarious and (so to say) posthumous
offspring used to be supplied them. But (now), when the "extremity of
the times" has cancelled (the command) "Grow and multiply," since the
apostle superinduces (another command), "It remaineth, that both they
who have wives so be as if they have not," because "the time is
compressed;[6] and "the sour grape" chewed by "the fathers" has ceased
"to set the sons' teeth on edge,"[7] for, "each one shall die in his
own sin;" and "eunuchs" not only have lost ignominy, but have even
deserved grace, being invited into "the kingdoms of the heavens:"[8]
the law of succeeding to the wife of a brother being buried, its
contrary has obtained—that of not succeeding to the wife of a brother.
And thus, as we have said before, what has ceased to be valid, on the
cessation of its reason, cannot furnish a ground of argument to
another. Therefore a wife, when her husband is dead, will not marry;
for if she marry, she will of course be marrying (his) brother: for
"all we are brethren."[9] Again, the woman, if intending to marry, has
to marry "in the Lord;"[10] that is, not to an heathen, but to a
brother, inasmuch as even the ancient law forbids" marriage with
members of another tribe. Since, moreover, even in Leviticus there is a
caution, "Whoever shall have taken (his) brother's wife, (it) is
uncleanness—turpitude; without children shall (he) die;"[12] beyond
doubt, while the man is prohibited from marrying a second time, the
woman is prohibited too, having no one to marry except a brother. In
what way, then, an agreement shall be established between the apostle
and the Law (which he is not impugning in its entirety), shall be shown
when we shall have come to his own epistle. Meantime, so far as
pertains to the law, the lines of argument drawn from it are more
suitable for us (than for our opponents). In short, the same (law)
prohibits priests from marrying a second time. The daughter also of a
priest it bids, if widowed or repudiated, if she have had no seed, to
return into her father's home and be nourished from his bread.[13] The
reason why (it is said), "If she have had no seed," is not that if she
have she may marry again—for how much more will she abstain from
marrying if she have sons?—but that, if she have, she may be
"nourished" by her son rather than by her father; in order that the
son, too, may carry out the precept of God, "Honour father and
mother."[14] Us, moreover, Jesus, the Father's Highest and Great
Priest,[15] clothing us from His own store[16]—inasmuch as they "who
are baptized in Christ[17] have put on Christ"—has made "priests to
God His Father,"[18] according to John. For the reason why He recalls
that young man who was hastening to his father's obsequies,[19] is that
He may show that we are called priests by Him; (priests) whom the Law
used to forbid to be present at the sepulture of parents:[20] "Over
every dead soul," it says, "the priest shall not enter, and over his
own father and over his own mother he shall not be contaminated." "Does
it follow that we too are bound to observe this prohibition?" No, of
course. For our one Father, God, lives, and our mother, the Church; and
neither are we dead who live to God, nor do we bury our dead, inasmuch
as they too are living in Christ. At all events, priests we are called
by Christ; debtors to monogamy, in accordance with the pristine Law of
God, which prophesied at that time of us in its own priests.
Turning now to the law, which is properly ours—that is, to the
Gospel—by what kind of examples are we met, until we come to definite
dogmas? Behold, there immediately present themselves to us, on the
threshold as it were, the two priestesses of Christian sanctity,
Monogamy and Continence: one modest, in Zechariah the priest; one
absolute, in John the forerunner: one appeasing God; one preaching
Christ: one proclaiming a perfect priest; one exhibiting "more than a
prophet,"[1]—him, namely, who has not only preached or personally
pointed out, but even baptized Christ. For who was more worthily to
perform the initiatory rite on the body of the Lord, than flesh similar
in kind to that which conceived and gave birth to that (body)? And
indeed it was a virgin, about to marry once for all after her delivery,
who gave birth to Christ, in order that each title of sanctity might be
fulfilled in Christ's parentage, by means of a mother who was both
virgin, and wife of one husband. Again, when He is presented as an
infant in the temple, who is it who receives Him into his hands? who is
the first to recognise Him in spirit? A man "just and circumspect," and
of course no digamist, (which is plain) even (from this consideration),
lest (otherwise) Christ should presently be more worthily preached by a
woman, an aged widow, and "the wife of one man;" who, living devoted to
the temple, was (already) giving in her own person a sufficient token
what sort of persons ought to be the adherents to the spiritual
temple,—that is, the Church. Such eye-witnesses the Lord in infancy
found; no different ones had He in adult age. Peter alone do I
find—through (the mention of) his "mother-in-law"[2],—to have been
married. Monogamist I am led to presume him by consideration of the
Church, which, built upon him,[3] was destined to appoint every grade
of her Order from monogamists. The rest, while I do not find them
married, I must of necessity understand to have been either eunuchs or
continent. Nor indeed, if, among the Greeks, in accordance with the
carelessness of custom, women and wives are classed under a common
name—however, there is a name proper to wives—shall we therefore so
interpret Paul as if he demonstrates the apostles to have had wives?[4]
For if he were disputing about marriages, as he does in the sequel,
where the apostle could better have named some particular example, it
would appear right for him to say, "For have we not the power of
leading about wives, like the other apostles and Cephas?" But when he
subjoins those (expressions)which show his abstinence from (insisting
on) the supply of maintenance, saying, "For have we not the power of
eating and drinking?" he does not demonstrate that "wives" were led
about by the apostles, whom even such as have not still have the power
of eating and drinking; but simply "women," who used to minister to
them in the stone way (as they did) when accompanying the Lord.[5] But
further, if Christ reproves the scribes and Pharisees, sitting in the
official chair of Moses, but not doing what they taught,[6] what kind
of (supposition). is it that He Himself withal should set upon His own
official chair men who were mindful rather to enjoin—(but) not
likewise to practise—sanctity of the flesh, which (sanctity) He had in
all ways recommended to their teaching and practising?—first by His
own example, then by all other arguments; while He tells (them) that
"the kingdom of heavens" is "children's;"[7] while He associates with
these (children) others who, after marriage, remained (or
became)virgins;"[8] while He calls (them) to (copy) the simplicity of
the dove, a bird not merely innocuous, but modest too, and whereof one
male knows one female; while He denies the Samaritan woman's (partner
to be) a husband, that He may show that manifold husbandry is
adultery;[9] while, in the revelation of His own glory, He prefers,
from among so many saints and prophets, to have with him Moses and
Elias"—the one a monogamist, the other a voluntary celibate (for Elias
was nothing else than John, who came "in the power and spirit of
Elias"[11]); while that "man gluttonous and toping," the "frequenter of
luncheons and suppers, in the company of publicans and sinners,"[12]
sups once for all at a single marriage,[13] though, of course, many
were marrying (around Him); for He willed to attend (marriages) only so
often as (He willed) them to be.
But grant that these argumentations may be thought to be forced
and founded on con- jectures, if no dogmatic teachings have stood
parallel with them which the Lord uttered in treating of divorce,
which, permitted formerly, He now prohibits, first because "from the
beginning it was not so," like plurality of marriage; secondly, because
"What God hath conjoined, man shall not separate,"[1]—for fear,
namely, that he contravene the Lord: for He alone shall "separate" who
has "conjoined" (separate, moreover, not through the harshness of
divorce, which (harshness) He censures and restrains, but through the
debt of death) if, indeed, "one of two sparrows falleth not on the
ground without the Father's will."[2] Therefore if those whom God has
conjoined man shall not separate by divorce, it is equally congruous
that those whom God has separated by death man is not to conjoin by
marriage; the joining of the separation will be just as contrary to
God's will as would have been the separation of the conjunction.
So far as regards the non-destruction of the will of God, and the
restruction of the law of "the beginning." But another reason, too,
conspires; nay, not another, but (one)which imposed the law of "the
beginning," and moved the will of God to prohibit divorce: the fact
that (he)who shall have dismissed his wife, except on the ground of
adultery, makes her commit adultery; and (he) who shall have married a
(woman) dismissed by her husband, of course commits adultery.[3] A
divorced woman cannot even marry legitimately; and if she commit any
such act without the name of marriage, does it not fall under the
category of adultery, in that adultery is crime in the way of marriage?
Such is God's verdict, within straiter limits than men's, that
universally, whether through marriage or promiscuously, the admission
of a second man (to intercourse) is pronounced adultery by Him. For let
us see what marriage is in the eye of God; and thus we shall learn what
adultery equally is. Marriage is (this): when God joins "two into one
flesh;" or else, finding (them already) joined in the same flesh, has
given His seal to the conjunction. Adultery is (this): when, the two
having been—in whatsoever way—disjoined, other—nay, rather
alien—flesh is mingled (with either): flesh concerning which it cannot
be affirmed, "This is flesh out of my flesh, and this bone out of my
bones."[4] For this, once for all done and pronounced, as from the
beginning, so now too, cannot apply to "other" flesh. Accordingly, it
will be without cause that you will say that God wills not a divorced
woman to be joined to another man "while her husband liveth," as if He
do will it "when he is dead;"[5] whereas if she is not bound to him
when dead, no more is she when living. "Alike when divorce dissevers
marriage as when death does, she will not be bound to him by whom the
binding medium has been broken off." To whom, then, will she be bound?
In the eye of God, it matters nought whether she marry during her life
or after his death. For it is not against him that she sins, but
against herself. "Any sin which a man may have committed is external to
the body; but ] (he) who commits adultery sins against his own body."
But—as we have previously laid down above—whoever shall intermingle
with himself "other" flesh, over and above that pristine flesh which
God either conjoined into two or else found (already) conjoined,
commits adultery. And the reason why He has abolished divorce, which
"was not from the beginning," is, that He may strengthen that which
"was from the beginning"—the permanent conjunction, (namely), of "two
into one flesh:" for fear that necessity or opportunity for a third
union of flesh may make an irruption (into His dominion); permitting
divorce to no cause but one—if, (that is), the (evil) against which
precaution is taken chance to have occurred beforehand. So true,
moreover, is it that divorce "was not from the beginning," that among
the Romans it is not till after the six hundredth year from the
building of the city that this kind of "hard-heartedness"[6] is set
down as having been committed. But they indulge in promiscuous
adulteries, even without divorcing (their partners): to us, even if we
do divorce them, even marriage will not be lawful.
From this point I see that we are challenged by an appeal to the
apostle; for the more easy apprehension of whose meaning we must all
the more earnestly inculcate (the assertion), that a woman is more
bound when her husband is dead not to admit (to marriage) another
husband. For let us reflect that divorce either is caused by discord,
or else causes discord; whereas death is an event resulting from the
law of God, not from an offence of man; and that it is a debt which all
owe, even the unmarried. Therefore, if a divorced woman, who has been
separated (from her husband)in soul as well as body, through discord,
anger, hatred, and the causes of these—injury, or contumely, or
whatsoever cause of complaint—is bound to a personal enemy, not to say
a husband, how much more will one who, neither by her own nor her hus-
band's fault, but by an event resulting from the Lord's law, has
been—not separated from, but left behind by—her consort, be his, even
when dead, to whom, even when dead, she owes (the debt of) concord?
From him from whom she has heard no (word of) divorce she does not turn
away; with him she is, to whom she has written no (document of)
divorce; him whom she was unwilling to have lost, she retains. She has
within her the licence of the mind, which represents to a man, in
imaginary enjoyment, all things which he has not. In short, I ask the
woman herself, "Tell me, sister, have you sent your husband before you
(to his rest) in peace?" What will she answer? (Will she say), "In
discord?" In that case she is the more bound to him with whom she has a
cause (to plead) at the bar of God. She who is bound (to another) has
not departed (from him). But (will she say), "In peace?" In that case,
she must necessarily persevere in that (peace) with him whom she will
no longer have the power to divorce; not that she would, even if she
had been able to divorce him, have been marriageable. Indeed, she prays
for his soul, and requests refreshment for him meanwhile, and
fellowship (with him) in the first resurrection; and she offers (her
sacrifice) on the anniversaries of his falling asleep. For, unless she
does these deeds, she has in the true sense divorced him, so far as in
her lies; and indeed the more iniquitously—inasmuch as (she did it) as
far as was in her power—because she had no power (to do it); and with
the more indignity, inasmuch as it is with more indignity if (her
reason for doing it is) because he did not deserve it. Or else shall
we, pray, cease to be after death, according to (the teaching of) some
Epicurus, and not according to (that of) Christ? But if we believe the
resurrection of the dead, of course we shall be bound to them with whom
we are destined to rise, to render an account the one of the other.
"But if 'in that age they will neither marry nor be given in marriage,
but will be equal to angels,'[1] is not the fact that there will be no
restitution of the conjugal relation a reason why we shall not be bound
to our departed consorts?" Nay, but the more shall we be bound (to
them), because we are destined to a better estate—destined (as we are)
to rise to a spiritual consortship, to recognise as well our own selves
as them who are ours. Else how shall we sing thanks to God to eternity,
if there shall remain in us no sense and memory of this debt; if we
shall be reformed in substance, not in consciousness? Consequently, we
who shall be with God shall be together; since we shall all be with the
one God—albeit the wages be various,[2] albeit there be "many
mansions", in the house of the same Father[3] having laboured for the
"one penny "[4] of the self-same hire, that is, of eternal life; in
which (eternal life) God will still less separate them whom He has
conjoined, than in this lesser life He forbids them to be separated.
Since this is so, how will a woman have room for another husband,
who is, even to futurity, in the possession of her own? (Moreover, we
speak to each sex, even if our discourse address itself but to the one;
inasmuch as one discipline is incumbent[on both].) She will have one in
spirit, one in flesh. This will be adultery, the conscious affection of
one woman for two men. If the one has been disjoined from her flesh,
but remains in her heart—in that place where even cogitation without
carnal contact achieves beforehand both adultery by concupiscence, and
matrimony by volition—he is to this hour her husband, possessing the
very thing which is the mean whereby he became so—her mind, namely, in
which withal, if another shall find a habitation, this will be a crime.
Besides, excluded he Is not, if he has withdrawn from viler carnal
commerce. A more honourable husband is he, in proportion as he is
become more pure.
Grant, now, that you marry "in the Lord," in accordance with the
law and the apostle—if, notwithstanding, you care even about
this—with what face do you request (the solemnizing of) a matrimony
which is unlawful to those of whom you request it; of a monogamist
bishop, of presbyters and deacons bound by the same solemn engagement,
of widows whose Order you have in your own person refused? And they,
plainly, will give husbands and wives as they would morsels of bread;
for this is their rendering of "To every one who asketh thee thou shalt
give!"[5] And they will join you together in a virgin church, the one
betrothed of the one Christ! And you will pray for your husbands, the
new and the old. Make your election, to which of the twain you will
play the adulteress. I think, to both. But if you have any wisdom, be
silent on behalf of the dead one. Let your silence be to him a divorce,
already endorsed in the dotal gifts of another. In this way you will
earn the new husband's favour, if you forget the old. You ought to take
more pains to please him for whose sake you have not preferred to
please God! Such (conduct) the Psychics will have it the apostle
approved, or else totally failed to think about, when he wrote: "The
woman is bound for such length of time as her husband liveth; but if he
shall have died, she is free; whom she will let her marry, only in the
Lord."[1] For it is out of this passage that they draw their defence of
the licence of second marriage; nay, even of (marriages) to any amount,
if of second (marriage): for that which has ceased to be once .for all,
is open to any and every number. But the sense in which the apostle did
write will be apparent, if first an agreement be come to that he did
not write it in the sense of which the Psychics avail themselves. Such
an agreement, moreover, will be come to if one first recall to mind
those (passages) which are diverse from the passage in question, when
tried by the standard of doctrine, of volition, and of Paul's own
discipline. For, if he permits second nuptials, which were not "from
the beginning," how does he affirm that all things are being
recollected to the beginning in Christ?[2] If he wills us to iterate
conjugal connections, how does he maintain that "our seed is called" in
the but once married Isaac as its author? How does he make monogamy the
base of his disposition of the whole Ecclesiastical Order, if this rule
does not antecedently hold good in the case of laics, from whose ranks
the Ecclesiastical Order proceeds? [3] How does he call away from the
enjoyment of marriage such as are still in the married position, saying
that "the time is wound up," if he calls back again into marriage such
as through death had escaped from marriage? If these (passages) are
diverse from that one about which the present question is, it will be
agreed (as we have said) that he did not write in that sense .of which
the Psychics avail themselves; inasmuch as it is easier (of belief)
that that one passage should have some explanation agreeable with the
others, than that an apostle should seem to have taught (principles)
mutually diverse. That explanation we shall be able to discover in the
subject-matter itself. What was the subject-matter which led the
apostle to write such (words)? The inexperience of a new and just
rising Church, which he was rearing, to wit, "with milk," not yet with
the "solid food"[4] of stronger doctrine; inexperience so great, that
that infancy of faith prevented them from yet knowing what they were to
do in regard of carnal and sexual necessity. The very phases themselves
of this (inexperience) are intelligible from (the apostle's) rescripts,
when he says:[5] "But concerning these (things) which ye write; good it
is for a man not to touch a woman; but, on account of fornications, let
each one have his own wife." He shows that there were who, having been
"apprehended by the faith" in (the state of) marriage, were
apprehensive that it might not be lawful for them thenceforward to
enjoy their marriage, because they had believed on the holy flesh of
Christ. And yet it is "by way of allowance" that he makes the
concession, "not by way of command;" that is, indulging, not enjoining,
the practice. On the other hand, he "willed rather" that all should be
what he himself was. Similarly, too, in sending a rescript on (the
subject of) divorce, he demonstrates that some had been thinking over
that also, chiefly because withal they did not suppose that they were
to persevere, after faith, in heathen marriages. They sought counsel,
further, "concerning virgins"—for "precept of the Lord" there was
none—(and were told) that "it is good for a man if he so remain
permanently;" ("so"), of course, as he may have been found by the
faith. "Thou hast been bound to a wife, seek not loosing; thou hast
been loosed from a wife, seek not a wife." "But if thou shalt have
taken to (thyself) a wife, thou hast not sinned;" because to one who,
before believing, had been "loosed from a wife," she will not be
counted a second wife who, subsequently to believing, is the first: for
it is from (the time of our) believing that our life itself dates its
origin. But here he says that he "is sparing them;" else "pressure of
the flesh" would shortly follow, in consequence of the straits of the
times, which shunned the encumbrances of marriage: yea, rather
solicitude must be felt about earning the Lord's favour than a
husband's. And thus he recalls his permission. So, then, in the very
same passage in which he definitely rules that "each one ought
permanently to remain in that calling in which he shall be called;"
adding, "A woman is bound so long as her husband liveth; but if he
shall have fallen asleep, she is free: whom she shall wish let her
marry, only in the Lord," he hence also demonstrates that such a woman
is to be understood as has withal herself been "found" (by the faith)
"loosed from a husband," similarly as the husband "loosed from a
wife"—the "loosing" having taken place through death, of course, not
through divorce; inasmuch as to the divorced he would grant no
permission to marry, in the teeth of the primary precept. And so "a
woman, if she shall have married, will not sin;" because he will not be
reckoned a second husband who is, subsequently to her believing, the
first, any more (than a wife thus taken will be counted a second wife).
And so truly is this the case, that he therefore adds, "only in the
Lord;" because the question in agitation was about her who had had a
heathen (husband), and had believed subsequently to losing him: for
fear, to wit, that she might presume herself able to marry a heathen
even after believ- ing; albeit not even this is an object of care to
the Psychics. Let us plainly know that, in the Greek original, it does
not stand in the form which (through the either crafty or simple
alteration of two syllables) has gone out into common use, "But if her
husband shall haze fallen asleep," as if it were speaking of the
future, and thereby seemed to pertain to her who has lost her husband
when already in a believing state. If this indeed had been so, licence
let loose without limit would have granted a (fresh) husband as often
as one had been lost, without @ any such modesty in marrying as is
congruous even to heathens. But even if it had been so, as if referring
to future tim,e, "If any (woman's). husband shall have died, even the
future would just as much pertain to her whose husband shall die before
she believed. Take it which way you. will, provided you do not overturn
the rest. For since these (other passages) agree to the sense (given
above): "Thou hast been called (as) a slave; care not:" "Thou hast been
called in uncircumcision; be not circumcised:" "Thou hast been called
in circumcision; become not uncircumcised:" with which concurs, "Thou
hast been bound to a wife; seek not loosing: thou hast been loosed from
a wife; seek not a wife,"—manifest enough it is that these passages
pertain to such as, finding themselves in a new and recent "calling,"
were consulting (the apostle) on the subject of those (circumstantial
conditions) in which they had been "apprehended" by the faith.
This will be the interpretation of that passage, to be examined
as to whether it be congruous with the time and the occasion, and with
the examples and arguments preceding as well as with the sentences and
senses succeeding, and primarily with the individual advice and
practice of the apostle himself: for nothing is so much to be guarded
as (the care) that no one be found self-contradictory.
Listen, withal, to the very subtle argumentation on the contrary
side. "So true is it," say (our opponents), "that the apostle has
permitted the iteration of marriage, that it is only such as are in the
Clerical Order that he has stringently bound to the yoke of monogamy.
For that which he prescribes to certain (individuals) he does not
prescribe to all." Does it then follow, too, that to bishops alone he
does not prescribe what he does enjoin upon all; if what he does
prescribe to bishops he does not enjoin upon all? or is it therefore to
all because to bishops? and therefore to bishops because to all? For
whence is it that the bishops and clergy come? Is it not from all If
all are not bound to monogamy, whence are monogamists (to he taken)
into the clerical rank? Will some separate order of monogamists have to
be instituted, from which to make selection for the clerical body?
(No); but when we are extolling and inflating ourselves in opposition
to the clergy, then "we are all one:" then "we are all priests, because
He hath made us priests to (His) God and Father." When we are
challenged to a thorough equalization with the sacerdotal discipline,
we lay down the (priestly) fillets, and (still) are on a par! The
question in hand (when the apostle was writing), was with reference to
Ecclesiastical Orders—what son of men ought to be ordained. It was
therefore fitting that all the form of the common discipline should be
set forth on its fore-front, as an edict to be in a certain sense
universally and carefully attended to, that the laity might the better
know that they must themselves observe that order which was
indispensable to their overseers; and that even the office of honour
itself might not flatter itself in anything tending to licence, as if
on the ground of privilege of position. The Holy Spirit foresaw that
some would say, "All things are lawful to bishops;" just as that bishop
of Utina of yours feared not even the Scantinian law. Why, how many
digamists, too, preside in your churches; insulting the apostle, of
course: at all events, not blushing when these passages are read under
their presidency!
Come, now, you who think that an exceptional law of monogamy is
made with reference to bishops, abandon withal your remaining
disciplinary titles, which, together with monogamy, are ascribed to
bishops.[1] Refuse to be "irreprehensible, sober, of good morals,
orderly, hospitable, easy to be taught;" nay, indeed, (be) "given to
wine, prompt with the hand to strike, combative, money-loving, not
ruling your house, nor caring for your children's discipline,"—no, nor
"courting good renown even from strangers." For if bishops have a law
of their own teaching monogamy, the other (characteristics) likewise,
which will be the fitting concomitants of monogamy, will have been
written (exclusively) for bishops. With laics, however, to whom
monogamy is not suitable, the other (characteristics) also have nothing
to do. (Thus), Psychic, you have (if you please) evaded the bonds of
discipline in its entirety! Be consistent in prescribing, that "what is
enjoined upon certain (individuals) is not enjoined upon all;" or else,
if the other (characteristics) indeed are common, but monogamy is
imposed upon bishops alone, (tell me), pray, whether they alone are to
be pronounced Christians upon whom is conferred the entirety of
discipline?
"But again, writing to Timotheus, he 'wills the very young
(women) to marry, bear children, act the housewife.'"[1] He is (here)
directing (his speech) to such as he denotes above—"very young
widows," who, after being, "apprehended" in widowhood, and
(subsequently) wooed for some length of time, after they have had
Christ in their affections, "wish to marry, having judgment, because
they have rescinded the first faith,"—that (faith), to wit, by which
they were "found" in widowhood, and, after professing it, do not
persevere. For which reason he "wills" them to "marry," for fear of
their subsequently rescinding the first faith of professed widowhood;
not to sanction their marrying as often as ever they may refuse to
persevere in a widowhood plied with temptation—nay, rather, spent in
indulgence.
"We read him withal writing to the Romans: 'But the woman who is
under an husband, is bound to her husband (while)living; but if he
shall have died, she has been emancipated from the law of the husband.'
Doubtless, then, the husband living, she will be thought to commit
adultery if she shall have been joined to a second husband. If,
however, the husband shall have died, she has been freed from (his)
law, (so) that she is not an adulteress if made (wife) to another
husband."[2] But read the sequel as well in order that this sense,
which flatters you, may evade (your grasp). "And so," he says, "my
brethren, be ye too made dead to the law through the body of Christ,
that ye may be made (subject) to a second,—to Him, namely, who hath
risen from the dead, that we may bear fruit to God. For when we were in
the flesh, the passions of sin, which (passions) used to be efficiently
caused through the law, (wrought) in our members unto the bearing of
fruit to death; but now we have been emancipated from the law, being
dead (to that) in which we used to be held,[3] unto the serving of God
in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter." Therefore, if he
bids us "be made dead to the law through the body of Christ," (which is
the Church,[4] which consists in the spirit of newness,) not "through
the letter of oldness," (that is, of the law,)—taking you away from
the law, which does not keep a wife, when her husband is dead, from
becoming (wife) to another husband—he reduces you to (subjection to)
the contrary condition, that you are not to marry when you have lost
your husband; and in as far as you would not be accounted an adulteress
if you became (wife) to a second husband after the death of your
(first) husband, if you were still bound to act in (subjection to) the
law, in so far as a result of the diversity of (your) condition, he
does prejudge you (guilty) of adultery if, after the death of your
husband, you do marry another: inasmuch as you have now been made dead
to the law, it cannot be lawful for you, now that you have withdrawn
from that (law) in the eye of which it was lawful for you.
Now, if the apostle had even absolutely permitted marriage when
one's partner has been lost subsequently to (conversion to) the faith,
he would have done (it), just as (he did) the other (actions) which he
did adversely to the (strict) letter of his own rule, to suit the
circumstances. of the times: circumcising Timotheus[5] on account of
"supposititious false brethren;" and leading certain "shaven men" into
the temple[6] on account of the observant watchfulness of the Jews—he
who chastises the Galatians when they desire to live in (observance of)
the law.[7] But so did circumstances require him to "become all things
to all, in order to gain all;"[8] "travailing m birth with them until
Christ should be formed in them;"[9] and "cherishing, as it were a
nurse," the little ones of faith, by teaching them some things "by way
of indulgence, not by way of command"—for it is one thing to indulge,
another to bid—permitting a temporary licence of re-marriage on
account of the "weakness of the flesh," just as Moses of divorcing on
account of "the hardness of the heart."
And here, accordingly, we will render the supplement of this
(his) meaning. For if Christ abrogated what Moses enjoined, because
"from the beginning (it) was not so;" and (if)—this being so—Christ
will not therefore be reputed to have come from some other Power; why
may not the Paraclete, too, have abrogated an indulgence which Paul
granted—because second marriage withal "was not from the
beginning"—without deserving on this account to be regarded with
suspicion, as if he were an alien spirit, provided only that the
superinduction be worthy of God and of Christ? If it was worthy of God
and of Christ to check "hard-heartedness" when the time (for its
indulgence) was fully expired, why should it not be more worthy both of
God and of Christ to shake off "infirmity of the flesh" when "the time"
is already mart "wound up?" If it is just that marriage be not severed,
it is, of course, honourable too that it be not iterated. In short, in
the estimation of the world, each is accounted a mark of good
discipline: one under the name of concord; one, of modesty. "Hardness
of heart" reigned till Christ's time; let "infirmity of the flesh" (be
content to) have reigned till the time of the Paraclete. The New Law
abrogated divorce—it had (somewhat) to abrogate; the New Prophecy
(abrogates) second marriage, (which is) no less a divorce of the former
(marriage). But the "hardness of heart" yielded to Christ more readily
than the "infirmity of the flesh." The latter claims Paul in its own
support more than the former Moses; if, indeed, it is claiming him in
its support when it catches: at his indulgence, (but) refuses his
prescript—eluding his more deliberate opinions and his constant
"wills," not suffering us to render to the apostle the (obedience)
which he "prefers,"
And how long will this most shameless "infirmity" persevere in
waging a war of extermination against the "better things?" The time for
its indulgence was (the interval) until the Paraclete began His
operations, to whose coming were deferred by the Lord (the things)
which in H's day "could not be endured;" which it is now no longer
competent for any one to be unable to endure, seeing that He through
whom the power of enduring is granted is not wanting. How long shall we
allege "the flesh," because the Lord said, "the flesh is weak?"[1] But
He has withal premised that "the Spirit is prompt," in order that the
Spirit may vanquish the flesh—that the weak may yield to the stronger.
For again He says, "Let him who is able to receive, receive (it);"[2]
that is, let him who is not able go his way. That rich man did go his
way who had not "received" the precept of dividing his substance to the
needy, and was abandoned by the Lord to his own opinion.[3] Nor will
"harshness" be on this account imputed to Christ, the Found of the
vicious action of each individual free-will. "Behold," saith He, "I
have set before thee good and evil."[4] Choose that which is good: if
you cannot, because you will not—for that you can if you will He has
shown, because He has proposed each to your free-will—you ought to
depart from Him whose will you do not.
What harshness, therefore, is here on our part, if we renounce
(communion with) such as do not the will of God? What heresy, if we
judge second marriage, as being unlawful, akin to adultery? For what is
adultery but unlawful marriage? The apostle sets a brand upon those who
were wont entirely to forbid marriage, who were wont at the same time
to lay an interdict on meats which God has created.[5] We, however, no
more do away with marriage if we abjure its repetition, than we
reprobate meats if we fast oftener (than others). It is one thing to do
away with, another to regulate; it is one thing to, lay down a law of
not marrying, it is another to fix a limit to marrying. To speak
plainly, if they who reproach us with harshness, or esteem heresy (to
exist) in this (our) cause, foster the "infirmity of the flesh" to such
a degree as to think it must have support accorded to it in frequency
of marriage; why do they in another case neither accord it support nor
foster it with indulgence—when, (namely), torments have reduced it to
a denial (of the faith)? For, of course, that (infirmity) is more
capable of excuse which has fallen in battle, than (that) which (has
fallen) in the bed-chamber; (that) which has succumbed on the rack,
than (that) which (has succumbed) on the bridal bed; (that) which has
yielded to cruelty, than (that) which (has yielded) to appetite; that
which has been overcome groaning, than (that) which (has been overcome)
in heat. But the former they excommunicate, because it has not "endured
unto the end:"[6] the latter they prop up, as if withal it has "endured
unto the end." Propose (the question) why each has not "endured unto
the end;" and you will find the cause of that (infirmity) to be more
honourable which has been unable to sustain savagery, than (of that)
which (has been unable to sustain) modesty. And yet not even a
bloodwrung—not to say an immodest—defection does the "infirmity of
the flesh" excuse!
But I smile when (the plea of) "infirmity of the flesh" is
advanced in opposition (to us: infirmity) which is (rather) to be
called the height of strength. Iteration of marriage is an affair of
strength: to rise again from the ease of continence to the works of the
flesh, is (a thing requiting) substantial reins. Such "infirmity" is
equal, to a third, and a fourth, and even (perhaps) a seventh marriage;
as (being a thing) which increases its strength as often as its
weakness; which will no longer have (the support of) an apostle's
authority, but of some Hermogenes—wont to marry more women than he
paints. For in him matter is abundant: whence he presumes that even the
soul is material; and therefore much more (than other men) he has not
the Spirit from God, being no longer even a Psychic, because even his
psychic element is not derived from God's afflatus! What if a man
allege "indigence," so as to profess that his flesh is openly
prostituted, and given in marriage for the sake of maintenance;
forgetting that there is to be no careful thought about food and
clothing?[1] He has God (to look to), the Foster-father even of ravens,
the Rearer even of flowers. What if he plead the loneliness of his
home? as if one woman afforded company to a man ever on the eve of
flight! He has, of course, a widow (at hand), whom it will be lawful
for him to take. Not one such wife, but even a plurality, it is
permitted to have. What if a man thinks on posterity, with thoughts
like the eyes of Lot's wife; so that a man is to make the fact that
from his former marriage he has had no children a reason for repeating
marriage? A Christian, forsooth, will seek heirs, disinherited as he is
from the entire world! He has "brethren;" he has the Church as his
mother. The case is different if men believe that, at the bar of Christ
as well (as of Rome), action is taken on the principle of the Julian
laws; and imagine that the unmarried and childless cannot receive their
portion in full, in accordance with the testament of God. Let such (as
thus think), then, marry to the very end; that in this confusion of
flesh they, like Sodom and Gomorrah, and the day of the deluge, may be
overtaken by the fated final end of the world. A third saying let them
add, "Let us eat, and drink, and really, for to-morrow we shall
die;"[2] not reflecting that the "woe" (denounced) "on such as are with
child, and are giving suck,"[3] will fall far more heavily and bitterly
in the "universal shaking"[4] of the entire world[5] than it did in the
devastation of one fraction of Judaea. Let them accumulate by their
iterated marriages fruits right seasonable for the last times—breasts
heaving, and wombs qualmish, and infants whimpering. Let them prepare
for Antichrist (children) upon whom he may more passionately (than
Pharaoh) spend his savagery.He will lead to them murderous midwives.[6]
They will have plainly a specious privilege to plead before
Christ—the everlasting "infirmity of the flesh!" But upon this
(infirmity) will sit in judgment no longer an Isaac, our monogamist
father; or a John, a noted voluntary celibate[8] of Christ's; or a
Judith, daughter of Merari; or so many other examples of saints.
Heathens are wont to be destined our judges. There will arise a queen
of Carthage, and give sentence upon the Christians, who, refugee as she
was, living on alien soil, and at that very time the originator of so
mighty a state, whereas she ought unasked to have craved royal
nuptials, yet, for fear she should experience a second marriage,
preferred on the contrary rather to "burn" than to "marry." Her
assessor will be the Roman matron who, having—albeit it was through
noctural violence, nevertheless—known another man, washed away with
blood the stain of her flesh, that she might avenge upon her own person
(the honour of) monogamy. There have been, too, who preferred to die
for their husbands rather than marry after their husbands' death. To
idols, at all events, both monogamy and widowhood serve as apparitors.
On Fortuna Muliebris, as on Mother Matuta, none but a once wedded woman
hangs the wreath. Once for all do the Pontifex Maximus and the wife of
a Flamen marry. The priestesses of Ceres, even during the lifetime and
with the consent of their husbands, are widowed by amicable separation.
There are, too, who may judge us on the ground of absolute continence:
the virgins of Vesta, and of the Achaian Juno, and of the Scythian
Diana, and of the Pythian Apollo. On the ground of continence the
priests likewise of the famous Egyptian bull will judge the "infirmity"
of Christians. Blush, O flesh, who hast "put on"[9] Christ ! Suffice it
thee once for all to marry, whereto "from the beginning" thou wast
created, whereto by "the end" thou art being recalled! Return at least
to the former Adam, if to the last thou canst not! Once for all did he
taste of the tree; once for all felt concupiscence; once for all veiled
his shame; once for all blushed in the presence of God; once for all
concealed his guilty hue; once for all was exiled from the paradise of
holiness;[10] once for all thenceforward married. If you were "in
him,"[11] you have your norm; if you have passed over "into
Christ,"[12] you will be bound to be (yet) better. Exhibit (to us) a
third Adam, and him a digamist; and then you will be able to be what,
between the two, you cannot. ELUCIDATIONS.
I. (About 160 years having elapsed, pp. 59, 61.)
IF the First Epistle to the Corinthians was written A.D. 57, and
if our author speaks with designed precision, and not in round numbers,
the date of this treatise should be A.D. 217—a date which I should
prefer to accept. Bishop Kaye,[1] however, instances capp. 7 and 9 in
the Ad Nationes as proving his disposition to give his numbers in loose
rhetoric, and not with arithmetical accuracy. Pamelius, on the other
hand, gives A.D. 213.
On the general subject Kaye bids us read cap. 3, with cap. 14, to
grasp the argument of our enthusiast.[2] In few words, our author holds
that St. Paul condescends to human infirmity in permitting any marriage
whatever, pointing to a better way.[3] The apostle himself says, "The
time is short;" but a hundred and sixty years have passed since then,
and why may not the Spirit of truth and righteousness now, after so
long a time, be given to animate the adult Church to that which is
pronounced the better way in Scripture itself?
Our author seems struggling here, according to my view, with his
own rule of prescription. He would free the doctrine from the charge of
novelty by pointing it out in the Scripture of a hundred and sixty
years before. But how instinctively the Church ruled against this
sophistry, condemning in advance that whole system of "development"
which a modern Tertullian defends on grounds quite as specious, under a
Montanistic subjection that makes a Priscilla of the Roman pontiff. Let
me commend the reader to the remarks upon Tertullian of the "judicious
Hooker," in book ii. capp. v. 5, 6; also book i@t. cap. vii. 4, 5, and
elsewhere.
II. (Abrogated indulgence (comp. capp. 2 and 3), P. 70.)
Poor Tertullian is at war with himself in all the works which he
indites against Catholic orthodoxy. In the tract De Exhort. Castitatis
he gives one construction to 1 Cor. ix. 5, which in this he explains
away;[4] and now he patches up his conclusion by referring to his
Montanistic "Paraclete." In fighting Marcion, how thoroughly he agrees
with Clement of Alexandria as to the sanctity of marriage. In the
second epistle to his wife, how beautiful his tribute to the married
state, blessed by the Church, and enjoyed in chastity. But here s how
fanatically he would make out that marriage is but tolerated adultery !
From Tertullian himself we may prove the marriage of the clergy, and
that (de Exhort, Cast., last chapter) abstinence was voluntary and
exceptional, however praiseworthy. Also, if he here urges that (cap.
12) even laymen should abstain from second marriages, he allows the
liberty of the clergy to marry once. He admits St. Peter's marriage.
Eusebius proves the marriage of St. Jude. Concerning "the gave dignity"
of a single marriage, we may concede that Tertullian proves his point,
but no further.
In England the principles of the Monogamia were revived by the
eccentric Whiston (circa A.D. 1750), and attracted considerable
attention among the orthodox,—a fact pleasantly satirized by Goldsmith
in his Vicar of Wakefield.
On the general subject comp. Chrysost., tom. iii. p. 226: "Laus
Maximi, et quales ducendae sint uxores?