grace is given, " Omnes hujus dicti capaces esse negans, significat electionem non esse ppsitam in manu nostra, acsi de re nobis sub- jecta esset consultatio. Si quis utile sibi esse putat uxore carere, atque ita nullo examine habito, coelibatus legem sibi edicit, longe fallitur. Deus enim, qui pronuntiavit bonum esse, ut viro adjutrix sit mulier, contempti sui ordinis poenam exiget : quia nimium sibi arrogant mortales, dum se a ccelesti vocatione eximere tentant. Porro non esse omnibus liberum, eligere utrum libuerit, inde probat Christus, quia speciale sit continentias donum : nam quum dicit, non omnes esse capaces, sed quibus datum est, clare demonstrat non omnibus esse datum." 2 Those to whom it is given to lead an unmarried life, as our Lord teaches (Matt. xix. 10), are not only those who by their natural constitution are unfit for the marriage state, but those whom God calls to special service in his Church and whom He fits for that work.
The doctrine which Paul teaches on this subject is perfectly coincident with the teachings of our Lord. He recognizes mar- riage as a divine institution ; as in itself good ; as the normal and proper state in which men and women should live ; but as it is necessarily attended by many cares and distractions, it was ex- pedient in times of trouble, to remain unmarried. This is the purport of Paul's teachings in First Corinthians vii. No one of the sacred writers, whether in the Old or in the New Testa- ment, so exalts and glorifies marriage as does this Apostle in his Epistle to the Ephesians. He, therefore, is not the man, guided as he was in all his teachings by the Spirit of God, to depreciate or undervalue it, as only the less of two evils. It is a positive good : the union of two human persons to supplement and comple- ment the one the other in a way which is necessary to the per- fection or full development of both. The wife is to her husband what the Church is to Christ. Nothing higher than this can pos- sibly be said.
i Calvin on Matthew xix. 10, 11, in N. T. Comment. Berlin, 1838, vol. ii. p. 159. Although Calvin sometimes speaks disparagingly of marriage, at other times, especially when writ- ing against the Papists, he vindicates its sanctity. Thus in connection with the passage quoted above, he says: " Si conjugium instituitDeus in communem humani generis salutem, licet qusedam minus grata secum trahat, non ideo protinus spernendum est. Discamus ergo, si quid in Dei beneficiis nobis non arridet, non tam lauti esse ac morosi, quin reverenter illis »tamur. Praesertim nobis in sancto conjugio cavenda est ha?c pravitas : nam quia multis molestiis implicitum est, semper conatus est Satan odio et infamia gravare, ut homines ab eo subduceret. Et Hieronymus nimis luculentum maligni perversique ingenii specimen in eo edidit, quod non tantum calumniis exagitat sacrum ilium et divinum vita ordinem, sed quascunque potest ex profanis auctoribus AoiSopias accumulat, qua? ejus honestatem de- forment." — Ibid. p. 158.
874 PART m. Ch. XIX. — THE LAW.
History, No one can read the Epistles of Paul, especially those to the Ephesians and Colossians, without seeing clear indications of the prevalence, even in the apostolic churches, of the principles of that philosophy which held that matter was contaminating ; and which inculcated asceticism as the most efficacious means of the purification of the soul. This doctrine had already been adopted and reduced to practice by the Essenes among the Jews. Farther East, under a somewhat different form, it had prevailed for ages before the Christian era, and still maintains its ground. Accord- ing to the Brahminical philosophy the individuality of man de- pends on the body. Complete emancipation from the body, there- fore, secures the merging of the finite into the infinite. The drop is lost in the ocean, and this is the highest and ultimate destiny of man. It is not therefore to be wondered at, that the early fathers came more or less under the influence of these principles, or that asceticism gained so rapidly and maintained so long its ascendancy in the Church. The depreciation of the divine institution of mar- riage, and the exaltation of virginity into the first place among Christian virtues, was the natural and necessary consequence of this spirit. Ignatius called voluntary virgins " the jewels of Christ." Justin Martyr desired celibacy to prevail to the " great- est possible extent." Tatian regarded marriage as inconsistent with spiritual worship. Origen " disabled himself in his youth " and regarded marriage as a pollution. Hieracas made " virginity a condition of salvation." Tertullian denounced second marriage as criminal, and represented celibacy as the ideal of Christian life, not only for the clergy, but also for the laity. Second marriage was early prohibited so far as the clergy were concerned, and soon came in their case the prohibition of marriage altogether. The Apostolical Constitutions prohibited priests from contracting mar- riage after consecration. 'The Council of Ancyra, A. D. 314, allowed deacons to marry, provided they stipulated for the privi- lege before ordination. The Council of Elvira, A. D. 305, forbade the continuance of the marriage relation (according to the com- mon interpretation of its canons) to bishops, presbyters, and dea- cons on pain of deposition.1 Jerome was fanatical in his denun- ciation of marriage ; and even Augustine was carried away by the spirit of the age. In answer to the objection that if men acted on his principles the world would be depopulated, he answered :
1 See Schaff, History of The Christian Church, New York, 1867, vol. i. §§ 91, 96.