On the Dress of Virgins.

 1. Discipline, the safeguard of hope, the bond of faith, the guide of the way of salvation, the stimulus and nourishment of good dispositions, the tea

 2. But if in Holy Scripture discipline is frequently and everywhere prescribed, and the whole foundation of religion and of faith proceeds from obedie

 3. My address is now to virgins, whose glory, as it is more eminent, excites the greater interest. This is the flower of the ecclesiastical seed, the

 4. For that is not an empty carefulness nor a vain fear, which takes counsel for the way of salvation, which guards the commandments of the Lord and o

 5. But if continency follows Christ, and virginity is destined for the kingdom of God, what have they to do with earthly dress, and with ornaments, wh

 6. Paul proclaims in a loud and lofty voice, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is cru

 7. But there are some rich women, and wealthy in the fertility of means, who prefer their own wealth, and contend that they ought to use these blessin

 8. You call yourself wealthy and rich but Paul meets your riches, and with his own voice prescribes for the moderating of your dress and ornament wit

 9. You say that you are wealthy and rich. But not everything that can be done ought also to be done nor ought the broad desires that arise out of the

 10. You say that you are wealthy and rich but it becomes not a virgin to boast of her riches, since Holy Scripture says, “What hath pride profited us

 11. You say that you are wealthy and rich, and you think that you should use those things which God has willed you to possess. Use them, certainly, bu

 12. The characteristics of ornaments, and of garments, and the allurements of beauty, are not fitting for any but prostitutes and immodest women and

 13. Moreover Isaiah, full of the Holy Spirit, cries out and chides the daughters of Sion, corrupted with gold, and silver, and raiment, and rebukes th

 14. For God neither made the sheep scarlet or purple, nor taught the juices of herbs and shell-fish to dye and colour wool, nor arranged necklaces wit

 15. And indeed in that very matter, for the sake of the fear which faith suggests to me, for the sake of the love which brotherhood requires, I think

 16. The voice of the warning apostle is, “Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened for even Christ our passover is s

 17. Are you not afraid, I entreat you, being such as you are, that when the day of resurrection comes, your Maker may not recognise you again, and may

 18. And since we are seeking the advantage of continency, let us also avoid everything that is pernicious and hostile to it. And I will not pass over

 19. But what of those who frequent promiscuous baths who prostitute to eyes that are curious to lust, bodies that are dedicated to chastity and modes

 20. For this reason, therefore, the Church frequently mourns over her virgins hence she groans at their scandalous and detestable stories hence the

 21. Therefore hear me, O virgins, as a parent hear, I beseech you, one who fears while he warns hear one who is faithfully consulting for your advan

 22. Hold fast, O virgins! hold fast what you have begun to be hold fast what you shall be. A great reward awaits you, a great recompense of virtue, t

 23. The first decree commanded to increase and to multiply the second enjoined continency. While the world is still rough and void, we are propagated

 24. Every one of which things, O good virgins, you ought to observe, to love, to fulfil, who, giving yourselves to God and Christ, are advancing in bo

7. But there are some rich women, and wealthy in the fertility of means, who prefer their own wealth, and contend that they ought to use these blessings. Let them know first of all that she is rich who is rich in God; that she is wealthy who is wealthy in Christ; that those are blessings which are spiritual, divine, heavenly, which lead us to God, which abide with us in perpetual possession with God. But whatever things are earthly, and have been received in this world, and will remain here with the world, ought so to be contemned even as the world itself is contemned, whose pomps and delights we have already renounced when by a blessed passage we came to God. John stimulates and exhorts us, witnessing with a spiritual and heavenly voice. “Love not the world,” says he, “neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not from the Father, but is of the lust of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever, even as God also abideth for ever.”18    1 John ii. 15–17. Therefore eternal and divine things are to be followed, and all things must be done after the will of God, that we may follow the divine footsteps and teachings of our Lord, who warned us, and said, “I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me.”19    John vi. 38. But if the servant is not greater than his lord, and he that is freed owes obedience to his deliverer, we who desire to be Christians ought to imitate what Christ said and did. It is written, and it is read and heard, and is celebrated for our example by the Church’s mouth, “He that saith he abideth in Christ, ought himself also so to walk even as He walked.”20    1 John ii. 6. Therefore we must walk with equal steps; we must strive with emulous walk. Then the following of truth answers to the faith of our name, and a reward is given to the believer, if what is believed is also done.

VII. Sed sunt aliquae divites et facultatum ubertate locupletes, quae opes suas praeferant et se bonis suis 0446B uti debere contendant. Sciant primo illam divitem esse quae in Deo dives est, illam esse locupletem quae locuples in Christo est, bona illa esse quae sunt spiritalia, divina, coelestia, quae nos ad Deum ducant, quae nobiscum apud Deum perpetua possessione permaneant. Caeterum, quaecumque terrena sunt in saeculo accepta et hic cum saeculo remansura , tam contemni debent quam mundus ipse contemnitur, cujus pompis et deliciis jam tunc renuntiavimus cum meliore transgressu ad Deum venimus. Joannes nos excitat et hortatur spiritali et coelesti voce contestans: Nolite, ait, diligere mundum neque ea quae in mundo sunt . Si quis dilexerit mundum, non est charitas Patris in illo; quoniam omne quod in mundo est, concupiscentia carnis est, et concupiscentia oculorum, 0447Aet ambitio saeculi, quae non est a Patre, sed ex concupiscentia saeculi. Et mundus transibit et concupiscentia ejus. Qui autem fecerit voluntatem Dei, manetin aeternum, quomodo et Deus manet in aeternum. (I Joan. II, 15-17). Aeterna igitur et divina sectanda sunt, et omnia de Dei voluntate facienda sunt, ut Domini nostri vestigia et magisteria divina sectemur , qui monuit et dixit: Non descendi de coelo ut faciam voluntatem meam, sed voluntatem ejus qui me misit (Joa. VI, 38). Quod si non est major domino suo servus et liberatori debet obsequium liberatus, qui esse cupimus christiani, debemus quod Christus dixit et fecit imitari. Scriptum est, et legitur et auditur et in exemplum nostri Ecclesiae ore celebratur: Qui dicit se in Christo manere debet quomodo ille ambulavit et ipse 0447Bambulare (I Joan. II, 6). Ambulandum est igitur vestigiis paribus, aemula ingressione nitendum est. Tunc respondet ad fidem nominis sectatio veritatis, et credenti praemium datur si quod creditur et geratur.