On the Good of Widowhood.

 Augustin the Bishop, servant of Christ, and of the servants of Christ, unto the religious handmaiden of God, Juliana, in the Lord of lords health.

 2. Whereas, therefore, in every question, which relates to life and conduct, not only teaching, but exhortation also is necessary in order that by te

 3. Therefore (thus) saith the Apostle, the teacher of the Gentiles, the vessel of election, “But I say unto the unmarried and the widows, that it is g

 4. Lo, there is your good compared to that good, which the Apostle calls his own, if faith be present: yea, rather, because faith is present. Short is

 5. Wherefore also when he was advising married persons not to defraud one another of the due of carnal intercourse lest, by this means, the one of th

 6. Wherefore this in the first place you ought to know, that by the good, which you have chosen, second marriages are not condemned, but are set in lo

 7. But whereas the Apostle, when commending the fruit of unmarried men and women, in that they have thought of the things of the Lord, how to please G

 8. Whence, also, what the Apostle Paul said of the unmarried woman, “that she may be holy both in body and spirit ” we are not so to understand, as th

 9. Learn, therefore, that thy good, yea, rather, remember what thou hast learned, that thy good is more praised, because there is another good than wh

 10. Nor, because I called Ruth blessed, Anna more blessed, in that the former married twice, the latter, being soon widowed of her one husband, so liv

 11. But thou who both hast sons, and livest in that end of the world, wherein now is the time not of casting stones, but of gathering not of embracin

 12. But since, as the Lord saith, “Not all receive this word ” therefore let her who can receive it, receive it and let her, who containeth not, marr

 13. Wherefore they who say that the marriages of such are not marriages, but rather adulteries, seem not to me to consider with sufficient acuteness a

 14. Wherefore I cannot indeed say, of females who have fallen away from a better purpose, in case they shall have married, that they are adulteries, n

 15. Men are wont to move a question concerning a third or fourth marriage, and even more numerous marriages than this. On which to make answer strictl

 16. For that also is no foolish question which is wont to be proposed, that whoso can may say, which widow is to be preferred in desert whether one w

 17. Let us therefore set before our eyes three widows, each having one of the things, the whole of which were in her: let us suppose one who had had o

 18. No one indeed of these six widows could come up to your standard. For you, in case that you shall have maintained this vow even unto old age, maye

 19. These discussions, therefore, concerning the different deserts of married women, and of different widows, I would not in this work enter upon, if,

 20. Wherefore, forasmuch as in the beginning of this little work I had proposed certain two necessary matters, and had undertaken to follow them out

 21. These things I am compelled to admonish by reason of certain little discourses of some men, that are to be shunned and avoided, which have begun t

 22. Now it has been my wish on this account to say something on this subject, by reason of certain of our brethren most friendly and dear to us, and w

 23. If, therefore, you had not as yet vowed unto God widowed continence, we would assuredly exhort you to vow it but, in that you have already vowed

 24. Let the inner ear of the virgin also, thy holy child, hear these things. I shall see how far she goes before you in the Kingdom of That King: it i

 25. The past day returns not hereafter, and after yesterday proceeds to-day, and after to-day will proceed to-morrow and, lo, all times and the thing

 26. Therefore let spiritual delights succeed to the place of carnal delights in holy chastity reading, prayer, psalm, good thought, frequency in good

 27. Indeed in all spiritual delights, which unmarried women enjoy, their holy conversation ought also to be with caution lest haply, though their lif

 28. Go on therefore in your course, and run with perseverance, in order that ye may obtain and by pattern of life, and discourse of exhortation, carr

 29. Next I entreat you, by Him, from Whom ye have both received this gift, and hope for the rewards of this gift, that ye be mindful to set me also in

15. Men are wont to move a question concerning a third or fourth marriage, and even more numerous marriages than this. On which to make answer strictly, I dare neither to condemn any marriage, nor to take from these the shame of their great number. But, lest the brevity of this my answer may chance to displease any, I am prepared to listen to my reprover treating more fully. For perhaps he alleges some reason, why second marriages be not condemned, but third be condemned. For I, as in the beginning of this discourse I gave warning, dare not to be more wise than it behoveth to be wise.35    Rom. xii. 3 For who am I, that I should think that that must be defined which I see that the Apostle hath not defined? For he saith, “A woman is bound, so long as her husband liveth.”36    1 Cor. vii. 39, 40 He said not, her first; or, second; or, third; or, fourth;37    Al. “or any number.” but, “A woman,” saith he, “is bound, so long as her husband liveth; but if her husband shall be dead, she is set free; let her be married to whom she will, only in the Lord: but she shall be more blessed, if she shall have so continued.” I know not what can be added to, or taken from, this sentence, so far as relates to this matter. Next I hear Himself also, the Master and Lord of the Apostles and of us, answering the Sadducees, when they had proposed to Him a woman not once-married, or twice-married, but, if it can be said, seven-married,38    Septiviram whose wife she should be in the resurrection? For rebuking them, He saith, “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they shall neither be married, nor marry wives;39    Matt. xxii. 29, 30 for they shall not begin to die, but shall be equal to the Angels of God.”40    Luke xx. 35, 36 Therefore He made mention of their resurrection, who shall rise again unto life, not who shall rise again unto punishment. Therefore He might have said, Ye do err, knowing not the Scriptures, nor the power of God: for in that resurrection it will not be possible that there be those that were wives of many; and then added, that neither doth any there marry. But neither, as we see, did He in this sentence show any sign of condemning her who was the wife of so many husbands. Wherefore neither dare I, contrary to the feeling of natural shame, say, that, when her husbands are dead, a woman marry as often as she will; nor dare I, out of my own heart, beside the authority of holy Scripture, condemn any number of marriages whatever. But, what I say to a widow, who hath had one husband, this I say to every widow; you will be more blessed, if you shall have so continued.

CAPUT XII.

15. Nullas quotaslibet nuptias damnandas esse. De tertiis et de quartis et de ultra pluribus nuptiis solent homines movere quaestionem. Unde ut breviter respondeam, nec ullas nuptias audeo damnare, nec eis verecundiam numerositatis auferre. Sed ne cuiquam brevitas hujus responsionis meae forte displiceat, uberius disputantem reprehensorem meum audire paratus sum. Fortassis enim affert aliquam rationem, quare secundae nuptiae non damnentur, tertiae damnentur. Nam ego, sicut in exordio sermonis hujus admonui, non audeo plus sapere quam oportet sapere (Rom. XII, 3). Quis enim sum, qui putem definiendum, quod nec Apostolum video definisse? Ait enim: Mulier alligata est, quamdiu vir ejus vivit. Non dixit, primus; aut, secundus; aut, tertius; aut, quartus : sed, Mulier, inquit, alligata est, quamdiu vir ejus vivit: si autem mortuus fuerit vir ejus, liberata est; cui vult nubat, tantum in Domino. Beatior autem erit, si sic permanserit (I Cor. VII, 39, 40). Quid huic sententiae, quantum ad hanc rem attinet, addi vel detrahi possit, ignoro. Deinde ipsum quoque Apostolorum ac nostrum Magistrum et Dominum audio Sadducaeis respondentem, cum proposuissent mulierem non univiram vel biviram, sed, si dici potest, septiviram, in resurrectione cujus futura esset uxor. Increpans enim eos, ait: Erratis, non scientes Scripturas, neque virtutem Dei. In resurrectione enim nec nubent, nec uxores ducent: non enim incipient mori, sed erunt aequales Angelis Dei (Matth. XXII, 29 et 30). Eorum itaque resurrectionem commemoravit, qui resurgent ad vitam, non qui resurgent ad poenam. Potuit ergo dicere, Erratis, nescientes Scripturas, neque virtutem Dei; in illa enim resurrectione multinubae istae esse 0440 non poterunt: deinde addere, quia nec aliqua ibi nubit. Sed nec ipsam, ut videmus, tot maritorum mulierem ulla suae sententiae significatione damnavit. Quapropter nec contra humanae verecundiae sensum audeo dicere, ut quoties voluerit, viris mortuis nubat femina: nec ex meo corde praeter Scripturae sanctae auctoritatem quotaslibet nuptias audeo condemnare. Quod autem dico univirae viduae, hoc dico omni viduae: beatior eris, si sic permanseris.