Chapter XV.

40. But it is rather that statement which the Lord Himself makes in another passage which is wont to disturb the minds of the little ones, who nevertheless earnestly desire to live now according to the precepts of Christ: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”131    Luke xiv. 26. For it may seem a contradiction to the less intelligent, that here He forbids the putting away of a wife saving for the cause of fornication, but that elsewhere He affirms that no one can be a disciple of His who does not hate his wife. But if He were speaking with reference to sexual intercourse, He would not place father, and mother, and brothers in the same category. But how true it is, that “the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and they that use violence take it by force!”132    Matt xi. 12. Qui vim faciunt diripiunt illud; Vulgate, violenti rapiunt illud. For how great violence is necessary, in order that a man may love his enemies, and hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers! For He commands both things who calls us to the kingdom of heaven. And how these things do not contradict each other, it is easy to show under His guidance; but after they have been understood, it is difficult to carry them out, although this too is very easy when He Himself assists us. For in that eternal kingdom to which He has vouchsafed to call His disciples, to whom He also gives the name of brothers, there are no temporal relationships of this sort. For “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female;” “but Christ is all, and in all.”133    Gal. iii. 28 and Col. iii. 11. And the Lord Himself says: “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage,134    Uxores ducent; Vulgate, nubentur. but are as the angels of God in heaven.”135    Matt. xxii. 30. Hence it is necessary that whoever wishes here and now to aim after the life of that kingdom, should hate not the persons themselves, but those temporal relationships by which this life of ours, which is transitory and is comprised in being born and dying, is upheld; because he who does not hate them, does not yet love that life where there is no condition of being born and dying, which unites parties in earthly wedlock.

41. Therefore, if I were to ask any good Christian who has a wife, and even though he may still be having children by her, whether he would like to have his wife in that kingdom; mindful in any case of the promises of God, and of that life where this incorruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality;136    1 Cor. xv. 53, 54. though at present hesitating from the greatness, or at least from a certain degree of love, he would reply with execration that he is strongly averse to it. Were I to ask him again, whether he would like his wife to live with him there, after the resurrection, when she had undergone that angelic change which is promised to the saints, he would reply that he desired this as strongly as he reprobated the other. Thus a good Christian is found in one and the same woman to love the creature of God, whom he desires to be transformed and renewed; but to hate the corruptible and mortal conjugal connection and sexual intercourse: i.e. to love in her what is characteristic of a human being, to hate what belongs to her as a wife. So also he loves his enemy, not in as far as he is an enemy, but in as far as he is a man; so that he wishes the same prosperity to come to him as to himself, viz. that he may reach the kingdom of heaven rectified and renewed. This is to be understood both of father and mother and the other ties of blood, that we hate in them what has fallen to the lot of the human race in being born and dying, but that we love what can be carried along with us to those realms where no one says, My Father; but all say to the one God, “Our Father:” and no one says, My mother; but all say to that other Jerusalem, Our mother: and no one says, My brother; but each says respecting every other, Our brother. But in fact there will be a marriage on our part as of one spouse (when we have been brought together into unity), with Him who hath delivered us from the pollution of this world by the shedding of His own blood. It is necessary, therefore, that the disciple of Christ should hate these things which pass away, in those whom he desires along with himself to reach those things which shall for ever remain; and that he should the more hate these things in them, the more he loves themselves.

42. A Christian may therefore live in concord with his wife, whether with her providing for a fleshly craving, a thing which the apostle speaks by permission, not by commandment; or providing for the procreation of children, which may be at present in some degree praiseworthy; or providing for a brotherly and sisterly fellowship, without any corporeal connection, having his wife as though he had her not, as is most excellent and sublime in the marriage of Christians: yet so that in her he hates the name of temporal relationship, and loves the hope of everlasting blessedness. For we hate, without doubt, that respecting which we wish at least, that at some time hereafter it should not exist; as, for instance, this same life of ours in the present world, which if we were not to hate as being temporal, we would not long for the future life, which is not conditioned by time. For as a substitute for this life the soul is put, respecting which it is said in that passage, “If a man hate not his own soul137    Luke xiv. 26. also, he cannot be my disciple.” For that corruptible meat is necessary for this life, of which the Lord Himself says, “Is not the soul138    Matt. vi. 25. more than meat?” i.e. this life to which meat is necessary. And when He says that He would lay down His soul139    John x. 15. for His sheep, He undoubtedly means this life, as He is declaring that He is going to die for us.

CAPUT XV.---40. Illud magis solet sollicitare animum parvulorum, qui tamen secundum praecepta Christi jam vivere gestiunt, quod alio loco ipse Dominus dicit, Quisquis venit ad me, et non odit patrem suum, et matrem, et uxorem, et filios, et fratres, et sorores, insuper et animam suam, non potest meus esse discipulus (Luc. XIV, 26). Videri enim potest contrarium minus intelligentibus, quod hic vetat dimitti uxorem, excepta causa fornicationis, alibi vero discipulum suum negat esse posse quemquam qui non oderit uxorem. Quod si propter concubitum diceret, non etiam patrem, et matrem, et fratres in eadem conditione poneret. Sed quam verum est quod regnum coelorum vim patitur, et qui vim faciunt, diripiunt illud (Matth. XI, 12)! Quanta enim vi opus est, ut homo diligat inimicos, et oderit patrem, et matrem, et uxorem, et filios, et fratres! Utrumque enim jubet, qui ad regnum coelorum vocat. Et quomodo haec non sint contraria inter se, ipso duce ostendere facile est; sed ea intellecta implere difficile: quanquam et hoc eodem ipso adjuvante facillimum. Regnum enim aeternum quo discipulos suos, quos etiam fratres appellat, vocare dignatus est, non habet hujusmodi necessitudines temporales. Non enim est Judaeus, neque Graecus, neque masculus, neque femina, neque servus, neque liber; sed omnia et in omnibus Christus (Galat. III, 28, et Coloss. III, 11). Et ipse Dominus dicit: In resurrectione enim neque nubent, neque uxores ducent; sed erunt sicut Angeli Dei in coelis (Matth. XXII, 30). Oportet ergo ut quisquis illius regni vitam jam hic meditari voluerit, oderit non ipsos homines, sed istas necessitudines temporales, quibus ista quae transitura est vita fulcitur, quae nascendo et moriendo peragitur: quod qui non odit, nondum amat illam vitam ubi nulla erit conditio nascendi atque 1250 moriendi, quae copulat terrena conjugia.

41. Itaque si aliquem bene christianum, qui tamen habet uxorem, quamvis cum ea adhuc filios generet, interrogem, utrum in illo regno habere velit uxorem; memor utique promissorum Dei et vitae illius, ubi corruptibile hoc induet incorruptionem, et mortale hoc induet immortalitatem (I Cor. XV, 53, 54); jam magno vel certe aliquo amore suspensus, cum exsecratione respondebit, se vehementer id nolle. Rursus si interrogem, utrum uxorem suam post resurrectionem accepta angelica immutatione quae sanctis promittitur, secum ibi vivere velit; tam vehementer se id velle quam illud nolle respondebit. Sic invenitur bonus christianus diligere in una femina creaturam Dei, quam reformari et renovari desiderat; odisse autem conjunctionem copulationemque corruptibilem atque mortalem: hoc est, diligere in ea quod homo est, odisse quod uxor est. Ita etiam diligit inimicum, non in quantum inimicus est, sed in quantum homo est; ut hoc ei velit provenire quod sibi, id est, ut ad regnum coelorum correctus renovatusque perveniat. Hoc et de patre et de matre et caeteris vinculis sanguinis intelligendum est, ut in eis oderimus quod genus humanum nascendo et moriendo sortitum est , diligamus autem quod nobiscum potest ad illa regna perduci, ubi nemo dicit, Pater meus; sed omnes uni Deo, Pater noster: nec, Mater mea; sed omnes illi Jerusalem, Mater nostra: nec Frater meus; sed omnes de omnibus, Frater noster: conjugium vero cum illo simul nobis in unum redactis, quasi unius conjugis erit, qui nos de prostitutione hujus saeculi sui sanguinis effusione liberavit. Necesse est ergo ut oderit ea quae transeunt discipulus Christi, in iis quos secum ad ea venire desiderat, quae semper manebunt; et tanto magis haec in eis oderit, quanto magis eos diligit.

42. Potest igitur christianus cum conjuge concorditer vivere; sive indigentiam carnalem cum ea supplens, quod secundum veniam, non secundum imperium dicit Apostolus; sive filiorum propagationem, quod jam nonnullo gradu potest esse laudabile; sive fraternam societatem, sine ulla corporum commixtione, habens uxorem tanquam non habens, quod est in conjugio Christianorum excellentissimum atque sublime: ut tamen oderit in ea nomen temporalis necessitatis , et diligat spem sempiternae beatitudinis. Odimus enim sine dubio, quod certe ut aliquando non sit optamus, sicut istam ipsam praesentis saeculi vitam, quam temporalem si non odissemus, non desideraremus futuram, quae non est tempori obnoxia. Pro hac enim vita posita est anima, de qua ibi dictum est, Qui non oderit insuper et animam suam, non potest esse meus discipulus (Luc. XIV, 6). Huic namque vitae cibus est necessarius iste corruptibilis, de quo ipse 1251 Dominus dicit, Nonne anima plus est quam esca (Matth. VI, 25)? id est, haec vita cui necessaria est esca. Et quod dicit, ut animam suam ponat pro ovibus suis (Joan. X, 15); hanc utique vitam dicit, cum se pro nobis moriturum esse pronuntiat.