24. But concerning what eunuchs speaketh God by the prophet Isaiah, unto whom He saith that He will give in His house and in His wall a place by name, much better than of sons and daughters,43    Is. lvi. 4, 5. [See R.V.] save concerning these, who make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven? For for these, whose bodily organ is without strength, so that they cannot beget, (such as are the eunuchs of rich men and of kings,) it is surely enough, when they become Christians, and keep the commands of God, yet have this purpose, that, if they could, they would have wives, to be made equal to the rest of the faithful in the house of God, who are married, who bring up in the fear of God a family which they have lawfully and chastely gotten, teaching their sons to set their hope on God; but not to receive a better place than of sons and daughters. For it is not of virtue of the soul, but of necessity of the flesh, that they marry not wives. Let who will contend that the Prophet foretold this of those eunuchs who have suffered mutilation of body; that even also helps the cause which we have undertaken. For God hath not preferred these eunuchs to such as have no place in His house, but assuredly to those who keep the desert of married life in begetting sons. For, when He saith, “I will give unto them a place much better;” He shows that one is also given unto the married, but much inferior. Therefore, to allow that in the house of God there will be the eunuchs after the flesh spoken of above, who were not in the People of Israel: because we see that these also themselves, whereas they become not Jews, yet become Christians: and that the Prophet spake not of them, who through purpose of continence seeking not marriage, make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven: is any one so madly opposed to the truth as to believe that eunuchs made so in the flesh have a better place than married persons in the house of God, and to contend that persons being of pious purpose continent, chastening the body even unto contempt of marriage, making themselves eunuchs, not in the body, but in the very root of concupiscence, practising an heavenly and angelic life in an earthly mortal state, are on a level with the deserts of the married; and, being a Christian, to gainsay Christ when He praises those who have made themselves eunuchs, not for the sake of this world, but for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, affirming that this is of use for the present life, not for a future? What else remains for these, save to assert that the kingdom of heaven itself pertains unto this temporal life, wherein we now are? For why should not blind presumption advance even to this madness? And what more full of phrensy than this assertion? For, although at times the Church, even that which is at this time, is called the kingdom of heaven; certainly it is so called for this end, because it is being gathered together for a future and eternal life. Although, therefore, it have the promise of the present, and of a future life, yet in all its good works it looks not to “the things that are seen, but to what are not seen. For what are seen are temporal; but what are not seen, are eternal.”44    2 Cor. iv. 18; 1 Tim. iv. 8

CAPUT XXIV.

24. Item ex verbis Isaiae. Ecclesia regnum coelorum cur appellata. De quibus autem spadonibus loquitur Deus per Isaiam prophetam, quibus se dicit daturum in domo sua et in muro suo locum nominatum, meliorem multo quam filiorum atque filiarum, nisi de his qui se ipsos castrant propter regnum coelorum? Nam illis quibus ipsum virile membrum debilitatur, ut generare non possint, sicut sunt eunuchi divitum et regum, sufficit utique cum christiani fiunt, et Dei praecepta custodiunt, eo tamen proposito sunt, ut conjuges si potuissent haberent, caeteris in domo Dei conjugatis fidelibus adaequari, qui prolem licite pudiceque susceptam in Dei timore nutriunt, docentes filios suos ut ponant in Deo spem suam; non autem accipere meliorem locum quam est filiorum atque filiarum. Neque enim uxores animi virtute, sed carnis necessitate non ducunt. Contendat sane qui voluerit de his Prophetam spadonibus hoc praenuntiasse, qui corpore abscisi sunt: iste quoque error causae quam suscepimus suffragatur. Neque enim spadones istos eis qui in domo ejus nullum habent locum praetulit Deus, sed eis utique qui in filiis generandis conjugalis vitae meritum servant. Nam cum dicit, Dabo eis locum multo meliorem; ostendit et conjugatis dari, sed multo inferiorem. Ut ergo concedamus in domo Dei praedictos futuros eunuchos secundum carnem, qui in populo Israel non fuerunt; quia et ipsos videmus cum Judaei non fiant, tamen fieri christianos; nec de illis dixisse Prophetam, qui 0409 proposito continentiae conjugia non quaerentes, se ipsos castrant propter regnum coelorum: itane tanta dementia quisquam est contrarius veritati, ut in carne factos eunuchos meliorem quam conjugatos locum in domo Dei habere credat, et pio proposito continentes, corpus usque ad contemptas nuptias castigantes, se ipsos non in corpore, sed in ipsa concupiscentiae radice castrantes, coelestem et angelicam vitam in terrena mortalitate meditantes, conjugatorum meritis pares esse contendat; et Christo laudanti eos qui se ipsos castraverunt, non propter hoc saeculum, sed propter regnum coelorum, christianus contradicat, affirmans hoc vitae praesenti esse utile, non futurae? Quid aliud istis restat, nisi ut ipsum regnum coelorum ad hanc temporalem vitam, in qua nunc sumus, asserant pertinere? Cur enim non et in hanc insaniam progrediatur caeca praesumptio? Et quid hac assertione furiosius? Nam etsi regnum coelorum aliquando Ecclesia etiam quae hoc tempore est, appellatur; ad hoc utique sic appellatur, quia futurae vitae sempiternaeque colligitur. Quamvis ergo promissionem habeat vitae praesentis et futurae (I Tim. IV, 8); in omnibus tamen bonis operibus suis non respicit quae videntur, sed quae non videntur. Quae enim videntur, temporalia sunt; quae autem non videntur, aeterna (II Cor. IV, 18).