10. But I am aware of some that murmur: What, say they, if all men should abstain from all sexual intercourse, whence will the human race exist? Would that all would this, only in “charity out of a pure heart, and good conscience, and faith unfeigned;”29    1 Tim. i. 5 much more speedily would the City of God be filled, and the end of the world hastened. For what else doth the Apostle, as is manifest, exhort to, when he saith, speaking on this head, “I would that all were as myself;”30    1 Cor. vii. 7 or in that passage, “But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remains that both they who have wives, be as though not having: and they who weep, as though not weeping: and they who rejoice, as though not rejoicing: and they who buy, as though not buying: and they who use this world as though they use it not. For the form of this world passeth by. I would have you without care.” Then he adds, “Whoso is without a wife thinks of the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord: but whoso is joined in marriage, thinks of the things of the world, how to please his wife: and a woman that is unmarried and a virgin is different: she that is unmarried is anxious about the things of the Lord, to be holy both in body and spirit: but she that is married, is anxious about the things of the world, how to please her husband.”31    Ver. 29–34 Whence it seems to me, that at this time, those only, who contain not, ought to marry, according to that sentence of the same Apostle, “But if they contain not, let them be married: for it is better to be married than to burn.”32    1 Cor. vii. 9

CAPUT X.

10. Objectio contra continentiam. Nunc ii soli conjugari debent, qui se non continent. Nuptias non esse peccatum. Nuptialis concubitus solus 0381 ille est qui fit causa generandi. Sed novi qui murmurent: Quid si, inquiunt, omnes homines velint ab omni concubitu continere; unde subsistet genus humanum? Utinam omnes hoc vellent, duntaxat in charitate de corde puro et conscientia bona et fide non ficta (I Tim. I, 5): multo citius Dei civitas compleretur, et acceleraretur terminus saeculi. Quid enim aliud hortari apparet Apostolum, ubi ait, cum inde loqueretur, Vellem omnes esse sicut me ipsum? Aut illo loco: Hoc autem dico, fratres: tempus breve est; reliquum est ut et hi qui habent uxores, tanquam non habentes sint; et qui flent, tanquam non flentes; et qui gaudent, tanquam non gaudentes; et qui emunt, tanquam non ementes; et qui utuntur hoc mundo, tanquam non utantur: praeterit enim figura hujus mundi. Volo vos sine sollicitudine esse. Deinde subjungit: Qui sine uxore est, cogitat ea quae sunt Domini, quomodo placeat Domino. Qui autem matrimonio conjunctus est, cogitat quae sunt mundi, quomodo placeat uxori. Et divisa est mulier innupta et virgo : quae innupta est, sollicita est ea quae sunt Domini, ut sit sancta et corpore et spiritu; quae autem nupta est, sollicita est quae sunt mundi, quomodo placeat viro. Unde mihi videtur hoc tempore solos eos qui se non continent, conjugari oportere, secundum illam ejusdem apostoli sententiam: Quod si se non continent, nubant; melius est enim nubere quam uri.