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;” 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;” 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.” 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.”