Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. XII:
The Book of Pastoral Rule, and Selected Epistles, of Gregory the Great.: How the married and the single are to be admonished.

Chapter XXVII.

How the married and the single are to be admonished.

(Admonition 28.)  Differently to be admonished are those who are bound in wedlock and those who are free from the ties of wedlock.  For those who are bound in wedlock are to be admonished that, while they take thought for each other’s good, they study, both of them, so to please their consorts as not to displease their Maker; that they so conduct the things that are of this world as still not to omit desiring the things that are of God; that they so rejoice in present good as still, with earnest solicitude, to fear eternal evil; that they so sorrow for temporal evils as still to fix their hope with entire comfort on everlasting good; to the end that, while they know what they are engaged in to be transitory, but what they desire to be permanent, neither the evils of the world may break their heart while it is strengthened by the hope of heavenly good, nor the good things of the present life deceive them, while they are saddened by the apprehended evils of the judgment to come.  Wherefore the mind of married Christians is both weak and stedfast, in that it cannot fully despise all temporal things, and yet can join itself in desire to eternal things.  Although it lies low meanwhile in the delights of the flesh, let it grow strong in the refreshment of supernal hope:  and, if it has the things that are of the world for the service of its journey, let it hope for the things that are of God for the fruit of its journey’s end:  nor let it devote itself entirely to what it is engaged in now, lest it fall utterly from what it ought stedfastly to hope for.  Which thing Paul well expresses briefly, saying, They that have wives as though they had none, and they that weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not (1 Cor. 7:29, 30).  For he has a wife as though he had none who so enjoys carnal consolation through her as still never to be turned by love of her to evil deeds from the rectitude of a better aim.  He has a wife as though he had none who, seeing all things to be transitory, endures of necessity the care of the flesh, but looks forward with longing to the eternal joys of the spirit.  Moreover, to weep as though we wept not is so to lament outward adversities as still to know how to rejoice in the consolation of eternal hope.  And again, to rejoice as though we rejoiced not is so to take heart from things below as still never to cease from fear concerning the things above.  In the same place also a little afterwards he aptly adds, For the fashion of this world passeth away (1 Cor. 7.31); as if he had said plainly, Love not the world abidingly, since the world which ye love cannot itself abide.  In vain ye fix your affections on it as though it were continuing, while that which ye love itself is fleeting.  Husbands and wives are to be admonished, that those p. 57b things wherein they sometimes displease one another they bear with mutual patience, and by mutual exhortations remedy.  For it is written, Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so ye shall fulfil the law of Christ (Galat. vi. 2).  For the law of Christ is Charity; since it has from Him bountifully bestowed on us its good things, and has patiently borne our evil things.  We, therefore, then fulfil by imitation the law of Christ, when we both kindly bestow our good things, and piously endure the evil things of our friends.  They are also to be admonished to give heed, each of them, not so much to what they have to bear from the other as to what the other has to bear from them.  For, if one considers what is borne from one’s self, one bears more lightly what one endures from another.

Husbands and wives are to be admonished to remember that they are joined together for the sake of producing offspring; and, when, giving themselves to immoderate intercourse, they transfer the occasion of procreation to the service of pleasure, to consider that, though they go not outside wedlock yet in wedlock itself they exceed the just dues of wedlock.  Whence it is needful that by frequent supplications they do away their having fouled with the admixture of pleasure the fair form of conjugal union.  For hence it is that the Apostle, skilled in heavenly medicine, did not so much lay down a course of life for the whole as point out remedies to the weak when he said, It is good for a man not to touch a woman:  but on account of fornication let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband (1 Cor. 7:1, 2).  For in that he premised the fear of fornication, he surely did not give a precept to such as were standing, but pointed out the bed to such as were falling, lest haply they should tumble to the ground.  Whence to such as were still weak he added, Let the husband render unto the wife her due; and likewise also the wife unto the husband (1 Cor. 7.3).  And, while in the most honourable estate of matrimony allowing to them something of pleasure, he added, But this I say by way of indulgence, not by way of command (1 Cor. 7.6).  Now where indulgence is spoken of, a fault is implied; but one that is the more readily remitted in that it consists, not in doing what is unlawful, but in not keeping what is lawful under control.  Which thing Lot expresses well in his own person, when he flies from burning Sodom, and yet, finding Zoar, does not still ascend the mountain heights.  For to fly from burning Sodom is to avoid the unlawful fires of the flesh.  But the height of the mountains is the purity of the continent.  Or, at any rate, they are as it were upon the mountain, who, though cleaving to carnal intercourse, still, beyond the due association for the production of offspring, are not loosely lost in pleasure of the flesh.  For to stand on the mountain is to seek nothing in the flesh except the fruit of procreation.  To stand on the mountain is not to cleave to the flesh in a fleshly way.  But, since there are many who relinquish indeed the sins of the flesh, and yet, when placed in the state of wedlock, do not observe solely the claims of due intercourse, Lot went indeed out of Sodom, but yet did not at once reach the mountain heights; because a damnable life is already relinquished, but still the loftiness of conjugal continence is not thoroughly attained.  But there is midway the city of Zoar, to save the weak fugitive; because, to wit, when the married have intercourse with each other even incontinently, they still avoid lapse into sin, and are still saved through mercy.  For they find as it were a little city, wherein to be protected from the fire; since this married life is not indeed marvellous for virtue, but yet is secure from punishment.  Whence the same Lot says to the angel, This city is near to flee unto, and it is small, and I shall be saved therein.  Is it not a little one, and my soul shall live in it (Gen. xix. 20)?  So then it is said to be near, and yet is spoken of as a refuge of safety, since married life is neither far separated from the world, nor yet alien from the joy of safety.  But the married, in this course of conduct, then preserve their lives as it were in a small city, when they intercede for each other by continual supplications.  Whence it is also rightly said by the Angel to the same Lot, See I have accepted thy prayers concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city for the which thou hast spoken (Gen. 19.21).  For in truth, when supplication is poured out to God, such married life is by no means condemned.  Concerning which supplication Paul also admonishes, saying, Defraud ye not one the other except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to prayer (1 Cor. vii. 5).

But, on the other hand, those who are not bound by wedlock are to be admonished that they observe heavenly precepts all the more closely in that no yoke of carnal union bows them down to worldly cares; that, as they are free from the lawful burden of wedlock, the unlawful weight of earthly anxiety by no means press them down; that the last day find them all the more prepared, as it finds them less encumbered; lest from being free and able, and yet neglecting, to do better things, they therefore be found deserving of worse punishment.  Let them hear how the p. 58b Apostle, when he would train certain persons for the grace of celibacy, did not contemn wedlock, but guarded against the worldly cares that are born of wedlock, saying, This I say for your profit, not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without hindrance (1 Cor. 7:3, 5).  For from wedlock proceed earthly anxieties; and therefore the teacher of the Gentiles persuaded his bearers to better things, lest they should be bound by earthly anxiety.  The man, then, whom, being single, the hindrance of secular cares impedes, though he has not subjected himself to wedlock, has still not escaped the burdens of wedlock.  The single are to be admonished not to think that they can have intercourse with disengaged women without incurring the judgment of condemnation.  For, when Paul inserted the vice of fornication among so many execrable crimes, he indicated the guilt of it, saying, Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9, 10).  And again, But fornicators and adulterers God will judge (Heb. xiii. 4).  They are therefore to be admonished that, if they suffer from the storms of temptation with risk to their safety, they should seek the port of wedlock.  For it is written, It is better to marry than to burn (1 Cor. vii. 9).  They come, in fact, to marriage without blame, if only they have not vowed better things.  For whosoever has proposed to himself the attainment of a greater good has made unlawful the less good which before was lawful.  For it is written, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God (Luke ix. 62).  He therefore who has been intent on a more resolute purpose is convicted of looking back, if, leaving the larger good, he reverts to the least.