ion for sanctity. It is true that it is not until post-apostolic
times that we find this condition of life exalted to the contradiction
both of the laws of nature and the dictates of reason; but the
foundation for the belief that the virgin life is superior to the
married state was unquestionably laid by Paul himself. While he readily
admits that marriage is honorable, he, at the same time,
enthusiastically recommends celibacy to those who are able to persevere
in continence. To the Corinthians he wrote: "He that giveth (a daughter)
in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth
better." Whence arose this idea of the moral superiority of virginity?
Surely not from Judaism; for among the Jews an unmarried woman was
regarded as being to the greatest degree unblessed. Nor did it come from
paganism; for though there were vestal devotees of the deities, the
materialism which governed Greek and Roman religion entirely precluded
any belief in a moral inferiority as resulting from the rightful
intercourse of the sexes. In the rebound from the materialism of
paganism, Christianity swung the thought of its adherents to the
opposite extreme. The body was considered as hopelessly corrupt until
regenerated by the resurrection. It is a dead weight, retarding the
development and the triumph of the spirit; its natural functions are
tainted with evil and should be ignored and mortified so far as
necessity will permit. The contemplation of the terrible licentiousness
which characterized paganism gave a great bias to the views of the early
Christians on this subject. The asceticism of celibacy seemed to them an
easier way to escape the contamination of the world than that which led
through the honorable path of married life.

In the seventh chapter of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians he is
wholly on the side of celibacy, though he was far too reasonable a man
not to recognize the possibility of purity in marriage. "I say to the
unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I.
But if they have not continency, let them marry." It is very probable
that the Apostle was a widower; for very few Jews of his time lived
without marrying to the age which we may reasonably suppose he had
attained before his conversion. He also says: "Now concerning virgins I
have no commandment of the Lord; but I give my judgment, as one that
hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful." We are to understand
this m