e its use is more excellent than all the other uses of the things
of creation, for thence according to order is derived the increase of
the human race, and also of the angelic heaven, which is formed from the
human race: moreover, marriage constitutes the completeness of a man
(_homo_); for by it he becomes a complete man, as will be shewn in the
following chapter. All these things are wanting in celibacy. But if the
proposition be taken for granted, that a state of celibacy is preferable
to a state of marriage, and if this proposition be left to the mind's
examination, to be assented to and established by confirming proofs,
then the conclusion must be, that marriages are not holy, neither can
they be chaste; yea, that chastity in the female sex belongs only to
those, who abstain from marriage and vow perpetual virginity: and
moreover, that those who have vowed perpetual celibacy are understood by
the eunuchs _who make themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's
sake_, Matt. xix. 12; not to mention other conclusions of a like nature;
which, being grounded in a proposition that is not true, are also not
true. The eunuchs who make themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of
heaven's sake, are spiritual eunuchs, who are such as in marriages
abstain from the evils of whoredoms: that Italian eunuchs are not meant,
is evident.

* * * * *

[Transcriber's Note: The out-of-order section numbers which follow are
in the original text, as are the asterisks which do not seem to indicate
footnotes.]

151.* To the above I shall add TWO MEMORABLE RELATIONS. FIRST. As I was
going home from the school of wisdom (concerning which, see above, n.
132), I saw in the way an angel dressed in blue. He joined me and walked
by my side, and said, "I see that you are come from the school of
wisdom, and are made glad by what you heard there; and as I perceive
that you are not a full inhabitant of this world, because you are at the
same time in the natural world, and therefore know nothing of our
Olympic gymnasia, where the ancient _sophi_ meet together, and by the
information they collect from every new comer, learn what changes and
successions wisdom has undergone and is still undergoing in your world;
if you are willing I will conduct you to the place where several of
those ancient _sophi_ and their sons, that is, their disciples, dwell."
So he led me to the confines between the north and east; and while I was
lookin