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.
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