11: All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
Because now, since sin [since the fall of Adam], these two things
concur, namely, natural appetite and concupiscence, which inflames
the natural appetite, so that now there is more need of marriage than
in nature in its integrity, Paul accordingly speaks of marriage as a
remedy, and on account of these flames commands to marry. Neither
can any human authority, any law, any vows remove this declaration:
It is better to marry than to burn, because they do not remove the
nature or concupiscence. Therefore all who burn, retain the right to
marry. By this commandment of Paul: To avoid fornication, let every
man have his own wife, all are held bound who do not truly keep
themselves continent; the decision concerning which pertains to the
conscience of each one.

For as they here give the command to seek continence of God, and to
weaken the body by labors and hunger, why do they not proclaim these
magnificent commandments to themselves? But, as we have said above,
the adversaries are only playing; they are doing nothing seriously.
If continence were possible to all, it would not require a peculiar
gift. But Christ shows that it has need of a peculiar gift;
therefore it does not belong to all. God wishes the rest to use the
common law of nature which He has instituted. For God does not wish
His ordinances, His creations to be despised. He wishes men to be
chaste in this way, that they use the remedy divinely presented, just
as He wishes to nourish our life in this way, that we use food and
drink. Gerson also testifies that there have been many good men who
endeavored to subdue the body, and yet made little progress.
Accordingly, Ambrose is right in saying: Virginity is only a thing
that can be recommended, but not commanded; it is a matter of vow
rather than of precept. If any one here would raise the objection