is contrary to manifest testimonies of Scripture, which command that
to avoid fornication each one should have his own wife, 1 Cor. 7, 2;
which likewise forbid to dissolve marriages that have been contracted;
cf. Matt. 6, 32; 19, 6; 1 Cor. 7, 27. [What can the knaves say in
reply? And how dare they wantonly and shamelessly misapply the great,
most holy name of the divine Majesty?] Paul reminds us what an
author such a law was to have when he calls it a doctrine of demons,
1 Tim. 4, 1. And the fruits show their author, namely, so many
monstrous lusts and so many murders which are now committed under the
pretext of that law [as can be seen at Rome].

The second argument of the adversaries is that the priests ought to
be pure, according to Is. 52, 11: Be ye clean that bear the vessels
of the Lord. And they cite many things to this effect. This reason
which they display we have above removed as especially specious. For
we have said that virginity without faith is not purity before God,
and marriage, on account of faith, is pure, according to Titus 1, 16:
Unto the pure all things are pure. We have said also this, that
outward purity and the ceremonies of the Law are not to be
transferred hither, because the Gospel requires purity of heart, and
does not require the ceremonies of the Law. And it may occur that
the heart of a husband, as of Abraham or Jacob, who were polygamists,
is purer and burns less with lusts than that of many virgins who are
even truly continent. But what Isaiah says: Be ye clean that bear
the vessels of the Lord, ought to be understood as referring to
cleanness of heart and to the entire repentance. Besides, the saints
will know in the exercise of marriage how far it is profitable to
restrain its use, and as Paul says, 1 Thess. 4, 4, to possess his
vessel in sanctification. Lastly, since marriage is pure, it is
rightly said to those who are not continent in celibacy that they