should marry wives in order to be pure. Thus the same law: Be ye
clean that bear the vessels of the Lord, commands that impure
celibates become pure husbands [impure unmarried priests become pure
married priests].

The third argument is horrible, namely, that the marriage of priests
is the heresy of Jovinian. Fine-sounding words! [Pity on our poor
souls, dear sirs; proceed gently!] This is a new crime, that marriage
[which God instituted in Paradise] is a heresy! [In that case all
the world would be children of heretics.] In the time of Jovinian the
world did not as yet know the law concerning perpetual celibacy.
[This our adversaries know very well.] Therefore it is an impudent
falsehood that the marriage of priests is the heresy of Jovinian, or
that such marriage was then condemned by the Church. In such
passages we can see what design the adversaries had in writing the
_Confutation_. They judged that the ignorant would be thus most
easily excited, if they would frequently hear the reproach of heresy,
if they pretend that our cause had been dispatched and condemned by
many previous decisions of the Church. Thus they frequently cite
falsely the judgment of the Church. Because they are not ignorant of
this, they were unwilling to exhibit to us a copy of their Apology,
lest this falsehood and these reproaches might be exposed. Our
opinion, however, as regards the case of Jovinian, concerning the
comparison of virginity and marriage, we have expressed above. For
we do not make marriage and virginity equal, although neither
virginity nor marriage merits justification.

By such false arguments they defend a law that is godless and
destructive to good morals. By such reasons they set the minds of
princes firmly against God's judgment [the princes and bishops who