writes concerning the selection of widows: "Let not a widow
be taken into the number under three score years, having been
the wife of one man," 1 Tim. 5:9. Lastly, the citation of
what was done among the Germans is the statement of a fact,
but not of a law, fo while there was a contention between
the Emperor Henry IV, and the Roman Pontiff, and also between
his son and the nobles of the Empire, both divine and human
laws were equally confused, so that at the time the laity
rashly attempted to administer sacred things, to use filth
instead of holy oil, to baptize, and to do much else foreign
to the Christian religion. The clergy likewise went beyond
their sphere - a precedent which cannot be cited as law.
Neither was it regarded unjust to dissolve sacrileges
marriages which had been contracted to no effect in
opposition to vows and the sanction of fathers and councils;
as even today the marriages of priests with their so-called
wives are not valid. In vain, therefore, do they complain
that the world is growing old, and that as a remedy for
infirmity rigor should be relaxed, for those who are
consecrated to God have other remedies of infirmities; as,
for instance, let them avoid the society of women, shun
idleness, macerate the flesh by fasting and vigils, keep the
outward senses, especially sight and hearing, from things
forbidden, turn away their eyes from beholding vanity, and
finally dash their little ones - i.e. their carnal thoughts -
upon a rock (and Christ is the Rock), suppress their
passions, and frequently and devoutly resort to God in
prayer. These are undoubtedly the most effectual remedies for
incontinence in ecclesiastics and servants of God. St. Paul
said aright that the doctrine of those who forbid marriage is