Of Many Virgins and Martyrs
Epistle.
1 Corinthians vii. 25, 34.
Brethren: Concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: but I give counsel, as having obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I think therefore, that this is good for the present necessity, for a man so to be. Art thou bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. But if thou take a wife, thou hast not sinned. And if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned: nevertheless, such shall have tribulation of the flesh. But I spare you. This therefore I say, brethren: the time is short: it remaineth, that they also who have wives, be as if they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as if they rejoiced not: and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as if they used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away. But I would have you to be without solicitude. He that is without a wife, is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God. But he that is with a wife, is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife; and he is divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord: that she may be holy both in body and spirit, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gospel.
Matthew xxv. 1, 13,
as in page 92.