This incident, familiar to us from our childhood, not only throws light on the character of our Lord and his interest in child life. It reveals something in all who took part in it.

I. THE MOTHERS. The word "then," with which the paragraph opens, is deeply significant, because it closely connects this paragraph with that which precedes. Jesus had been vindicating the sanctity of marriage. The degenerate Jews bad come to regard the subject too much, if not exclusively, in regard to the relations of man and wife. Here we see its bearings on the great and wonderful fact of motherhood. Marriage should be protected for the sake of the children. True parents do not live chiefly for their own happiness. They live for their children. The unselfish love of motherhood is one of the most striking facts in nature. It softens the tigress when she is playing with her cubs; it gives ferocity to the hen when she is protecting her chickens. Now mothers, naturally yearning for the good of their children, can do nothing better for the little ones than to bring them to Christ, and train them for him. Yet some parents, who study the bodily health of their children with deepest solicitude, scarcely give a thought to their souls' welfare.

II. THE CHILDREN. They showed certain traits of character.

1. Obedience. The children came at their mothers' bidding. Obedience to parents is the root of obedience to God.

2. A perception of the attractiveness of Christ. Obedience would bring the children with their mothers. But more was wanted to induce them to go up to Christ and permit him to take them in his arms. There are some people who only terrify children, although they try to coax them into favour. Jesus, however, was evidently one who won children by his own gentleness, kindness, and childlikeness. Pharisees were uncomfortable in his presence, but children were quite at home.

III. THE DISCIPLES. They rebuked the mothers. Why?

1. For Christ's sake. They would not have him troubled. They wished to serve Christ, but they did not understand his mind; therefore they blundered. We must know his will and do it, if we would serve him acceptably.

2. For their own sakes. They would keep Christ to themselves. The advent of these mothers and children interrupted a discussion which was very interesting to them. But Christ preferred to turn from a subject which was distressing to him to the innocent simplicity of the little children. Further observe:

(1) Children will come to Christ if we will suffer them. It is our part to remove every hindrance from their approach to him.

(2) All children need Christ's blessing.

(3) Very young children are old enough to receive it.

IV. CHRIST. He appears as the children's Friend and the Champion of their mothers. This well known incident reveals him to us in his most winning grace.

1. Love of children. We should give the children a good place in our arrangements for Christian work, if we would please our Lord, who is their Friend.

2. Childlikeness. Jesus is drawn to the children by a natural affinity.

3. Gracious kindness. He blesses the children. This he does with personal touch, putting his hands upon them. Christ will take trouble to help and save children. - W.F.A.

I. THEY NEED THE SAVIOUR.

1. AS children, they are within the covenant and provisions of grace.

2. They are naturally blind and dark.

3. Nor let us forget that they are guilty.

4. They need, therefore, to be led to Jesus as penitent sinners for forgiveness and peace. They need a guide, a shield, a true friend, etc.

II. THEY MAY BE BROUGHT TO HIM WHEN VERY YOUNG.

1. On this point, opinion among godly people has been very much modified since the general establishment of Sunday-schools.

2. It is a great mistake, and involves a great wrong to the child, not to insist upon his deciding and choosing Christ now, for unbelief and carnality are gaining strength.

3. There is no kind of knowledge which will find readier access to the juvenile mind, and be more easily retained there, than the knowledge of Christ.

4. How many and how marked are the examples of early piety which the Bible records.

5. The religion of children — if genuine and healthy — will differ in some respects from the religion of elderly people. Ignorant prejudice has done a world of mischief.

III. ONE OF THE FIRST DUTIES WE, AS A CHURCH, OWE THE LORD JESUS IS TO ASSIST IN BRINGING THESE CHILDREN TO HIM.

1. They are our own flesh and blood. They are our own immediate successors in the Church and the world. They are immortal. They are the object of Jesus' redeeming love; they are brought within our influence that we may be Christ's ministers to them, and their guides to Him, etc.

2. The present is the golden Opportunity. The promise is true to your children, that they also shall receive:' remission of sins," and "the gift of the Holy Ghost." Bring them to Jesus! Alas! some of you parents, masters, heads of households are not yourselves following Christ, and how can you bring your children or young people to Him? Teachers, suffer the children to come to Jesus, and hinder them not, etc.

(J. Findlay.)

I. THE PRINCIPLE ON WHICH THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL SHOULD BE FOUNDED. It must be founded and carried on in Faith, in its usefulness, its worth, its importance. Faith in your schools; faith in God; in the child whom you teach; and in the Scriptures which are to be taught.

II. THE END, THE GREAT OBJECT, WHICH SHOULD BE PROPOSED AND KEPT STEADILY IN VIEW BY ITS FRIENDS. The great end is, to awaken the soul of the pupil, to bring his understanding, conscience, and heart into earnest, vigorous action on religious and moral truth, to excite and cherish in him spiritual life. The great end in religious instruction, whether in the Sunday-school or family, is, not to stamp our minds irresistibly on the young, but to stir up their own; not to make them see with our eyes, but to look inquiringly and steadily with their own; not to give them a definite amount of knowledge, but to inspire a fervent love of truth; not to form an outward regularity, but to touch inward springs; not to burden the memory, but to quicken and strengthen the power of thought;... not to tell them that God is good, but to help them to see and feel His love in all that He does within and around them. In a word, to awaken intellectual and moral life in the child.

III. WHAT IS TO BE TAUGHT IN SUNDAY SCHOOLS? The Gospels, the Gospels, these should be the text-book of Sunday Schools. There are three great views of Christianity, which pervade it throughout, and to which the mind of the learner must be continually turned.

1. The spirituality of the religion.

2. Its disinterestedness.

3. The vastness, the infinity, of its progress.

IV. How SHALL IT BE TAUGHT? Attention must be secured by moral influence. You must love the children. You must be interested yourselves in that you teach them. Be intelligible. Teach by questions. Teach graphically where you can. Lay stress on the most important things. Carry a cheerful spirit into religious teaching.

(Dr. Channing.)

I. WHO WERE NOW BROUGHT TO CHRIST? Probably infants. None of them were arrived at the full exercise of reason; and some of them might be carried in the arms of their friends.

II. FOR WHAT END WERE THEY BROUGHT TO CHRIST? Probably not to be healed of sickness or weakness. It was, that He might lay His hands upon them and bless them. They had a high opinion of the piety of Jesus, and of His interest in the Divine favour.

III. THE RECEPTION JESUS GAVE THE CHILDREN. Kind and gracious.

IV. THE DECLARATION HE MADE CONCERNING THEM. "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." Christ commends in children three or four things, wherein they who are adult ought to resemble them.

1. Freedom from prejudice or openness to conviction; freedom from pride, or humility; freedom from worldly affections, or indifference to earthly things: and finally, freedom from custom of sinning, or innocence.

(Nath. Lardner.)

1. The doctrine of this text may afford comfortable thoughts concerning such as die in infancy, or in very early age, before they have done good or evil.

2. It teaches us to be cautious, how we disparage the human nature, and say, that it is, in its original conception, corrupt, depraved, and defiled.

3. This history teaches us the right of young persons to be present at the worship of God, and seems to hold forth the duty of those under whose care they are, to bring them early to it.

4. We may infer that it is not below persons of the greatest eminence for wisdom and piety to show affection and tenderness for little children.

5. We hence learn, that all of us arrived to years of knowledge and understanding should see to it, that we bear a resemblance to little children. And 6, this history affords encouragement to young persons arrived to the use of reason and understanding to come to Christ, and offer up themselves to God in and through Him.

(Nath. Lardner.)

1. As respects faith. Children are trustful: its trust has little to do with the intellect. Faith is not a thing of the understanding, but of the heart. When you read the Bible, do it as a little child, "My Father says thus." A child's joy is always truer than a child's sorrow.

2. A child's mind has a wonderful power of realization. They soon picture what is said to them. We should realize the invisible.

3. Little children may be angry, but their anger never lasts.

4. They are innocent and do not hurt.

5. They are, as a rule, generous with their possessions.

6. The sympathy of a child is perfect, to a tear or a smile he will respond in a moment.

7. A little child is a thing new born. We must be born again.

(J. Vaughan, M. A.)

I. WHAT MOTHERS WANT FOR THEIR CHILDREN.

II. WHAT DISCIPLES SOMETIMES WANT FOR THE CHILDREN. TO run away and not be troublesome. Sometimes they would keep them away from Christ until they grow big. Whence can such a mistake arise? From such ideas as —

1. Christ is too busy with saving men to care about the children.

2. Children have not the needs which Jesus came to supply.

3. If the children get the blessing now they will lose it ere they become men.

III. WHAT JESUS WANTS FOR THE CHILDREN. To come to Him. They can trust, love, etc.

(R. Tuck, B. A.)

The most beautiful scene in the Bible.

I. JESUS IS ATTRACTIVE TO CHILDREN. Some men and women for whom they do not care. Jesus not like these. There are others for whom children are never shy, or afraid. Jesus like these.

II. JESUS IS DEEPLY INTERESTED IN CHILDREN.

III. JESUS PRAYS FOR CHILDREN. "He put His hands on them," etc. Ancient custom. He ever liveth to make intercession for us.

IV. JESUS WISHES CHILDREN TO BE HAPPY. He blessed the children who came to Him, and He blesses you.

V. MANY CHILDREN ARE WITH JESUS IN HEAVEN.

(Alex. McAuslane, D. D.)

I. WHO SPAKE THESE WORDS, AND WHY WERE THEY SPOKEN, "Jesus said." Because He loved children and came to do them good.

II. HOW SHOULD LITTLE CHILDREN COME TO CHRIST.

1. By thought.

2. Prayer.

3. Obedience.

III. WHAT KEEPS LITTLE CHILDREN BACK FROM CHRIST, AND WHO FORBIDS THEM TO COME TO HIM. The disciples. I will point out what in yourselves keeps you back.

1. Idleness.

2. The mockeries of your playfellows.

3. Satan.

IV. WHAT IS TO BE GAINED BY COMING TO CHRIST.

(T. J. Judkin M. A.)

From Christ has been derived the custom among Christians, that lax; people, and especially children, should ask a blessing from their elders and from priests. This is the case in Belgium, where boys will run up to the priests and religious men, and ask them to sign them with the sign of the cross. They are taught to do this, both by the catechists and by their parents. Remigius says this was a custom among the Jews before the time of Christ. The great Sir Thomas More, the glory of England and a martyr, when he was Lord High Chancellor, publicly asked his aged father to give him his blessing. Moreover, the Church uses this ceremony of imposition of hands in baptism, confirmation, and orders. It is to pray for and obtain the gift of the Holy Ghost.

(Lapide.)

The gospel alone opens its warm bosom to the young. Christianity alone is the nurse of children. Atheism looks on them as on a level with the brutes. Deism or scepticism leaves them to every random influence, lest they catch a bias. The Romans exposed their infants. Barbarians and ancient tribes offered them as burnt-sacrifices to Moloch. Mahometanism holds mothers and infants as equally of an inferior cast. Hindooism forgets the infant she bears, and leaves it to perish on the banks of the Ganges. The Chinese are notorious as infanticides. Christianity alone contemplates them as immortal creatures, and prescribes for their tuition for heaven. And the nearer the time that the rising of the Sun of Righteonsness approached, the warmer and the more intense did the interest of the Church show itself in regard to the young. Moses gave directions on the subject. Joshua and Abraham commanded their households after them; David declared how the young were to purify their way; and Solomon distinctly enjoined them to remember their Creator in the days of their youth; but it was reserved for Him who spake as never man spake, to press that sentence, "Suffer the little children," etc. The temple of Juggernaut presents a grave; the mosque, contempt; infidelity, neglect for children. The bosom of the Son of God alone Ends them a nursery and a home.

(Salter.)

In their case there is still —

1. Confidence, instead of scepticism.

2. Self-surrender, instead of distrust.

3. Truth, instead of hypocrisy.

4. Want of pretension, instead of pride.

(Lisko.)

Women were not honoured nor children loved in antiquity as now they are; no halo of romance and tenderness encircled them; too often, indeed, they were subject to shameful cruelties and hard neglect.

(Farrar.)

They may be "forbidden," both by neglect and injudicious teaching.

I. By not being taught of Christ through word and example.

II. By being taught legalism; that is, "Be good, or God will not love you," instead of this: Christ (God) loves you, therefore go to Him in order to be good.

(Schaff.)

1. His sympathy for and with children.

2. Our right to bring children to Him for blessing, and this before they can understand anything concerning Him or His truth.

3. That they are members of Christ's kingdom, and are so regarded by Him, and are to be so regarded by us, and this irrespective of any parental faith.

4. That such as die before they have wandered out of God's kingdom into the kingdom of Satan are certainly saved, since they are of the kingdom of heaven.

5. The incident condemns all conduct on the part of the church, the teacher, or the parent, which tends to repress, chill, or check the enthusiasm of childhood for Christ, and darken its simple faith in Him.

(Abbott.)

I. A mother's love.

II. A mother's responsibility.

III. A mother's consolation.

(P. Robertson.)

It has been truly said that although women may have produced no work of surpassing power, have written no Iliad, no "Hamlet," no "Paradise Lost; " have designed no Church of St. Peter's, composed no "Messiah," carved no "Apollo Belvidere," painted no Last Judgment; although they have invented neither algebra nor telescopes nor steam engines, they have done something greater and better than all this: it is at their knees that virtuous and upright men and women have been trained — the most excellent productions in the world. If we would find the secret of the greatness and goodness of most famous men we must look to their mothers. It was the patient gentle schooling of which turned from a profligate to a saint. It was the memory of a mother's lessons which changed John Newton, of Olney, from blasphemous sailor to an earnest minister of God. It was a mother's influence which made George Washington a man of such truth, such nobleness, and such power, that he swayed the people of America as one man.

(Wilmot Buxton.)

Conversions after forty years are very rare: like the scattered grapes on the remotest branches after the vintage is over, there is on]y one here and there. I have sometimes seen an old withered oak standing with its stiff and leafless branches on the slopes of a woody hill; though the same refreshing rains and genial sunshine fell on it as on its thriving neighbours, Which were green with renewed youth and rich in flowing foliage, it grew not, it gave no signs of life, it was too far gone for genial nature to assist. The old blanched, sapless oak is an emblem of the aged sinner.

(Dr. Thomas.)

Jesus, PeterGalilee, Jordan River, JudeaBlessing, Disciples, Hands, Interfered, Lay, Rebuked, Sharp1. Jesus heals the sick;
3. answers the Pharisees concerning divorce;
10. shows when marriage is necessary;
13. receives the little children;
16. instructs the young man how to attain eternal life;
20. and how to be perfect;
23. tells his disciples how hard it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God;
27. and promises reward to those who forsake all to follow him.

Matthew 19:13

     5194   touch
     5926   rebuke
     5946   sensitivity

Matthew 19:11-14

     6604   acceptance, human

Matthew 19:13-14

     5665   children, attitudes to
     5838   disrespect
     5888   inferiority
     8205   childlikeness
     8282   intolerance
     8353   tolerance

Matthew 19:13-15

     2036   Christ, humility
     2048   Christ, love of
     2360   Christ, prayers of
     5156   hand
     5652   babies
     5962   surprises
     6668   grace, and Christ
     6689   mercy, of Christ
     8471   respect, for human beings

Matthew 19:13-30

     5554   status

The Requirements of the King
'And, behold, one came and said unto Him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17. And He said unto him, Why callest thou Me good? there is none good but One, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 18. He saith unto Him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19. Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

On the Words of the Gospel, Matt. xix. 17, "If Thou Wouldest Enter into Life, Keep the Commandments. "
1. The Lord said to a certain young man, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." [2792] He did not say, "If thou wilt enter into life eternal," but "If thou wilt enter into life;" laying down that as life, which is to be life eternal. Let us first then set forth the value of the love of this life. For even this present life, under whatever circumstances, is loved; and men fear and dread to end it of whatever kind it be; however full of trouble and misery. Hence may we see, hence consider, …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

On the Words of the Gospel, Matt. xix. 21,"Go, Sell that Thou Hast, and Give to the Poor," Etc.
1. The Gospel by the present lesson has reminded me to speak to you, Beloved, of the heavenly treasure. For our God hath not, as unbelieving covetous men suppose, wished us to lose what we have: if what hath been enjoined us be properly understood, and piously believed, and devoutly received; He hath not enjoined us to lose, but rather shown a place where we may lay up. For no man can help thinking of his treasure, and following his riches in a kind of journeying of the heart. If then they are buried …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

On the Words of the Gospel, Matt. xix. 28, "Come unto Me, all Ye that Labour and are Heavy Laden," Etc.
1. We heard in the Gospel that the Lord, rejoicing greatly in Spirit, said unto God the Father, "I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight. All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." [2306] I have …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

On Riches
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Matthew 19:24. 1. In the preceding verses we have an account of a young man who came running to our Lord, and kneeling down, not in hypocrisy, but in deep earnestness of soul, and said unto him, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" "All the commandments," saith he, "I have kept from my youth: What lack I yet?" Probably he had kept them in the literal …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Love Thy Neighbour
I shall notice, first of all, the command; secondly, I shall try and bring some reasons for your obedience to it; and afterwards, I shall draw some suggestions from the law itself. I. First, then, THE COMMAND. It is the second great commandment. The first is, "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God," and there, the proper standard is, thou shalt love thy God more than thyself. The second commandment is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour," and the standard there is a little lower, but still preeminently high, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

The First Last, and the Last First
"But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first."--Matthew 19:30. "So the last shall be first, and the first last."--Matthew 20:16. WE MUST BE SAVED if we would serve the Lord. We cannot serve God in an unsaved condition. "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." It is vain for them to attempt service while they are still at enmity against God. The Lord wants not enemies to wait upon him, nor slaves to grace his throne. We must be saved first; and salvation is all of grace. …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

The Way.
If thou wouldest be perfect.'--ST. MATTHEW xix 21. For reasons many and profound, amongst the least because of the fragmentary nature of the records, he who would read them without the candle of the Lord--that is, the light of truth in his inward parts-- must not merely fall into a thousand errors--a thing for such a one of less moment--but must fail utterly of perceiving and understanding the life therein struggling to reveal itself--the life, that is, of the Son of Man, the thought, the feeling, …
George MacDonald—Unspoken Sermons

A Treatise on Good Works
I. We ought first to know that there are no good works except those which God has commanded, even as there is no sin except that which God has forbidden. Therefore whoever wishes to know and to do good works needs nothing else than to know God's commandments. Thus Christ says, Matthew xix, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." And when the young man asks Him, Matthew xix, what he shall do that he may inherit eternal life, Christ sets before him naught else but the Ten Commandments. …
Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works

Journey to Jerusalem. Concerning Divorce.
^A Matt. XIX. 1-12; ^B Mark X. 1-12. ^a 1 And it came to pass when Jesus had finished these words [the words contained in Matt. xviii., which are the last teachings in Galilee recorded by any of the Evangelists, p. 435 and p. 439 he departed from Galilee [Having come into the borders of it again from Ephraim. It seems likely that Matthew takes in at one view both departures from Galilee, viz.: that mentioned on p. 441 and that at [4]Sec. XCV., for Matthew records none of the intervening events and …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Blessing Children. Concerning Childlikeness.
(in Peræa.) ^A Matt. XIX. 13-15; ^B Mark X. 13-16; ^C Luke XVIII. 15-17. ^a 13 Then were there brought ^b 13 And they were bringing ^a unto him little children, { ^c also their babes,} that he should touch them: ^a that he should lay his hands on them, and pray [According to Buxtorf, children were often brought to the presidents of the synagogue in order that they might pray over them. The prayers of a good man in our behalf have always been regarded as a blessing; no wonder, then, that the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

On the Journey to Jerusalem - Departure from Ephraim by Way of Samaria and Galilee - Healing of Ten Lepers - Prophetic Discourse of the Coming
The brief time of rest and quiet converse with His disciples in the retirement of Ephraim was past, and the Saviour of men prepared for His last journey to Jerusalem. All the three Synoptic Gospels mark this, although with varying details. [4875] From the mention of Galilee by St. Matthew, and by St. Luke of Samaria and Galilee - or more correctly, between (along the frontiers of) Samaria and Galilee,' we may conjecture that, on leaving Ephraim, Christ made a very brief detour along the northern …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Last Incidents in Peræa - the Young Ruler who Went Away Sorrowful - to Leave all for Christ - Prophecy of his Passion - The
As we near the goal, the wondrous story seems to grow in tenderness and pathos. It is as if all the loving condescension of the Master were to be crowded into these days; all the pressing need also, and the human weaknesses of His disciples. And with equal compassion does He look upon the difficulties of them who truly seek to come to Him, and on those which, springing from without, or even from self and sin, beset them who have already come. Let us try reverently to follow His steps, and learn of …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Third Day in Pasion-Week - the Last Series of Parables: to the Pharisees and to the People - on the Way to Jerusalem: the Parable
(ST. Matt. xix. 30, xx. 16; St. Matt. xxi. 28-32; St. Mark xii. 1-12; St. Luke xx. 9-19; St. Matt. xxii. 1-14.) ALTHOUGH it may not be possible to mark their exact succession, it will be convenient here to group together the last series of Parables. Most, if not all of them, were spoken on that third day in Passion week: the first four to a more general audience; the last three (to be treated in another chapter) to the disciples, when, on the evening of that third day, on the Mount of Olives, [5286] …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Journey through Perea to Jerusalem
166. The fourth gospel says that after the visit to Jerusalem at the feast of Dedication Jesus withdrew beyond Jordan to the place where John at the first was baptizing (x. 40). Matthew and Mark also say that at the close of the ministry in Galilee Jesus departed and came into the borders of Judea and beyond Jordan, and that in this new region the multitudes again flocked to him, and he resumed his ministry of teaching (Matt. xix. 1f.; Mark x. 1). What he did and taught at this time is not shown …
Rush Rhees—The Life of Jesus of Nazareth

On the Words of the Gospel, "When Jesus had Finished These Sayings," Etc. --S. Matt. xix. 1
On the Words of the Gospel, "When Jesus Had Finished These Sayings," Etc.--S. Matt. xix. 1 I. Jesus Who Chose The Fishermen, Himself also useth a net, and changeth place for place. Why? Not only that He may gain more of those who love God by His visitation; but also, as it seems to me, that He may hallow more places. To the Jews He becomes as a Jew that He may gain the Jews; to them that are under the Law as under the Law, that He may redeem them that are under the Law; to the weak as weak, that …
St. Cyril of Jerusalem—Lectures of S. Cyril of Jerusalem

Eligius, Bishop of Noyon.
THE life of this pious bishop is so much the more worthy our consideration, on account of his having passed many years in the position of an ordinary citizen, before he entered on the clerical office; because his life may thus afford us a picture of the pious citizens of his time. Eligius was born at Chatelàt, a mile from Limoges, A. D. 588. His family had been Christian for many generations, and he received a pious education, [8] the result of which extended throughout his life. In his youth, …
Augustus Neander—Light in the Dark Places

Therefore no Fruitfulness of the Flesh Can be Compared to Holy virginity Even Of...
8. Therefore no fruitfulness of the flesh can be compared to holy virginity even of the flesh. For neither is itself also honored because it is virginity, but because it hath been dedicated to God, and, although it be kept in the flesh, yet is it kept by religion and devotion of the Spirit. And by this means even virginity of body is spiritual, which continence of piety vows and keeps. For, even as no one makes an immodest use of the body, unless the sin have been before conceived in the spirit, …
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

Ye Also who have not yet Made this Vow...
30. Ye also who have not yet made this vow, who are able to receive it, receive it. [2093] Run with perseverance, that ye may obtain. [2094] Take ye each his sacrifices, and enter ye into the courts [2095] of the Lord, not of necessity, having power over your own will. [2096] For not as, "Thou shall not commit adultery, Thou shall not kill," [2097] can it so be said, Thou shalt not wed. The former are demanded, the latter are offered. If the latter are done, they are praised: unless the former are …
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

Lastly, Let us Hear the Lord Himself Delivering Most Plain Judgment on this Matter. ...
23. Lastly, let us hear the Lord Himself delivering most plain judgment on this matter. For, upon His speaking after a divine and fearful manner concerning husband and wife not separating, save on account of fornication, His disciples said to Him, "If the case be such with a wife, it is not good to marry." [2066] To whom He saith, "Not all receive this saying. For there are eunuchs who were so born: but there are others who were made by men: and there are eunuchs, who made themselves eunuchs for …
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

Some Man Will Say: "What Then Does it Profit a Servant of God...
32. Some man will say: "What then does it profit a servant of God, that, having left the former doings which he had in the world he is converted unto the spiritual life and warfare, if it still behove him to do business as of a common workman?" As if truly it could be easily unfolded in words, how greatly profiteth what the Lord, in answer to that rich man who was seeking counsel of laying hold on eternal life, told him to do if he would fain be perfect: sell that he had, distribute all to the indigence …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

It is Difficult to Treat of the virtue of the Soul...
1. It is difficult to treat of the virtue of the soul, which is called Continence, in a manner fully suitable and worthy; but He, whose great gift this virtue is, will help our littleness under the burden of so great a weight. For He, who bestows it upon His faithful ones when they are continent, Himself gives discourse of it to His ministers when they speak. Lastly, of so great a matter purposing to speak what Himself shall grant, in the first place we say and prove that Continence is the gift of …
St. Augustine—On Continence

This we Now Say, That, According to this Condition of Being Born and Dying...
3. This we now say, that, according to this condition of being born and dying, which we know, and in which we have been created, the marriage of male and female is some good; the compact whereof divine Scripture so commends, as that neither is it allowed one put away by her husband to marry, so long as her husband lives: nor is it allowed one put away by his wife to marry another, unless she who have separated from him be dead. Therefore, concerning the good of marriage, which the Lord also confirmed …
St. Augustine—On the Good of Marriage

But Since, as the Lord Saith, "Not all Receive this Word...
12. But since, as the Lord saith, "Not all receive this word;" [2249] therefore let her who can receive it, receive it; and let her, who containeth not, marry; let her, who hath not begun, deliberate; let her, who hath undertaken it, persevere; let there be no occasion given unto the adversary, let there be no oblation withdrawn from Christ. Forsooth in the marriage bond if chastity be preserved, condemnation is not feared; but in widowed and virginal continence, the excellence of a greater gift …
St. Augustine—On the Good of Widowhood.

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