Part III, Chapter XII

Of the Necessity of Chastity

Chastity, the lily of virtues, makes men almost equal to angels. Nothing is beautiful but what is pure, and the purity of men is chastity. Chastity is called honesty, and the possession of it honor; it is also named integrity, and the opposite vice, corruption. In short, it has its peculiar glory, to be the fair and unspotted virtue of both soul and body.

It is never lawful to draw an impure pleasure from our bodies in any manner whatsoever, except in lawful marriage, the sanctity of which may, by a just compensation, repair the damage we receive in that delectation; and yet, even in marriage itself, the honesty of the intention must be observed, to the end that, if there be any indecency in the pleasure that is taken, there may be nothing but honesty in the will that takes it.

The chaste heart is like the mother-pearl, that can receive no drop of water but such as comes from heaven; for it can accept of no pleasure but that of marriage, which is ordained from heaven; out of which it is not allowed so much as to think of it, so as to take a voluntary and deliberate delight in the thought.

For the first degree of this virtue, Philothea, beware of admitting any kind of forbidden pleasures, as all those are which are taken out of, or even in, marriage, when they are taken contrary to the rule of marriage. For the second, refrain as much as is possible from all unprofitable and superfluous delights, although lawful and permitted. For the third, set not your affection on pleasures and delights which are ordained and commanded; for though we must take these delectations that are necessary, I mean those which concern the end and institution of holy matrimony, yet we must never set our heart and mind upon them.

As to the rest, every one stands in great need of this virtue. They that are in the state of marriage ought to have a courageous chastity, to despise not only present or future objects, but to resist also the impure imaginations which former pleasures, lawfully received in marriage, may produce in their minds, which on this account are more susceptible of unclean allurements. For this cause St. Austin admires the purity of his friend Alipius, who had wholly forgotten and despised the pleasures of the flesh, of which, nevertheless, he had some experience in his youth.

In effect, as when fruits are entire and sound, they may be preserved, some in straw, some in sand, and some in their own leaves, but being once cut or bruised, it is almost impossible to preserve them but by honey and sugar, in the form of sweetmeats; so untainted chastity may many ways be kept; but, after it has once been violated, nothing can preserve it but an extraordinary devotion, which, as I have often repeated, is the true honey and sugar of the spirit.

Virgins have need of a chastity extremely sincere, nice, and tender, to banish from their hearts all sorts of curious thoughts, and to despise, with an absolute contempt, all sorts of unclean pleasures; which in truth deserve not to be desired by men, since they are better enjoyed by swine. Let, then, these pure souls be careful never to doubt but that chastity is incomparably better than all that which is incompatible with it; for, as the great St. Jerome says, the enemy violently tempts virgins to desire to make a trial of these pleasures, representing them as infinitely more agreeable and delightful than indeed they are, which often troubles them very much, whilst as this holy father says, they esteem that more sweet of which they know nothing.

For as the little butterfly, seeing the flame, hovers with a curiosity about it, to try whether it be as sweet as it is fair, and, being borne away with this fancy, ceases not till it is destroyed at the very first trial; so young people suffer themselves frequently to be so possessed with the false and foolish opinion they have formed of the pleasure of voluptuous desire, that after many curious thoughts they at length ruin themselves, and perish in the flames; more foolish in this than the butterflies, for these have some cause to imagine that the fire is sweet, because it is so beautiful; but those knowing that which they seek to be extremely dishonest, cease not, nevertheless, to set a value on that brutish pleasure.

But as for those who are married, it is most true, though the vulgar cannot conceive it, that chastity is very necessary, also, for them; because, in respect of them, it consists not in abstaining absolutely from carnal pleasures, but in containing themselves in the midst of pleasures. Now, as this commandment, Be angry and sin not, is, in my opinion, more difficult to be observed than this. Be not angry; and as one may more easily abstain from anger than regulate it; so it is easier to keep ourselves altogether from carnal pleasures than to preserve a moderation in them. It is true, that the holy liberty of marriage has a particular force to extinguish the fire of concupiscence; but the frailty of them that enjoys this liberty passes easily from permission to dissolution, and from use to abuse; and as we see many rich men steal, not through want but avarice, so also we may observe many married people fall into excess by mere intemperance and incontinency, notwithstanding the lawful object to which they ought and might confine themselves; their concupiscence being like wildfire, which runs burning here and there, without resting in any one place. It is always dangerous to take violent medicines, for if we take more than we should, or if they be not well prepared, they may be attended with fatal consequences. Marriage was blessed and ordained in part as a remedy for concupiscence, and, doubtless, it is a very good remedy, but yet violent, and consequently very dangerous, if it be not used with discretion.

I add, that the variety of human affairs, besides long diseases, oftentimes separates husbands from their wives; and therefore married people have need of two kinds of chastity: the one for absolute abstinence, when they are separated upon the occasions of which I have been speaking; the other for moderation, when they are together in the ordinary course. St. Catharine of Sienna saw, amongst the damned, many souls grievously tormented for having violated the sanctity of marriage, which happened, said she, not for the enormity of the sin, for murders and blasphemies are more enormous, but because they that commit it make no conscience of it, and therefore continue long in it.

You see, then, that chastity is necessary for all classes of people: “Follow peace with all men,” says the Apostle, “and holiness, without which no man shall see God;” by holiness is here understood “chastity”; as St. Jerome and St. Chrysostom observe. No, Philothea, no one shall see God without chastity; no one shall dwell in his holy tabernacle, that is not clean of heart; and, as our Saviour himself says (Apocalypse 22:15), “Dogs and the unchaste shall be banished thence,” and “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

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