Marriage and Virginity
This is what led in particular to the growth of the Cataphrygian and Novatianist heresies, swollen by the noisy, mindless puffing of Tertullian.†7 With his foul mouth he attacks second marriages as being forbidden, although with sober judgment the apostle accepts them as entirely lawful.†8 Do not let anyone's arguments, learned or unlearned, cause you to waver from this sound teaching. Do not think so highly of your own perfection that you accuse something that is not bad, an excellence other persons have, of being bad. Rather take greater pleasure in your own excellence, to the extent that you see that not only is evil excluded by it, but also certain good things are excelled by it. The evils are adultery and fornication.
Even Second Marriages Are Honorable
5. Far removed from these sins is the woman who has freely bound herself by a vow. She brings it about, not because the law requires it but because charity commends it, that even things that are lawful are not lawful for her. A married person's chastity is good, but a widow's celibacy is better. It is better for this good thing to be honored by that other good thing being ranked inferior to it, than for that other good thing to be condemned because this better thing is praised.
7. When the apostle was extolling the fruits of being celibate and unmarried, namely that such persons think about what concerns God, and how to please God,†9 he went on to say: I say this, however, for your good, not to put a noose around your neck (that is, not to compel you), but looking to what is honorable (1 Cor 7:35). Because he called the excellence of the unmarried state honorable, it does not follow that we should think the marriage bond to be dishonorable. Otherwise, we shall condemn even first marriages, which not even the Cataphrygians or the Novatianists, or their most eloquent instructor Tertullian dared to say were dishonorable.†10 When he said, I say, however, to those who are unmarried and those who are widows that it is good for them to remain that way (1 Cor 7:8), he clearly used the word "good" in the sense of "better." Anything that is said to be better in comparison with something good is undeniably also itself good. (What else does it mean to say it is better than that it is "more good"?) So from the fact that he said, it is good for them to remain that way, we do not conclude that he considered it to be bad if they married. Likewise, when he said, but looking to what is honorable (1 Cor 7:35), he did not imply that marriage is dishonorable,