14. To that which is objected, that every virtue is concerned with the good and the difficult: it must be said that although knowing one's wife is not difficult in itself, just as neither is eating food, nevertheless to preserve therein the due measure and to set a limit—this is both arduous and difficult—and to laudably overcome concupiscence within oneself through a certain warfare of virtue. Whence Augustine, in Against Julian, Book Three: "Conjugal chastity holds the palm, though a lesser one, over the subjection of this evil: for it too wages war against carnal concupiscence, lest it exceed the limits of the nuptial bed; it wages war lest it break into the time set aside by mutual consent of the spouses for prayer; it wages war with a stronger conflict, lest it touch even the body of the spouse beyond what suffices for the begetting of children. Such chastity makes use of women neither when menstruating nor when pregnant, nor of that age at which it is certain they cannot conceive; nor does the desire for intercourse entirely overcome it, but it is relaxed only when the effect of generation is hoped for."
15. To that which is objected, that to be continent is to abstain from intercourse: it must be said that to abstain from intercourse is said in two ways: either universally from all, and thus it pertains to counsel; or from all that is illicit, and thus it is an act of conjugal continence, which is more properly called conjugal chastity, because, just as sobriety consists in the moderate use of food, while abstinence denotes cessation even from licit use, so chastity denotes honorable and chaste use, while continence denotes chaste cessation from use; and both are good, as will be seen below, because it is good to make good use of an evil, and it is better not to make use of an evil at all. But this will be made more fully clear in the following question.
ARTICLE II.
On widowed continence, to be observed and vowed.
Second, it is asked concerning widowed continence; and the question is whether widowed continence according to the evangelical law ought to be vowed. And that it should is shown by authority and by reason: by authority thus.
1. Matthew 19: There are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven; he who can receive it, let him receive it: but to make oneself a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom of heaven is done most especially through a vow of continence, and this is proposed to all who wish to undertake it: therefore anyone who wills can vow continence according to the evangelical law.
2. Again, 1 Corinthians 7: It is good for a man not to touch a woman: therefore by equal reasoning it is good for a woman not to touch a man: but this is not a good of precept, but of counsel; and counsels are to be vowed: therefore not to touch a woman is to be vowed. But this is a vow of continence: therefore etc.
3. Again, a little further on: But I say to the unmarried and to widows: it is good for them, if they so remain: therefore according to the Apostle it is good to remain in widowed continence; but this good is a counsel: therefore someone can licitly vow widowed continence.
4. Likewise, in the same place: If the husband shall have died, the woman is freed from the law of the husband; but she will be more blessed if she so remains: but what is more blessed can be licitly vowed: and this is through the vow of widowed continence: therefore etc.
5. Likewise, on that word Augustine says, in On Widowhood: "What I say to one widowed woman I say to every widow: She will be more blessed if she so remains ":
therefore this is proposed to all widows: therefore it is licit for anyone to vow continence according to the evangelical law.
6. Likewise, in the same place: I wish all men to be as I myself: but he himself was entirely continent and bound to continence: therefore he wished that all be bound to continence. But this is done through the vow of continence: therefore etc.
7. Likewise, Romans 12: I beseech you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God; but this is done most especially when the flesh is dedicated to God through the vow of continence: therefore to vow continence is pleasing to God.
Likewise, this same thing is shown by reason thus.
8. What distances one from the concupiscence of the flesh is good and praiseworthy: but the vow of widowed continence most greatly distances from the concupiscence of the flesh: therefore it is good and praiseworthy.
9. Likewise, he who subdues the flesh acts praiseworthily, because the flesh through concupiscence drags one toward sin; but this is done through perpetual continence: therefore to be perpetually continent is praiseworthy: therefore it can be licitly vowed.
10. Likewise, there is a good of counsel, and there is a good of precept: but continence is not a good of precept, because then all who marry would sin: therefore it is a good of counsel. But counsels are to be vowed: therefore etc.
But against this: 1. First Corinthians 7: On account of fornication let each man have his own wife, and each woman her own husband: but that is not a counsel, since it is not a work of perfection nor of supererogation: therefore it is a precept: therefore whoever vows continence acts against this precept: therefore etc.
2. Likewise, First Timothy 5: I wish the younger women to marry, to bear children: but the vow of continence is contrary to this: therefore the Apostle wished the contrary of the vow of continence: therefore continence is not to be vowed.
3. Likewise, First Timothy 5: Let a widow be chosen not less than sixty years of age; and in the same place: Avoid the younger widows: therefore it does not seem that widowed chastity should be undertaken except in elderly women, nor this for any other reason than on account of the danger: therefore it does not seem safe to make a vow of continence.
4. Likewise, everything that is repugnant to a divine precept is to be condemned; but to vow continence is repugnant to a divine precept, namely Genesis 1: Increase and multiply: therefore etc.
5. Likewise, everything that is repugnant to the natural dictate is to be condemned; but the vow of continence is repugnant to the matrimonial union, which accords with the natural dictate: therefore etc.
6. Furthermore, everything that is contrary to the common good, is to be condemned; but the vow of continence is contrary to the common good, namely generation, in which the preservation of the species consists: therefore it is to be condemned.
7. Furthermore, whoever deprives himself of a useful and reasonable remedy divinely instituted acts badly; but he who vows continence deprives himself of matrimony, which is a sacramental remedy divinely instituted: therefore, etc.
8. Furthermore, he who commits himself to danger acts badly; but he who vows continence commits himself to danger on account of the slipperiness of the flesh: therefore, etc.