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| The Ever-Virgin Mary |
This tract appeared about a.d. 383. The question which gave
occasion to it was whether the Mother of our Lord remained a Virgin after His
birth. Helvidius maintained that the mention in the Gospels of the
"sisters" and "brethren" of our Lord was proof that the
Blessed Virgin had subsequent issue, and he supported his opinion by the
writings of Tertullian and Victorinus. The outcome of his views was that
virginity was ranked below matrimony. Jerome vigorously takes the other side,
and tries to prove that the "sisters" and "brethren" spoken
of, were either children of Joseph by a former marriage, or first cousins,
children of the sister of the Virgin. A detailed account of the controversy
will be found in Farrar's "Early Days of Christianity," pp. 124 sq.
When Jerome wrote this treatise both he and Helvidius were at Rome, and Damasus
was Pope. The only contemporary notice preserved of Helvidius is that by Jerome
in the following pages.
Jerome maintains against Helvidius three propositions:—
1st. That Joseph was only putatively, not really, the
husband of Mary.
2d. That the "brethren" of the Lord were his
cousins, not his own brethren.
3d. That virginity is better than the married state.
1. The first of these occupies ch. 3-8. It turns upon the
record in Matt. i. 18-25, and especially on the words, "Before they came
together" (c. 4), "knew her not till, etc." (5-8).
2. The second (c. 9-17) turns upon the words
"first-born son" (9, 10), which, Jerome argues, are applicable not
only to the eldest of several, but also to an only son: and the mention of
brothers and sisters, whom Jerome asserts to have been children of Mary the
wife of Cleophas or Clopas (11-16); he appeals to many Church writers in
support of this view (17).
3. In support of his preference of virginity to marriage,
Jerome argues that not only Mary but Joseph also remained in the virgin state
(19); that, though marriage may sometimes be a holy estate, it presents great
hindrances to prayer (20), and the teaching of Scripture is that the states of
virginity and continency are more accordant with God's will than that of
marriage (21, 22).
1. I was requested by certain of the brethren not long ago
to reply to a pamphlet written by one Helvidius. I have deferred doing so, not
because it is a difficult matter to maintain the truth and refute an ignorant
boor who has scarce known the first glimmer of learning, but because I was
afraid my reply might make him appear worth defeating. There was the further
consideration that a turbulent fellow, the only individual in the world who
thinks himself both priest and layman, one who, as has been said, thinks that
eloquence consists in loquacity and considers speaking ill of anyone to be the
witness of a good conscience, would begin to blaspheme worse than ever if
opportunity of discussion were afforded him. He would stand as it were on a
pedestal, and would publish his views far and wide. There was reason also to
fear that when truth failed him he would assail his opponents with the weapon
of abuse. But all these motives for silence, though just, have more justly
ceased to influence me, because of the scandal caused to the brethren who were
disgusted at his ravings. The axe of the Gospel must therefore be now laid to
the root of the barren tree, and both it and its fruitless foliage cast into
the fire, so that Helvidius who has never learned to speak, may at length learn
to hold his tongue.
2. I must call upon the Holy Spirit to express His meaning
by my mouth and defend the virginity of the Blessed Mary. I must call upon the
Lord Jesus to guard the sacred lodging of the womb in which He abode for ten
months from all suspicion of sexual intercourse. And I must also entreat God
the Father to show that the mother of His Son, who was a mother before she was
a bride, continued a Virgin after her son was born. We have no desire to career
over the fields of eloquence, we do not resort to the snares of the logicians
or the thickets of Aristotle. We shall adduce the actual words of Scripture.
Let him be refuted by the same proofs which he employed against us, so that he
may see that it was possible for him to read what is written, and yet to be
unable to discern the established conclusion of a sound faith.
3. His first statement was: "Matthew says, Now the
birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When his mother Mary had been betrothed
to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make
her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. But when he thought
on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream,
saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto you Mary your wife:
for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." Notice, he says,
that the word used is betrothed, not entrusted as you say, and of course the
only reason why she was betrothed was that she might one day be married. And
the Evangelist would not have said before they came together if they were not
to come together, for no one would use the phrase before he dined of a man who
was not going to dine. Then, again, the angel calls her wife and speaks of her
as united to Joseph. We are next invited to listen to the declaration of
Scripture: Matthew 1:24-25 "And Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as
the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took unto him his wife; and knew her
not till she had brought forth her son."
4. Let us take the points one by one, and follow the tracks
of this impiety that we may show that he has contradicted himself. He admits
that she was betrothed, and in the next breath will have her to be a man's wife
whom he has admitted to be his betrothed. Again, he calls her wife, and then
says the only reason why she was betrothed was that she might one day be
married. And, for fear we might not think that enough, "the word
used," he says, "is betrothed and not entrusted, that is to say, not
yet a wife, not yet united by the bond of wedlock." But when he continues,
"the Evangelist would never have applied the words, before they came
together to persons who were not to come together, any more than one says,
before he dined, when the man is not going to dine," I know not whether to
grieve or laugh. Shall I convict him of ignorance, or accuse him of rashness?
Just as if, supposing a person to say, "Before dining in harbour I sailed
to Africa," his words could not hold good unless he were compelled some
day to dine in harbour. If I choose to say, "the apostle Paul before he
went to Spain was put in fetters at Rome," or (as I certainly might)
"Helvidius, before he repented, was cut off by death," must Paul on
being released at once go to Spain, or must Helvidius repent after death,
although the Scripture says "In sheol who shall give you thanks?"
Must we not rather understand that the preposition before, although it
frequently denotes order in time, yet sometimes refers only to order in
thought? So that there is no necessity, if sufficient cause intervened to
prevent it, for our thoughts to be realized. When, then, the Evangelist says
before they came together, he indicates the time immediately preceding
marriage, and shows that matters were so far advanced that she who had been
betrothed was on the point of becoming a wife. As though he said, before they
kissed and embraced, before the consummation of marriage, she was found to be
with child. And she was found to be so by none other than Joseph, who watched
the swelling womb of his betrothed with the anxious glances, and, at this time,
almost the privilege, of a husband. Yet it does not follow, as the previous
examples showed, that he had intercourse with Mary after her delivery, when his
desires had been quenched by the fact that she had already conceived. And
although we find it said to Joseph in a dream, "Fear not to take Mary your
wife"; and again, "Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel
of the Lord commanded him, and took unto him his wife," no one ought to be
disturbed by this, as though, inasmuch as she is called wife, she ceases to be
betrothed, for we know it is usual in Scripture to give the title to those who
are betrothed. The following evidence from Deuteronomy establishes the point.
Deuteronomy 22:24-25 "If the man," says the writer, "find the
damsel that is betrothed in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her,
he shall surely die, because he has humbled his neighbour's wife." And in
another place, Deuteronomy 22:23-24 "If there be a damsel that is a virgin
betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;
then you shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and you shall
stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being
in the city; and the man, because he has humbled his neighbour's wife: so you
shall put away the evil from the midst of you." Elsewhere also,
Deuteronomy 20:7 "And what man is there that has betrothed a wife, and has
not taken her? Let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle,
and another man take her." But if anyone feels a doubt as to why the
Virgin conceived after she was betrothed rather than when she had no one
betrothed to her, or, to use the Scripture phrase, no husband, let me explain
that there were three reasons. First, that by the genealogy of Joseph, whose
kinswoman Mary was, Mary's origin might also be shown. Secondly, that she might
not in accordance with the law of Moses be stoned as an adulteress. Thirdly,
that in her flight to Egypt she might have some solace, though it was that of a
guardian rather than a husband. For who at that time would have believed the
Virgin's word that she had conceived of the Holy Ghost, and that the angel
Gabriel had come and announced the purpose of God? And would not all have given
their opinion against her as an adulteress, like Susanna? For at the present
day, now that the whole world has embraced the faith, the Jews argue that when
Isaiah says, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son," the
Hebrew word denotes a young woman, not a virgin, that is to say, the word is
Almah, not Bethulah, a position which, farther on, we shall dispute more in
detail. Lastly, excepting Joseph, and Elizabeth, and Mary herself, and some few
others who, we may suppose, heard the truth from them, all considered Jesus to
be the son of Joseph. And so far was this the case that even the Evangelists,
expressing the prevailing opinion, which is the correct rule for a historian,
call him the father of the Saviour, as, for instance, Luke 2:27 "And he
(that is, Simeon) came in the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents
brought in the child Jesus, that they might do concerning him after the custom
of the law;" and elsewhere, Luke 2:41 "And his parents went every
year to Jerusalem at the feast of the passover." And afterwards, "And
when they had fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus tarried
behind in Jerusalem; and his parents knew not of it." Observe also what
Mary herself, who had replied to Gabriel with the words, "How shall this
be, seeing I know not a man?" says concerning Joseph, Luke 2:48 "Son,
why have you thus dealt with us? Behold, your father and I sought you
sorrowing." We have not here, as many maintain, the utterance of Jews or
of mockers. The Evangelists call Joseph father: Mary confesses he was father.
Not (as I said before) that Joseph was really the father of the Saviour: but
that, to preserve the reputation of Mary, he was regarded by all as his father,
although, before he heard the admonition of the angel, Matthew 1:20
"Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto you Mary your wife: for
that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost," he had thoughts of
putting her away privily; which shows that he well knew that the child
conceived was not his. But we have said enough, more with the aim of imparting
instruction than of answering an opponent, to show why Joseph is called the
father of our Lord, and why Mary is called Joseph's wife. This also at once
answers the question why certain persons are called his brethren.
5. This, however, is a point which will find its proper
place further on. We must now hasten to other matters. The passage for
discussion now is, "And Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel
of the Lord commanded him, and took unto him his wife and knew her not till she
had brought forth a son, and he called his name Jesus." Here, first of
all, it is quite needless for our opponent to show so elaborately that the word
know has reference to coition, rather than to intellectual apprehension: as
though anyone denied it, or any person in his senses could ever imagine the
folly which Helvidius takes pains to refute. Then he would teach us that the
adverb till implies a fixed and definite time, and when that is fulfilled, he
says the event takes place which previously did not take place, as in the case
before us, "and knew her not till she had brought forth a son." It is
clear, says he, that she was known after she brought forth, and that that
knowledge was only delayed by her engendering a son. To defend his position he
piles up text upon text, waves his sword like a blind-folded gladiator, rattles
his noisy tongue, and ends with wounding no one but himself.
6. Our reply is briefly this—the words knew and till in the
language of Holy Scripture are capable of a double meaning. As to the former,
he himself gave us a dissertation to show that it must be referred to sexual
intercourse, and no one doubts that it is often used of the knowledge of the
understanding, as, for instance, "the boy Jesus tarried behind in
Jerusalem, and his parents knew it not." Now we have to prove that just as
in the one case he has followed the usage of Scripture, so with regard to the
word till he is utterly refuted by the authority of the same Scripture, which
often denotes by its use a fixed time (he himself told us so), frequently time
without limitation, as when God by the mouth of the prophet says to certain
persons, Isaiah 46:4 "Even to old age I am he." Will He cease to be
God when they have grown old? And the Saviour in the Gospel tells the Apostles,
Matthew 28:20 "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the
world." Will the Lord then after the end of the world has come forsake His
disciples, and at the very time when seated on twelve thrones they are to judge
the twelve tribes of Israel will they be bereft of the company of their Lord?
Again Paul the Apostle writing to the Corinthians says, "Christ the
first-fruits, afterward they that are Christ's, at his coming. Then comes the
end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when
he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power. For he must
reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet." Granted that the
passage relates to our Lord's human nature, we do not deny that the words are
spoken of Him who endured the cross and is commanded to sit afterwards on the
right hand. What does he mean then by saying, "for he must reign, till he
has put all enemies under his feet"? Is the Lord to reign only until His
enemies begin to be under His feet, and once they are under His feet will He
cease to reign? Of course His reign will then commence in its fullness when His
enemies begin to be under His feet. David also in the fourth Song of Ascents
speaks thus, "Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their
master, as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look
unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy upon us." Will the prophet,
then, look unto the Lord until he obtain mercy, and when mercy is obtained will
he turn his eyes down to the ground? Although elsewhere he says, "My eyes
fail for your salvation, and for the word of your righteousness." I could
accumulate countless instances of this usage, and cover the verbosity of our
assailant with a cloud of proofs; I shall, however, add only a few, and leave
the reader to discover like ones for himself.
7. The word of God says in Genesis, "And they gave unto
Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were
in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem, and lost
them until this day." Likewise at the end of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy
34:5-6 "So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab,
according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in the valley, in the land
of Moab over against Beth-peor: but no man knows of his sepulchre unto this day."
We must certainly understand by this day the time of the composition of the
history, whether you prefer the view that Moses was the author of the
Pentateuch or that Ezra re-edited it. In either case I make no objection. The
question now is whether the words unto this day are to be referred to the time
of publishing or writing the books, and if so it is for him to show, now that
so many years have rolled away since that day, that either the idols hidden
beneath the oak have been found, or the grave of Moses discovered; for he
obstinately maintains that what does not happen so long as the point of time
indicated by until and unto has not been attained, begins to be when that point
has been reached. He would do well to pay heed to the idiom of Holy Scripture,
and understand with us, (it was here he stuck in the mud) that some things
which might seem ambiguous if not expressed are plainly intimated, while others
are left to the exercise of our intellect. For if, while the event was still
fresh in memory and men were living who had seen Moses, it was possible for his
grave to be unknown, much more may this be the case after the lapse of so many
ages. And in the same way must we interpret what we are told concerning Joseph.
The Evangelist pointed out a circumstance which might have given rise to some
scandal, namely, that Mary was not known by her husband until she was
delivered, and he did so that we might be the more certain that she from whom
Joseph refrained while there was room to doubt the import of the vision was not
known after her delivery.
8. In short, what I want to know is why Joseph refrained
until the day of her delivery? Helvidius will of course reply, because he heard
the angel say, Matthew 1:20 "that which is conceived in her is of the Holy
Ghost." And in turn we rejoin that he had certainly heard him say, Matthew
1:20 "Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto you Mary your
wife." The reason why he was forbidden to forsake his wife was that he
might not think her an adulteress. Is it true then, that he was ordered not to
have intercourse with his wife? Is it not plain that the warning was given him
that he might not be separated from her? And could the just man dare, he says,
to think of approaching her, when he heard that the Son of God was in her womb?
Excellent! We are to believe then that the same man who gave so much credit to
a dream that he did not dare to touch his wife, yet afterwards, when he had
learned from the shepherds that the angel of the Lord had come from heaven and
said to them, "Be not afraid: for behold I bring you good tidings of great
joy which shall be to all people, for there is born to you this day in the city
of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord;" and when the heavenly host
had joined with him in the chorus Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among men of good will;" and when he had seen just
Simeon embrace the infant and exclaim, "Now let your servant depart, O
Lord, according to your word in peace: for my eyes have seen your salvation;"
and when he had seen Anna the prophetess, the Magi, the Star, Herod, the
angels; Helvidius, I say, would have us believe that Joseph, though well
acquainted with such surprising wonders, dared to touch the temple of God, the
abode of the Holy Ghost, the mother of his Lord? Mary at all events "kept
all these sayings in her heart." You cannot for shame say Joseph did not
know of them, for Luke tells us, Luke 2:33 "His father and mother were
marvelling at the things which were spoken concerning Him." And yet you
with marvellous effrontery contend that the reading of the Greek manuscripts is
corrupt, although it is that which nearly all the Greek writers have left us in
their books, and not only so, but several of the Latin writers have taken the
words the same way. Nor need we now consider the variations in the copies,
since the whole record both of the Old and New Testament has since that time
been translated into Latin, and we must believe that the water of the fountain
flows purer than that of the stream.
9. Helvidius will answer, "What you say, is in my
opinion mere trifling. Your arguments are so much waste of time, and the
discussion shows more subtlety than truth. Why could not Scripture say, as it
said of Thamar and Judah, Genesis 38:26 'And he took his wife, and knew her
again no more'? Could not Matthew find words to express his meaning? 'He knew
her not,' he says, 'until she brought forth a son.' He did then, after her
delivery, know her, whom he had refrained from knowing until she was delivered."
10. If you are so contentious, your own thoughts shall now
prove your master. You must not allow any time to intervene between delivery
and intercourse. You must not say, "If a woman conceive seed and bear a
man child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of the
separation of her sickness shall she be unclean. And in the eighth day the
flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. And she shall continue in the blood
of her purifying three and thirty days. She shall touch no hallowed thing,"
and so forth. On your showing, Joseph must at once approach, her, and be
subject to Jeremiah's Jeremiah 5:8 reproof, "They were as mad horses in
respect of women: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife."
Otherwise, how can the words stand good, "he knew her not, till she had
brought forth a son," if he waits after the time of another purifying has
expired, if his lust must brook another long delay of forty days? The mother
must go unpurged from her child-bed taint, and the wailing infant be attended to
by the midwives, while the husband clasps his exhausted wife. Thus forsooth
must their married life begin so that the Evangelist may not be convicted of
falsehood. But God forbid that we should think thus of the Saviour's mother and
of a just man. No midwife assisted at His birth; no women's officiousness
intervened. With her own hands she wrapped Him in the swaddling clothes,
herself both mother and midwife, Luke 2:7 "and laid Him," we are
told, "in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn"; a
statement which, on the one hand, refutes the ravings of the apocryphal
accounts, for Mary herself wrapped Him in the swaddling clothes, and on the
other makes the voluptuous notion of Helvidius impossible, since there was no
place suitable for married intercourse in the inn.
11. An ample reply has now been given to what he advanced
respecting the words before they came together, and he knew her not till she
had brought forth a son. I must now proceed, if my reply is to follow the order
of his argument, to the third point. He will have it that Mary bore other sons,
and he quotes the passage, "And Joseph also went up to the city of David
to enroll himself with Mary, who was betrothed to him, being great with child.
And it came to pass, while they were there, the days were fulfilled that she
should be delivered, and she brought forth her first-born son." From this
he endeavours to show that the term first-born is inapplicable except to a
person who has brothers, just as he is called only begotten who is the only son
of his parents.
12. Our position is this: Every only begotten son is a
first-born son, but not every first-born is an only begotten. By first-born we
understand not only one who is succeeded by others, but one who has had no
predecessor. Numbers 18:15 "Everything," says the Lord to Aaron,
"that opens the womb of all flesh which they offer unto the Lord, both of
man and beast, shall be yours: nevertheless the first born of man shall you
surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shall you redeem." The
word of God defines first-born as everything that opens the womb. Otherwise, if
the title belongs to such only as have younger brothers, the priests cannot
claim the firstlings until their successors have been begotten, lest, perchance,
in case there were no subsequent delivery it should prove to be the first-born
but not merely the only begotten. Numbers 18:16 "And those that are to be
redeemed of them from a month old shall you redeem, according to your
estimation for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary
(the same is twenty gerahs). But the firstling of an ox, or the firstling of a
sheep, or the firstling of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy."
The word of God compels me to dedicate to God everything that opens the womb if
it be the firstling of clean beasts: if of unclean beasts, I must redeem it,
and give the value to the priest. I might reply and say, Why do you tie me down
to the short space of a month? Why do you speak of the first-born, when I
cannot tell whether there are brothers to follow? Wait until the second is
born. I owe nothing to the priest, unless the birth of a second should make the
one I previously had the first-born. Will not the very points of the letters
cry out against me and convict me of my folly, and declare that first-born is a
title of him who opens the womb, and is not to be restricted to him who has
brothers? And, then, to take the case of John: we are agreed that he was an
only begotten son: I want to know if he was not also a first-born son, and
whether he was not absolutely amenable to the law. There can be no doubt in the
matter. At all events Scripture thus speaks of the Saviour, "And when the
days of her purification according to the law of Moses were fulfilled, they brought
him up to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of
the Lord, every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord) and
to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a
pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons." If this law relates only to
the first-born, and there can be no first-born unless there are successors, no
one ought to be bound by the law of the first-born who cannot tell whether
there will be successors. But inasmuch as he who has no younger brothers is
bound by the law of the first-born, we gather that he is called the first-born
who opens the womb and who has been preceded by none, not he whose birth is
followed by that of a younger brother. Moses writes in Exodus, Exodus 12:29
"And it came to pass at midnight, that the Lord smote all the first-born
in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne
unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon: And all the
first-born of cattle." Tell me, were they who then perished by the
destroyer, only your first-born, or, something more, did they include the only
begotten? If only they who have brothers are called first-born, the only
begotten were saved from death. And if it be the fact that the only begotten
were slain, it was contrary to the sentence pronounced, for the only begotten
to die as well as the first-born. You must either release the only begotten
from the penalty, and in that case you become ridiculous: or, if you allow that
they were slain, we gain our point, though we have not to thank you for it,
that only begotten sons also are called first-born.
13. The last proposition of Helvidius was this, and it is
what he wished to show when he treated of the first-born, that brethren of the
Lord are mentioned in the Gospels. For example, Matthew 12:46 "Behold, his
mother and his brethren stood without, seeking to speak to him." And
elsewhere, John 2:12 "After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his
mother, and his brethren." And again, John 7:3-4 "His brethren
therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judæa, that your disciples
also may behold the works which you do. For no man does anything in secret, and
himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, manifest yourself to
the world." And John adds, John 7:5 "For even his brethren did not
believe in him." Mark also and Matthew, "And coming into his own
country he taught them in their synagogues, insomuch that they were astonished,
and said, Whence has this man this wisdom, and mighty works? Is not this the
carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brethren James, and
Joseph, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us?"
Luke also in the Acts of the Apostles relates, Acts 1:14 "These all with
one accord continued steadfastly in prayer, with the women and Mary the mother
of Jesus, and with his brethren." Paul the Apostle also is at one with
them, and witnesses to their historical accuracy, "And I went up by
revelation, but other of the apostles saw I none, save Peter and James the
Lord's brother." And again in another place, 1 Corinthians 9:4-5
"Have we no right to eat and drink? Have we no right to lead about wives
even as the rest of the Apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?"
And for fear any one should not allow the evidence of the Jews, since it was
they from whose mouth we hear the name of His brothers, but should maintain
that His countrymen were deceived by the same error in respect of the brothers
into which they fell in their belief about the father, Helvidius utters a sharp
note of warning and cries, "The same names are repeated by the Evangelists
in another place, and the same persons are there brethren of the Lord and sons
of Mary." Matthew says, "And many women were there (doubtless at the
Lord's cross) beholding from afar, which had followed Jesus from Galilee,
ministering unto him: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of
James and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee." Mark also,
"And there were also women beholding from afar, among whom were both Mary
Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and
Salome"; and in the same place shortly after, "And many other women
which came up with him unto Jerusalem." Luke too, Luke 24:10 "Now
there were Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and the
other women with them."
14. My reason for repeating the same thing again and again
is to prevent him from raising a false issue and crying out that I have
withheld such passages as make for him, and that his view has been torn to
shreds not by evidence of Scripture, but by evasive arguments. Observe, he
says, James and Joses are sons of Mary, and the same persons who were called
brethren by the Jews. Observe, Mary is the mother of James the Less and of
Joses. And James is called the less to distinguish him from James the greater,
who was the son of Zebedee, as Mark elsewhere states, "And Mary Magdalene
and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid. And when the sabbath was
past, they bought spices, that they might come and anoint him." And, as
might be expected, he says: "What a poor and impious view we take of Mary,
if we hold that when other women were concerned about the burial of Jesus, she
His mother was absent; or if we invent some kind of a second Mary; and all the
more because the Gospel of S. John testifies that she was there present, when
the Lord upon the cross commended her, as His mother and now a widow, to the
care of John. Or must we suppose that the Evangelists were so far mistaken and
so far mislead us as to call Mary the mother of those who were known to the
Jews as brethren of Jesus?"
15. What darkness, what raging madness rushing to its own
destruction! You say that the mother of the Lord was present at the cross, you
say that she was entrusted to the disciple John on account of her widowhood and
solitary condition: as if upon your own showing, she had not four sons, and
numerous daughters, with whose solace she might comfort herself? You also apply
to her the name of widow which is not found in Scripture. And although you
quote all instances in the Gospels, the words of John alone displease you. You
say in passing that she was present at the cross, that you may not appear to
have omitted it on purpose, and yet not a word about the women who were with
her. I could pardon you if you were ignorant, but I see you have a reason for
your silence. Let me point out then what John says, John 19:25 "But there
were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary
the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene." No one doubts that there were two
apostles called by the name James, James the son of Zebedee, and James the son
of Alphæus. Do you intend the comparatively unknown James the Less, who is called
in Scripture the son of Mary, not however of Mary the mother of our Lord, to be
an apostle, or not? If he is an apostle, he must be the son of Alphæus and a
believer in Jesus, "For neither did his brethren believe in him." If
he is not an apostle, but a third James (who he can be I cannot tell), how can
he be regarded as the Lord's brother, and how, being a third, can he be called
less to distinguish him from greater, when greater and less are used to denote
the relations existing, not between three, but between two? Notice, moreover,
that the Lord's brother is an apostle, since Paul says, Galatians 1:18-19
"Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and
tarried with him fifteen days. But other of the Apostles saw I none, save James
the Lord's brother." And in the same Epistle, Galatians 2:9 "And when
they perceived the grace that was given unto me, James and Cephas and John, who
were reputed to be pillars," etc. And that you may not suppose this James
to be the son of Zebedee, you have only to read the Acts of the Apostles, and
you will find that the latter had already been slain by Herod. The only
conclusion is that the Mary who is described as the mother of James the Less
was the wife of Alphæus and sister of Mary the Lord's mother, the one who is
called by John the Evangelist "Mary of Clopas," whether after her
father, or kindred, or for some other reason. But if you think they are two
persons because elsewhere we read, "Mary the mother of James the
Less," and here, "Mary of Clopas," you have still to learn that
it is customary in Scripture for the same individual to bear different names.
Raguel, Moses' father-in-law, is also called Jethro. Gedeon, without any
apparent reason for the change, all at once becomes Jerubbaal. Ozias, king of Judah,
has an alternative, Azarias. Mount Tabor is called Itabyrium. Again Hermon is
called by the Phenicians Sanior, and by the Amorites Sanir. The same tract of
country is known by three names, Negebh, Teman, and Darom in Ezekiel. Peter is
also called Simon and Cephas. Judas the zealot in another Gospel is called
Thaddaeus. And there are numerous other examples which the reader will be able
to collect for himself from every part of Scripture.
16. Now here we have the explanation of what I am
endeavouring to show, how it is that the sons of Mary, the sister of our Lord's
mother, who though not formerly believers afterwards did believe, can be called
brethren of the Lord. Possibly the case might be that one of the brethren
believed immediately while the others did not believe until long after, and
that one Mary was the mother of James and Joses, namely, "Mary of
Clopas," who is the same as the wife of Alphæus, the other, the mother of
James the Less. In any case, if she (the latter) had been the Lord's mother S.
John would have allowed her the title, as everywhere else, and would not by
calling her the mother of other sons have given a wrong impression. But at this
stage I do not wish to argue for or against the supposition that Mary the wife
of Clopas and Mary the mother of James and Joses were different women, provided
it is clearly understood that Mary the mother of James and Joses was not the
same person as the Lord's mother. How then, says Helvidius, do you make out
that they were called the Lord's brethren who were not his brethren? I will
show how that is. In Holy Scripture there are four kinds of brethren— by
nature, race, kindred, love. Instances of brethren by nature are Esau and
Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, Andrew and Peter, James and John. As to race, all
Jews are called brethren of one another, as in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 15:12
"If your brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto you, and
serve you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from
you." And in the same book, Deuteronomy 17:15 "You shall in anywise
set him king over you, whom the Lord your God shall choose: one from among your
brethren shall you set king over you; you may not put a foreigner over you,
which is not your brother." And again, Deuteronomy 22:1 "You shall
not see your brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide yourself from them:
you shall surely bring them again unto your brother. And if your brother be not
near unto you, or if you know him not, then you shall bring it home to your
house, and it shall be with you until your brother seek after it, and you shall
restore it to him again." And the Apostle Paul says, Romans 9:3-4 "I
could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake, my
kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites." Moreover they are
called brethren by kindred who are of one family, that is πατρία, which
corresponds to the Latin paternitas, because from a single root a numerous
progeny proceeds. In Genesis Genesis 13:8, 11 we read, "And Abram said unto
Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray you, between me and you, and between my
herdmen and your herdmen; for we are brethren." And again, "So Lot
chose him all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east: and they separated
each from his brother." Certainly Lot was not Abraham's brother, but the
son of Abraham's brother Aram. For Terah begot Abraham and Nahor and Aram: and
Aram begot Lot. Again we read, Genesis 12:4 "And Abram was seventy and
five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife,
and Lot his brother's son." But if you still doubt whether a nephew can be
called a son, let me give you an instance. Genesis 14:14 "And when Abram
heard that his brother was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in
his house, three hundred and eighteen." And after describing the night
attack and the slaughter, he adds, "And he brought back all the goods, and
also brought again his brother Lot." Let this suffice by way of proof of
my assertion. But for fear you may make some cavilling objection, and wriggle
out of your difficulty like a snake, I must bind you fast with the bonds of
proof to stop your hissing and complaining, for I know you would like to say
you have been overcome not so much by Scripture truth as by intricate arguments.
Jacob, the son of Isaac and Rebecca, when in fear of his brother's treachery he
had gone to Mesopotamia, drew near and rolled away the stone from the mouth of
the well, and watered the flocks of Laban, his mother's brother. Genesis 29:11
"And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. And Jacob
told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that he was Rebekah's
son." Here is an example of the rule already referred to, by which a
nephew is called a brother. And again, Genesis 29:15 "Laban said unto
Jacob. Because you are my brother, should you therefore serve me for nought?
Tell me what shall your wages be." And so, when, at the end of twenty
years, without the knowledge of his father-in-law and accompanied by his wives
and sons he was returning to his country, on Laban overtaking him in the
mountain of Gilead and failing to find the idols which Rachel hid among the
baggage, Jacob answered and said to Laban, Genesis 31:36-37 "What is my
trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued after me? Whereas you
have felt all about my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff?
Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between
us two." Tell me who are those brothers of Jacob and Laban who were present
there? Esau, Jacob's brother, was certainly not there, and Laban, the son of
Bethuel, had no brothers although he had a sister Rebecca.
17. Innumerable instances of the same kind are to be found
in the sacred books. But, to be brief, I will return to the last of the four
classes of brethren, those, namely, who are brethren by affection, and these
again fall into two divisions, those of the spiritual and those of the general
relationship. I say spiritual because all of us Christians are called brethren,
as in the verse, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to
dwell together in unity." And in another psalm the Saviour says, "I
will declare your name unto my brethren." And elsewhere, John 20:17
"Go unto my brethren and say to them." I say also general, because we
are all children of one Father, there is a like bond of brotherhood between us
all. Isaiah 66:5 "Tell these who hate you," says the prophet,
"you are our brethren." And the Apostle writing to the Corinthians: 1
Corinthians 5:11 "If any man that is named brother be a fornicator, or
covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with
such a one no, not to eat." I now ask to which class you consider the
Lord's brethren in the Gospel must be assigned. They are brethren by nature,
you say. But Scripture does not say so; it calls them neither sons of Mary, nor
of Joseph. Shall we say they are brethren by race? But it is absurd to suppose
that a few Jews were called His brethren when all Jews of the time might upon
this principle have borne the title. Were they brethren by virtue of close
intimacy and the union of heart and mind? If that were so, who were more truly
His brethren than the apostles who received His private instruction and were
called by Him His mother and His brethren? Again, if all men, as such, were His
brethren, it would have been foolish to deliver a special message,
"Behold, your brethren seek you," for all men alike were entitled to
the name. The only alternative is to adopt the previous explanation and
understand them to be called brethren in virtue of the bond of kindred, not of
love and sympathy, nor by prerogative of race, nor yet by nature. Just as Lot
was called Abraham's brother, and Jacob Laban's, just as the daughters of
Zelophehad received a lot among their brethren, just as Abraham himself had to
wife Sarah his sister, for he says, Genesis 20:11 "She is indeed my
sister, on the father's side, not on the mother's," that is to say, she
was the daughter of his brother, not of his sister. Otherwise, what are we to
say of Abraham, a just man, taking to wife the daughter of his own father?
Scripture, in relating the history of the men of early times, does not outrage
our ears by speaking of the enormity in express terms, but prefers to leave it
to be inferred by the reader: and God afterwards gives to the prohibition the
sanction of the law, and threatens, Leviticus 18:9 "He who takes his
sister, born of his father, or of his mother, and beholds her nakedness, has
commited abomination, he shall be utterly destroyed. He has uncovered his
sister's nakedness, he shall bear his sin."
18. There are things which, in your extreme ignorance, you
had never read, and therefore you neglected the whole range of Scripture and
employed your madness in outraging the Virgin, like the man in the story who
being unknown to everybody and finding that he could devise no good deed by
which to gain renown, burned the temple of Diana: and when no one revealed the
sacrilegious act, it is said that he himself went up and down proclaiming that
he was the man who had applied the fire. The rulers of Ephesus were curious to
know what made him do this thing, whereupon he replied that if he could not
have fame for good deeds, all men should give him credit for bad ones. Grecian
history relates the incident. But you do worse. You have set on fire the temple
of the Lord's body, you have defiled the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit from
which you are determined to make a team of four brethren and a heap of sisters
come forth. In a word, joining in the chorus of the Jews, you say, "Is not
this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brethren
James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with
us? The word all would not be used if there were not a crowd of them."
Pray tell me, who, before you appeared, was acquainted with this blasphemy? Who
thought the theory worth two-pence? You have gained your desire, and have
become notorious by crime. For myself who am your opponent, although we live in
the same city, I don't know, as the saying is, whether you are white or black.
I pass over faults of diction which abound in every book you write. I say not a
word about your absurd introduction. Good heavens! I do not ask for eloquence,
since, having none yourself, you applied for a supply of it to your brother
Craterius. I do not ask for grace of style, I look for purity of soul: for with
Christians it is the greatest of solecisms and of vices of style to introduce
anything base either in word or action. I have come to the conclusion of my
argument. I will deal with you as though I had as yet prevailed nothing; and
you will find yourself on the horns of a dilemma. It is clear that our Lord's
brethren bore the name in the same way that Joseph was called his father: Luke
1:18 "I and your father sought you sorrowing." It was His mother who
said this, not the Jews. The Evangelist himself relates that His father and His
mother were marvelling at the things which were spoken concerning Him, and
there are similar passages which we have already quoted in which Joseph and
Mary are called his parents. Seeing that you have been foolish enough to
persuade yourself that the Greek manuscripts are corrupt, you will perhaps
plead the diversity of readings. I therefore come to the Gospel of John, and
there it is plainly written, John 1:45 "Philip finds Nathanael, and says
unto him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did
write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." You will certainly find this
in your manuscript. Now tell me, how is Jesus the son of Joseph when it is
clear that He was begotten of the Holy Ghost? Was Joseph His true father? Dull
as you are, you will not venture to say that. Was he His reputed father? If so,
let the same rule be applied to them when they are called brethren, that you
apply to Joseph when he is called father.
19. Now that I have cleared the rocks and shoals I must
spread sail and make all speed to reach his epilogue. Feeling himself to be a
smatterer, he there produces Tertullian as a witness and quotes the words of
Victorinus bishop of Petavium. Of Tertullian I say no more than that he did not
belong to the Church. But as regards Victorinus, I assert what has already been
proved from the Gospel— that he spoke of the brethren of the Lord not as being
sons of Mary, but brethren in the sense I have explained, that is to say,
brethren in point of kinship not by nature. We are, however, spending our
strength on trifles, and, leaving the fountain of truth, are following the tiny
streams of opinion. Might I not array against you the whole series of ancient
writers? Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenæus, Justin Martyr, and many other apostolic
and eloquent men, who against Ebion, Theodotus of Byzantium, and Valentinus,
held these same views, and wrote volumes replete with wisdom. If you had ever
read what they wrote, you would be a wiser man. But I think it better to reply
briefly to each point than to linger any longer and extend my book to an undue
length.
20. I now direct the attack against the passage in which,
wishing to show your cleverness, you institute a comparison between virginity
and marriage. I could not forbear smiling, and I thought of the proverb, did
you ever see a camel dance? "Are virgins better," you ask, "than
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were married men? Are not infants daily
fashioned by the hands of God in the wombs of their mothers? And if so, are we
bound to blush at the thought of Mary having a husband after she was delivered?
If they find any disgrace in this, they ought not consistently even to believe
that God was born of the Virgin by natural delivery. For according to them
there is more dishonour in a virgin giving birth to God by the organs of
generation, than in a virgin being joined to her own husband after she has been
delivered." Add, if you like, Helvidius, the other humiliations of nature,
the womb for nine months growing larger, the sickness, the delivery, the blood,
the swaddling-clothes. Picture to yourself the infant in the enveloping membranes.
Introduce into your picture the hard manger, the wailing of the infant, the
circumcision on the eighth day, the time of purification, so that he may be
proved to be unclean. We do not blush, we are not put to silence. The greater
the humiliations He endured for me, the more I owe Him. And when you have given
every detail, you will be able to produce nothing more shameful than the cross,
which we confess, in which we believe, and by which we triumph over our
enemies.
21. But as we do not deny what is written, so we do reject
what is not written. We believe that God was born of the Virgin, because we
read it. That Mary was married after she brought forth, we do not believe,
because we do not read it. Nor do we say this to condemn marriage, for
virginity itself is the fruit of marriage; but because when we are dealing with
saints we must not judge rashly. If we adopt possibility as the standard of
judgment, we might maintain that Joseph had several wives because Abraham had,
and so had Jacob, and that the Lord's brethren were the issue of those wives,
an invention which some hold with a rashness which springs from audacity not
from piety. You say that Mary did not continue a virgin: I claim still more,
that Joseph himself on account of Mary was a virgin, so that from a virgin
wedlock a virgin son was born. For if as a holy man he does not come under the
imputation of fornication, and it is nowhere written that he had another wife,
but was the guardian of Mary whom he was supposed to have to wife rather than
her husband, the conclusion is that he who was thought worthy to be called
father of the Lord, remained a virgin.
22. And now that I am about to institute a comparison
between virginity and marriage, I beseech my readers not to suppose that in
praising virginity I have in the least disparaged marriage, and separated the
saints of the Old Testament from those of the New, that is to say, those who
had wives and those who altogether refrained from the embraces of women: I
rather think that in accordance with the difference in time and circumstance
one rule applied to the former, another to us upon whom the ends of the world
have come. So long as that law remained, Genesis 1:28 "Be fruitful, and
multiply and replenish the earth"; and "Cursed is the barren woman
that bears not seed in Israel," they all married and were given in
marriage, left father and mother, and became one flesh. But once in tones of
thunder the words were heard, 1 Corinthians 7:29 "The time is shortened,
that henceforth those that have wives may be as though they had none":
cleaving to the Lord, we are made one spirit with Him. And why? Because
"He that is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, how he may
please the Lord: but he that is married is careful for the things of the world,
how he may please his wife. And there is a difference also between the wife and
the virgin. She that is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, that
she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married is careful
for the things of the world, how she may please her husband." Why do you
cavil? Why do you resist? The vessel of election says this; he tells us that
there is a difference between the wife and the virgin. Observe what the
happiness of that state must be in which even the distinction of sex is lost.
The virgin is no longer called a woman. 1 Corinthians 7:34 "She that is
unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in
body and in spirit." A virgin is defined as she that is holy in body and
in spirit, for it is no good to have virgin flesh if a woman be married in
mind.
"But she that is married is careful for the things of
the world, how she may please her husband." Do you think there is no
difference between one who spends her time in prayer and fasting, and one who
must, at her husband's approach, make up her countenance, walk with mincing
gait, and feign a show of endearment? The virgin's aim is to appear less
comely; she will wrong herself so as to hide her natural attractions. The
married woman has the paint laid on before her mirror, and, to the insult of
her Maker, strives to acquire something more than her natural beauty. Then come
the prattling of infants, the noisy household, children watching for her word
and waiting for her kiss, the reckoning up of expenses, the preparation to meet
the outlay. On one side you will see a company of cooks, girded for the
onslaught and attacking the meat: there you may hear the hum of a multitude of
weavers. Meanwhile a message is delivered that the husband and his friends have
arrived. The wife, like a swallow, flies all over the house. "She has to
see to everything. Is the sofa smooth? Is the pavement swept? Are the flowers
in the cups? Is dinner ready?" Tell me, pray, where amid all this is there
room for the thought of God? Are these happy homes? Where there is the beating
of drums, the noise and clatter of pipe and lute, the clanging of cymbals, can
any fear of God be found? The parasite is snubbed and feels proud of the
honour. Enter next the half-naked victims of the passions, a mark for every
lustful eye. The unhappy wife must either take pleasure in them, and perish, or
be displeased, and provoke her husband. Hence arises discord, the seed-plot of
divorce. Or suppose you find me a house where these things are unknown, which
is a rara avis indeed! Yet even there the very management of the household, the
education of the children, the wants of the husband, the correction of the
servants, cannot fail to call away the mind from the thought of God. Genesis
18:11 "It had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women": so
the Scripture says, and afterwards Abraham received the command, Genesis 21:12
"In all that Sarah says unto you, hearken unto her voice." She who is
not subject to the anxiety and pain of child-bearing and having passed the
change of life has ceased to perform the functions of a woman, is freed from the
curse of God: nor is her desire to her husband, but on the contrary her husband
becomes subject to her, and the voice of the Lord commands him, "In all
that Sarah says unto you, hearken unto her voice." Thus they begin to have
time for prayer. For so long as the debt of marriage is paid, earnest prayer is
neglected.
23. I do not deny that holy women are found both among
widows and those who have husbands; but they are such as have ceased to be
wives, or such as, even in the close bond of marriage, imitate virgin chastity.
The Apostle, Christ speaking in him, briefly bore witness to this when he said,
1 Corinthians 7:34 "She that is unmarried is careful for the things of the
Lord, how she may please the Lord: but she that is married is careful for the
things of the world, how she may please her husband." He leaves us the
free exercise of our reason in the matter. He lays no necessity upon anyone nor
leads anyone into a snare: he only persuades to that which is proper when he
wishes all men to be as himself. He had not, it is true, a commandment from the
Lord respecting virginity, for that grace surpasses the unassisted power of
man, and it would have worn an air of immodesty to force men to fly in the face
of nature, and to say in other words, I want you to be what the angels are. It
is this angelic purity which secures to virginity its highest reward, and the
Apostle might have seemed to despise a course of life which involves no guilt.
Nevertheless in the immediate context he adds, 1 Corinthians 7:25 "But I
give my judgment, as one that has obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I
think therefore that this is good by reason of the present distress, namely,
that it is good for a man to be as he is." What is meant by present
distress? "Woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in
those days!" The reason why the wood grows up is that it may be cut down.
The field is sown that it may be reaped. The world is already full, and the
population is too large for the soil. Every day we are being cut down by war,
snatched away by disease, swallowed up by shipwreck, although we go to law with
one another about the fences of our property. It is only one addition to the
general rule which is made by those who follow the Lamb, and who have not
defiled their garments, for they have continued in their virgin state. Notice
the meaning of defiling. I shall not venture to explain it, for fear Helvidius
may be abusive. I agree with you, when you say, that some virgins are nothing
but tavern women; I say still more, that even adulteresses may be found among
them, and, you will no doubt be still more surprised to hear, that some of the
clergy are inn-keepers and some monks unchaste. Who does not at once understand
that a tavern woman cannot be a virgin, nor an adulterer a monk, nor a
clergy-man a tavern-keeper? Are we to blame virginity if its counterfeit is at
fault? For my part, to pass over other persons and come to the virgin, I
maintain that she who is engaged in huckstering, though for anything I know she
may be a virgin in body, is no longer one in spirit.
24. I have become rhetorical, and have disported myself a
little like a platform orator. You compelled me, Helvidius; for, brightly as
the Gospel shines at the present day, you will have it that equal glory
attaches to virginity and to the marriage state. And because I think that,
finding the truth too strong for you, you will turn to disparaging my life and
abusing my character (it is the way of weak women to talk tittle-tattle in
corners when they have been put down by their masters), I shall anticipate you.
I assure you that I shall regard your railing as a high distinction, since the
same lips that assail me have disparaged Mary, and I, a servant of the Lord, am
favoured with the same barking eloquence as His mother.
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