Wesley Corpus

1. THE forbidding to marry, as it is well known the Church of Rome does, and has done for several ages, (in which marriage is absolutely forbidden, not only to all religious orders, but to the whole body of the Clergy,) is numbered, by the great Apostle, among “the doctrines of devils.” And * In the year 1743 Mr. Wesley published a small pamphlet under the title of, “Thoughts on Marriage and a Single Life.” It was afterwards superseded by the truct now before the reader; which embodies the principal sentiments contained in the former publication.-En1T. among the same we need not scruple to number the despising or condemning marriage; as do many of those in the Romish Church who are usually termed Mystic writers. One of these does not scruple to affirm, “Marriage is only licensed forni cation.” But the Holy Ghost says, “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled.” Nor can it be doubted but persons may be as holy in a married as in a single state. 2. In the latter clause of the sentence, the Apostle seems to guard against a mistake, into which some sincere Christians have fallen; particularly when they have just found such a liberty of spirit as they had not before experienced. They imagine a defilement where there is none, “and fear where no fear is.” And it is possible this very fear of sin may betray them into sin. For it may induce persons to defraud each other, forgetting the express determination of the Apostle: “The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband; and the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.” (1 Cor. vii. 4.) 3. And yet we must not forget what the Apostle subjoins in the following verses: “I say to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them, if they abide even as I. Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife. But if thou marry, thou hast not sinned. Nevertheless, such shall have trouble in the flesh. I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but he that is married careth for the things of the world, how he may please his wife.