Tertullian — On Monogamy 13

But again, writing to Timotheus, he 'wills the very young ( women ) to marry, bear children, act the housewife.' He is (here) directing (his speech) to such as he denotes above — very young widows , who, after being, apprehended in widowhood, and (subsequently) wooed for some length of time, after they have had Christ in their affections, wish to marry, having judgment, because they have rescinded the first faith , — that ( faith ), to wit, by which they were found in widowhood, and, after professing it, do not persevere. For which reason he wills them to marry, for fear of their subsequently rescinding the first faith of professed widowhood; not to sanction their marrying as often as ever they may refuse to persevere in a widowhood plied with temptation — nay, rather, spent in indulgence. We read him withal writing to the Romans: 'But the woman who is under an husband, is bound to her husband (while) living; but if he shall have died, she has been emancipated from the law of the husband.' Doubtless, then, the husband living, she will be thought to commit adultery if she shall have been joined to a second husband. If, however, the husband shall have died, she has been freed from (his) law, (so) that she is not an adulteress if made (wife) to another husband. But read the sequel as well in order that this sense, which flatters you, may evade (your grasp). And so, he says, my brethren, be too made dead to the law through the body of Christ , that you may be made (subject) to a…

14. Even If the Permission Had Been Given by St. Paul in the Sense Which the Psychics Allege, It Was Merely Like the Mosaic Permission of Divorce — A Condescension to Human Hard-Heartedness Now, if the apostle had even absolutely permitted marriage when one's partner has been lost subsequently to (conversion to) the faith , he would have done (it), just as (he did) the other (actions) which he did adversely to the (strict) letter of his own rule, to suit the circumstances of the times: circumcising Timotheus on account of supposititious false brethren; and leading certain shaven men into the temple on account of the observant watchfulness of the Jews — he who chastises the Galatians when they desire to live in (observance of) the law. But so did circumstances require him to become all things to all, in order to gain all; travailing in birth with them until Christ should be formed in them; and cherishing, as it were a nurse, the little ones of faith , by teaching them some things by way of indulgence, not by way of command — for it is one thing to indulge , another to bid — permitting a temporary licence of re-marriage on account of the weakness of the flesh, just as Moses of divorcing on account of the hardness of the heart. And here, accordingly, we will render the supplement of this (his) meaning. For if Christ abrogated what Moses enjoined, because from the beginning (it) was not so; and (if)— this being so — Christ will not therefore be reputed to have come from some…

15. Unfairness of Charging the Disciples of the New Prophecy with Harshness. The Charge Rather to Be Retorted Upon the Psychics What harshness, therefore, is here on our part, if we renounce (communion with) such as do not the will of God ? What heresy , if we judge second marriage, as being unlawful, akin to adultery ? For what is adultery but unlawful marriage? The apostle sets a brand upon those who were wont entirely to forbid marriage, who were wont at the same time to lay an interdict on meats which God has created. We, however, no more do away with marriage if we abjure its repetition, than we reprobate meats if we fast oftener (than others). It is one thing to do away with, another to regulate; it is one thing to lay down a law of not marrying, it is another to fix a limit to marrying. To speak plainly, if they who reproach us with harshness, or esteem heresy (to exist) in this (our) cause , foster the infirmity of the flesh to such a degree as to think it must have support accorded to it in frequency of marriage; why do they in another case neither accord it support nor foster it with indulgence — when, (namely), torments have reduced it to a denial (of the faith )? For, of course, that (infirmity) is more capable of excuse which has fallen in battle, than (that) which (has fallen) in the bed-chamber; (that) which has succumbed on the rack, than (that) which (has succumbed) on the bridal bed; (that) which has yielded to cruelty, than (that) which (has yielded) to…