To His Wife

To us continence has been pointed out by the Lord of salvation as an instrument for attaining eternity,(1) and as a testimony of (our) faith; as a commendation of this flesh of ours, which is to be sustained for the garment of immortality, (2) which is one day to supervene; for enduring, in fine, the will of God. Besides, reflect, I advise you, that there is no one who is taken out of the world(3) but by the will of God, if, (as is the case,) not even a leaf falls from off a tree without it. The same who brings us into the world? must of necessity take us out of it too. Therefore when, through the will of God, the husband is deceased, the marriage likewise, by the will of God, deceases.