Better it is to marry than to burn.
What do I reck, though folk say villainy
Of curs�d Lamech and his bigamy?
I see that Abraham was a holy man,
And Jacob, too, as is within my ken,
And each one of them had more wives than two,
And many another holy man did, too.
Where can you say, in any kind of age,
Almighty God prohibited marriage
By express word? I pray you, do tell me.
Or where commanded he virginity?
I know as well as you, no one has doubted,
Th'Apostle, when he spoke of maidenhead,
Said as he knew God required it of none.
Men may advise a woman to be one,
But counseling is not a commandment:
He left it to our own best judgment.
For, had God commanded maidenhood,
Condemning wedding would have been as good:
For certainly, if seed were never sown,
Then whereof would virginity be grown?
Paul did not dare command, even at best,
A thing for which his lord gave no behest.
A bounty has been placed on maidenhead;
Catch whoso may, and stay who may ahead.
Such vows are not taken by every wight,
But where God pleases, he bestows his might.
I know well that th'Apostle was a maid;
But nonetheless, though that he wrote and said
He would that every wight were such as he,
All was but counsel to virginity,
And for to be a wife he gave me leave
Of indulgence. Nor ill should one believe
Of me when I do wed, if my mate died,
Nor should I then for bigamy be tried.
Though it were good no woman for to touch-
He meant in his own bedding, inasmuch-
As straw or flax a dangerous spark may kindle,
As when too near the hearth one works the "spindle."
And so, in short, he held virginity
More perfect than wedding in frailty.
Frailty, I call it, unless he and she
Would lead all of their lives in chastity.
I wish them luck, for I have no envy
Of maidenhead though it bests bigamy.
It pleases them be clean, body and ghost.
Of my condition I will make no boast:
For well you know, a lord in his household
He has not every vessel all of gold;
Some are of wood, and do their lord service.
God calls folk to him for many a purpose,
In many ways, gives each a proper gift,
Some this, some that, as pleases him to shift.
Virginity is great perfection then,
And continence - beside devotion.
