5. But if continency follows Christ, and virginity is destined for the kingdom of God, what have they to do with earthly dress, and with ornaments, wherewith while they are striving to please men they offend God? Not considering that it is declared, “They who please men are put to confusion, because God hath despised them;”12    Ps. liii. 5. and that Paul also has gloriously and sublimely uttered, “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”13    Gal. i. 10. But continence and modesty consist not alone in purity of the flesh, but also in seemliness, as well as in modesty of dress and adornment; so that, according to the apostle, she who is unmarried may be holy both in body and in spirit. Paul instructs and teaches us, saying, “He that is unmarried careth for the things of the Lord, how he may please God: but he who has contracted marriage careth for the things which are of this world, how he may please his wife. So both the virgin and the unmarried woman consider those things which are the Lord’s, that they may be holy both in body and spirit.”14    1 Cor. vii. 32. A virgin ought not only to be so, but also to be perceived and believed to be so: no one on seeing a virgin should be in any doubt as to whether she is one.  Perfectness should show itself equal in all things; nor should the dress of the body discredit the good of the mind. Why should she walk out adorned? Why with dressed hair, as if she either had or sought for a husband? Rather let her dread to please if she is a virgin; and let her not invite her own risk, if she is keeping herself for better and divine things. They who have not a husband whom they profess that they please, should persevere, sound and pure not only in body, but also in spirit. For it is not right that a virgin should have her hair braided for the appearance of her beauty, or boast of her flesh and of its beauty, when she has no struggle greater than that against her flesh, and no contest more obstinate than that of conquering and subduing the body.

V. Quod si Christum continentia sequitur, et regno Dei virginitas destinatur, quid est illis cum terreno cultu et cum ornamentis, quibus dum hominibus placere gestiunt, Deum offendunt, non cogitantes esse praedictum: Qui hominibus placent confusi sunt, quoniam Deus nihil fecit illos (Psal. LII, 6), et Paulum quoque gloriose et sublimiter praedicasse : Si hominibus placere vellem , Christi servus non essem (Gal. I, 10). Continentia vero et pudicitia non in sola carnis integritate consistit, sed etiam in cultus et ornatus honore pariter ac pudore, ut, secundum Apostolum, quae innupta est sancta sit et corpore et spiritu. Instruit nos Paulus et docet dicens : Coelebs cogitat 0444C ea quae sunt Domini, quomodo placeat Deo: qui 0445A autem matrimonium contraxit, cogitat ea quae sunt mundi hujus, quomodo placeat uxori. Sic et virgo et mulier innupta cogitat ea quae sunt Domini, ut sit sancta et corpore et spiritu (I Cor. VII, 32-34). Virgo non esse tantum sed et intelligi debet et credi. Nemo cum virginem viderit , dubitet an virgo sit. Parem te integritas in omnibus praestet, nec bonum mentis corporis cultus infamet. Quid ornata, quid compta procedit, quasi maritum aut habeat aut quaerat? Timeat potius placere, si virgo est, nec periculum sui appetat quae ad meliora et divina se servat. Quae virum non habent, cui placere se simulent, integrae et purae non tantum corpore sed etiam spiritu perseverent. Neque enim fas est virginem ad speciem formae suae comi aut de carne et de ejus pulchritudine 0445B gloriari, cum nulla sit illi magis quam adversus carnem colluctatio et vincendi corporis ac domandi obstinata certatio.