And in the Acts of Paul and Thekla, a document
which perhaps belongs to the first century and was
anyhow written before 150, the Apostle's preaching
is as follows : " Blessed are the souls and bodies of
virgins, for they shall be pleasing to God, and they
shall not lose the reward of their chastity."

In the Messianic kingdom, which was to be pre-
ceded by a general resurrection of the just, but to be
established on this earth, there was to be no marrying
nor giving in marriage. It was only logical for those
who believed in the imminent approach of this
kingdom to abstain from marriage and leave family
life to the incredulous. Terrible trials and tribula-
tions, moreover, were to mark the approach of the
end, and it was well, in view of these, for maidens
not to become mothers. Marriage, indeed, was never
admitted by the Church except as a pis aller ; and



216 BIRTH LEGENDS

nothing is further from the truth than the contention
of modern divines that she from the first patronised
and sanctified an institution which was in reality only-
imposed upon her by the Aryan societies which
adopted, while modifying, her teaching.
