Chapter XII.

33. “Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” The lesser righteousness, therefore, is not to commit adultery by carnal connection; but the greater righteousness of the kingdom of God is not to commit adultery in the heart. Now, the man who does not commit adultery in the heart, much more easily guards against committing adultery in actual fact. Hence He who gave the later precept confirmed the earlier; for He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. It is well worthy of consideration that He did not say, Whosoever lusteth after a woman, but,” Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her,”107    The Greek πρὸς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαι refers to sin of intent. “The particle πρός indicates the mental aim” (Tholuck, Meyer, etc.). So Augustin, rightly: “Qui hoc fine et hoc animo attenderit.”i.e. turneth toward her with this aim and this intent, that he may lust after her; which, in fact, is not merely to be tickled108    Titillari. by fleshly delight, but fully to consent to lust; so that the forbidden appetite is not restrained, but satisfied if opportunity should be given.

34. For there are three things which go to complete sin: the suggestion of, the taking pleasure in, and the consenting to. Suggestion takes place either by means of memory, or by means of the bodily senses, when we see, or hear, or smell, or taste, or touch anything. And if it give us pleasure to enjoy this, this pleasure, if illicit, must be restrained. Just as when we are fasting, and on seeing food the appetite of the palate is stirred up, this does not happen without pleasure; but we do not consent to this liking, and109    The reading “if” has been proposed by some. we repress it by the right of reason, which has the supremacy. But if consent shall take place, the sin will be complete, known to God in our heart, although it may not become known to men by deed. There are, then, these steps: the suggestion is made, as it were, by a serpent, that is to say, by a fleeting and rapid, i.e. a temporary, movement of bodies: for if there are also any such images moving about in the soul, they have been derived from without from the body; and if any hidden sensation of the body besides those five senses touches the soul, that also is temporary and fleeting; and therefore the more clandestinely it glides in, so as to affect the process of thinking, the more aptly is it compared to a serpent. Hence these three stages, as I was beginning to say, resemble that transaction which is described in Genesis, so that the suggestion and a certain measure of suasion is put forth, as it were, by the serpent; but the taking pleasure in it lies in the carnal appetite, as it were in Eve; and the consent lies in the reason, as it were in the man: and these things having been acted through, the man is driven forth, as it were, from paradise, i.e. from the most blessed light of righteousness, into death110    Gen. iii.—in all respects most righteously. For he who puts forth suasion does not compel. And all natures are beautiful in their order, according to their gradations; but we must not descend from the higher, among which the rational mind has its place assigned, to the lower. Nor is any one compelled to do this; and therefore, if he does it, he is punished by the just law of God, for he is not guilty of this unwillingly. But yet, previous to habit, either there is no pleasure, or it is so slight that there is hardly any; and to yield to it is a great sin, as such pleasure is unlawful. Now, when any one does yield, he commits sin in the heart. If, however, he also proceeds to action, the desire seems to be satisfied and extinguished; but afterwards, when the suggestion is repeated, a greater pleasure is kindled, which, however, is as yet much less than that which by continuous practice is converted into habit. For it is very difficult to overcome this; and yet even habit itself, if one does not prove untrue to himself, and does not shrink back in dread from the Christian warfare, he will get the better of under His (i.e. Christ’s) leadership and assistance; and thus, in accordance with primitive peace and order, both the man is subject to Christ, and the woman is subject to the man.111    1 Cor. xi. 3 and Eph. v. 23.

35. Hence, just as we arrive at sin by three steps,—suggestion, pleasure, consent,—so of sin itself there are three varieties,—in heart, in deed, in habit,—as it were, three deaths: one, as it were, in the house, i.e. when we consent to lust in the heart; a second now, as it were, brought forth outside the gate, when assent goes forward into action; a third, when the mind is pressed down by the force of bad habit, as if by a mound of earth, and is now, as it were, rotting in the sepulchre. And whoever reads the Gospel perceives that our Lord raised to life these three varieties of the dead. And perhaps he reflects what differences may be found in the very word of Him who raises them, when He says on one occasion, “Damsel, arise;”112    Mark v. 41. on another, “Young man,113    Juvenis; Vulgate, adolescens. I say unto thee, Arise;”114    Luke vii. 14. and when on another occasion He groaned in the spirit, and wept, and again groaned, and then afterwards “cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.”115    John xi. 33–44.

36. And therefore, under the category of the adultery mentioned in this section, we must understand all fleshly and sensual lust. For when Scripture so constantly speaks of idolatry as fornication, and the Apostle Paul calls avarice by the name of idolatry,116    Col. iii. 5 and Eph. v. 5. who doubts but that every evil lust is rightly called fornication, since the soul, neglecting the higher law by which it is ruled, and prostituting itself for the base pleasure of the lower nature as its reward (so to speak), is thereby corrupted? And therefore let every one who feels carnal pleasure rebelling against right inclination in his own case through the habit of sinning, by whose unsubdued violence he is dragged into captivity, recall to mind as much as he can what kind of peace he has lost by sinning, and let him cry out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ.”117    Rom. vii. 24, 25. For in this way, when he cries out that he is wretched, in the act of bewailing he implores the help of a comforter. Nor is it a small approach to blessedness, when he has come to know his wretchedness; and therefore “blessed” also “are they that mourn,118    Lugentes; Vulgate, qui lugent. for they shall be comforted.”

CAPUT XII.---33. Audistis quia dictum est antiquis, Non moechaberis. Ego autem dico vobis, quia omnis qui viderit mulierem ad concupiscendum eam, jam moechatus est eam in corde suo. Justitia ergo minor est, non moechari corporum conjunctione: justitia vero major regni Dei, non moechari in corde. Quisquis autem non moechatur in corde, multo facilius custodit ne moechetur in corpore. Illud ergo confirmavit qui hoc praecepit: non enim venit Legem solvere, sed implere. Sane considerandum est quod non dixit, Omnis qui concupiverit mulierem; sed, qui viderit mulierem ad concupiscendum eam, id est, hoc fine et hoc animo attenderit ut eam concupiscat: quod jam non est titillari delectatione carnis, sed plene consentire libidini; ita ut non refrenetur illicitus appetitus, sed si facultas data fuerit, satietur.

34. Nam tria sunt quibus impletur peccatum; suggestione, delectatione, et consensione. Suggestio, sive per memoriam fit, sive per corporis sensus, cum aliquid videmus, vel audimus, vel olfacimus, vel gustamus, vel tangimus. Quo si frui delectaverit, delectatio illicita refrenanda est. Velut cum jejunamus et visis cibis palati appetitus assurgit, non fit nisi delectatione: sed huic tamen non consentimus, et eam dominantis rationis jure cohibemus. Si autem consensio facta fuerit, plenum peccatum erit, notum Deo in corde nostro, etiamsi facto non innotescat hominibus. Ita ergo sunt isti gradus, quasi a serpente suggestio fiat, id est, lubrico et volubili, hoc est temporali corporum motu; quia et si qua talia phantasmata intus versantur in anima, de corpore forinsecus tracta sunt; et si quis occultus praeter istos quinque sensus motus corporis animam tangit, est etiam ipse temporalis et lubricus; et ideo quanto illabitur occultius ut cogitationem contingat, tanto convenientius serpenti comparatur. Tria ergo haec, ut dicere coeperam, similia sunt illi gestae rei quae in Genesi scripta est, ut quasi a serpente fiat suggestio et quaedam suasio; in appetitu autem carnali, tanquam in Eva, delectatio; in ratione vero, tanquam in viro, consensio: quibus peractis, tanquam de paradiso, hoc est, de beatissima luce justitiae in mortem homo expellitur (Gen. III, 1); justissime omnino. Non enim cogit qui suadet. Et omnes naturae in ordine suo gradibus suis pulchrae sunt: sed de superioribus in quibus rationalis animus ordinatus est, ad inferiora non est declinandum. Nec quisquam hoc facere cogitur; et ideo si fecerit, justa Dei lege punitur : non enim hoc committit invitus. Verumtamen delectatio ante consuetudinem vel nulla est, vel tam tenuis ut prope nulla sit: cui consentire magnum 1247 peccatum est, cum illicita est. Cum autem quisque consenserit, committit peccatum in corde. Si autem etiam in factum processerit, videtur satiari et exstingui cupiditas: sed postea cum suggestio repetitur, major accenditur delectatio; quae tamen adhuc multo minor est quam illa quae assiduis factis in consuetudinem vertit. Hanc enim vincere difficillimum est: et tamen etiam ipsam consuetudinem, si se quisque non deserat, et christianam militiam non reformidet, illo duce atque adjutore superabit; ac sic in pristinam pacem atque ordinem et vir Christo, et mulier viro subjicitur (I Cor. XI, 3, et Ephes. V, 23).

35. Sicut ergo tribus gradibus ad peccatum pervenitur, suggestione, delectatione, consensione; ita ipsius peccati tres sunt differentiae, in corde, in facto, in consuetudine, tanquam tres mortes: una quasi in domo, id est cum in corde consentitur libidini; altera jam prolata quasi extra portam, cum in factum procedit assensio; tertia, cum vi consuetudinis malae tanquam mole terrena premitur animus, quasi in sepulcro jam putens. Quae tria genera mortuorum Dominum resuscitasse, quisquis Evangelium legit, agnoscit. Et fortasse considerat quas differentias habeat etiam ipsa vox resuscitantis, cum alibi dicit, Puella surge (Matth. IX, 25); alibi, Juvenis, tibi dico, surge (Luc. VII, 14); alibi, Infremuit spiritu, et flevit, et rursus fremuit, et post deinde voce magna clamavit, Lazare veni foras (Joan. XI, 33-44).

36. Quapropter, nomine moechantium qui hoc capitulo commemorantur, omnem carnalem et libidinosam concupiscentiam oportet intelligi. Cum enim tam assidue idololatriam Scriptura fornicationem dicat, Paulus autem apostolus avaritiam idololatriae nomine appellet (Coloss. III, 5, et Ephes. V, 5); quis dubitet omnem malam concupiscentiam recte fornicationem vocari, quando anima neglecta superiore lege qua regitur, inferiorum naturarum turpi voluptate, quasi mercede, prostituta corrumpitur? Et ideo quisquis carnalem delectationem adversus rectam voluntatem suam rebellare sentit per consuetudinem peccatorum, cujus indomitae violentia trahitur in captivitatem, recolat quantum potest qualem pacem peccando amiserit, et exclamet, Infelix ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus? Gratia Dei per Jesum Christum (Rom. VII, 24, 25). Ita enim cum se infelicem exclamat, lugendo implorat consolatoris auxilium. Nec parvus est ad beatitudinem accessus, cognitio infelicitatis suae: et ideo, Beati etiam lugentes; quoniam ipsi consolabuntur.