Chapter 17 [VII.]—The Pelagians are Not Ashamed to Eulogize Concupiscence, Although They are Ashamed to Mention Its Name.

But among so many names of good things, such as bodies, sexes, unions, he never once mentions the lust or concupiscence of the flesh. He is silent, because he is ashamed; and yet with a strange shamelessness of shame (if the expression may be used), he is not ashamed to praise what he is ashamed to mention. Now just observe how he prefers to point to his object by circumlocution rather than by direct mention of it. “After that the man,” says he, “by natural appetite knew his wife.” See again, he refused to say, He knew his wife by carnal concupiscence; but he used the phrase, “by natural appetite,” by which it is open to us to understand that holy and honourable will which wills the procreation of children, and not that lust, of which even he is so much ashamed, forsooth, that he prefers to use ambiguous language to us, to expressing his mind in unmistakeable words. “Now what is the meaning of his phrase—“by natural appetite”? Is not both the wish to be saved and the wish to beget, nourish, and educate children, natural appetite? and is it not likewise of reason, and not of lust? Since, however, we can ascertain his intention, we are pretty sure that he meant by these words to indicate the lust of the organs of generation. Do not the words in question appear to you to be the fig-leaves, under cover of which is hidden nothing else but that which he feels ashamed of? For just as they of old sewed the leaves together 177    Gen. iii. 7. as a girdle of concealment, so has this man woven a web of circumlocution to hide his meaning. Let him weave out his statement: “But when the man knew his wife by natural appetite, the divine Scripture says, Eve conceived, and bare a son, and called his name Cain. But what,” he adds, “does Adam say? Let us hear: I have obtained a man from God. So that it is evident that he was God’s work, and the divine Scripture testifies to his having been received from God.” 178    Gen. iv. 1. Well, who can entertain a doubt on this point? Who can deny this statement, especially if he be a catholic Christian? A man is God’s work; but carnal concupiscence (without which, if sin had not preceded, man would have been begotten by means of the organs of generation, not less obedient than the other members to a quiet and normal will) is not of the Father, but is of the world.179    1 John ii. 16.

CAPUT VII.

17. Sed inter tot nomina bonarum rerum, id est, corporum, sexuum, conjunctionum, libidinem vel concupiscentiam carnis iste non nominat. Tacet, quia pudet: et mira (si dici potest) pudoris impudentia, quod nominare pudet, laudare non pudet. Denique vide, quemadmodum magis eam circumloquendo maluerit significare, quam dicere. «Postquam autem vir,» inquit, «naturali appetitu cognovit uxorem.» Ecce iterum dicere noluit, Carnis concupiscentia cognovit uxorem; sed, «naturali,» inquit, «appetitu:» ubi adhuc possumus intelligere ipsam voluntatem justam et honestam, qua voluit filios procreare; non illam libidinem, de qua iste sic erubescit, ut ambigue nobis loqui malit, quam perspicue quod sentit exprimere. Quid est «naturali appetitu?» Annon et velle esse salvum, et velle ipsos suscipere, nutrire, erudire filios, naturalis est appetitus, idemque rationis est, non libidinis? Sed quia hujus novimus intentionem, ideo non eum putamus his verbis, nisi libidinem membrorum genitalium significare voluisse. Nonne tibi videntur haec verba folia esse ficulnea , sub quibus latet, quid aliud, quam id quod pudet? Ita quippe iste sibi circumlocutionis hujus obstacula, sicut illi succinctoria consuerunt. Contexat et dicat : «Postquam autem vir naturali appetitu cognovit uxorem, dicit Scriptura divina: Concepit Eva, et peperit filium, et vocavit nomen ejus Cain. Sed quid,» inquit, «dicit Adam, audiamus: Acquisivi hominem per Deum (Gen. IV, 1). Unde constat opus Dei esse, quem per Deum acquisitum Scriptura divina testatur.» Quis hinc dubitet? quis hoc neget, maxime catholicus christianus? Opus Dei est homo: sed carnis concupiscentia, sine qua, si peccatum non praecessisset, tranquillae voluntati obedientibus sicuti caetera membra genitalibus, seminaretur homo, non est a Patre, sed ex mundo est (I Joan. II, 16).