Chapter 26 [XIII.]—The Child in No Sense Formed by Concupiscence.

But as he was speaking of Abraham and Sarah, he goes on to say: “If, indeed, you were to affirm that the natural use was strong in them, and there was no offspring, my answer will be: Whom the Creator promised, the Creator also gave; the child which is born is not the work of cohabitation, but of God. He, indeed, who made the first man of the dust, fashions all men out of seed. As, therefore, the dust of the earth, which was taken as the material, was not the author of man; so likewise that power of sexual pleasure which forms and commingles the seminal elements does not complete the entire process of man’s making, but rather presents to God, out of the treasures of nature, material with which He vouchsafes to make the human being.” Now the whole of this statement of his, except where he says, that the seminal elements are formed and commingled by sexual pleasure, would be correctly expressed by him were he only earnest in making it to defend the catholic sense. To us, however, who are fully aware what he strives to make out of it, he speaks indeed correctly in a perverse manner. The exceptional statement to the general truth, which I do not deny belongs to this passage, is untrue for this reason, because the pleasure in question of carnal concupiscence does not form the seminal elements. These are already in the body, and are formed by the same true God who created the body itself. They do not receive their existence from the libidinous pleasure, but are excited and emitted in company with it. Whether, indeed, such pleasure accompanies the commingling of the seminal elements of the two sexes in the womb, is a question which perhaps women may be able to determine from their inmost feelings; but it is improper for us to push an idle curiosity so far. That concupiscence, however, which we have to be ashamed of, and the shame of which has given to our secret members their shameful designation, pudenda, had no existence in the body during its life in paradise before the entrance of sin; but it began to exist “in the body of this death” after sin, the rebellion of the members retaliating man’s own disobedience. Without this concupiscence it was quite possible to effect the function of the wedded pair in the procreation of children: just as many a laborious work is accomplished by the compliant operation of our other limbs, without any lascivious heat; for they are simply moved by the direction of the will, not excited by the ardour of concupiscence.

CAPUT XIII.

26. Sed quia de Abraham loquebatur et Sara, subjunxit atque ait: «Quod si dixeris, Usus in eis vigebat, et fetus non erat: respondebo, Quem conditor promisit, conditor dedit, non concubitus, sed Dei opus est qui nascitur. Qui enim, primum hominem fecit ex pulvere (Gen. II, 7), omnes fabricatur ex semine. Sicut ergo tunc limus, qui assumptus est materia, non auctor hominis fuit: ita nunc vis illa voluptatis, confectrix commixtrixque seminum, non explet operationis vicem; sed de thesauris naturae offert Deo, unde ille hominem dignetur operari.» Haec omnia quae dixit, excepto quod ait, a voluptate semina confici atque misceri, recte diceret, si in eis catholicum sensum defendere niteretur. Quia vero scimus quid ex his moliatur efficere, profecto dicit etiam recta perverse. Illud itaque, quo excepto caetera vera esse non abnuo, ideo non est verum, quia voluptas illa concupiscentiae carnalis non conficit semina; sed ea quae jam sunt in corporibus a vero Deo condita, a quo et ipsa conduntur corpora, non fiunt a voluptate , sed excitantur et emittuntur cum voluptate. Utrum autem utriusque sexus semina in muliebri utero cum voluptate misceantur, viderint feminae quid in secretis visceribus sentiant: nos non decet inaniter usque ad ista esse curiosos. Libido tamen illa erubescenda, unde pudenda ipsa appellata sunt membra, non fuit in corpore vitae illius, quae in paradiso fuit ante peccatum, sed coepit esse in corpore mortis hujus retributa inobedientia inobedientiae post peccatum. Sine qua libidine poterat opus fieri conjugum in generatione filiorum, sicut multa opera fiunt obedientia caeterorum sine illo ardore membrorum, quae voluntatis nutu moventur, non aestu libidinis concitantur.