2. Nor is it now necessary that we enquire, and put forth a definite opinion on that question, whence could exist the progeny of the first men, whom God had blessed, saying, “Increase, and be ye multiplied, and fill the earth;”2    Gen. i. 28 if they had not sinned, whereas their bodies by sinning deserved the condition of death, and there can be no sexual intercourse save of mortal bodies. For there have existed several and different opinions on this matter; and if we must examine, which of them be rather agreeable to the truth of Divine Scriptures, there is matter for a lengthened discussion.3    See De Civ. Dei, b. xiv. Whether, therefore, without intercourse, in some other way, had they not sinned, they would have had sons, from the gift of the Almighty Creator, Who was able to create themselves also without parents, Who was able to form the Flesh of Christ in a virgin womb, and (to speak even to unbelievers themselves) Who was able to bestow on bees a progeny without sexual intercourse; or whether many things there were spoken by way of mystery and figure, and we are to understand in another sense what is written, “Fill the earth, and rule over it;” that is, that it should come to pass by fullness and perfection of life and power, so that the very increase and multiplication, whereby it is said, “Increase, and be ye multiplied,” be understood to be by advance of mind, and abundance of virtue, as it is set in the Psalm, “Thou shall multiply me in my soul by virtue;”4    Ps. cxxxviii. 3. LXX. and that succession of progeny was not given unto man, save after that, by reason of sin, there was to be hereafter departure in death: or whether the body was not made spiritual in the case of these men, but at the first animal, in order that by merit of obedience it might after become spiritual, to lay hold of immortality, not after death, which by the malice of the devil entered into the world, and was made the punishment of sin; but after that change, which the Apostle signifies, when he says, “Then we living, who remain, together with them, shall be caught up in the clouds, to meet Christ, into the air,”5    1 Thess. iv. 17 that we may understand both that those bodies of the first pair were mortal, in the first forming, and yet that they would not have died, had they not sinned, as God had threatened: even as if He should threaten a wound, in that the body was capable of wounds; which yet would not have happened, unless what He had forbidden were done. Thus, therefore, even through sexual intercourse there might take place generations of such bodies, as up to a certain point should have increase, and yet should not pass into old age; or even into old age, and yet not into death; until the earth were filled with that multiplication of the blessing. For if to the garments of the Israelites6    Deut. xxix. 5 God granted their proper state without any wearing away during forty years, how much more would He grant unto the bodies of such as obeyed His command a certain most happy temperament of sure state, until they should be changed for the better, not by death of the man, whereby the body is abandoned by the soul, but by a blessed change from mortality to immortality, from an animal to a spiritual quality. Of these opinions which be true, or whether some other or others yet may be formed out of these words, were a long matter to enquire and discuss.

CAPUT II.

2. De propagatione filiorum, si homo non peccasset, diversae sententiae. Nec nunc opus est ut scrutemur, et in ea quaestione definitam sententiam proferamus, unde primorum hominum proles posset existere, quos benedixerat Deus, dicens, Crescite, et multiplicamini, et implete terram, si non peccassent; cum mortis conditionem corpora eorum peccando meruerint, nec esse concubitus nisi mortalium corporum possit. Plures enim de hac re sententiae diversaeque exstiterunt; et si examinandum sit, veritati divinarum Scripturarum quaenam earum potissimum congruat, prolixae disputationis negotium 0374 est. Sive ergo sine coeundi complexu alio aliquo modo, si non peccassent, habituri essent filios ex munere omnipotentissimi Creatoris, qui potuit etiam ipsos sine parentibus condere, qui potuit carnem Christi in utero virginali formare, et ut etiam ipsis infidelibus loquar, qui potuit apibus prolem sine concubitu dare: sive ibi multa mystice ac figurate dicta sint, aliterque sit intelligendum quod scriptum est, Implete terram, et dominamini ejus (Gen. I, 28), id est, ut plenitudine et perfectione vitae ac potestatis id fieret, ut ipsum quoque incrementum et multiplicatio qua dictum est, Crescite, et multiplicamini, provectu mentis et copia virtutis intelligatur, sicut in Psalmo positum est, Multiplicabis me in anima mea virtute (Psal. CXXXVII, 3); nec data sit homini prolis ista successio, nisi posteaquam causa peccati, futura erat in morte decessio: sive corpus non spirituale illis hominibus, sed primo animale factum erat, ut obedientiae merito postea fieret spirituale, ad immortalitatem capessendam, non post mortem, quae invidia diaboli intravit in orbem terrarum (Sap. II, 24) et facta est poena peccati; sed per illam commutationem quam significat Apostolus, ubi ait, Deinde nos viventes qui reliqui sumus, simul cum illis rapiemur in nubibus in obviam Christo in aera (I Thess. IV, 16): ut illa corpora primi conjugii et mortalia fuisse intelligamus prima conformatione, et tamen non moritura nisi peccassent, sicut minatus erat Deus: tanquam si vulnus minaretur, quia vulnerabile corpus erat; quod tamen non accidisset, nisi fieret quod ille vetuisset. Ita ergo possent etiam per concubitum talium corporum generationes subsistere, quae usque ad certum modum, 0375 haberent incrementum, nec vergerent tamen in senium; aut usque in senium , nec tamen in mortem, donec illa benedictionis multiplicatione terra impleretur. Si enim vestibus Israelitarum praestitit Deus per annos quadraginta sine ullo detrimento proprium statum (Deut. XXIX, 5); quanto magis praestaret corporibus obedientium praecepto suo felicissimum quoddam temperamentum certi status, donec in melius converterentur, non morte hominis qua corpus ab anima deseritur, sed beata commutatione a mortalitate ad immortalitatem, ab animali ad spiritualem qualitatem!

CAPUT III.

Bonum conjugii multiplex. Primum et secundum conjugii bonum. Tertium conjugii bonum. Harum sententiarum quae vera sit, vel si alia vel aliae possunt adhuc ex illis verbis exsculpi, quaerere ac disserere longum est.