38. [XXXIII.]—Original Sin Does Not Render Marriage Evil.

But they argue thus, saying: “Is not, then, marriage an evil, and the man that is produced by marriage not God’s work?” As if the good of the married life were that disease of concupiscence with which they who know not God love their wives—a course which the apostle forbids;231    1 Thess. iv. 5. and not rather that conjugal chastity, by which carnal lust is reduced to the good purposes of the appointed procreation of children. Or as if, forsooth, a man could possibly be anything but God’s work, not only when born in wedlock, but even if he be produced in fornication or adultery. In the present inquiry, however, when the question is not for what a Creator is necessary, but for what a Saviour, we have not to consider what good there is in the procreation of nature, but what evil there is in sin, whereby our nature has been certainly corrupted. No doubt the two are generated simultaneously—both nature and nature’s corruption; one of which is good, the other evil. The one comes to us from the bounty of the Creator, the other is contracted from the condemnation of our origin; the one has its cause in the good-will of the Supreme God, the other in the depraved will of the first man; the one exhibits God as the maker of the creature, the other exhibits God as the punisher of disobedience: in short, the very same Christ was the maker of man for the creation of the one, and was made232    This translation is intended to preserve, however faintly, Augustin’s antithesis, factor est hominis and factus est homo.man for the healing of the other.

CAPUT XXXIII.

38. Sic autem argumentantur, dicentes: «Ergo malum sunt nuptiae, et non est opus Dei homo quem generant nuptiae?» Quasi nuptiarum bonum sit morbus concupiscentiae, in quo uxores diligunt qui ignorant Deum, quod Apostolus prohibet (I Thess. IV, 5); ac non potius pudicitia conjugalis, qua in bonos usus ordinate filios procreandi redigitur libido carnalis: aut vero possit esse homo nisi opus Dei, non solum qui de conjugio, verum etiam qui de fornicatione, vel de adulterio procreatur. Sed in hac quaestione, ubi quaeritur, non cui rei creator, sed cui salvator sit necessarius, non intuendum est quid boni sit in procreatione naturae, sed quid in peccato mali, quo certum est vitiatam esse naturam. Simul autem utrumque propagatur, et natura, et naturae vitium; quorum est unum bonum, alterum malum. Illud de conditoris largitate sumitur, hoc de originis damnatione attrahitur: illi est causa bona voluntas Dei summi, huic mala voluntas hominis primi: illud indicat Deum creaturae institutorem, hoc indicat Deum inobedientiae punitorem: denique idem ipse Christus propter illud creandum factor est hominis, propter hoc sanandum factus est homo.