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On Marriage and Concupiscence

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xvi.v229 words

on marriage and concupiscence,

In Two Books,

addressed to the count valerius

by aurelius augustin, bishop of hippo;

written in 419 and 420.

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Book I.²⁰⁵⁹

Wherein He expounds the peculiar and natural blessings of marriage. He shows that among these blessings must not be reckoned fleshly concupiscence; insomuch as this is wholly evil, such as does not proceed from the very nature of marriage, but is an accident thereof arising from original sin. This evil, notwithstanding, is rightly employed by marriage for the procreation of children. But, as the result of this concupiscence, it comes to pass that, even from the lawful marriage of the children of God, men are not born children of God, but of the world, and are bound with the chain of sin, although their parents have been liberated therefrom by grace; and are led captive by the devil, if they be not in like manner rescued by the self-same grace of Christ. He explains how it is that concupiscence remains in the baptized in act though not in guilt. He teaches, that by the sanctity of baptism, not merely this original guilt, but all other sins of men whatever, are taken away. He lastly quotes the authority of Ambrose to show that the evil of concupiscence must be distinguished from the good of marriage.

Footnotes

2059
Written about the beginning of the year A.D. 419.

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Concerning the Argument of This Treatise.

xvi.v.i

Why This Treatise Was Addressed to Valerius.

xvi.v.ii

Conjugal Chastity the Gift of God.

xvi.v.iii

A Difficulty as Regards the Chastity of Unbelievers. None But a Believer is Truly a Chaste Man.

xvi.v.iv

The Natural Good of Marriage. All Society Naturally Repudiates a Fraudulent Companion. What is True Conjugal Purity? No True Virginity and Chastity Except in Devotion to True Faith.

xvi.v.v

The Censuring of Lust is Not a Condemnation of Marriage; Whence Comes Shame in the Human Body. Adam and Eve Were Not Created Blind; Meaning of Their 'Eyes Being Opened.'

xvi.v.vi

Man’s Disobedience Justly Requited in the Rebellion of His Own Flesh; The Blush of Shame for the Disobedient Members of the Body.

xvi.v.vii

The Evil of Lust Does Not Take Away the Good of Marriage.

xvi.v.viii

This Disease of Concupiscence in Marriage is Not to Be a Matter of Will, But of Necessity; What Ought to Be the Will of Believers in the Use of Matrimony; Who is to Be Regarded as Using, and Not Succumbing To, the Evil of Concupiscence; How the Holy Fathers of the Old Testament Formerly Used Wives.

xvi.v.ix

Why It Was Sometimes Permitted that a Man Should Have Several Wives, Yet No Woman Was Ever Allowed to Have More Than One Husband. Nature Prefers Singleness in Her Dominations.

xvi.v.x

The Sacrament of Marriage; Marriage Indissoluble; The World’s Law About Divorce Different from the Gospel’s.

xvi.v.xi

Marriage Does Not Cancel a Mutual Vow of Continence; There Was True Wedlock Between Mary and Joseph; In What Way Joseph Was the Father of Christ.

xvi.v.xii

In the Marriage of Mary and Joseph There Were All the Blessings of the Wedded State; All that is Born of Concubinage is Sinful Flesh.

xvi.v.xiii

Before Christ It Was a Time for Marrying; Since Christ It Has Been a Time for Continence.

xvi.v.xiv

The Teaching of the Apostle on This Subject.

xvi.v.xv

A Certain Degree of Intemperance is to Be Tolerated in the Case of Married Persons; The Use of Matrimony for the Mere Pleasure of Lust is Not Without Sin, But Because of the Nuptial Relation the Sin is Venial.

xvi.v.xvi

What is Sinless in the Use of Matrimony? What is Attended With Venial Sin, and What with Mortal?

xvi.v.xvii

Continence Better Than Marriage; But Marriage Better Than Fornication.

xvi.v.xviii

Blessing of Matrimony.

xvi.v.xix

Why Children of Wrath are Born of Holy Matrimony.

xvi.v.xx

Thus Sinners are Born of Righteous Parents, Even as Wild Olives Spring from the Olive.

xvi.v.xxi

Even Infants, When Unbaptized, are in the Power of the Devil; Exorcism in the Case of Infants, and Renunciation of the Devil.

xvi.v.xxii

Sin Has Not Arisen Out of the Goodness of Marriage; The Sacrament of Matrimony a Great One in the Case of Christ and the Church—A Very Small One in the Case of a Man and His Wife.

xvi.v.xxiii

Lust and Shame Come from Sin; The Law of Sin; The Shamelessness of the Cynics.

xvi.v.xxiv

Concupiscence in the Regenerate Without Consent is Not Sin; In What Sense Concupiscence is Called Sin.

xvi.v.xxv

Whatever is Born Through Concupiscence is Not Undeservedly in Subjection to the Devil by Reason of Sin; The Devil Deserves Heavier Punishment Than Men.

xvi.v.xxvi

Through Lust Original Sin is Transmitted; Venial Sins in Married Persons; Concupiscence of the Flesh, the Daughter and Mother of Sin.

xvi.v.xxvii

Concupiscence Remains After Baptism, Just as Languor Does After Recovery from Disease; Concupiscence is Diminished in Persons of Advancing Years, and Increased in the Incontinent.

xvi.v.xxviii

How Concupiscence Remains in the Baptized in Act, When It Has Passed Away as to Its Guilt.

xvi.v.xxix

The Evil Desires of Concupiscence; We Ought to Wish that They May Not Be.

xvi.v.xxx

Who is the Man that Can Say, ‘It is No More I that Do It’?

xvi.v.xxxi

When Good Will Be Perfectly Done.

xvi.v.xxxii

True Freedom Comes with Willing Delight in God’s Law.

xvi.v.xxxiii

How Concupiscence Made a Captive of the Apostle; What the Law of Sin Was to the Apostle.

xvi.v.xxxiv

The Flesh, Carnal Affection.

xvi.v.xxxv

Even Now While We Still Have Concupiscence We May Be Safe in Christ.

xvi.v.xxxvi

The Law of Sin with Its Guilt in Unbaptized Infants. By Adam’s Sin the Human Race Has Become a 'Wild Olive Tree.'

xvi.v.xxxvii

To Baptism Must Be Referred All Remission of Sins, and the Complete Healing of the Resurrection. Daily Cleansing.

xvi.v.xxxviii

By the Holiness of Baptism, Not Sins Only, But All Evils Whatsoever, Have to Be Removed. The Church is Not Yet Free from All Stain.

xvi.v.xxxix

Refutation of the Pelagians by the Authority of St. Ambrose, Whom They Quote to Show that the Desire of the Flesh is a Natural Good.

xvi.v.xl