I have heard some assert that even if our forefathers had observed the commandment given to them at the beginning by the Creator and Master of all things, the propagation of the human race would nevertheless have been carried on in the same bestial manner as it is now, only without lust, without passion, and without female diseases. They say this without any confirmation from divine scriptures, but are guided only by human thoughts and following great external learning. Therefore I thought it fair to reason a little and converse with them, not in the sense of positive proofs and establishments, but hypothetically and simply offering against their opinion the reasoning of sound reason. Tell us, my best ones, what do you think: were our forefathers created incorruptible and immortal in the beginning, or subject to corruption and death? If they assert the second, they will be clearly exposed as false by that divine voice which said to the first-created: In the day that you eat of it , that is, of the forbidden tree, you shall surely die ( Gen. 2:17 ). Having said this, the Creator clearly taught us that He created them immortal and that they would remain immortal forever if they had kept His holy commandment, as is also testified by that divine voice which says: I said: You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High , that is, you are above all mortal things, and then adds: But you die like men, and so on ( Ps. 81:6-7 ). And again: Man, who was in honor , that is, in incorruptibility and equal to the angels, did not understand, was added to the senseless beasts, and became like them ( Ps. 48:21 ), that is, he fell into corruption and death and submitted to speechless passions, not understanding his honor, that is, the dignity of incorruptibility and immortality. Also the wise Solomon said: God did not create death, but through the envy of the devil death entered the world ( Wis. 1:13, 2:24). But if, being conquered by Holy Scripture, they confess, even against their own will, that the first-created were created incorruptible and immortal, and that they would have been preserved forever in incorruptibility, if they had not transgressed the commandment of God, then how do they maintain that the propagation of our race would have been in the same bestial way as is now accomplished, only without lust, passions, and female diseases? It is known that the reproductive organs were given to both sexes at creation for two reasons: that by means of them the human race might be preserved and not disappear completely, and that through them the excess of digested food would always be thrown out. The Creator, knowing everything before existence, knew, of course, the future falling away of the first-created from God, and knew also the reason for this falling away, namely, that they would want to be equal to God. For this reason the all-wise Creator gave them such bestial members and put into them a strong passion for bestial lust, so that they would copulate with each other against their will and bring forth children. Otherwise we would not want to copulate with each other, considering, of each sex, the many unbearable sufferings of childbirth and the upbringing of those born - the female sex, considering the nine months' burdensome gestation in the womb and the nastiness and grief that subsequently, after birth, one must endure, and the urgent cares for the infant until it reaches a certain age; the father also, considering the many concerns about the upbringing of his children, how best to bring them up and teach them piety, and then to marry off his sons and give his daughters in marriage. This proves that the all-wise Creator had in mind the multiplication of our race by some other, higher and more transcendental method, befitting a being created in the image and likeness of God, if man had kept the commandment of God and had not forced Him Who is not subject to any compulsion to adopt such a shameful and bestial ugliness and vile mixture into His image. It is therefore wrong to understand and assert that man, created in the image and likeness of God, that is, immortal, impassible and incorruptible, even if he had kept inviolably the commandment of Him Who created him, should have multiplied by means of such a vile and bestial copulation. For in bestial copulation there must necessarily be a vile discharge, without which conception cannot take place. But if there is a discharge, then there is also corruption and hidden passion; Therefore, what is conceived and born and brought up is no longer immortal, but corruptible and mortal and of short duration. For everything that has a beginning from corruption is necessarily subject to corruption and death. Therefore, the human race had to multiply in another way, most wonderful and incomprehensible to our minds, and not through bestial copulation, as some think, reasoning unworthy of the divine image.
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