The Literal Meaning of Genesis
BOOK NINE 79 judged not by reason but by opinion. So it is that people who do not know what is condemned by God's law respecting adultery and fornication come to denounce conjugal union even when it is for the sake of procreation.
CHAPTER 9
The woman would have been the man's helper in procreation even if they had not become subject to death by their sin.
14. There are those who do not misunderstand the nature of marriage, but none the less suppose that the power of reproduction has been given by God to provide for the succession of generations of mortal men.3? They do not think that the first man and woman could have had carnal union except for the fact that because of their sin they were destined to die and would thus beget children to take their places. But those who think thus do not reflect on the fact that, if successors could have been sought by those destined to die, with greater reason companions could have been sought by those destined to remain living. If the earth indeed were filled with the human race, it would be true that offspring would be sought only to succeed those who would die. But if the earth was to be filled by two human beings, how could they carry out this obligation to society except by procreation?
Who is so blind as not to see that the human race is a distinguished ornament for the earth even when only a few men live good and praiseworthy lives, and that public order is of great importance when it keeps even sinners within the limits set by a certain kind of earthly peace? In spite of the fact that mankind has fallen, even sinners are superior to the beasts and birds. And yet, who does not find pleasure in contemplating this lower part of the universe, which is adorned with all these kinds of animals in keeping with its place in the whole? But no one is so lacking in understanding as to think that the world would have been less adorned if it were filled with human beings in the state of original justice who would not die.