Said at a time when people thought that men contributed the "seed," and women were merely incubators. I suspect that Augustine's views might be different had he known that the contribution was fifty-fifty. Nevertheless, Augustine was, himself, a sinner prone to error, nor was he uniquely qualified to opine on this point.
I was only bringing up a historical reference for information sake, but since you asked, here is the text.
"
Chapter 19 [VIII.]— The Pelagians Misunderstand Seed In Scripture.
He goes on to say: After a while the
divine Scripture says again, 'Adam
knew Eve his wife; and she bare a son, and he called his name Seth: saying, The Lord has raised me up another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.' He then adds: The Divinity is said to have raised up the seed itself; as a
proof that the sexual union was His appointment. This person did not understand what the
Scripture records; for he supposed that the reason why it is said, The Lord has raised me up another seed instead of Abel, was none other than that God might be supposed to have excited in him a desire for sexual intercourse, by means whereof seed might be raised for being poured into the
woman's womb. He was perfectly unaware that what the
Scripture has said is not Has raised me up seed in the sense he uses, but only as meaning Has given me a son. Indeed,
Adam did not use the words in question after his sexual intercourse, when he emitted his seed, but after his wife's confinement, in which he received his son by the gift of
God. For what gratification is there (except perhaps for lascivious
persons, and those who, as the apostle says with prohibition, possess their vessel in the
lust of concupiscence
1 Thessalonians 4:5) in the mere shedding of seed as the ultimate pleasure of sexual union, unless it is followed by the
true and proper fruit of marriage — conception and birth?
Chapter 20.— Original Sin is Derived from the Faulty Condition of Human Seed.
This, however, I would not say, as implying at all that we must look for some other creator than the supreme and
true God, of either
human seed or of man himself who comes from the seed; but as meaning, that the seed would have issued from the
human being by the quiet and normal
obedience of his members to his will's command, if
sin had not preceded. The question now before us does not concern the
nature of
human seed, but its corruption. Now the
nature has God for its author; it is from its corruption that original
sin is derived. If, indeed, the seed had itself no corruption, what means that passage in the Book of Wisdom, Not being
ignorant that they were a naughty generation, and that their
malice was inbred, and that their cogitation would never be changed; for their seed was accursed from the beginning?
Wisdom 12:10-11 Now whatever may be the particular application of these words, they are spoken of
mankind. How, then, is the
malice of every man inbred, and his seed cursed from the beginning, unless it be in respect of the fact, that by one man
sin entered into the world, and death by
sin; and so death passed upon all
men, for in him all have
sinned?
Romans 5:12 But where is the man whose
evil cogitation can never be changed, unless because it cannot be effected by himself, but only by
divine grace; without the assistance of which, what are
human beings, but that which the Apostle Peter says of them, when he describes them as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed?
2 Peter 2:12 Accordingly, the
Apostle Paul, in a certain passage, having both conditions in view — even the
wrath of God with which we are born, and the
grace whereby we are delivered — says: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the
lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of
wrath, even as others. But
God, who is rich in mercy, for His great
love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, has quickened us together with Christ; by whose
grace we are saved.
Ephesians 2:3-5 What, then, is man's natural
malice, and the seed cursed from the beginning; and what are the natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed, and what the by nature children of
wrath? Was this the condition of the nature which was formed in Adam? God forbid! Inasmuch as his pure nature, however, was corrupted in him, it has run on in this condition by natural descent through all, and still is running; so that there is no deliverance for it from this ruin, except by the
grace of God through
our Lord Jesus Christ.
Chapter 21 [IX.]— It is the Good God That Gives Fruitfulness, and the Devil That Corrupts the Fruit."
CHURCH FATHERS: On Marriage and Concupiscence, Book II (Augustine)
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