The Ayenbite of Inwyt (Remorse of Conscience) / A Translation of Parts into Modern English

by active 14th century Dan Michel; active 1279 d'Orléans Laurent

THE NINTH COMMANDMENT.

The ninth behest is this: ‘Thou shalt not desire thy neighbour’s wife, nor desire her in thy heart.’ That is to say, thou shalt not consent to do sin with thy body.

This behest forbids to desire with will of heart to have carnal fellowship with all women out of marriage; and the sinful tokens that are made outwardly in order to lead to sin, as are sinful words of such a kind, or gifts, or sinful handling. And the difference between this behest and the sixth aforesaid is, that the sixth behest forbids the deed without, but this forbids the consent within. For the consent to have carnal fellowship with a woman (women), who is not his own for a wife, is deadly sin by the judgment of God’s Word, which says: ‘Whoever sees a woman and desires her in his heart, he hath sinned with her in his heart,’ that is to say, in open desire and in thought.