Conjugial Love (Acton) n. 142

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142. III. THAT THE CHRISTIAN CONJUGIAL ALONE IS CHASTE, is because love truly conjugial in man keeps equal pace with the state of the Church with him; and, as shown in the preceding chapter, nos. 130, 131, and elsewhere, this state is from the Lord; also because the Church is in the Word in its genuine truths, it being in these that the Lord is present there. From this it follows, that there is no chaste conjugial except in the Christian world; and that if it is not there, it is nevertheless possible. By the Christian conjugial is meant the marriage of one man with one wife. That this conjugial can be implanted among Christians and by inheritance can descend from parents who are in love truly conjugial to their offspring, and that from it arises a connate ability and inclination to become wise in the things of the Church and heaven, will be seen in its proper place. That Christians, if they marry more wives than one, commit not only natural but also spiritual adultery, will be shown in the chapter on Polygamy.


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