Conjugial Love (Acton) n. 465

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465. III. THAT IT IS POLYGAMY, WHICH IS BANNED FROM THE CHRISTIAN WORLD, AND SHOULD BE BANNED. That simultaneous concubinage, or concubinage conjointly* with the wife, is polygamy, though not acknowledged as such because not so decreed by any law and thus not so denominated, is seen by every one, even if not clear-sighted; for the woman is used as a wife and a sharer of the conjugial couch. That polygamy is banned from the Christian world and should be banned was proved in the chapter on polygamy, especially from the following: That for a Christian it is not lawful to marry more than one wife (no. 338); and that if a Christian marries more wives than one, he commits not only natural adultery but also spiritual adultery (no. 339); that it was permitted the Israelitish nation because with that nation there was no Christian Church (no. 340). From this it is clear that to adjoin a concubine to the wife, and share the bed with both, is filthy polygamy. * Reading conjunctim for conjuntus. So also twice in no. 466.


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