This is what some in heaven say; they mean by marrow the inner regions of the mind and body. These are burnt up, that is, destroyed if conjugial love is hurried on, because this love then begins with a flame, which eats up and ruins the shrine in which conjugial love should dwell in its beginning and from which it should develop. This is what happens, if a man and a woman hasten into marriage without following the proper sequence, not looking to the Lord, not consulting reason, rejecting an engagement, and merely giving in to the demands of the flesh. If that love begins with the burning heat of the flesh, it becomes outward and not inward and so not conjugial. This love may be called a shell of love with no kernel, or fleshy, lean and dry, since it is emptied of its real essence. (See further on this subject 305 above.)