Conjugial Love (Acton) n. 312

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312. XVI. THAT CONJUGIAL LOVE, PRECIPITATED WITHOUT ORDER AND ITS MODES, BURNS OUT THE MARROWS AND IS CONSUMED. This is so stated by some in heaven; and by the marrows they mean the interiors of the mind and body. The reason why these are burned out, that is, are consumed, when conjugial love is precipitated, is because the love then commences from a flame which consumes and destroys the sanctuaries wherein, as in its beginnings, conjugial love is to dwell, and from which it is to commence. This is the case when a man and woman precipitate marriage without order, not looking to the Lord, not consulting reason, rejecting betrothal, and yielding only to the flesh; and if that love commences from the burning heat of the flesh, it becomes external and not internal, thus not conjugial. It can then be called a shell-love, not a kernel-love; or a flesh-love, lean and dry, because emptied of its genuine essence. More on this subject may be seen above (no. 305).


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