De Conjugio (Whitehead) n. 55

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55. THOSE WHO LIVE MODESTLY AND CHASTELY IN OUTWARD FORM, BUT THINK LASCIVIOUSLY. Afar off were seen women concerning whom it was said that they had lived in the world as virgins, and had avoided matrimony for the sake of chastity, saying that matrimonies were in themselves unchaste, comparing them to allowed whoredoms; it was said also that many of them were from convents, professing chastity for the sake of heaven or eternal salvation. They appeared from afar as naked, because chastity and innocence is represented in the spiritual world by nakedness, which also signifies a life blameless and free from whoredom; but it was perceived that from afar off, in a secret place, they dealt, after death, with men, adulterers, taking care sagaciously not to be seen; but when they were manifestly infested, then they escaped with mocking and fled away. Then was felt the ardor of the men who desired them for wives, because they thought them more chaste and innocent than others. It was said that they were more obscene than others, having delighted in heinous lasciviousness; they were such women as had thought lasciviously within themselves.


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