316. There are many causes which make a man to seem chaste, not only to others but also to himself, when, in fact, he is wholly unchaste; since he does not know that when a lust occupies the will it is a deed and cannot be removed except by the Lord after repentance. A man is not made chaste by abstaining from doing, but by abstaining from willing because it is a sin when the doing is possible. Just so far as anyone abstains from adulteries and whoredoms, solely from fear of the civil law and its penalties; from fear of the loss of reputation and thus of honor; from fear of the diseases arising from them; from fear of the wife's upbraidings at home, and the consequent intranquillity of life; from fear of the vengeance of the husband and relatives, or of being beaten by their servants; or because of avarice, or any infirmity caused by disease or abuse or age or any other cause of impotence; even if he abstains on account of any natural or moral law, and not at the same time on account of spiritual law; he is nevertheless inwardly an adulterer and a fornicator. For he nonetheless believes that adulteries and whoredoms are not sins, and therefore he does not in his spirit make them unlawful before God; and thus in spirit he commits them, even if he does not commit them in the body before the world; and in consequence, when after death he becomes a spirit he speaks openly in favor of them. Furthermore, adulterers may be compared to covenant-breakers who violate compacts; also to the satyrs and priapi of the ancients, who roamed in forests, crying out, "Where are there virgins, betrothed maidens, and wives, to sport with?" Moreover, in the spiritual world adulterers actually appear like satyrs and priapi. They may also be compared to rank he-goats, or to dogs that run about the streets, looking about and smelling for female dogs to satiate their lasciviousness; and so on. When they become husbands their virility may be likened to the blossoming of tulips in spring, which in a month lose their flowers and wither.