138. As we are yet only at the entrance of our subject respecting conjugial love specifically considered, and as conjugial love cannot be known specifically, except in a very indistinct and obscure manner, unless its opposite, which is the unchaste principle, also in some measure appear; and as this unchaste principle appears in some measure, or in a shade, when the chaste principle is described together with the non-chaste, non-chastity being only a removal of what is unchaste from what is chaste; therefore we will now proceed to treat of the chaste principle and the non-chaste. But the unchaste principle, which is altogether opposite to the chaste, is treated of in the latter part of this work, entitled [ADULTEROUS LOVE AND ITS SINFUL PLEASURES], where it is fully described with all its varieties. But what the unchaste principle is, and what the non-chaste, and with what persons each of them prevails, shall be illustrated in the following order: I. The chaste principle and the non-chaste are predicated only of marriages and of such things as relate to marriages. II. The chaste principle is predicated only of monogamical marriages, or of the marriage of one man with one wife. III. The Christian conjugial principle alone is chaste. IV. Love truly conjugial is essential chastity. V. All the delights of love truly conjugial, even the ultimate, are chaste. VI. With those who are made spiritual by the Lord, conjugial love is more and more purified and rendered chaste. VII. The chastity of marriage exists by a total renunciation of whoredoms from a principle of religion. VIII. Chastity cannot he predicated of infants, or of boys and girls, or of young men and virgins before they feel in themselves the love of the sex. IX. Chastity cannot be predicated of eunuchs so born, or of eunuchs so made. X. Chastity cannot be predicated of those who do not believe adulteries to be evils in regard to religion; and still less of those who do not believe them to be hurtful to society. XI. Chastity cannot be predicated of those who abstain from adulteries only for various external reasons. XII. Chastity cannot be predicated of those who believe marriages to be unchaste. XIII. Chastity cannot be predicated of those who have renounced marriage by vows of perpetual celibacy, unless there be and remain in them the love of a life truly conjugial. XIV. A state of marriage is to be preferred to a state of celibacy. We will now proceed to an explanation of each article.
139. I. THE CHASTE PRINCIPLE AND THE NON-CHASTE ARE PREDICATED ONLY OF MARRIAGES AND OF SUCH THINGS AS RELATE TO MARRIAGES. The reason of this is, because, as will be shewn presently, love truly conjugial is essential chastity; and the love opposite to it, which is called adulterous, is essential unchastity; so far therefore as any one is purified from the latter love, so far he is chaste; for so far the opposite, which is destructive of chastity, is taken away; whence it is evident that the purity of conjugial love is what is called chastity. Nevertheless there is a conjugial love which is not chaste, and yet it is not unchastity; as is the case with married partners, who, for various external reasons, abstain from the effects of lasciviousness so as not to think about them; howbeit, if that love is not purified in their spirits, it is still not chaste; its form is chaste, but it has not in it a chaste essence.
140. The reason why the chaste principle and the non-chaste are predicated of such things as relate to marriages, is, because the conjugial principle is inscribed on both sexes from inmost principles to ultimates; and a man's quality as to his thoughts and affections, and consequently as to his bodily actions and behaviour, is according thereto. That this is the case, appears more evidently from such as are unchaste. The unchaste principle abiding in their minds is heard from the tone of their voice in conversation, and from their applying whatever is said, even though it be chaste, to wanton and loose ends; (the tone of the voice in conversation is grounded in the will-affection, and the conversation itself is grounded in the thought of the understanding;) which is a proof that the will and the understanding, with everything belonging to them, consequently the whole mind, and thence everything belonging to the body, from inmost principles to ultimates, abound with what is unchaste. I have been informed by the angels, that, with the greatest hypocrites, the unchaste principle is perceivable from hearing their conversation, however chastely they may talk, and also is made sensible from the sphere that issues from them; which is a further proof that unchastity resides in the inmost principles of their minds, and thence in the inmost principles of their bodies, and that the latter principles are exteriorly covered like a shell painted with figures of various colors. That a sphere of lasciviousness issues forth from the unchaste, is manifest from the statutes prescribed to the sons of Israel, ordaining that everything should be unclean that was touched even by the hand of those who were defiled by such unchaste persons. From these considerations it may be concluded that the case is similar in regard to the chaste, viz., that with them everything is chaste from inmost principles to ultimates, and that this is an effect of the chastity of conjugial love. Hence it is, that in the world it is said, "To the pure all things are pure, and to the defiled all things are defiled."
141. II. THE CHASTE PRINCIPLE IS PREDICATED ONLY OF MONOGAMICAL MARRIAGES, OR OF THE MARRIAGE OF ONE MAN WITH ONE WIFE. The reason of this is, because with them conjugial love does not reside in the natural man, but enters into the spiritual man, and successively opens to itself a way to the essential spiritual marriage, or the marriage of good and truth, which is its origin, and conjoins itself therewith; for that love enters according to the increase of wisdom, which is according to the implantation of the church from the Lord, as has been abundantly shewn above. This cannot be effected with polygamists; for they divide conjugial love; and this love when divided, is not unlike the love of the sex, which in itself is natural; but on this subject something worthy of attention may be seen in the section on [POLYGAMY].
142. III. THE CHRISTIAN CONJUGIAL PRINCIPLE ALONE IS CHASTE. This is, because love truly conjugial keeps pace with the state of the church in man (homo), and because the state of the church is from the Lord, as has been shewn in the foregoing section, n. [130], [131], and elsewhere; also because the church in its genuine truths is in the Word, and the Lord is there present in those truths. From these considerations it follows, that the chaste conjugial principle exists nowhere but in the Christian world, and still that there is a possibility of its existing elsewhere. By the Christian conjugial principle we mean the marriage of one man with one wife. That this conjugial principle is capable of being ingrafted into Christians, and of being transplanted hereditarily into the offspring from parents who are principled in love truly conjugial, and that hence both the faculty and the inclination to grow wise in the things of the church and of heaven may become connate, will be seen in its proper place. Christians, if they marry more wives than one, commit not only natural but also spiritual adultery: this will be shewn in the section on [POLYGAMY].