eunuchs so made, n. 151.  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, n. 152.  Chastity cannot be predicated of those who abstain from adulteries only for various external reasons, n. 153.  Chastity cannot be predicated of those who believe marriages to be unchaste, n. 154.  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, n. 155.  A state of marriage is to be preferred to a state of celibacy, n. 156.

ON THE CONJUNCTION OF SOULS AND MINDS BY MARRIAGE, WHICH IS MEANT BY THE LORD’S WORDS,—­THEY ARE NO LONGER TWO BUT ONE FLESH, n. 156*-181.

From creation there is implanted in each sex a faculty and inclination, whereby they are able and willing to be joined together as it were into a one, n. 157.  Conjugial love conjoins two souls, and thence two minds, into a one, n. 158.  The will of the wife conjoins itself with the understanding of the man, and thence the understanding of the man with the will of the wife, n. 159.  The inclination to unite the man to herself is constant and perpetual with the wife, but inconstant and alternate with the man, n. 160.  Conjunction is inspired into the man from the wife according to her love, and is received by the man according to his wisdom, n. 161.  This conjunction is effected successively from the first days of marriage; and with those who are principled in love truly conjugial, it is effected more and more thoroughly to eternity, n. 162.  The conjunction of the wife with the rational wisdom of the husband is effected from within, but with his moral wisdom from without, n. 163-165.  For the sake of this conjunction as an end, the wife has a perception of the affections of her husband, and also the utmost prudence in moderating them, n. 166.  Wives conceal this perception with themselves, and hide it from their husbands for reasons of necessity, in order that conjugial love, friendship, and confidence, and thereby the blessedness of dwelling together, and the happiness of life may be secured, n. 167.  This perception is the wisdom of the wife, and is not communicable to the man; neither is the rational wisdom of the man communicable to the wife, n. 168.  The wife from a principle of love is continually thinking about the man’s inclination to her, with the purpose of joining him to herself; it is otherwise with the man, n. 169.  The wife conjoins herself to the man by applications to the desires of his will, n. 170.  The wife is conjoined to her husband by the sphere of her life flowing from the love of him, n. 171.  The wife is conjoined to the husband by the appropriation of the powers of his virtue; which however is effected according to their mutual spiritual love, n. 172.  Thus the wife receives in herself the image of her husband, and thence perceives,