imes of their
commission; and also remain mild so far as the offending party of either
sex, in the future course of life, abstains from them for these
reasons;--because they are evils against God, or against the neighbour,
or against the goods of the state, and because, in consequence of their
being such evils, they are evils against reason; but on the other hand,
if they are not abstained from for one of the abovementioned reasons,
they are reckoned amongst grievous adulteries; thus it is according to
the divine law, Ezek. xviii, 21, 22, 24, and in other places: but they
cannot, from the above circumstances, be pronounced either blameless or
culpable, or be predicated and judged as mild or grievous, because they
do not appear before man, neither are they within the province of his
judgement; wherefore it is meant, that after death they are so accounted
or imputed.

488. VIII. ADULTERIES OF THE SECOND DEGREE ARE ADULTERIES OF LUST, WHICH
ARE COMMITTED BY THOSE WHO INDEED ARE ABLE TO CONSULT THE UNDERSTANDING,
BUT FROM ACCIDENTAL CAUSES AT THE MOMENT ARE NOT ABLE. There are two
things which, in the beginning, with every man who from natural is made
spiritual, are at strife together, which are commonly called the spirit
and the flesh; and since the love of marriage is of the spirit, and the
love of adultery is of the flesh, in such case there is also a combat
between those loves. If the love of marriage conquers, it gains dominion
over and subjugates the love of adultery, which is effected by its
removal; but if it happens that the lust of the flesh is excited to a
heat greater than what the spirit can control from reason, it follows
that the state is inverted, and the heat of lust infuses allurements
into the spirit, to such a degree, that it is no longer master of its
reason, and thence of itself: this is meant by adulteries of the second
degree, which are committed by those who indeed are able to consult the
understanding, but by reason of accidental causes at the moment are not
able. But the matter may be illustrated by particular cases; as in case
a meretricious wife by her craftiness captivates a man's mind
(_animum_), enticing him into her chamber, and inflaming his passions to
such a degree as to leave him no longer master of his judgement; and
especially if, at the same time, she also threatens to expose him if he
does not consent: in like manner, in case any meretricious wife is
skilled in deceitful allurements,