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Memorable Occurrences in Swedenborg's Writings

This list of Memorable Occurrences in Swedenborg's Writings was originally compiled by W. C. Henderson in 1960 but has since been updated.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Conjugial Love #501

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501. THE LUST TO DEFLOWER

The lusts described in the following four chapters not only are lusts of adultery, but they are still more grave, since they do not arise except in consequence of adulteries, being embraced after adulteries become tiresome. So, for example, the lust to deflower, which we consider first, which cannot possibly arise in anyone before then. The same is true of the lust for variety, the lust to rape, and the lust to seduce states of innocence, which we consider in the chapters that follow next.

We call these lusts, because the degree and nature of the lust for them determines the degree and nature of one's embracement of them.

With respect to the lust to deflower specifically, in order to impart a clear conviction that it is wicked, its wickedness will be made manifest from the following considerations in turn:

1. What the state of a virgin or untouched woman is before marriage and after marriage.

2. Virginity is the crown of her chastity and a token of conjugial love.

3. Defloration without intention of marriage is the villainous act of a robber.

4. Those who persuade themselves that the lust to deflower is not a sinful evil, after death suffer a grievous fate.

Explanation of these statements now follows.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

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