Adultery

“ The delight of adultery," says the Doctrine of the Church, "is hell with man, as the delight of marriage is heaven with him: consequently, in proportion as man is in the one delight, in the same proportion he is not in the other. Who at this day believes that the love of adultery is the fundamental of all diabolical and infernal loves, as the chaste love of marriage is the fundamental of all heavenly and Divine loves; consequently, that in proportion as man is in the love of adultery, in the same proportion he is in every evil love, if not in act, yet in effort? ”

“ Now a man that will cause his own wife which is, by marriage, his own flesh, to commit adultery, will be considered as an adulterer himself, and will be judged and condemned with adulterers; for in him is the greater sin, because he compelled his own flesh to commit adultery, by putting her away. ”

“ A man taken in adultery would have been amply punished by what came to you. What others deserved for adultery, that you got from the marriage which you thought had made amends for everything. Adulteresses bring their paramours what your own wife brought you. Not when we lived for pleasure, but when, separated, we lived in chastity, you presiding at the Paris schools, I at thy command dwelling with the nuns at Argenteuil; you devoted to study, I to prayer and holy reading ”

“ I once inquired of those in the spiritual world who did not regard adulteries as sins, whether they knew a single distinction between fornication, keeping a mistress, the two kinds of concubinage, and the several degrees of adultery? ”

“ And again I saw men and women of a very black countenance in a pit of fire, and I sighed and wept and asked: Who are these, Lord? And he said unto me: These are whoremongers and adulterers who, having wives of their own, committed adultery, and likewise the women after the same sort committed adultery, having their own husbands: therefore do they pay the penalty without ceasing.
39 And I saw there girls clad in black raiment, and four fearful angels holding in their hands red-hot chains, and they put them upon their necks (heads) and led them away into darkness. ”

“ When Jesus appeared unto the ancient Nephites, in the northern partof what we call South America, He taught them concerning adultery, in these words:— “Behold, it is written by them of old time, that thou shalt not commit adultery; ”

“ Let us apply these principles to adultery. The state can no more prohibit it or punish it by law than any other illegitimate satisfaction of the sexual impulse. ”

“ Note, Adultery is an exceedingly sinful sin, for it is the rebellion of a vile lust, not only against the command, but against the covenant, of our God. It is the violation of a divine institution in innocency, by the indulgence of one of the basest lusts of man in his degeneracy. ”

“ Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband, committeth adultery.
Rom. VII, 2. For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
3. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. ”

“ When the righteous man saw them, he trusted his Creator, and called to them, saying, "What sons of adultery you are! And you believe in one born of adultery. But I believe in the God who lives forever, who dwells in the highest heavens. ”

“ Say what you will, the time has come when a divorce gives a person a certain position."
"It has at least the merit of abolishing adultery," chuckled Charrigaud. "Adultery is now very old-fashioned. Nobody but friend Bourget now believes in adultery,—Christian adultery,—and in English furniture." ”

“ But, on the other hand, the advance of adultery was towards hell, and by degrees to the lowest hell, where there is nothing but what is direful and horrible: such a lot awaits adulterers after their life in the world." It is added, "By adulterers are meant such as perceive delight in adulteries and no delight in marriage." ”

“ For if he who has been attached to a heavenly bridegroom deserts him, and joins himself to a wife the act is adultery, even if you call it marriage ten thousand times over; or rather it is worse than adultery in proportion as God is greater than man. ”

“ For as we punish women, when, being married to us, they give themselves to others, so also are we punished, though not by the Roman laws, yet by God. For this also is adultery. For not only is adultery committed in doing so by her who is married to another, but by him also, who is yoked to a wife. ”

“ Truly: and the husband's adultery may give his friend,—into whose house he has crept like a thief, to steal faith and honor,—a spurious son to inherit. Or it may give some wretched victim of his seduction, a spurious son to drown or strangle. Or it may give him a spurious son, by some wanton, on whom he lavishes the patrimony of his legitimate sons. No matter! The wrong done by him cannot be measured by equal weight with the wrong done to him: for he is a man, and claims his right of exemption, by natural superiority. ”

“ The adulterers are no more to commit adultery, lest they give themselves up to everlasting punishment. For adultery is with God an evil altogether grievous above all other evils. Put away also from yourselves covetousness, and lying, and drunkenness, and slandering, [62] and rendering evil for evil! [63] For all these are alien and strange to the God whom I preach. But walk ye rather in faith, and meekness, and holiness, and hope, in which God rejoices, that you may become of his household, expecting from him those gifts, which a few only receive. ”

“ The penalty for adultery is death to both, at husband's option -- disfigurement by cutting off the nose of the guilty woman, an archaic practice widely spread. In one case the adulterous lady is left the choice of her own death. ”

“ So convinced are the women of the sufferings which adultery, if unacknowledged, entails on the guilty mother in childbed, that a woman who knows her child to be illegitimate will privately confess her sin to the midwife before she is actually brought to bed, in the hope thereby of alleviating and shortening her travail pangs.104.2 Sympathetic relation between an adulterer and the injured husband. ”

“ Now, in this bond of God we find the marriage tie; all other unions are but bonds of straw, and they who live in them commit adultery.
13. The same as they who satisfy their lust without the sanction of an officer or priest.
14. But more than this; the man or woman who indulges lustful thoughts commits adultery.
15. Whom God has joined together man cannot part; whom man has joined together live in sin. ”

“ It is a little surprising that repeated adultery is, in the above Rule, expressly placed on a level with simple fornication. Whether the Framer of this Rule has done so purposely, and thought that adultery ought to be treated with indulgence, on account of the uncommon temptation he supposed Men were under to commit it, or has only been very careless in his manner of expressing himself, I shall not attempt to discuss. ”

“ Saith Chrysostom, The adulterer even before damnation is most miserable: still in fear, trembling at a shadow, fearing them that know, and them that know not: always in pain, even in the dark.
[453] 1 Tim. vi. 9, "Hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition."
[454] When an adulterer asked Thales whether he should make a vow against his sin, he answered him, Adultery is as bad as perjury: if thou dare be an adulterer, thou darest forswear thyself. Laert. Herod durst behead John, that durst be incestuous. ”

“ If any man commit adultery with the wife of another, and defile his neighbour's wife: let them be put to death, both the adulterer and the adulteress.
20:11. If a man lie with his stepmother, and discover the nakedness of his father, let them both be put to death: their blood be upon them. ”

“ If voluntary and deliberate looks and desires make adulterers and adulteresses, how many persons are there whose whole life is one continued crime! whose eyes being full of adultery, they cannot cease from sin, [396] . Many would abhor to commit one external act before the eyes of men, in a temple of stone; and yet they are not afraid to commit a multitude of such acts in the temple of their hearts, and in the sight of God! ”

“ Thou who delightest in adultery, know that law and nature revenge themselves on thee, and above all the conscience! And thou, adulteress, which didst trespass against the law, thou knowest not whither thou wilt go. and [sic] if thou didst keep thy treasures without helping the poor, having left this body and being in the flames of the (hellish) fire, thou shalt find no one that will have mercy on thee when asking for mercy. Thou who art passionate and raging, know that thou livest like brutes; thou drunkard and brawler, perceive that thou losest thy senses by serving a vile, filthy passion! ”

“ Hence it is manifest that adultery is a determinate species of lust, through having a special deformity in venereal acts.
Reply Obj. 1: If a married man has intercourse with another woman, his sin may be denominated either with regard to him, and thus it is always adultery, since his action is contrary to the fidelity of marriage, or with regard to the woman with whom he has intercourse; and thus sometimes it is adultery, as when a married man has intercourse with another's wife ”

“ They live, therefore, fenced around with chastity; 110 corrupted by no seductive spectacles, 111 no convivial incitements. Men and women are alike unacquainted with clandestine correspondence. Adultery is extremely rare among so numerous a people. Its punishment is instant, and at the pleasure of the husband. ”

“ How many are there in high life, several of whom I could mention, (and were it done, it would be perhaps but the discharge of a christian duty,) who live in a state of unconcealed adultery,—fathers of families taking up with women young enough to be their daughters! ”

“ Some state legislatures make a distinction between adultery and fornication, using the word adultery to apply to immorality on the part of married people, and the word fornication to apply to the same sort of sin on the part of unmarried people. ”

“ In the lust of fornication all those look to adultery who do not believe adulteries to be sins, and who think similarly of marriage and of adulteries, only with the distinction of what is allowed and what is not ”

“ And if any man or woman shall commit adultery, he or she shall be tried before two elders of the church, or more, and every word shall be established against him or her by two witnesses of the church, and not of the enemy ”

“ The husband could obtain a divorce for adultery, the wife could obtain a divorce for adultery coupled with cruelty or desertion for two or more years, and also for incestuous or bigamous adultery, or rape, or unnatural offences. ”