Conjugial Love (Acton) n. 202

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202. XVII. THAT OFFSPRING BORN OF TWO WHO ARE IN LOVE TRULY CONJUGIAL DERIVE FROM THEIR PARENTS THE CONJUGIAL OF GOOD AND TRUTH, FROM WHICH THEY HAVE AN INCLINATION AND FACULTY, IF A SON, FOR PERCEIVING THE THINGS WHICH ARE OF WISDOM, AND IF A DAUGHTER, FOR LOVING THE THINGS WHICH WISDOM TEACHES. That offspring derive from their parents inclinations to such things as were of the parent's love and life is a matter of common knowledge based in general on history and specifically on experience. That they do not derive or inherit from them their actual affections and thence their lives, but only inclinations thereto and also faculties, was proved by the wise men in the spiritual world spoken of in two Memorable Relations adduced above (nos. 156e, 182). [2] Moreover, that from their innate inclinations, if these are not broken, descendants are led into affections, thoughts, speech, and lives similar to those of their parents, is clearly manifest from the Jewish race, in that at this day it is like its fathers in Egypt, in the desert, in the land of Canaan, and at the time of the Lord, being like them, not only in their minds but also in their faces. Who does not know a Jew from his looks? It is the same with other progenies, and from this it can be concluded, and this not fallaciously, that inclinations to things like those of their parents are connate. That the actual thoughts and deeds of their parents may not follow, it is of Divine Providence that depraved inclinations can be corrected, and that the faculty for this has been implanted, from which comes the efficacy of the correction of their morals by parents and masters, and later, when they come to act from their own judgment, by themselves.


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