Now if abstinence from the satisfaction of the sensual impulse, the negation of difference of sex and consequently of sexual love,--for what is this without the other?--is the principle of the Christian heaven and salvation; then necessarily the satisfaction of the sexual impulse, sexual love, on which marriage is founded, is the source of sin and evil. And so it is held. The mystery of original sin is the mystery of sexual desire. All men are conceived in sin because they were conceived with sensual, i.e., natural pleasure. The act of generation, as an act of sensual enjoyment, is sinful. Sin is propagated from Adam down to us, simply because its propagation is the natural act of generation. This is the mystery of Christian original sin. "Atque hic quam alienus a vero sit, etiam hic reprehenditur, quod voluptatem in homine Deo authore creatam asserit principaliter. Sed hoc divinae scriptura redarguit, quae serpentis insidiis atque illecebris infusam Adae atque Evae voluptatem docet, siquidem ipse serpens voluptas sit.... Quomodo igitur voluptas ad paradisum revocare nos potest, quae sola nos paradiso exuit?"--Ambrosius (Ep. L. x. Ep. 82). "Voluptas ipsa sine culpa nullatenus esse potest."--Petrus L. (l. iv. dist. 31, c. 5). "Omnes in peccatis nati sumus, et ex carnis delectatione concepti culpam originalem nobiscum traximus."--Gregorius (Petrus L. l. ii. dist. 30, c. 2). "Firmissime tene et nullatenus dubites, omnem hominem, qui per concubitum viri et mulieris concipitur, cum originali peccato nasci.... Ex his datur intelligi, quid sit originale peccatum, scl. vitium concupiscentiae, quod in omnes concupiscentialiter natos per Adam intravit."--(Ibid. c. 3, see also dist. 31, c. 1.) "Peccati causa ex carne est."--Ambrosius (ibid.) "Christus peccatum non habet, nec originale traxit, nec suum addidit: extra voluptatem carnalis libidinis venit, non ibi fuit complexus maritalis.... Omnis generatus, damnatus."--Augustinus (Serm. ad Pop. S. 294, cc. 10, 16). "Homo natus de muliere et ob hoc cum reatu."--Bernardus (de Consid. l. ii.). "Peccatum quomodo non fuit, ubi libido non defuit?... Quo pacto, inquam, aut sanctus asseretur conceptus, qui de spiritus non est, ne dicam de peccato est?"--Id. (Epist. 174, edit. cit.). "All that is born into the world of man and woman is sinful, under God's anger and curse, condemned to death." "All men born of a father and mother are children of wrath by nature, as St. Paul testifies, Ephes. ii." "We have by nature a tainted, sinful conception and birth."--Luther (Th. xvi. 246, 573). It is clear from these examples, that "carnal intercourse"--even a kiss is carnal intercourse--is the radical sin, the radical evil of mankind; and consequently the basis of marriage, the sexual impulse, honestly outspoken, is a product of the devil. It is true that the creature as the work of God is good, but it has long ceased to exist as it was created. The devil has alienated the creature from God and corrupted