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Objection 1: It would seem that neither are they bound to pay the
debt at a festal time. For those who commit a sin as well as those who
consent thereto are equally punished (Rm. 1:32). But the one
who pays the debt consents with the one that asks, who sins.
Therefore he sins also.
Objection 2: Further, it is an affirmative precept that binds us to
pray, and therefore we are bound to do so at a fixed time. Therefore
one ought not to pay the debt at a time when one is bound to pray, as
neither ought one at a time when one is bound to fulfill a special duty
towards a temporal master.
On the contrary, It is written (1 Cor. 7:5): "Defraud not
one another, except by consent, for a time," etc. Therefore when
one spouse asks the other must pay.
I answer that, Since the wife has power of her husband's body, and
"vice versa," with regard to the act of procreation, the one is
bound to pay the debt to the other, at any season or hour, with due
regard to the decorum required in such matters, for this must not be
done at once openly.
Reply to Objection 1: As far as he is concerned he does not
consent, but grants unwillingly and with grief that which is exacted of
him; and consequently he does not sin. For it is ordained by God,
on account of the weakness of the flesh, that the debt must always be
paid to the one who asks lest he be afforded an occasion of sin.
Reply to Objection 2: No hour is fixed for praying, but that
compensation can be made at some other hour; wherefore the argument is
not cogent.
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