The Delights of Wisdom

Pertaining to

 

 

CONJUGIAL  LOVE

 

 

After which follow

the pleasures of insanity

pertaining to promiscuous love

 

 

 

 

Emanuel  Swedenborg

 

 

 

1768

 

 

 

www.cosmic-people.com

 

www.angels-heaven.org

 

 

 

 

CONTENTS

 

 

(*)

Editor’s Preface

 

(I)

Part 1: THE WISDOM OF CONJUGIAL LOVE

 

(1)

Joys of Heaven and a Wedding There (n. 1-26)

(2)

Marriages in Heaven (27-44)

(3)

Married Partners after Death (45-56)

(4)

Love Truly Conjugial (57-82)

(5)

On the Origin of Conjugial Love from the Marriage of Good and Truth (83-115)

(6)

Marriage of the Lord and the Church, and Its Correspondence (116-137)

(7)

The Chaste and the Unchaste (138-155a)

(8)

On the Conjunction of Souls and Minds by Marriage (156a-183)

(9)

Change of State of Life by Marriage with Men and Women (184-208)

(10)

General Concepts about Marriage (209-233)

(11)

Causes of Coldness, Separation, and Divorce in Marriage (234-270)

(12)

Causes of Apparent Love, Friendship, and Goodwill in Marriage (271-294)

(13)

Concerning Betrothals and Weddings (295-316)

(14)

Remarriage (317-331)

(15)

Polygamy (332-356)

(16)

Jealousy (357-384)

(17)

Conjunction of Conjugial Love with the Love of Infants (385-422)

 

(II)

Part 2: THE INSANITY OF PROMISCUOUS LOVE

 

(18)

Opposition of Promiscuous Love and Conjugial Love (423-444)

(19)

Fornication (444a-461)

(20)

Taking a Mistress (462-477)

(21)

Adulteries and Their Kinds and Degrees (478-500)

(22)

Lust for Defloration (501-505)

(23)

Lust for Variety (506-510)

(24)

Lust for Rape (511-512)

(25)

Lust to Seduce Innocent Women (513-514)

(26)

Correspondence of Promiscuities with the Violation of Spiritual Marriage (515-522)

(27)

Imputation of Each Love, Promiscuous and Conjugial (523-535)

 

(**)

Index to Memorable Relations

(***)

Index of Scripture Passages

(****)

General Index

 

 

 

 

(*)

 

Editor’s Preface

 

 

All of the theological works of Swedenborg from 1749 through 1766 were published anonymously. This work, Conjugial Love, is the first to have the author’s name on the title page. At the back of the volume he appended a list of “theological works hitherto published by me.” This list has been omitted in most English editions to date.

 

This present edition was first translated from the Latin by Samuel Warren for the Rotch edition of Swedenborg’s works and published as Marriage Love. Warren’s text was later revised by Louis Tafel and published as Conjugial Love. The text of the Warren/Tafel version was electronically scanned from the Swedenborg Foundation’s Standard Edition. This has allowed the book to be completely redesigned and set in a new and more readable typeface. Certain stylistic changes have also been introduced. These include modernized spelling and punctuation as well as the substitution of new words for terms whose meanings have become obscure or have changed since the nineteenth century. Arabic numerals have replaced roman numerals in Bible passages, and certain capitalized words, including pronouns referring to God, have been lowercased to reflect contemporary usage. All these changes have been carefully made in order to make the book easier to read and use while preserving the dignity and power of the original Latin. On the whole, however, the Warren/Tafel translation has not been materially altered.

 

A word needs to be said about the translation of the Scripture passages in this work, some of which Swedenborg translated from biblical Hebrew and Greek, others of which he cited from Latin bibles in his personal library. The reader will note that the archaic language of the 1611 King James Bible, commonly called the Authorized Version, has for the most part been retained in the Scripture citations in this edition. Thus verbs will often have the suffix “-eth,” and pronoun forms such as “thee,” “thou,” and “thine” are retained. This custom, based on the almost universal use of the King James version at that time, dates back to the earliest English translations of Swedenborg. The decision was made by the early translators to follow the familiar language of that Bible wherever it did not conflict with the Latin of Swedenborg’s Scripture citations. Although it would be desirable to update this language, these citations appear so frequently that changing them throughout the entire work would have required a major revision.

 

Numbers indicating the paragraph subdivisions used in John Faulkner Potts’ six-volume Swedenborg Concordance (London: Swedenborg Society, 1888-1902) appear in bracketed boldface type at the beginning of paragraphs. The numbers in parentheses—(6), (7), etc.—are divisions of the exposition by the author. Italicized letters following a number (518a, 518b) are subdivisions added by the Latin editor, Samuel H. Worcester. All footnotes are editorial. Words or phrases in brackets are also editorial insertions into Swedenborg’s text.

 

William Ross Woofenden

Sharon, Massachusetts

 

 

 

 

 

PART 1

 

The Delights of Wisdom

Pertaining to Conjugial Love

 

 

 

(1)

 

The Joys of Heaven and a Wedding There

 

 

Preliminaries

 

1. I foresee that many who read the following relations and those after the chapters will believe they are fictions of the imagination; but I declare in truth that they are not fictions, but things actually done and seen. Nor were they seen in any state of the mind asleep, but in a state of full wakefulness. For it has pleased the Lord to manifest himself to me, and to send me to teach the things that will belong to the new church which is meant by the new Jerusalem in Revelation. To this end he has opened the interiors of my mind and spirit, whereby he has given me to be in the spiritual world with angels and at the same time in the natural world with men, and this now for five and twenty years.

 

2. I once saw an angel flying beneath the eastern heaven with a trumpet in his hand and to his mouth; and he sounded it to the north, to the west, and to the south. He was clad in a robe that waved behind him as he flew, and was girt about with a band flashing and sparkling as with rubies and sapphires. He flew downwards and descended slowly to the earth not far from where I was. As he touched the ground he stood upon his feet and walked to and fro; and then, seeing me, he directed his steps toward me. I was in the spirit, and in that state was standing on a hill in the southern quarter. And when he came near I spoke to him, and asked, “What is to come to pass now? I heard the sound of your trumpet and saw you descending through the air.”

 

The angel answered, “I am sent to call together the men most renowned for learning, of most penetrating genius, and most eminent reputation for wisdom from the countries of the Christian world who are dwelling on this continent, that they may assemble on the hill where you now are, and from the heart express their minds as to what they had thought, understood, and conceived in the world, respecting heavenly joy and eternal happiness.

 

[2] “The reason of my being sent was this: certain newcomers from the world admitted into our heavenly society, which is in the east, have told us that not even one in the whole Christian world knows what heavenly joy and eternal happiness are, nor therefore what heaven is. This my brethren and companions greatly wondered at, and they said to me, ‘Go down, call together, and assemble the wisest in the world of spirits’ (in which all mortals are first gathered after their departure from the natural world) ‘so that from the mouth of many we may make sure whether it is true that there is among Christians such thick darkness and dense ignorance of the future life.’” And he said, “Wait a little, and you will see companies of the wise flocking hither. The Lord will provide them an edifice of assembly.”

 

[3] I waited, and lo, after half an hour I beheld two companies from the north, two from the west, and two from the south; and as they came they were conducted by the angel with the trumpet to the edifice provided, and took the places assigned them there according to the quarter from whence they came. There were six companies or groups. A seventh, from the east, was not seen by the others on account of the light. When they were assembled the angel disclosed to them the reason of their being called together, and requested that the companies would in order express their wisdom respecting heavenly joy and eternal happiness. And each company then gathered themselves into a circle, turned face to face, that they might recall this subject according to the ideas received in the former world, and now consider it, and after consideration and consultation present their conclusion.

 

3. The first company, which was from the north, after consultation said, “Heavenly joy and eternal happiness are one with the very life of heaven; and therefore everyone who enters heaven, as to life enters into its festivities, just as one who goes to a wedding enters into its festivities. Is not heaven above us before our eyes and thus in a place? And there, and only there, are bliss upon bliss and pleasures upon pleasures. Into these a man is admitted when he enters heaven, as to every perception of the mind and every sensation of the body, from the fullness of the joy of that place. Heavenly happiness then, which is also eternal, is nothing else than admission into heaven, and admission by Divine grace.”

 

[2] When they had said this, the other company from the north expressed this opinion from their wisdom: “Heavenly joy and eternal happiness are nothing but most delightful companionship with angels and sweetest converse with them, whereby the countenance is kept continually expanded with joy and the faces of the whole company are wreathed in smiles of gladness, from the courteous discourse and pleasantry. What are heavenly joys but the variations of such pleasures to eternity?”

 

[3] The third company, which was the first of the wise from the western quarter, from the thoughts of their affections, declared, “What are heavenly joy and eternal happiness but feastings with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, upon whose tables will be rich and delicate viands, with generous and noble wines; and after the feasts, sports and dances of youths and maidens, tripping to the measures of symphonies and flutes, with intervening singing of sweetest songs; and then at evening there will be dramatic representations, and after these feastings again, and so on every day to eternity.”

 

[4] After this utterance the fourth company, which was the second from the western quarter, announced their opinion, saying, “We have cherished many ideas respecting heavenly joy and eternal happiness, and have considered various joys, and compared them with each other, and have come to the conclusion that heavenly joys are paradisal joys. What else is heaven but a paradise, whose extent is from east to west and from south to north, wherein are fruit trees and delightful flowers, and in the midst of them the magnificent tree of life, about which the blessed will sit, eating fruits of delicate flavor, and adorned with wreaths of flowers of sweetest fragrance? And as these with the breath of perpetual spring come forth and forth again from day to day, with infinite variety, and as by their perpetual birth and blossom, and by the constant vernal temperature, their spirits are continually renewed, they cannot but inspire and breathe out new joys from day to day. And hence they return to the flower of their age, and thereby to the primeval state in which Adam and his wife were created, and thus they are brought again into their paradise translated from earth to heaven.”

 

[5] The fifth company, which was the first of the gifted from the southern quarter, said, “Heavenly joy and eternal happiness are none other than supereminent dominion, with boundless wealth, and consequent more than regal magnificence, and more than illustrious splendor. That the joys of heaven and their continual fruition, which is eternal happiness, are these, we have perceived clearly from those who had acquired them in the former world; and from the fact, moreover, that the blessed in heaven are to reign with the Lord, and are to be kings and princes, because they are the sons of him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and are to sit upon thrones, and the angels will minister unto them. We have gained a conception of the magnificence of heaven from the fact that the new Jerusalem, by which the glory of heaven is portrayed, is to have gates each of one pearl, and streets of pure gold, and a wall with foundations of precious stones; consequently that everyone received into heaven has his own palace, resplendent with gold and precious things; and dominion in successive rank one above another. And as we know that joys and inborn happiness are inherent in such things, and that they are God’s promise which cannot be broken, we are unable to deduce the most happy state of heavenly life from any other source.”

 

[6] After this the sixth company, which was the second from the southern quarter, lifted up their voice and said, “The joy of heaven and its eternal happiness are none other than the perpetual glorification of God, a solemn festival continuing to eternity, and most blessed worship, with songs and jubilee; and thus a constant uplifting of the heart to God, with full trust in his acceptance of prayers and praises for the Divine bounty of their beatitude.”

 

Some of this company added that this glorification would be attended with magnificent illuminations and most fragrant incense; and with processions of great pomp, a chief pontiff with great sound of the trumpet going before, primates and key-bearers great and small following him, and after them men carrying palms and women with golden images in their hands.

 

4. The seventh company, not visible to the others on account of the light, was from the east in heaven. They were angels from the same society whence the angel with the trumpet came. When they heard in their heaven that not a single person in the Christian world knew what the joy of heaven and eternal happiness are, they said one to another, “This certainly is not the truth. There cannot be such thick darkness and such mental stupor among Christians. Let us then go down and hear whether it is the truth, for if true it is indeed marvelous.”

 

[2] These angels then said to the angel with the trumpet, “You know that every man who had desired heaven, and had any definite thought about the joys there, is introduced after death into the joys of his imagination; and that when they have experienced what those joys are, that they are according to the vain conceits of their mind, and according to their delirious fantasies, then they are led out of them and instructed.”

 

This is done in the world of spirits, in the case of the most of those who in the former life have meditated about heaven, and have formed some conclusion respecting the joys there, even so far as to desire them.

 

Having heard these words the angel with the trumpet said to the six companies called together from the wise of the Christian world, “Follow me, and I will lead you into your joys, and so into your heaven.”

 

5. Having said this the angel went before and was followed, first by the company of those who had persuaded themselves that heavenly joys consisted solely of most delightful companionship and most agreeable conversation. The angel brought them to companies in the northern quarter, of those who in the former world had the same conception of the joys of heaven.

 

There was a spacious house in which such were gathered. There were more than fifty rooms in the house, distinguished according to the various kinds of conversation. In some of the rooms they were talking about such things as they had seen and heard in public places and in the streets; in some they talked of the various loveliness of the fair sex, intermingled with pleasantries, which increased until the countenances of all in the company expanded with smiles of merriment; in other rooms they talked of the news about the court, about the ministries, state polity, various matters which had become known from privy councils, together with reasonings and conjectures respecting the events; in others, they talked of business; in others, on literary subjects; in others, of such things as pertain to civil prudence and to moral life; in others, about ecclesiastic affairs, and the sects; and so on. It was given me to look into this house; and I saw them running about from room to room, seeking companionships of their affections and thence of their joys. And among these companionships I observed three kinds; some panting, as it were, to speak, some longing to make inquiries, and others eager to hear.

 

[2] There were four entrances to the house, one towards each quarter; and I noticed that many left the companies and were hastening to get out. I followed some of them to the eastern door, and saw several sitting near it with sad countenances; and I approached and asked why they were sitting in such sadness.

 

They answered, “The doors of this house are kept closed to those who wish to go out; and it is now the third day since we entered, and we have lived the life of our desire for company and conversation, and are utterly wearied with continual talking, insomuch that we can scarcely bear to hear the murmur of their sound. From irksomeness therefore we came to this door and knocked, but are answered that, ‘The doors of this house are not opened for going out, but for coming in. Remain, and delight in the joys of heaven.’ From which answer we infer that we must continue here to eternity. This is the cause of the sadness that has entered our minds; and now our hearts begin to be oppressed and anxiety arises.”

 

[3] The angel then spoke to them, and said, “This state is the death of your joys, which you believed to be alone heavenly, although in truth they are but the accessories of heavenly joys.”

 

And they asked the angel, “What then is heavenly joy?”

 

To which the angel replied in these few words: “It is the delight of doing something that is useful to ourselves and to others; and the delight of use derives its essence from love and its existence from wisdom. The delight of use springing from love by wisdom is the life and soul of all heavenly joys.

 

[4] “There are most joyous companionships in the heavens, which gladden the minds of angels, amuse their spirits, fill their bosoms with delight, and revive their bodies; but they enjoy these delights when they have performed the uses of their employments and occupations. From these are the soul and life in all their joys and pleasures; but if you take away this soul or life the accessory joys successively become no joys, but become at first indifferent, then as if frivolous, and finally bring sadness and anxiety.” When these words had been said the door was opened, and those sitting near sprang out and fled to their homes, everyone to his employment and to his occupation, and revived.

 

6. After this the angel addressed those who had induced upon themselves the idea that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness consisted in feastings with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and after the feasts sports and public shows, and then feasts again, and so on to eternity. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will bring you into the felicities of your joys.”

 

And he led them through a grove to a level place covered with a floor, on which tables were placed, fifteen on one side and fifteen on the other.

 

And they asked, “Why so many tables?”

 

The angel answered, “The first table is that of Abraham, the second that of Isaac, the third that of Jacob; and next to these in order are the tables of the twelve apostles. On the other side is the same number of tables, those of their wives; the first three are those of Sarah the wife of Abraham, Rebecca the wife of Isaac, and Leah and Rachel the wives of Jacob; and the other twelve are those of the wives of the twelve apostles.”

 

[2] After some delay all the tables appeared to be filled with dishes of food, and the little spaces between them were ornamented by small pyramids with sweetmeats. The guests stood around them in expectation of seeing the hosts of the tables. They who were expected were shortly seen to enter, in order of procession from Abraham to the last of the apostles; and presently each approached his own table, and reclined upon a couch at its head. And from their places they said to those that stood around, “Recline ye also with us.” And they did so, the men with the fathers, and the women with their wives; and they ate and drank in joy and with veneration.

 

After the feast the fathers went out, and then began the sports, the dances of youths and maidens, and after them the public shows.

 

These being ended they were invited to feast again, but with the condition that they were to eat on the first day with Abraham, on the second with Isaac, on the third with Jacob, on the fourth with Peter, on the fifth with James, on the sixth with John, on the seventh with Paul, and with the rest in order to the fifteenth day; from which again the festivities would be renewed in the same order, changing seats, and so on to eternity.

 

[3] After this the angel called together the men of the company and said to them, “All those whom you saw at the tables had been in similar imaginary thought with yourselves concerning the joys of heaven and eternal happiness therefrom; and such mock festivities were provided and were permitted by the Lord to the end that they may themselves see the vanity of their ideas, and thereby be led out of them. The chief men whom you saw at the head of the tables were old men playing a part, most of them rustics, who being bearded and of some wealth were prouder than others, upon whom was induced the fantasy that they were these ancient fathers. But follow me into the ways leading out of this place of discipline.”

 

[4] And they followed and saw some fifty here and fifty there who had filled their bellies with food even to nausea, and were longing to return to the familiar scenes of their homes, some to their public offices, some to their merchandise, and some to their labor. But many were detained by the keepers of the grove, and were asked about their days of feasting, and whether they had yet eaten at the table with Peter and with Paul, and if they were going away before they had done so? For as this would be unbecoming, it would be to their shame.

 

But most of them answered, “We are sated with our joys; food has become insipid to us; we have lost relish for it; our stomachs loathe it; we cannot bear to taste it. We have dragged on some days and nights in this luxury, and beg earnestly that we may be permitted to go away.” And being allowed to go, they with rapid pace and panting breath fled to their homes.

 

[5] The angel then called together the men of the company, and on the way gave them this instruction concerning heaven: “In heaven, as in the world, there are foods and drinks, there are festive meals and banquets; and with the principal persons there are tables spread with sumptuous delicacies, with choice and delicious viands, wherewith they are exhilarated and refreshed in spirit. And there are also sports and exhibitions, and entertainments of music and song; and all these in the highest perfection. And such things give them joys, but not happiness. This must be within the joys, and thence from the joys. Happiness within joys makes them joys indeed. It enriches and sustains them, that they do not become worthless nor disdained. And this happiness everyone has from the performance of use in his employment.

 

[6] “There is a certain latent vein within the affection of the will of every angel which draws the mind on to do something. By this the mind tranquilizes and satisfies itself. This satisfaction and this tranquillity induce a state of mind receptive of the love of use from the Lord. And from the reception of this comes heavenly happiness, which is the life of their joys before mentioned. Heavenly food in its essence is nothing else than love, wisdom, and use together, that is, use from love by wisdom. Wherefore, in heaven, food for the body is given to everyone according to the use that he performs, sumptuous to those who are in eminent use, moderate but of exquisite flavor to those in a medium degree of use, simple to those in inferior use, but none to the slothful.”

 

7. After this he called to him the company of the wise, so-called, who made heavenly joys and eternal happiness therefrom to consist in supereminent dominion and boundless wealth, and in more than regal magnificence and more than illustrious splendor, because it is said in the Word, among other things, that they shall be kings and princes, and that they shall reign with Christ forever, and be ministered unto by the angels, with many other things. The angel said to them, “Follow me, and I will introduce you into your joys.”

 

And he brought them into a portico constructed with columns and pyramids. In front of it was a lower palace through which the way opened into the portico. Through this he introduced them. And lo, twenty here and twenty there were seen waiting. And then suddenly one appeared who impersonated an angel; and he said to them, “Through this portico is the way to heaven. Stay a little while and prepare yourselves; for the elder among you are to be kings, and the younger men princes.”

 

[2] When this was said there appeared by each column a throne, upon the throne a robe of silk, and upon the robe a scepter and a crown; and by each pyramid there appeared a chair of state, elevated some three cubits from the ground, and on the chair a chain with links of gold, and the ribbon of an order of knighthood joined at the ends with circlets of diamonds. And then it was proclaimed, “Go now, robe yourselves, be seated, and wait.”

 

And immediately the elder men hastened to the thrones, and the younger to the chairs of state, and put on their robes and sat down. And then there appeared as it were a mist ascending from beneath, from inhaling which those sitting upon the thrones and chairs began to swell in the face and to be puffed up as to their chest and filled with the confidence that now they were kings and princes. The mist was an aura of the fantasy with which they were inspired. And suddenly young men flew to them, as if from heaven, and stood two behind each throne and one behind each chair of state, to minister. And then by turns some herald cried out, “Ye kings and princes, wait yet a little while, your palaces are now being prepared in heaven. Courtiers with a retinue will presently come and conduct you in.” They waited and waited until their spirits panted for breath and they were utterly wearied with eager longing.

 

[3] After three hours heaven was opened above their heads, and angels looked down and having compassion on them said,“Why do you sit so foolish, and take an actor’s part? They have been playing tricks upon you, and have changed you from men to idols, because you have set your hearts upon the idea that you are to reign with Christ as kings and princes, and are to be ministered unto by the angels. Have you forgotten the Lord’s words, that he who would be great in heaven must become a servant? Learn then what is meant by kings and princes, and by reigning with Christ, that it is to be wise and perform uses; for the kingdom of Christ, which is heaven, is a kingdom of uses. For the Lord loves all, and from love wills good to all, and good is use. And as the Lord does goods or uses mediately through the angels, and in the world through men, therefore to them that perform uses faithfully he gives the love of use and its reward, which is internal blessedness; and this is eternal happiness.

 

[4] “In the heavens as on earth there is preeminent dominion and boundless wealth; for there are governments and forms of governments, and therefore there are greater and lesser powers and dignities. And those who are in the highest dignity have palaces and courts, which in magnificence and splendor excel the palaces and courts of emperors and kings on earth; and they are surrounded with honor and glory from the number of courtiers, ministers, and attendants, and the splendor of their apparel. But the highest among these are chosen from them whose heart is in the public welfare, and whose bodily senses only are in the grandeur of magnificence for the sake of obedience. And as it is for the public welfare that everyone in a society as in a common body shall be of some use, and as every use is from the Lord, and is done by angels and men as if of themselves, it is plain that this is to reign with the Lord.”

 

Hearing these words from heaven the mimic kings and princes descended from their thrones and chairs of state, threw down their scepters, crowns, and robes; and the mist wherein was the aura of fantasy departed from them, and a bright cloud overveiled them wherein was an aura of wisdom, whereby sanity was restored to their minds.

 

8. After this the angel returned to the house of assembly of the wise from the Christian world, and called those to him who had induced on themselves the belief that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness are paradisal delights. He said to them, “Follow me, and I will bring you into paradise, your heaven, that you may enter into the blessedness of your eternal happiness.”

 

And he led them through a lofty gateway formed of the interlacing boughs and branches of noble trees. After entering he led them about through winding ways from place to place. It was a paradise indeed, at the first entrance of the heaven to which they are sent who in the world had believed that the whole heaven is one paradise, because it is called paradise; and who had impressed upon themselves the idea that after death there is entire rest from labor, and that this rest is nothing else than breathing in the very soul of delights, walking upon roses, gladdened with most delicious juice of grapes, and celebrating festive banquets; and that this life is only found in a heavenly paradise.

 

[2] Being led by the angel they beheld a vast multitude of old and young men, and boys, and also women and girls, sitting three by three and ten by ten upon beds of roses, weaving garlands with which they adorned the heads of the aged, the arms of the young men, and twined as bands about the breasts of the boys; others plucking fruit from the trees and bearing it in osier baskets to their companies; others pressing into cups and genially quaffing the juice of grapes, cherries, and berries; others drawing into their nostrils the fragrance exhaled and diffused around from the flowers and fruits and fragrant leaves; others singing melodious songs with which they softly charmed the listeners’ ears; others sitting by fountains, and turning into various forms the waters of the gushing stream; others walking about, talking and scattering pleasantries; others running, playing, and dancing, here in rhythm and there in circles; others entering into little garden houses that they might repose on couches; and many other paradisal delights.

 

[3] When they had seen these the angel led his attendants hither and thither through winding ways, and finally to some who were sitting in a most beautiful rose bed surrounded by olive, orange, and citron trees, who were holding their hands to their cheeks, nodding, wailing, and weeping. The attendants of the angel spoke to them, and said “Why do you sit thus?”

 

They answered, “It is now the seventh day since we came into this paradise. When we entered our minds seemed as if elevated into heaven, and admitted to the inmost happiness of its joys. But after three days this happiness began to grow dull and to decrease in our minds and become imperceptible, and so it came to be no happiness. And when our imaginary joys thus ended, we feared the loss of all the delight of our life, and became doubtful about eternal happiness, even whether there is any eternal happiness. Afterwards we rambled through paths and open places seeking the gate by which we entered; but we wandered round and round in circles.

 

“And we inquired of those we met. Some of them said, ‘The gate cannot be found, because this paradisal garden is a spacious labyrinth, and is such that whoever thinks to go out enters more deeply in. Therefore you cannot but stay here to eternity. You are in the midst of it where all delights are in their center.’”

 

And they said further to the angel’s attendants, “Here now have we sat for a day and a half; and as we are without hope of finding the way out, we have been resting ourselves on this bed of roses and we see around us an abundance of olives, grapes, oranges, and citrons; but the more we look at them the more our eyes tire with looking, our nostrils with smelling, and our taste with tasting. This is the reason of the sadness, lamentation, and weeping in which you see us.”

 

[4] Hearing this the angel of the company said to them, “This paradisal labyrinth is really an entrance to a heaven. I know the way out and will lead you forth.”

 

At these words the sitters arose and embraced the angel, and with his company followed him. And the angel taught them by the way what heavenly joy is, and the eternal happiness therefrom, saying, “They are not the outward paradisal delights, unless at the same time there are within them the inward paradisal delights. The outward paradisal delights are only delights of the bodily senses, but the inward paradisal delights are delights of the affections of the soul. Unless these are in the former there is no heavenly life in them, for there is no soul in them; and every delight without its correspondent soul gradually grows feeble and torpid, and wearies the mind more than labor. There are paradisal gardens everywhere in heaven, and the angels derive joys from them; but these joys are joys to them insofar as the delight of the soul is in them.”

 

[5] Hearing this they all inquired, “What is the delight of the soul, and whence is it?”

 

The angel responded, “The delight of the soul is from love and wisdom from the Lord; and as love is effective, and is effective through wisdom, the seat of both is therefore in the effect, and the effect is use. This delight flows into the soul from the Lord, and descends through the higher and the lower degrees of the mind into all the senses of the body, and fills itself full in them. Thence the joy becomes joy indeed, and becomes eternal, from the eternal from whom it is. You have seen things paradisal; and I assure you that there is not a thing therein, not so much as a little leaf, that is not from the marriage of love and wisdom in use. If therefore a man is in this marriage he is in a heavenly paradise, and so is in heaven.”

 

9. After this the angel guide returned again to the building, to those who had firmly persuaded themselves that heavenly joy and eternal happiness are a perpetual glorification of God and a festival continuing to eternity; because in the world they had believed that they should then see God, and because the life of heaven is called from the worship of God a perpetual sabbath.

 

The angel said to them, “Follow me, and I will introduce you into your joy.”

 

And he brought them to a small city, in the midst of which was a temple, and all the houses were called sacred buildings. In this city they saw a gathering from every corner of the surrounding country; and among them a number of priests, who received the comers, saluted them, and taking them by the hand led them to the gates of the temple, and from thence into some of the buildings around the temple, and initiated them into the perpetual worship of God, saying, “This city is an entrance court of heaven; and the temple of the city is the entrance to a very magnificent and spacious temple which is in heaven, where God is glorified in prayers and praises by the angels to eternity. The regulations, both here and there, are that they who come are first to enter the temple and abide there three days and three nights; and after this initiation are to go into the houses of the city, which are so many buildings consecrated by us, and go from building to building, and in communion with those assembled therein to pray, shout, and recite sermons.

 

“Take great care that you think nothing within yourselves and speak nothing with your companions, but what is holy, pious, and religious.”

 

[2] The angel then introduced his company into the temple, which was filled and crowded with many who in the world had been in great dignity, and with many of the common people also; and guards were stationed at the gates lest anyone should go out before abiding there three days. And the angel said, “This is the second day since these entered. Observe them, and you will see their glorification of God.”

 

And they observed and saw most of them sleeping, and they that were awake were yawning and gaping; and some they saw—from the continual uplifting of their thoughts to God and no return of them into the body—as faces cut off from the body; for thus they appeared to themselves and thence also to others. Some looked wild in the eyes from their perpetual abstraction. In a word all were oppressed at heart and weary in spirit from tedium; and they turned away from the pulpit crying out, “Our ears are stunned. End your preaching, we no longer hear a word, and are beginning to loathe the sound.”

 

And then they arose and rushed in a body to the gates, broke them open, and pressed upon the guards and drove them away.

 

[3] Seeing this the priests followed, and clung close beside them, teaching and teaching, praying, sighing, and saying, “Celebrate the festival! Glorify God! Sanctify yourselves! In this entrance court of heaven we will induct you into the eternal glorification of God in a most magnificent and spacious temple, which is in heaven, and so into the enjoyment of eternal happiness.”

 

But these entreaties were not understood and were scarcely heard by them, on account of their dullness from the two days’ suspension of mental activity and detention from their domestic and outdoor affairs. But when they tried to tear themselves away from the priests, the priests seized them by their arms, and also by their garments, urging them to the buildings where they were to preach; but in vain, for they cried out, “Let us alone. We feel in our body as if we should drop down.”

 

[4] At these words, lo, four men appeared in bright white raiment and wearing miters. One of them in the world had been an archbishop, and the three others had been bishops. They had now become angels. They called the priests together, and addressing them said, “We saw you from heaven with these sheep, and how you feed them. You feed them even to insanity. You do not know what is meant by the glorification of God. It means to bring forth the fruits of love; that is, faithfully, sincerely, and diligently to do the work of one’s employment—for this is of love to God and of love to the neighbor. And this is the bond of society and its good. By this God is glorified, and then by worship at stated times. Have you not read these words of the Lord:

 

Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye become my disciples (John 15:8).

 

[5] “You priests can be in the glorification of worship, because it is your office, and you have honor, glory, and recompense therefrom; but you no more than they could be in that glorification if there were not the honor, glory, and recompense connected with your office.”

 

Having said this the bishops commanded the keepers of the gate that they should let all go in and all go out, “for there is a multitude who can think of no other heavenly joy than perpetual worship of God, because they have known nothing about the state of heaven.”

 

10. After this the angel returned with his companions to the place of assembly, from which the companies of the wise had not yet departed, and called to him those there who believed that heavenly joy and eternal happiness are merely admission into heaven, and admission by Divine grace, and that then they will have joy, as they in the world have who on festive days enter the palaces of kings, or to a wedding on being invited. The angel said to them, “Remain here a while, and I will sound the trumpet, and there will come hither men famed for wisdom in the spiritual things of the church.”

 

After some hours nine men came, each decked with laurel as a mark of his renown. The angel introduced them into the house of assembly in which all were present who had been called before. In their presence the angel addressed the laureled nine and said, “I know that to you, by your wish and in furtherance of your idea, it was granted to ascend into heaven; and that you have returned into this lower or sub-celestial earth with full knowledge of the state of heaven. Relate therefore how heaven appeared to you.”

 

[2] They answered in order: and the first said, “From very early boyhood to the end of my life in the world my idea of heaven had been that it was a place of all blessedness, happiness, enjoyment, delightfulness, and pleasure; and that if I should be admitted there I should be surrounded with an aura of such felicities, and should breathe them in with full breast, as a bridegroom when he celebrates his wedding and when he enters the bridal chamber with his bride. With this idea I ascended into heaven, and passed the first guards, and also the second; but when I came to the third, the officer of the guard addressed me and said:

 

“‘Who are you, friend?’

 

“I answered, ‘Is not this heaven? From the wish of my desire I have ascended hither. I pray you admit me.’ And he did admit me.

 

“And I saw angels in white raiment; and they came about me, and surveyed me, and murmured, ‘Lo, this new guest is not clad in heavenly raiment.’

 

“And hearing this I thought, ‘This appears to me as with him of whom the Lord said that he had come in to the wedding not having a wedding garment.’ And I said, ‘Give me such raiment.’

 

“And they smiled.

 

“Then one came running from the court with the command: ‘Strip him naked, cast him out, and throw his garments after him.’ And so I was cast out.”

 

[3] The second in turn said, “I believed, as he did, that if only I could be admitted into the heaven which is above my head, joys would flow around me, and I should be animated by them to eternity. And I too obtained my wish. But the angels fled when they saw me, and said among themselves, ‘What is this monster? How came this bird of night here?’ And I actually felt changed from a man, although I was not changed. This feeling came from drawing in the heavenly atmosphere. But presently one came running from the court with the command that two servants should lead me out, and take me back by the way I came, even to my own home. And when I reached home I appeared to others and to myself as a man.”

 

[4] The third said, “The idea of heaven constantly with me was that from place, and not from love. Therefore when I came into this world I longed for heaven with a great longing; and seeing men ascending I followed them and was admitted, but not beyond a few steps. But when I would gladden my spirit according to my idea of the joys and beatitudes there, owing to the light of the heaven which was dazzling white as snow, the essence of which is said to be wisdom, a stupor came over my mind, and thence a thick darkness upon my eyes, and I began to rave. And presently, owing to the heat of heaven, which corresponded to its dazzling light, and the essence of which is said to be love, my heart palpitated, and I was seized with anxiety and racked with inward pain, and I threw myself on my back there upon the ground. And as I lay an attendant from the court came with the command to carry me gently away into my own light and heat. When I came into these my spirit and my heart returned to me.”

 

[5] The fourth said that he also had the idea of a place respecting heaven, and not an idea of love. He said, “When I first came into the spiritual world I asked the wise whether one would be permitted to ascend into heaven. They told me that it was permitted to everyone, but that they must take heed lest they be cast down. I smiled at this, and ascended, believing, as others do, that all in the whole world are capable of receiving the joys of heaven in their fullness. But in truth, as soon as I was in I almost lost my breath; and from pain and consequent torment in head and body, I prostrated myself on the ground, and writhed as a serpent before a fire. And I crawled to a precipice and cast myself down; and then by some standing below, I was taken up and carried to an inn, where my health was restored to me.”

 

[6] The other five also told wonderful things about their ascent into heaven, and compared the changes of the state of their life to the state of fishes when raised up out of the water into the air, and to the state of birds in the ether. And they said that after these severe experiences they no longer had any desire for heaven, but only for common life with their like, wherever they are. And that they know that “In the world of spirits where we are, all are first prepared, the good for heaven and the evil for hell; that when they are prepared they see ways open for them to societies of their like, with whom they will dwell to eternity; and that then they enter these ways joyously, because they are the ways of their love.”

 

All of the first convocation, hearing these things, confessed that they too had no other idea of heaven than of a place, where with open mouth they would drink in circumfluent joys to eternity.

 

[7] The angel with the trumpet then said to them, “You see now that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness are not the joys of a place, but of the state of a man’s life; and that the state of heavenly life is from love and wisdom; and since the containant of these two is use, the state of heavenly life is from the conjunction of these in use. It is the same if it be said that it is charity, faith, and good works; for charity is love, faith is truth whence comes wisdom, and good works are use. Moreover, there are places in our spiritual world as in the natural world; otherwise there would not be habitations and separate abodes. And yet place there is not place, but an appearance of place according to the state of love and wisdom, or of charity and faith.

 

[8] “Everyone who becomes an angel carries his heaven within him, because he carries the love of his heaven; for man is by creation the least effigy, image, and type of the great heaven. The human form is nothing else. Each one therefore comes into the society of heaven whose form he is in an individual effigy. So that when he enters into that society he enters into a form corresponding to himself; thus, as it were, from himself he enters into that self, and as from that he enters into it within himself, and inhales its life as his own, and his own as its life. Each society is as something general; and the angels there are as similar parts whence this general body coexists. Now, it follows from this that they who are in evils and thence in falsities have formed an effigy of hell in themselves, and this in heaven is tormented by the influx and the violence of activity of opposite against opposite; for infernal love is opposite to heavenly love, and therefore the delights of the two loves clash with each other as enemies, and when they come together they destroy each other.”

 

11. These things having been transacted, a voice was heard from heaven, saying to the angel with the trumpet, “Choose ten out of the whole assembly and introduce them to us. We have heard from the Lord that he will prepare them so that for three days the heat and light, or the love and wisdom of our heaven, will do them no harm.’’

 

And ten were chosen and followed the angel. And by a steep path they ascended a certain hill, and from this a mountain on which was the heaven of those angels, which had been seen by them before in the distance as an expanse among the clouds. And the gates were opened to them. And when they had passed the third gate the angel guide ran to the prince of that society, or of that heaven, and announced their coming. And the prince responded, “Take some of my attendants and inform them that their coming is welcome to me; and bring them into my outer court, and assign to each his room with its bedchamber; and take some of my courtiers and of my servants who will minister to them, and serve them at their pleasure.” And it was done.

 

But when they were introduced by the angel they asked whether they would be permitted to go and see the prince.

 

The angel answered, “It is now morning, and it would not be permitted before noon. Until then all are engaged in their offices and employments. But you are invited to dine, and then you will sit at the table with our prince. Meanwhile I will conduct you into his palace, where you will see magnificent and splendid things.”

 

12. As they approached the palace they surveyed it first from without. It was large, built of porphyry, with a substructure of jasper, and before the entrance were six lofty columns of lapis lazuli. The roof was of plates of gold, the tall windows were of clearest crystal, and their frames also of gold. Then they were led into the palace and were conducted about from room to room, and saw ornaments of ineffable beauty, and on the ceilings decorations of inimitable carving. By the walls were silver tables inwrought with gold, and on them various utensils of precious stones and of entire gems in heavenly forms, many things which no eye on earth had seen, and such therefore as no one could bring himself to believe that there are in heaven.

 

[2] While they were in amazement at the sight of these magnificent things the angel said, “Marvel not. The things that you see were made and fashioned by no angelic hand, but were formed by the maker of the universe, and bestowed as presents upon our prince. Here then is the art of architecture in its very art; and from the art here are all the rules of the art in the world.”

 

The angel said further, “You may suppose that such things enchant our eyes and infatuate them even that we believe them to be the joys of our heaven; but as our hearts are not in them they are only accessory to the joys of our hearts. Insofar therefore as we look upon them as accessory, and as the workmanship of God, we contemplate the Divine omnipotence and benignity in them.”

 

13. After this the angel said to them, “It is not yet noon, come with me into the garden of our prince adjacent to the palace.” They went; and at the entrance he said, “Behold the most magnificent garden in this heavenly society.”

 

But they replied, “What do you say? There is no garden here. We see only one tree; and among its branches and on its top fruit as if of gold, and leaves as of silver with their edges bedecked with emeralds, and under that tree little children with their nurses.”

 

To this with inspired voice the angel said, “This tree is in the midst of the garden and is called by us the tree of our heaven, and by some the tree of life. But go on, draw near, and your eyes will be opened, and you will see the garden.”

 

They did so; and their eyes were opened, and they saw trees filled with delicious fruits, twined about with the tendrils of vines, their tops bending with fruit towards the tree of life in the midst.

 

[2] The trees were set in a continuous series, which ran out and onwards in endless circlings or gyres as of a perpetual spiral. It was a perfect spiral of trees, wherein kind after kind followed in succession according to the nobility of their fruits. The beginning of this gyration was separated by a considerable space from the tree in the midst; and the intervening space gleamed with a blaze of light wherefrom the trees of the spiral glowed with a graduated and continuous splendor from the first to the last. The first trees were the most excellent of all, luxuriant with exquisite fruits, and were called trees of paradise, never seen, because they do not and cannot exist in any country of the natural world; next came olive trees; after these trees with vines; then fragrant trees and lastly trees whose wood is useful for timber. Here and there in this spiral or gyre of trees were seats formed by training and interlacing the young branches of the trees behind and enriched and adorned by their fruits. In this perpetual cycle of trees there were openings which led to gardens of flowers, and thence to lawns, laid out in beds and plots.

 

[3] Seeing these things the angel’s attendants exclaimed, “Lo, heaven in form! Whichever way we turn our eyes something heavenly, paradisal, flows in, which is ineffable.”

 

The angel rejoiced at hearing this, and said, “The gardens in our heaven are all representative forms or types of states of heavenly blessedness in their origin; and it is because an influx of these states of blessedness uplifted your minds that you exclaimed, ‘Lo, heaven in form!’ But those that do not receive this influx see these paradises as nothing but forests. All who are in the love of uses receive the influx; but they who are in the love of glory and not from use do not receive it.” Afterwards he explained and taught them what the several things in that garden represented and signified.

 

14. While they were thus engaged, a messenger came from the prince, who invited them to eat bread with him. And at the same time two of the court attendants brought garments of fine linen and said, “Put these on; for no one is admitted to the prince’s table unless arrayed in the garments of heaven.” And they made themselves ready, and accompanying their angel, were led into an uncovered portico, an ambulatory of the palace, and awaited the prince; and there the angel brought them into interaction with the great men and magistrates, who also were waiting for the prince. Within an hour, lo, the doors were opened, and by a wider door on the western side they saw him enter in the order and pomp of procession. Before him went the chief counselors, then chamberlains, and after them the chief men of the court. In the midst of these was the prince, and after him courtiers of various degree, and lastly guards, numbering in all a hundred and twenty.

 

[2] The angel standing before the ten newcomers, who now appeared from their apparel as inhabitants, approached the prince with them and reverently presented them; and the prince as he passed, without stopping, said to them, “Come with me to meat.” And they followed into the dining hall, and saw a table magnificently spread. In the middle of it was a high pyramid of gold, with a hundred small dishes in triple order upon its forms, on which were cakes, condensed must of wines, and other delicacies made of bread and wine together; and through the center of the pyramid there issued as it were a springing fountain of nectarous wine, the streams of which divided from the top of the pyramid and filled the cups. On either side of this high pyramid were various heavenly forms in gold, on which were dishes and plates filled with food of every kind. The heavenly forms that held the dishes and plates were forms of art from wisdom, such as in the world no art can devise and no words describe. The dishes and plates were of silver, graven all around in relief upon a plane with forms similar to their supports. The cups were of pellucid gems. Such was the furniture of the table.

 

15. And this was the apparel of the prince and of his ministers. The prince was clad in a long purple robe, embroidered with stars of the color of silver; under the robe he wore a tunic of shining silk of violet color. This was open at the breast where the front part of a kind of belt was seen, bearing the badge of his society. The badge was an eagle on the top of a tree, brooding over her young. This was of shining gold in a circle of diamonds. The chief counselors were not very differently attired, but without the badge in place of which were graven sapphires pendent from the neck by a chain of gold. The courtiers were in togas of chestnut brown, into which were woven flowers encircling young eagles. The tunics under them were of opaline silk, as were also their breeches and stockings. Such was their apparel.

 

16. The chief counselors, chamberlains, and magistrates stood around the table, and at the beck of the prince folded their hands and together murmured an offering of praise to the Lord; and then, at a nod from the prince, they reclined upon the couches at the table.

 

And the prince said to the ten newcomers, “Recline yourselves also with me. See, there are your places.” And they reclined. And the court attendants who before were sent by the prince to minister to them stood behind them. The prince then said to them, “Take each a plate from its circle, and then a little dish from the pyramid.” And they took them; and lo, instantly new plates and dishes appeared set there in the place of them. And their cups were filled with wine from the fountain gushing out of the great pyramid, and they ate and drank.

 

[2] When they were moderately satisfied, the prince addressed the ten invited guests, and said, “I have heard that on the earth which is beneath this heaven you have been called together to disclose your thoughts respecting the joys of heaven and the eternal happiness therefrom; and that you have declared your views differently, each according to the delights of his bodily senses. But what are the delights of the senses of the body without the delights of the soul? It is the soul which makes them delightful.

 

“The delights of the soul in themselves are imperceptible beatitudes; but as they descend into the thoughts of the mind, and from these into the sensations of the body, they become more and more perceptible. In the thoughts of the mind they are perceived as states of happiness; in the sensations of the body as delights; and in the body itself as pleasures. Eternal happiness comes of all these together. But the happiness from the last alone is not eternal but transitory, which comes to an end and passes away, and sometimes becomes unhappiness. You have seen now that all your joys are joys of heaven also, and are more exquisite than ever you could have thought; and yet these do not affect our minds interiorly.

 

[3] “There are three things which flow as one from the Lord into our souls. These three as one, or this trine, are love, wisdom, and use. But the love and wisdom do not appear except in idea, because in the affection and thought of the mind only; but in use they appear really, because together in bodily act and work; and where they really exist they also subsist; and as love and wisdom exist and subsist in use, it is use which affects us; and use is the faithful, sincere, and diligent performance of the works of one’s employment. The love of use, and from this love earnest activity in use, keeps the mind from dissipating itself, and from wandering about and drinking in all the lusts that with their allurements flow in from the body and from the world, through the senses, whereby the truths of religion and the truths of morality with their goods are scattered to all the winds. But earnest activity of the mind in use keeps and binds these together, and disposes the mind into a form receptive of wisdom from these truths; and then it thrusts aside the illusions and the mockeries of both falsities and vanities. But you will hear more on these subjects from wise men of our society whom I will send to you this afternoon.”

 

When he had said this the prince arose, and with him the guests, and after a salutation of peace he bade their angel guide return them to their chambers, and to show them every courteous attention; and also that he should invite urbane and affable men to entertain them with conversation concerning the various joys of this society.

 

17. When they returned it was so done. And the men came who were invited from the city to entertain them with conversation about the various joys of the society; and after salutations, walking up and down they talked with them with much refinement. But their angel guide said,

 

“These ten men were invited into this heaven that they might see its joys, and thus gain a new conception of eternal happiness. Tell them, therefore, something about its joys which affect the senses of the body; after that wise men will come who will speak of some things that render these joys satisfying and happy.” The men invited from the city then told them these things:

 

(1) “There are days of festivity here appointed by the prince, that the mind may be relaxed from the weariness which is brought upon some by the zeal of emulation. On these days there are concerts of music with song in public places; and outside of the city are public games and shows. At such times orchestras are erected in the public places, surrounded by lattices thick with vines and hanging clusters, within which the musicians sit, at three elevations, with stringed instruments and wind instruments, of high and low tone, and loud and soft. On either side are singers, male and female; and they delight the citizens with most charming, melodious rejoicings and songs, in chorus and with solos, varying in character at intervals. These diversions continue there on such festive days from morning to noon, and afterwards until evening.

 

[2] (2) “Besides this, every morning from out the houses around the public places are heard the sweetest songs of virgins and young girls—with which the whole city resounds. Each morning there is some one affection of spiritual love which they sing, that is, which is expressed by modifications or modulations of the voice in singing; and the affection is perceived in the singing as if the song were the affection itself. It flows into the souls of the listeners, exciting them into correspondence with it. Such is heavenly song. Those who sing say that the sound of their singing inspires and animates itself as it were from within, and is joyously exalted according as it is received by the listeners. This ended, the windows and also the doors of the houses on the public places are closed, and at the same time those of the houses on the streets, and the whole city is still, not a sound is anywhere heard, and no loiterers appear; all being ready then engage in the duties of their several occupations.

 

[3] (3) “But at noon the doors are opened, and in some places in the afternoon the windows also, and boys and girls are seen playing in the streets, their nurses and tutors sitting in the porches of the houses overseeing them.

 

[4] (4) “At the sides in the extreme parts of the city are various games for boys and youths; there are games of running; games at ball; games with balls driven back and forth called tennis; trials of skill among the boys as to which are more and which less ready in speech, in action, and in perception, and to the more active some laurel leaves are given as a reward. And there are many other games for calling forth the latent abilities of boys.

 

[5] (5) “Outside of the city there are also spectacular entertainments by players on the stage, representing the various virtues and excellencies of the moral life, among whom are also actors for the sake of comparison.”

 

One of the ten asked, “Why for comparison?”

 

They answered, “No one of the virtues can be presented in its grace and excellence to the life, except by comparisons from the greatest of them to the least; the actors present their least even until they become none. But it is established by law that nothing of the opposite shall be exhibited, which is called dishonorable or unseemly, unless by metaphor and remotely as it were. The reason why it is so established is that nothing honorable or good of any virtue passes by successive progression down to what is dishonorable and evil; but only to its least until it perishes; and when it perishes the opposite begins. And therefore heaven, where all things are honorable and good, has nothing in common with hell where all things are dishonorable and evil.”

 

18. In the midst of this conversation an attendant came, and announced that by command of the prince eight wise men were present and desired to enter. Hearing this the angel went out, received them and brought them in. And then after the customary social formalities and proprieties the wise men conversed with them, first about the beginnings and the growths of wisdom, to which they joined various matters relating to its progress, saying that with the angels wisdom has no limit nor end, but grows and is increased to eternity.

 

On hearing this the angel of the company said to the wise men, “Our prince at table spoke to these men about the seat of wisdom, that it is in use. Speak also to them, if you please, on this subject.”

 

And they said, “As first created, man was imbued with wisdom and its love, not for himself, but that he might communicate it from himself to others. Hence it is inscribed in the wisdom of the wise that no one is wise and none lives for himself alone, but at the same time for others. From this comes society, which would not otherwise exist. To live for others is to perform uses. Uses are the bonds of society; which are as many as there are good uses, and uses are infinite in number. There are spiritual uses, which are of love to God and of love towards the neighbor; there are moral and civil uses, which are of the love of the society and the community in which a man resides, and of his companions and fellow citizens among whom he dwells; there are natural uses, which belong to the love of the world and its necessaries; and there are uses of the body, which belong to the love of its conservation for the sake of the higher uses.

 

[2] “All these uses are inscribed on man, and follow in order one after the other; and when they exist together one is within the other. They who are in the first uses, which are spiritual, are also in those that follow; and these are wise men. But those that are not in the first, and yet are in the second and thence in the following, are not so wise, but only appear to be so from their outward morality and civility. They that are not in the first and second, but are in the third and fourth, are not at all wise; they in fact are satans because they love only the world, and themselves on account of the world. And they that are only in the fourth are the least wise of all; for they are devils, because they live for themselves alone, and if for others it is only for the sake of themselves.

 

[3] “Every love, moreover, has its own delight, for love lives by this; and the delight of the love of uses is a heavenly delight which enters into the delights that follow in order, and in the order of succession exalts them and makes them eternal.”

 

Then they enumerated some heavenly delights proceeding from the love of use, and said, “They are myriads of myriads, and they who enter heaven enter into them.”

 

And in further discourses of wisdom respecting the love of use they passed the day with them until evening.

 

19. But towards evening there came a swift-footed messenger clothed in linen to the ten newcomers who accompanied the angel, and invited them to a wedding to be celebrated the following day; and the newcomers greatly rejoiced that they were also to witness a wedding in heaven. After this they were taken to one of the chief counselors, and supped with him. And after supper they returned and separated each to his own chamber, and slept until morning. And then awaking they heard the singing of maidens and of little girls from the houses around the public place, mentioned above. This time the affection of conjugial love was the subject of the song. Deeply affected and moved by its sweetness, they perceived a blessed pleasantness infused into their joys which exalted and renewed them.

 

When the time was come the angel said, “Make ready and array yourselves in the heavenly garments that our prince has sent for you.” And they put them on, and lo, the garments shone as with a flaming light.

 

And they asked the angel, “Why is this?”

 

He replied, “Because you are going to a wedding. With us at such a time garments are resplendent and become wedding garments.”

 

20. After this the angel conducted them to the house of the wedding and a porter opened the doors; and presently, being received within the threshold, they were saluted by an angel sent by the bridegroom, and were brought in and led to the seats assigned them. Soon afterwards they were invited into an anteroom of the bridal chamber, where they saw in the center a table on which was set a magnificent candlestick, with seven branches and sconces of gold; and against the walls hung silver lamps, which when lighted made the atmosphere appear as if it were golden. At the sides of the candlestick they saw two tables with loaves on them in triple order; and at the four corners of the room were tables on which were crystal cups.

 

[2] While they were looking at these things, lo, a door was opened from a room next to the bridal chamber, and they saw six virgins coming out, and after them the bridegroom and bride holding each other by the hand. And they led each other to an elevated seat which was placed opposite the candlestick, whereon they seated themselves, the bridegroom on the left and the bride at his right hand; and the six virgins stood by the side of the seat next to the bride. The bridegroom was clad in a radiant purple robe and a tunic of shining linen; with an ephod on which was a plate of gold set around with diamonds; and on the plate a young eagle was engraved, the wedding badge of that society of heaven; and on his head the bridegroom wore a miter.

 

But the bride wore a scarlet mantle, and under that an embroidered dress reaching from the neck to the feet; and below the breast a golden girdle; and on her head was a crown of gold set with rubies.

 

[3] After they had thus sat down together, the bridegroom turned to the bride and placed on her finger a gold ring; and drew forth bracelets and a necklace of large pearls, and fastened the bracelets upon her wrists and the necklace about her neck, and said, “Accept these pledges.” And as she took them he kissed her and said, “Now you are mine,” and called her his wife. This done the guests cried out, “A blessing on you”; each exclaimed this by himself and then all together. One sent by the prince in his stead joined also in the cry. And at that moment the room was filled with an aromatic fragrance, a sign of blessing from heaven. The servants then took bread from the two tables beside the candlestick, and cups now filled with wine from the tables in the corners, and gave to each of the guests his bread and his cup, and they ate and drank. After this the husband and his wife arose, the six virgins with the silver lamps in their hands, now lighted, following to the threshold; and the married pair entered the bridal chamber, and the door was shut.

 

21. After this the angel guide spoke to the guests about his ten companions; telling them that by command he had introduced them, and had shown them the magnificence of the prince’s palace, and the wonders there; that they had eaten with the prince at his table; and afterwards had conversed with their wise men.

 

And he asked, “May they be permitted to have some conversation also with you?” And they came and spoke with them.

 

And one of the wedding guests, a wise man, asked, “Do you understand what these things that you have seen signify?”

 

They replied that they understood a little of them; and asked him then why the bridegroom, now the husband, was arrayed in such apparel.

 

He answered, “The bridegroom, now the husband, represented the Lord, and the bride, now the wife, represented the church, because in heaven a wedding represents the marriage of the Lord with the church. That is why he wore a miter on his head, and was arrayed like Aaron in a robe, a tunic, and an ephod; and why the bride, now the wife, wore upon her head a crown, and was attired in a mantle like a queen. But tomorrow they will be differently clad, for this representation lasts only today.”

 

[2] They asked again, “Since he represented the Lord, and she the church, why did she sit at his right hand?”

 

The wise man replied, “Because there are two things which make the marriage of the Lord and the church, love and wisdom, and the Lord is love and the church is wisdom, and wisdom is at love’s right hand. For the man of the church has wisdom as if of himself, and as he becomes wise, he receives love from the Lord. Besides, the right hand signifies power, and the power of love is by wisdom. But as I said before, after the wedding the representation is changed; for then the husband represents wisdom, and the wife the love of his wisdom. But this is not the prior, but a secondary love, which the wife has from the Lord through the wisdom of the husband. The love of the Lord, which is the prior love, with the husband is the love of growing wise. Therefore after marriage both together, the husband and his wife, represent the church.”

 

[3] Again they asked, “Why did you men not stand beside the bridegroom, now the husband, as the six virgins stood beside the bride, now the wife?”

 

The wise man replied, “The reason is that we today are numbered among the virgins, and the number six signifies all, and what is complete.”

 

But they asked, “How is this?”

 

He answered, “Virgins signify the church, and the church is of both sexes, and therefore as respects the church also we are virgins. That this is so appears from these words in Revelation:

 

These are they that were not defiled with women, for they are virgins; and they follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth (Rev. 14:4).

 

“And because virgins signify the church, therefore the Lord likened it to ‘ten virgins who were invited to the wedding’ (Matt. 25:1-13). And it is because the church is signified by Israel, Zion, and Jerusalem, that ‘the virgin and daughter of Israel, of Zion, and of Jerusalem’ is so often spoken of in the Word; and that the Lord describes his marriage with the church by the words in David:

 

Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in pure gold of Ophir. Her clothing is of wrought gold; she shall be brought unto the king in embroideries; the virgins, her companions, that follow her, shall come into the king’s palace (Ps. 45:9, 13-15).”

 

[4] Afterwards they asked, “Is it not proper that a priest should be present and minister in these ceremonies?”

 

The wise man answered, “It is proper on earth, but not in the heavens, on account of the representation of the Lord himself and the church. This is not known on earth. And even with us a priest ministers at betrothals, and hears, receives, confirms, and consecrates the consent. Consent is the essential of marriage; and the other things that follow are its formalities.”

 

22. After this the angel guide went to the six virgins and told them also about his companions, and asked that they would favor them with their company. And they approached, but when they came near they suddenly withdrew and went into the women’s apartment where their virgin friends also were. Seeing this the angel guide followed them and asked why they so suddenly withdrew without speaking to them.

 

And they replied, “We could not go near them.” He asked, “Why?”

 

And they answered, “We do not know. But we perceived something that repelled us and drove us back. They must excuse us.”

 

The angel returned to his companions and told them the answer, and added, “I surmise that you have not a chaste love of the sex. In heaven we love virgins for their beauty and loveliness of manner, and we love them exceedingly but chastely.” His companions smiled at this, and said, “You have rightly guessed. Who is able to behold such beauty near and feel no desire?”

 

23. After this social festivity the wedding guests all departed, and the ten men also, with their angel. It was late in the evening, and they retired to rest.

 

At dawn they heard a proclamation, “Today is the Sabbath.” And they arose, and asked the angel what that was. He answered, “It is for the worship of God which recurs at stated times and is proclaimed by the priests. It is celebrated in our temples, and continues about two hours. Come with me, therefore, if you like, and I will conduct you.” And they made ready and went with the angel and entered. And lo, a large temple, capable of containing about three thousand, semicircular, with benches or seats extending around in a continuous sweep, according to the form of the temple, the hinder seats more elevated than those before. The pulpit in front of them was a little back from the center. The door was behind the pulpit at the left. The ten newcomers went in with their angel guide, and the angel assigned them the places where they were to sit, saying to them, “Everyone that enters the temple knows his place. He knows it from a something within and cannot sit elsewhere. If he sits in any other place he hears nothing and perceives nothing; and he also disturbs order, by reason of which disturbance the priest is not inspired.”

 

24. When the congregation was assembled, the priest ascended the pulpit and preached a sermon full of the spirit of wisdom. The sermon was on the holiness of the sacred Scripture, and on the conjunction of the Lord both with the spiritual world and the natural by means of it. In the state of illustration in which he was he fully proved that this holy book was dictated by Jehovah, the Lord; and that therefore he is in it, even so that he is the wisdom therein; but that the wisdom which is himself therein, lies concealed beneath the sense of the letter, and is only opened to those who are in truths of doctrine and at the same time in goods of life, and so are in the Lord and the Lord in them. To the sermon he added a votive prayer, and descended.

 

The audience having departed, the angel requested the priest to speak a few words of peace with his ten companions; and he came to them, and they conversed for about half an hour.

 

He spoke of the Divine trinity that it is in Jesus Christ in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, according to the declaration of the apostle Paul. And afterwards he spoke of the union of charity and faith, but he said the union of charity and truth, because faith is truth.

 

25. After an expression of thanks they went home. And there the angel said to them, “This is the third day since your ascent into the society of this heaven, and you were prepared by the Lord to remain here three days. The time is therefore come when we must separate. Put off then the garments sent you by the prince and put on your own.” And as soon as they had put them on they were inspired with a desire to depart, and went away and descended, the angel accompanying them to the place of assembly. And there they gave thanks to the Lord that he had vouchsafed to bless them with knowledge and thence with intelligence respecting heavenly joys and eternal happiness.

 

26. Again I affirm in truth that these things were done and said as they are related, the former in the world of spirits which is intermediate between heaven and hell, and the latter in the society of heaven from which was the angel and guide with the trumpet. Who in the Christian world would have known anything about heaven, and about the joys and happiness there, a knowledge of which is also the knowledge of salvation, if it had not pleased the Lord to open to someone the sight of his spirit and show and teach them? That there are such things in the spiritual world is very plain from the things seen and heard by the apostle John, which are described in Revelation; as, that he saw in heaven the Son of man in the midst of the seven candlesticks; a tabernacle; a temple; an ark; an altar; a book sealed with seven seals; the book opened and horses going forth out of it; four animals about the throne; twelve thousand chosen out of every tribe; locusts coming up out of the bottomless pit; the dragon and his war with Michael; a woman that brought forth a son, a male, and fled into the wilderness because of the dragon; two beasts, one rising up out of the sea, another out of the earth; a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast; the dragon cast into a lake of fire and brimstone; a white horse; and a great supper; a new heaven and a new earth; and the holy Jerusalem descending, described as to its gates, its wall, and its foundations; and the river of water of life; and trees of life, yielding their fruits every month; and many other things that were all seen by John, and seen while as to his spirit he was in the world of spirits and in heaven. And besides, the things that were seen by the apostles after the Lord’s resurrection; and afterwards by Peter (Acts 11); and things seen and heard by Paul; and those moreover which were seen by the prophets, as by Ezekiel, who saw four living creatures which were cherubim (Ezek. 1, 10); a new temple and a new land, and an angel measuring them (Ezek. 40-48); and was carried away to Jerusalem and saw abominations there; and also into Chaldea, to the captivity (Ezek. 8, 11). Similar things also took place with Zechariah, who saw a man riding among myrtle trees (Zech. 1:8 seq.); and saw four horns; and then a man with a measuring line in his hand (Zech. 1:18-21; 2:1 seq.); and saw a candlestick and two olive trees (Zech. 4:2 seq.); and a flying roll and an ephah (Zech. 5:1-6); and four chariots and horses coming out from between two mountains (Zech. 6:1 seq.). And likewise with Daniel, who saw four beasts coming up out of the sea (Zech. 7:3 seq.); and a fight between a ram and a he-goat (Zech. 8:2 seq.); and saw and spoke much with the angel Gabriel (Zech. 9:20 seq.). And the servant of Elisha saw chariots and horses of fire round about Elisha, and saw them when his eyes were opened (2 Kings 6:17). From these and many other things in the Word it is evident that the things which exist in the spiritual world appeared to many before and after the Lord’s advent. Why wonder that they should appear now also, at the beginning of a church, or at the descent of the new Jerusalem from the Lord out of heaven?

 

 

 

 

(2)

 

Marriages in Heaven

 

 

27. That there are marriages in heaven cannot enter into the belief of those who think that man is a soul or spirit after death, and cherish an idea of the soul and spirit as of subtle ether or a breath of air; and who believe that man will not live as a man until after the last judgment day; who in general know nothing about the spiritual world in which angels and spirits dwell, and therefore do not know where heaven and hell are. And because that world has been hitherto unknown, and it has been entirely unknown that the angels of heaven are men in perfect form—and infernal spirits also, but in imperfect form—for these reasons nothing could be revealed concerning marriages there.

 

For men would have said, “How can a soul be conjoined with a soul, or a breath of air with a breath of air as consort with consort on earth?” and many things which the instant they were said would take away and dissipate belief in marriages there. But now, because many things have been revealed concerning that world, and what it is has been described in Heaven and Hell, and also in Apocalypse Revealed, it may be confirmed that there are marriages there, even by considerations addressed to the reason through the following propositions:

 

(1) That man lives as a man after death.

 

(2) That a male is then a male and a female is a female.

 

(3) That with everyone his own love remains after death.

 

(4) That especially the love of the sex, and with those that come into heaven, who are those that become spiritual on earth, conjugial love remains.

 

(5) These things are fully confirmed by actual sight.

 

(6) That consequently there are marriages in the heavens.

 

(7) That spiritual weddings are meant by the Lord’s words that after the resurrection they are not given in marriage.

 

The expositions of these propositions follow now in their order.

 

28. (1) That man lives as a man after death. It has hitherto been unknown in the world that man lives as a man after death, for the reasons just given above, and what is extraordinary is that it should be so even in the Christian world, where the Word is, and illustration therefrom respecting eternal life; and wherein the Lord himself teaches that:

 

All the dead are raised, and that God is not the God of the dead but of the living (Matt. 22:31-32; Luke 20:37-38).

 

And besides, as to the affections and the thoughts of his mind man is in the midst of angels and spirits, and is so consociated with them that if torn apart from them he would die. And it is still more extraordinary that this is unknown when it is considered that every man who has died, from the first creation, has come and comes to his own, or as it is said in the Word has been gathered and is gathered unto his fathers.¹ Moreover, man has a common perception, which is the same with the influx from heaven into the interiors of his mind, whereby he perceives truths interiorly in himself, and as it were sees them; and especially this truth, that he lives as a man after death, happy if he has lived well, unhappy if ill.

 

For who does not think this, whilst he raises his mind a little above the body, and away from the thought that is nearest to his senses, which he does when inwardly he is in Divine worship, and when he lies upon the bed about to die and expects the end; likewise when he hears about the dead, and of their lot. I have related a thousand things about them, as, what was the condition of the brothers, consorts, and friends of some; and I have also written about the lot of the English, the Dutch, the papists, the Jews, the gentiles, and also of the lot of Luther, of Calvin, and Melancthon; and as yet I have never heard anyone say: “How can their lot be such when they have not yet risen out of their sepulchers, for the last judgment has not yet taken place? Are they not in the meantime souls, which are breaths of air, and in a certain pu² or somewhere?” By no one have I heard such things said, up to this time. Whence I may conclude that everyone perceives within himself that he lives as a man after death. What man who has loved his wife, and his infants and children, does not say within himself when they are dying, or have died, if in thought he is elevated above the sensual things of the body, that they are in God’s hand, and he will see them again after his own death, and will be conjoined with them again in a life of love and joy?

 

29. Who cannot see, from reason, if he is willing to see, that man after death is not a breath, of which there is no notion but as of a puff of wind, or of air or ether, and that this or in this is man’s soul, which desires and expects to be conjoined with his body, so that he may enjoy the senses and their pleasures, as before in the world? Who cannot see that if it were so with man after death his state would be worse than that of the fishes and birds and animals of the earth, whose souls do not live, and therefore are not in such anxiety from desire and expectation? If after death man were such a breath and puff of wind, then must he either be flitting about in the universe, or according to the traditions of some, be reserved in a certain somewhere [pu], or according to the Fathers in limbo until the last judgment. Who would not in reason conclude from this that they who have lived since the first creation—which is computed to be six thousand years—would still be in a like anxious state, and progressively in a more anxious state; for all expectation from desire causes anxiety and from time to time increases it. They would then either be still flitting about in the universe, or kept shut up in pu, and thus be in extreme misery. So would it be with Adam and his wife; so with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and with all others since that time. Hence it would follow that nothing would be so lamentable as to be born a man. But the Lord, who is Jehovah from eternity and the creator of the universe, has provided the opposite of this; that the state of the man who conjoins himself with him, by a life according to his commandments, is more blessed and happy after death than before it in the world; and that he is the more blessed and happy from the fact that man is then spiritual, and the spiritual man feels and perceives spiritual delight, which is preeminently above natural delight, for it exceeds it a thousandfold.

 

30. That angels and spirits are men is evident from those seen by Abraham, by Gideon, and by Daniel and the prophets; and especially from those seen by John while he was writing Revelation, and by the women also at the Lord’s sepulcher. Yea, the Lord himself was seen by the disciples after his resurrection. They were seen because the eyes of the spirit were then opened, and when these are opened angels appear in their own form, which is the human form. But when these eyes are closed, that is, are veiled with the sight of the eyes which derive their all from the material world, they do not appear.

 

31. But it is to be known that after death man is not a natural but a spiritual man; and yet that he appears to himself altogether similar, and so similar that he knows no otherwise than that he is still in the natural world. For he has a similar body, a similar face, similar speech, and similar senses because he has similar affection and thought, or a similar will and understanding. He is indeed not actually similar; for he is a spiritual and therefore an interior man. But the difference does not appear to him, because he cannot compare his state with his former natural state; for he has put that off and is in this. I have therefore often heard them say that they know no otherwise than that they are in the former world, with the only difference that they no longer see those whom they had left in that world, but see those who had departed from that world, or had died. But the reason why they now see these and not those is that they are not natural, but spiritual or substantial men, and the spiritual or substantial man sees the spiritual or substantial man, just as the natural or material man sees the natural or material man. But they do not see each other on account of the difference between the substantial and the material, which is as the difference between what is prior and posterior; and the prior, because in itself it is purer, cannot appear to the posterior because in itself it is grosser; nor can the posterior, because it is grosser, appear to the prior which in itself is purer.

 

Consequently an angel cannot appear to a man of this world, nor a man of this world to an angel. After death man is a spiritual or substantial man, because the substantial was inwardly concealed within the natural or material man. The natural was to it as a garment, or as exuviae, by the casting off of which the spiritual or substantial comes forth; thus what is purer, interior, and more perfect. That although the spiritual man does not appear to the natural he is yet a perfect man is very plain from the fact that the Lord was seen by the apostles after the resurrection; that he appeared, and presently did not appear; and yet he was a man like unto himself whether seen or not seen. They also said that they saw him when “their eyes were opened.”

 

32. (2) That a male is then a male and a female is a female. Since man lives as a man after death, and man is male and female, and the masculine is one and the feminine another, and they are so different that one cannot be changed into the other, it follows that after death the male lives as a male and the female as a female, each a spiritual man [homo]. It is said that the masculine cannot be changed into the feminine, nor the feminine into the masculine, and that therefore after death the male is a male and the female is a female; but as it is unknown in what the masculine and in what the feminine essentially consist, this shall here be briefly stated: The distinction essentially consists in the fact that in the male the inmost is love and its clothing is wisdom, or what is the same, he is love veiled over with wisdom; and that in the female the inmost is that wisdom of the male, and its clothing is the love therefrom. But this love is feminine love and is given by the Lord to the wife through the wisdom of the husband; and the former love is masculine love, and is the love of growing wise, and is given by the Lord to the husband according to his reception of wisdom. It is from this that the male is the wisdom of love, and that the female is the love of that wisdom. There is therefore, from creation, implanted in each the love of conjunction into one. But of this more will be said hereafter. That the feminine is from the masculine, or that the woman was taken out of the man, appears from these words in Genesis:

 

Jehovah God took one of the ribs of the man and closed up the flesh instead thereof, and he builded the rib which he had taken out of the man into a woman, and brought her unto the man. And the man said, This is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; hence she shall be called woman [ishah], because she was taken out of the man [ish] (Gen. 2:21-23).

 

What is signified by rib, and what by flesh, will be shown elsewhere.

 

33. It flows from this primitive formation that the male is born intellectual and the female volitional; or what is the same, that the male is born into the affection of knowing, understanding, and of growing wise, and the female into the love of conjoining herself with that affection in the male. And because the interiors form the exteriors to their likeness, and the masculine form is the form of the understanding, and the feminine form is the form of the love of that understanding, from this it comes that the male has a different face, a different voice, and a different body from the female; that is, a sterner face, a harsher voice, and a stronger body, and moreover a bearded chin—in general, a form less beautiful than the female. They differ also in gestures and in manners. In a word, nothing whatever is alike in them; and yet in every least thing there is what is conjunctive. Yea, in the male the masculine is masculine in every part of his body even the most minute; and also in every idea of his thought, and in every least impulse of his affection. And so is the feminine in the female. And as one cannot therefore be changed into the other, it follows that after death the male is a male and the female is a female.

 

34. (3) That with everyone his own love remains after death. Man knows that there is love, but does not know what love is. He knows that there is love from common speech, in that it is said, this one loves me; the king loves his subjects and the subjects love their king; the husband loves his wife; the mother, her children, and vice versa; also that this or that man loves his country, his fellow citizens, his neighbor. It is likewise said of things apart from person, that one loves this, or that. But although love is so universal in speech, yet scarcely anyone knows what love is. Because he can form no idea of thought about it when he reflects upon it, and so cannot set it in the light of the understanding (for the reason that it is not a thing of light, but of heat), a man either says that it is nothing, or that it is merely a something flowing in from sight, hearing, and conversation, and thus affecting. It is entirely unknown to him that it is his very life, not only the common life of his whole body, and the common life of all his thoughts, but even the life of all the single things of them. A wise man can perceive it from considerations like this: If you take away the affection of love can you think anything? Can you do anything? In the degree that affection, which is of love, grows cold, do not thought, speech, and action grow cold? And as that grows warm do not these grow warm? Love then is the heat of man’s life, or his vital heat. The heat of the blood, and its redness also, is from no other source. The fire of the angelic sun, which is pure love, effects this.

 

35. That everyone has his own love, or a love distinct from another’s love, that is, that the love of one man is not the same as that of another, is evident from the infinite variety of faces. Faces are the types of loves. For it is known that countenances change and vary according to the affections of love. Desires also, which are of love, and its joys and sorrows, shine forth from the face. It is clear from this that a man is his own love, yea, is the form of his love. But it should be known that the form of his love is the interior man, which is the same as his spirit that lives after death; and not also his outward man in the world, because the outward man has learned from infancy to conceal the desires of his love, yea, to pretend and put forward other desires than his own.

 

36. Because love is man’s life, as has been stated just above (n. 34), and thence is the man himself, therefore his own love remains with every man after death. A man is also his own thought, and so his own intelligence and wisdom; but these form one with his love. For a man thinks from his love and according to it, yea, if he is in freedom he speaks and acts from and according to it. Whence it may be seen that love is the esse or essence of a man’s life, and that thought is the existere or existence of his life therefrom. Speech and action therefore, which flow forth from thought, do not flow really from the thought, but from the love by the thought. It has been given me to know from much experience that man after death is not his own thought, but is his own affection and the thought therefrom, or that he is his own love and intelligence thence; and that after death man puts off everything that does not accord with his love; yea, that he successively puts on the face, tone of voice, speech, gesture, and manner of his life’s love. Hence it is that the universal heaven is disposed in order according to all the varieties of the affections of the love of good; and the universal hell according to all the affections of the love of evil.

 

37. (4) That especially the love of the sex, and with those that come into heaven, who are those that become spiritual on earth, conjugial love remains. The reason why the love of the sex remains with man after death is that a male is then a male and a female is a female; and the masculine in the male is masculine in the whole and in his every part; likewise the feminine in the female; and in the single, yea, in the very least things pertaining to them there is a disposition to conjunction. Now as this conjunctive disposition was implanted in them by creation, and therefore perpetually inheres, it follows that the one desires and breathes forth conjunction with the other. Regarded in itself, love is nothing else than a desire and thence an effort towards conjunction; and conjugial love to conjunction into one. For the male person and the female person were so created that from two they may become as one person, or one flesh; and when they become one, then taken together they are a person [homo] in fullness; but without this conjunction they are two, and each as it were a divided or half person. Since then this disposition to conjunction is inmostly latent in the least things of the male, and in the least things of the female, and in their least things there inheres the faculty and desire for conjunction into one, it follows that the mutual and reciprocal love of the sex remains with men [homines] after death.

 

38. The love of the sex and conjugial love are spoken of, because the love of the sex is different from conjugial love. The love of the sex is with the natural man; but conjugial love with the spiritual. The natural man loves and desires only external conjunctions, and from them pleasures of the body; but the spiritual man loves and desires internal conjunction, and the states of happiness of the spirit therefrom. And he perceives that these are given with one wife, with whom he can be perpetually more and more conjoined into one. And the more he is thus conjoined the more he perceives his states of happiness ascending in like degree, and continuing to eternity. But the natural man has no thought of this. Hence it is said that conjugial love remains after death with those that come into heaven, who are those that become spiritual on earth.

 

39. (5) These things are fully confirmed by actual sight. Thus far I have been content to establish by such considerations as are of the understanding, and are called rational, that man lives as a man after death; that a male is then a male and a female is a female; and that with everyone his own love remains, and especially the love of the sex and conjugial love. But because from infancy a man receives from his parents and masters, and afterwards from the learned and the clergy, a belief that he will not live as a man after death until the day of the last judgment (in the expectation of which they have been now for six thousand years), and because many hold these to be among the things that are to be received by faith and not by the understanding, it was necessary that these propositions should also be confirmed by evidence from actual sight. Otherwise the man who believes only from the senses would say, from the faith impressed upon him: “If men were living as men after death I should see and hear them. Who has come down from heaven or ascended from hell and told of them?” But as it could not and cannot be that any angel of heaven should descend, or any spirit of hell ascend, and talk with any man—except with those the interiors of whose mind, which are those of the spirit, have been opened by the Lord; and as this cannot be fully effected except with those who have been prepared by the Lord for the reception of the things of spiritual wisdom; therefore it has pleased the Lord so to prepare me, to the end that the state of heaven and of hell, and the state of the life of men after death may not be unknown and sleep in ignorance, and be finally buried in negation. But the ocular proofs of the facts above stated cannot be adduced here, on account of their abundance. They have been given, however, in Heaven and Hell, in Continuation concerning the Spiritual World, and afterwards in Apocalypse Revealed. And respecting marriages especially they will be given here in the relations which follow the paragraphs or chapters of this work.

 

40. (6) That consequently there are marriages in heaven. Since this has now been confirmed by reason, and at the same time by experience, it needs no further demonstration.

 

41. (7) That spiritual weddings are meant by the Lord’s words, that after the resurrection they are not given in marriage. In the evangelists are found these words:

 

Certain of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, asked Jesus, saying, Master, Moses wrote, If any man’s brother die, having a wife and without children, his brother shall take his wife and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were seven brethren, one after the other of whom took a wife; but they died without children. At last the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? But Jesus, answering, said unto them, The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; but they which shall be accounted worthy to attain the other age and the resurrection from the dead shall neither marry nor be given in marriage; neither can they die anymore; for they are like unto the angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead rise again even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live unto him (Luke 20:27-38; Matt. 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27).

 

There are two things which the Lord taught by these words: First, that man rises again after death; and secondly, that in heaven they are not given in marriage. That man rises again after death he taught by saying, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living,” and that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive. He also taught the same in the parable of the rich man in hell and Lazarus in heaven (Luke 16:22-31).

 

[2] Secondly, that in heaven they are not given in marriage, he taught by the words: “They that shall be accounted worthy to attain the other age neither marry nor are given in marriage.” From the words which immediately follow, that they cannot die any more, because they are like the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection, it is very evident that no other weddings are meant here than spiritual weddings. By spiritual weddings conjunction with the Lord is meant, and this is effected on earth; and when it has been effected on earth it has been effected in the heavens also; and therefore they are not married and given in marriage again in the heavens. And this is also meant by the words, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but they that are accounted worthy to attain the other age neither marry nor are given in marriage. They are also called by the Lord sons of weddings” (Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19); and here angels, sons of God, and sons of the resurrection.

 

[3] That to be married is to be conjoined with the Lord, and that to enter into marriage is to be received in heaven by the Lord is clear from the following passages:

 

The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man, a king, who made a marriage for his son, and sent forth servants and invited to the wedding (Matt. 22:1-14).

 

The kingdom of heaven is like unto ten virgins, who went forth to meet the bridegroom; five of whom that were ready went into the wedding (Matt. 25:1 seq.).

 

It is evident from verse 13 there (where it is said, “Watch, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the son of man cometh”) that the Lord here meant himself. Also from Revelation:

 

The time of the marriage of the lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready. Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the lamb (Rev. 19:7, 9).

 

That there is a spiritual meaning in all the words, and in every single word that the Lord spoke, is fully shown in Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, published at Amsterdam in the year 1763.

 

42. To the above I will subjoin two relations from the spiritual world. First:

 

One morning I was looking up to heaven and beheld above me expanse above expanse; and I saw that the first expanse, which was near, opened, and presently the second which was higher, and lastly the third which was the highest. And by illustration therefrom I perceived that upon the first expanse there were the angels who form the first or lowest heaven; upon the second expanse were the angels who form the second or middle heaven; and upon the third expanse were the angels who form the third or highest heaven. At first I wondered what and why it was. But presently a voice was heard from heaven as of a trumpet, saying, “We have perceived and now see that you are meditating on conjugial love; and we know that as yet no one on earth knows what love truly conjugial is in its origin and in its essence; and yet it is important that it should be known. It has therefore pleased the Lord to open the heavens to you, that illustrating light and thence perception may flow into the interiors of your mind. With us in the heavens, especially in the third heaven, our heavenly delights are chiefly from conjugial love. By permission given us we will therefore send down to you a married pair that you may see them.”

 

[2] And lo! a chariot then appeared descending from the highest or third heaven, in which one angel was seen; but as it approached two were seen in it. In the distance the chariot glittered like a diamond before my eyes. And young horses were harnessed to it, white as snow; and they that sat in the chariot held two turtledoves in their hands. And they called to me, saying, “Do you wish us to come nearer? But have a care then that the effulgence from our heaven whence we have descended, and which is flaming, does not penetrate interiorly. By the influx of this the higher ideas of your understanding are indeed illustrated, which in themselves are celestial; but in the world in which you are these are ineffable. Receive therefore what you are about to hear rationally, and so explain it to the understanding.”

 

I answered, “I will take heed; come nearer.”

 

And they came, and lo! they were a husband and his wife.

 

And they said, “We are married partners. From the first age, called by you the Golden Age, we have lived blessed in heaven; and always in the same flower of youth in which you see us today.”

 

[3] I observed them both attentively, for I perceived that they represented conjugial love, in its life and in its adornment; in its life in their faces, and in its adornment in their apparel. For all angels are affections of love in human form; their ruling affection itself shines forth from their faces. And from their affection and in harmony with it their garments are allotted. It is therefore said in heaven that his own affection clothes everyone. The husband appeared to be of a middle age between youth and early manhood. From his eyes beamed forth a light sparkling with the wisdom of love. His countenance was as if inmostly radiant from this light, and by the irradiation from it the skin outwardly was as it were refulgent. Thence his whole face was one resplendent comeliness. He was clothed in a long robe that reached to the ankles, and under the robe a vestment of blue, and this was girded with a golden girdle on which were three precious stones, two sapphires at the sides and in the middle a carbuncle. His stockings were of shining linen interwoven with threads of silver; and his shoes were entirely of silk. This was the representative form of conjugial love with the husband.

 

[4] But with the wife it was this: I saw her face and did not see it. I saw it as beauty itself, and did not see it because this was inexpressible. For there was a splendor of flaming light in her countenance, such light as is with the angels of the third heaven, and it dimmed my sight, so that I was simply struck with amazement. Observing this she spoke to me saying, “What do you see?”

 

I answered, “I see only conjugial love and its form. But I see and do not see.”

 

At this she turned herself partly away from her husband and then I could regard her more intently. Her eyes sparkled with the light of her heaven, which as was said is flaming, and therefore flows from the love of wisdom. For in that heaven wives love their husbands from wisdom and in their wisdom; and husbands love their wives from and in that love toward themselves—and they are thus united. Hence her beauty, which was such as no painter could emulate and portray in its form; for there is no such luster in his color, nor any such beauty expressible by his art. Her hair was gracefully arranged in correspondence with her beauty, and had flowers inserted in it from diadems. She wore a necklace of carbuncles, and pendent from this a rosary of chrysolites; and she had bracelets of large pearls. She was arrayed in a flowing robe of scarlet, and under this had a stomacher of purple clasped in front with rubies. But, what was a marvel to me, the colors varied according to her aspect towards her husband, and also according to this they were now more now less brilliant, more when they mutually turned towards each other, and less when they were partly turned from each other.

 

[5] When I had observed these things they spoke with me again, and when the husband was speaking he spoke as if at the same time from his wife; and when the wife was speaking she spoke as if at the same time from her husband; for such was the union of minds whence the speech flows. Then I heard also the tone of voice of conjugial love, that it was inwardly simultaneous with, and also proceeding from, the delights of a state of peace and innocence.

 

At length they said, “We are recalled. We must depart.”

 

And then again they appeared to ride in a chariot as before, and were carried along a paved way among gardens of flowers, out of whose beds sprang olive trees and orange trees laden with fruit; and as they came near their heaven virgins came out to meet them, and received, and conducted them in.

 

43. After this an angel of that heaven appeared to me holding in his hand a parchment which he unrolled saying, “I saw that you were meditating on conjugial love. In this parchment there are arcana of wisdom on that subject not hitherto made known in the world. They are now disclosed, because now it is of importance. There are more of these arcana in our heaven than in the others, because we are in the marriage of love and wisdom. But I predict that none will appropriate that love to themselves but those who are received by the Lord into the new church, which is the new Jerusalem.”

 

Saying this the angel let down the unrolled parchment. And a certain angelic spirit³ took it up and laid it on a table in a certain room which he immediately closed, and handed to me the key and said, “Write.”

 

44. The second relation:

 

I once saw three spirits newly arrived from the world, who were wandering about, observing and inquiring. They were in astonishment that they were living as men, just as before, and that they saw similar things as before. For they knew that they had left the former or natural world, and had believed there that they should not live as men until after the day of the last judgment, when they would be clothed with the flesh and bones that were laid away in the sepulcher. Therefore to relieve themselves of all doubt whether they really were men, they by turns examined and touched themselves and others, and felt of objects, and by a thousand things confirmed themselves in the fact that they were now men, just as in the former world, except that they saw each other in brighter light, and saw objects in greater splendor and thus more perfectly.

 

[2] Two angelic spirits chancing to meet them at that time detained them, and asked, “Whence are you?”

 

They answered, “We have departed out of the world; and are living again in a world. So that we have migrated from world to world. Now, we are wondering at this.”

 

And then they asked the two angelic spirits about heaven. And two of the newcomers being young men, a slight glow of lust for the sex shone from their eyes, and the angelic spirits said, “Perchance you have seen women?”

 

They replied, “We have.”

 

As they were asking about heaven, the angelic spirits said this:

 

“In heaven all things are magnificent and splendid such as eye has never seen. And there are young men and maidens there, maidens of such beauty that they may be said to be beauty in its own form; and young men of such morality that they may be called morality in its own form. And the beauty of the maidens and the morality of the young men correspond to each other, as mutual and adapted forms.”

 

The two newcomers asked, “Are human forms in heaven altogether like those in the natural world?”

 

And it was answered: “They are entirely like them; nothing is taken from the man, and nothing from the woman. In a word, a man is a man and a woman is a woman in all the perfection of form in which they were created. If you like, step aside and examine yourselves, and see whether anything whatever is wanting, and whether you are not men just as before.”

 

[3] Again the newcomers said, “We have heard, in the world from whence we have departed, that in heaven they are not given in marriage, because they are angels. Is there then the love of the sex?”

 

The angelic spirits replied: “Your love of the sex is not there, but the angelic love of the sex which is chaste, free from all allurement of lust.”

 

To this the newcomers said: “If there is the love of the sex without allurement, what is then the love of the sex?”

 

And as they thought of this love they sighed and exclaimed, “O, how dry is the joy of heaven. What young man can then wish for heaven? Is not such love barren and devoid of life?”

 

The angelic spirits, smiling, replied: “Yet the angelic love of the sex, or such love of the sex as there is in heaven, is full of inmost delights. It is a most pleasing expansion of all things of the mind, and thence of all things in the breast. And within the breast it is as if the heart were playing with the lungs, and as if from this play, the breathing, the voice, and the speech went forth, making the companionship between the sexes, or between young men and maidens, heavenly sweetness itself, which is pure.

 

[4] “All newcomers ascending into heaven are explored as to their chastity. For they are admitted into the companionship of maidens—the beauties of heaven—who perceive from the tone of voice, from the speech, from the countenance, from the eyes, from the gesture, and from the outflowing sphere, what their quality is in respect to the love of the sex; and if it is unchaste they flee, and tell their companions that they have seen satyrs or priapi. And to the eyes of the angels such newcomers also are actually changed, and appear hairy, and as to their feet like calves or leopards. And very soon they are cast down, that they may not pollute the aura of heaven with their lust.”

 

Hearing this the two newcomers said again: “Then there is no love of the sex in heaven. What is a chaste love of the sex but the love emptied of the essence of its life? Are not then the companionships of young men and maidens there dry joys? We are not stones and stocks, but perceptions and affections of life.”

 

[5] Hearing this, the two angelic spirits, indignant, replied, “You do not know at all what the chaste love of the sex is, because you are not yet chaste. That love is the very delight of the mind, and thence of the heart, but not at the same time of the flesh below the heart. Angelic chastity, which is common to both sexes, prevents the passing of that love beyond the enclosure of the heart; but within that and above that, the morality of the youth is delighted with the beauty of the maiden, with the delights of the chaste love of the sex that are too interior and too rich in pleasantness to be described by words. But the angels have this love of the sex because they have only conjugial love, and this cannot coexist with the unchaste love of the sex. Love truly conjugial is a chaste love, and has nothing in common with unchaste love. It is with one only of the sex, all others being removed; for it is a love of the spirit and thence of the body, and not a love of the body and thence of the spirit. That is, it is not a love that infests the spirit.”

 

[6] The two young novitiates were rejoiced at hearing this, and said, “There is still a love of the sex in heaven. What else is conjugial love?”

 

But to this the angelic spirits replied: “Think more deeply, reflect, and you will perceive that your love of the sex is outside of conjugial love and that conjugial love is altogether different; that it is as different from the former as wheat from chaff, or rather as the human from the bestial. Ask women in heaven what love outside of the conjugial is, and I assure you they will answer: ‘What is that? What do you say? How can such a question come out of your mouth that so offends the ears? How can a love that was not created be begotten in a man?’ Then ask them what love truly conjugial is, and I know they will answer that, ‘It is not the love of the sex, but the love of one of the sex,’ which only springs forth when a young man sees the maiden, and the maiden the young man whom the Lord has provided, and they mutually feel the conjugial enkindled in their hearts, and perceive, he that she is his, and she that he is hers. For love meets love and makes itself known, and instantly conjoins the souls, and afterwards the minds, and thence enters the breasts, and after the wedding, farther; and thus it becomes a full love, which from day to day grows into conjunction, until they are no more twain but as one.

 

[7] “I know also that they will solemnly aver that they know no other love of the sex. For they say, ‘How can there be a love of the sex unless it is so responsive and reciprocal that it breathes after an eternal union, which is that the twain may be one flesh?’”

 

To this the angelic spirits added: “In heaven they do not know at all what promiscuity is, nor that it exists, nor that it can be. Angels are cold throughout the whole body towards unchaste love, or love outside of marriage; and, on the other hand, they grow warm throughout the whole body from chaste or conjugial love. As to the men in heaven, all their nerves are unstrung at the sight of a harlot, and grow tense at the sight of a wife.”

 

[8] Having heard these things the three newcomers asked, “Is there a similar love between married partners in heaven as on earth?”

 

And the two angelic spirits answered: “It is quite similar.”

 

And perceiving that they wished to know whether there are similar ultimate delights there, they said: “They are altogether similar, but far more blessed, because the perception and sensation of the angels is far more exquisite than human perception and sensation. And what life has that love unless from a vein of potency? If this fails does not that love diminish and grow cold? And is not that vigor the very measure, the very degree, and the very basis of that love? Is it not the beginning, the foundation, and the complement of it? It is a universal law that first things exist, subsist, and endure from the last. And so it is also with this love. If then there were no ultimate delights, there would be no delights of conjugial love.”

 

[9] Then the newcomers asked, “Are offspring born there from the ultimate delights of this love, and if there are not offspring, of what use are they?”

 

The angelic spirits replied, “There are no natural offspring, but spiritual offspring.”

 

And they asked, “What are spiritual offspring?”

 

They answered, “Through ultimate delights married partners are the more united in the marriage of good and truth, and the marriage of good and truth is the marriage of love and wisdom; and love and wisdom are the offspring which are born of that marriage. And as the husband in heaven is wisdom, and the wife is the love of it, and as both of these are spiritual, therefore no other than spiritual offspring can be conceived and born there. Hence it is that the angels do not become sad after the delights, as some do on earth, but cheerful. And this comes of the perpetual inflowing of fresh powers succeeding the former, which renew and at the same time illustrate them; for all who come into heaven return into the springtime of their youth, and into the vigor of that age, and remain so to eternity.”

 

[10] Hearing these things the three newcomers said: “Do we not read in the Word that in heaven there are no weddings because they are angels?”

 

To this the angelic spirits replied: “Look up into heaven and you will be answered.”

 

And they asked, “Why look up into heaven?”

 

They said: “Because from thence we have all interpretations of the Word. The Word within is spiritual, and the angels being spiritual must teach the spiritual meaning of it.”

 

And after some delay heaven was opened above their head, and two angels came in sight, and said, “There are weddings in heaven as on earth; but with none there but those who are in the marriage of good and truth, nor are any others angels. Therefore spiritual weddings are there meant, which are marriages of good and truth. These take place on earth, and not after death, thus not in the heavens; as it is said of the five foolish virgins who also were invited to the wedding, that they could not enter, because there was no marriage of good and truth in them for they had no oil, but only lamps; by oil, good is meant, and by lamps, truth, and to be given in marriage is to enter into heaven where that marriage is.”

 

The three newcomers were rejoiced at hearing these things; and filled with desire for heaven and with the hope of weddings there, they said: “We will strive eagerly after morality and a virtuous life, that we may realize our desires.”

 

 

 

 

(3)

 

Married Partners after Death

 

 

45. It has just been shown above that there are marriages in the heavens. It is now to be shown whether or not the marriage covenant entered into in the world will continue and be enduring after death or not. As this is not a matter of judgment, but of experience, and this experience has been granted me through consociation with angels and spirits, by me it is to be made known; but yet in such wise that reason also shall assent. It is also among the wishes and desires of the married to have this knowledge; for men who loved their wives, and wives who loved their husbands desire, if they have died, to know whether it is well with them, and whether they will meet again. And many of the married desire to know beforehand whether they will be separated after death, or will live together—those who are mentally discordant with each other, whether they shall be separated; and those that are in mental concord, whether they will live together. This information being desired is to be given, and in this order:

 

(1) That the love of the sex remains after death with every person [homo], of such quality as it was interiorly, that is, in his interior will and thought, in the world.

 

(2) That the same is true of conjugial love.

 

(3) That two married partners most commonly meet after death, recognize each other, consociate again, and for some time live together; which takes place in the first state, that is, while they are in externals as in the world.

 

(4) But successively, as they put off things external and come into their internals, they perceive the quality of the love and inclination which they mutually had for each other, and thus perceive whether they can live together or not.

 

(5) That if they can live together they remain married partners; but if they cannot they separate, sometimes the husband from the wife, sometimes the wife from the husband, and sometimes each from the other.

 

(6) And that then a suitable wife is given to the man, and a suitable husband to the woman.

 

(7) That married partners enjoy similar intercourse with each other as in the world, only more delightful and blessed, but without prolification; for which, or in place of it, they have spiritual prolification, which is of love and wisdom.

 

(8) That this is thus with those that come into heaven; but with those that go into hell it is otherwise.

 

The explanation now follows whereby these propositions are illustrated and confirmed.

 

46. (1) That the love of the sex remains after death with every person [homo], of such quality as it was interiorly, that is, in his interior will and thought, in the world. Every love follows man after death; for love is the esse of his life. And the ruling love, which is the head of all the rest, continues with man to eternity; and together with it the subordinate loves. The reason why they continue is that love pertains properly to man’s spirit, and to his body from the spirit; and man after death is a spirit and so carries his love with him. And love being the esse of man’s life, it is plain that as the man’s life was in the world such becomes his lot after death.

 

As to the love of the sex it is the universal of all loves; for it is implanted by creation in man’s very soul, whence is the essence of the whole man, and this for the sake of propagating the human race. That this love especially remains is because a man is a man after death and a woman is a woman, and because there is nothing in soul, in mind, and in body, that is not masculine in the male and feminine in the female; and these two are so created that they urgently strive for conjunction, yea, for such conjunction that they may become one. This incitement is the love of the sex which precedes conjugial love. Now, as this conjunctive inclination is inscribed upon all things, and upon every single thing of the male and of the female, it follows that this inclination cannot be obliterated and die with the body.

 

47a. The reason why the love of the sex remains of such quality after death as it was interiorly in the world is this: With every man there is an internal and an external, which two are also called the internal and the external man; and hence there is an internal and external will and thought. When a man dies he leaves the external and retains his internal; for the externals pertain properly to his body, and the internals properly to his spirit. Now, as a man is his own love, and the love resides in his spirit, it follows that his love of the sex remains such after death as it was within him interiorly. For example, if that love was inwardly conjugial love, or chaste, it remains conjugial and chaste after death; but if it was inwardly promiscuous, it likewise remains so after death. But it is to be known that the love of the sex is not the same with one as with another. Its differences are infinite. But yet such as it is in the spirit of anyone, such also it remains.

 

48a. (2) That conjugial love, likewise, remains of such quality as it was interiorly with a man in the world, that is, in his interior will and thought. Since the love of the sex is one and conjugial love is another, therefore both are named, and it is said that this too remains of such quality with a man after death as it was in his internal man while he lived in the world. But as few know the difference between the love of the sex and conjugial love, I will premise something respecting it at the threshold of this treatise. The love of the sex is the love for many and with many of the sex; but conjugial love is the love for one and with one only of the sex. Love for many and with many is a natural love, for it is in common with beasts and birds, and these are natural; while conjugial love is a spiritual love and peculiar and proper to men, because men were created and are therefore born to become spiritual. For which reason so far as a man becomes spiritual he puts off the love of the sex and puts on conjugial love. In the beginning of marriage the love of the sex appears as if conjoined with conjugial love; but in the progress of marriage they are separated, and then with those that are spiritual the love of the sex is exterminated and conjugial love is instilled. But with those that are natural the contrary takes place. From what has now been said, it is plain that the love of the sex, because it is with many and in itself natural, nay, animal, is impure and unchaste; and because it is vagrant and unlimited, it is promiscuous; while conjugial love is altogether otherwise. That conjugial love is spiritual and properly human will manifestly appear from what follows.

 

47b. (3) That married partners most commonly meet after death, recognize each other, consociate, and for some time live together; which takes place in the first state, that is, while they are in externals as in the world. There are two states through which people [homo] pass after death, an external and an internal. They come first into their external state, and afterwards into their internal. While in the external state, married partner meets and recognizes married partner if both have died, and if they have lived together in the world they consociate, and for a time live together. Yet in this state they do not know the inclination of either one to the other, because this conceals itself in their internals. But afterwards, as they come into their internal state, the inclination manifests itself. If then it is concordant and sympathetic they continue the conjugial life; but if it is discordant and antipathetic they dissolve it. If a man has had several wives he conjoins himself with them in their order while in the external state; but when he comes into the internal state, in which he perceives the inclinations of love as they are, he then either adopts one, or leaves them all. For in the spiritual world, as in the natural, no Christian is permitted to take more than one wife, because it infests and profanes religion. It is the same with a woman who has had several husbands. These do not however adjoin themselves, but only present themselves, and the husband adjoins them to himself. It is to be known that husbands rarely recognize their wives, but that wives readily recognize their husbands. The reason is that women have an interior and men only an exterior perception of love.

 

48b. (4) But successively, as they put off things external and come into their internals, they perceive the quality of the love and inclination which they mutually had for each other, and thus whether they can live together or not. This need not be further explained, since it follows from the things set forth in the preceding article. Here it shall only be shown how a man puts off externals and puts on internals after death.

 

Everyone after death is introduced first into the world that is called the world of spirits—which is intermediate between heaven and hell—and is there prepared, the good for heaven and the wicked for hell.

 

[2] The preparation there has for its object that the internal and external may be in accord and make one, and not be at variance and make two. In the natural world they make two; and only with the sincere of heart do they make one. That they are two is evident from the crafty and cunning, especially from hypocrites, flatterers, dissemblers, and liars. But in the spiritual world a man is not permitted thus to have a divided mind, but he that had been evil in the internal must be evil also in externals; and so the good must be good in both.

 

[3] For after death every man becomes of such character as he had been inwardly, and not such as he had been outwardly. For this purpose he is then by turns let into his external and into his internal. And while in the external every man is wise, that is, wishes to have it appear that he is wise, even the evil; but in the internal an evil man is insane. Through these vicissitudes he is enabled to see his insanities and repent of them. But if he had not repented of them in the world he cannot afterwards, because he loves his insanities and desires to remain in them, and therefore drives his external likewise into insanity. Thus do his internal and his external become one; and when this is done he is prepared for hell.

 

[4] But with a good man it is just the contrary. Because in the world he had looked up to God and had repented, he is wiser in his internal than in his external, for as to the external he was sometimes led astray, owing to the allurements and vanities of the world. Therefore also his external must be brought into accordance with his internal, which, as was said, is wise. When this is done he is prepared for heaven. This illustrates how the putting off of the external and putting on of the internal after death is effected.

 

49. (5) That if they can live together they remain married partners; but if they cannot they separate, sometimes the husband from the wife, sometimes the wife from the husband, and sometimes each from the other. Separations take place after death because the conjunctions formed on earth are seldom formed from any internal perception of love, but from an external perception which hides the internal. An external perception of love has its cause and origin from such things as pertain to the love of the world and of the body. Wealth and large possessions especially are of the love of the world; and dignities and honors are of the love of the body. And besides these there are various seductive allurements; such as beauty, and a simulated propriety of manners, sometimes also unchastity. And moreover, marriages are contracted within the district, city, or village of one’s birth or abode, where there is no choice but such as is restricted and limited to the families that are known, and within these limits, to such as are of corresponding station. It is for these reasons that marriages entered into in the world are for the most part external, and not at the same time internal. And yet internal conjunction which is that of souls constitutes marriage itself; but this conjunction is not perceivable until a man puts off the external and puts on the internal, which he does after death. And hence it is that separations then take place, and afterwards new conjunctions with those who are similar and homogeneous, unless these had been provided on earth; as they are in the case of those who from early youth had loved and desired and asked of the Lord a legitimate and lovely companionship with one, and had spurned and detested wandering lusts as an offense to their nostrils.

 

50. (6) That then a suitable wife is given to the man and a suitable husband to the woman. The reason of this is that no married partners can be received into heaven and remain there but such as are inwardly united, or as can be united, as into one, for there two married partners are not called two but one angel. This is meant by the Lord’s words, that:

 

They are no more twain, but one flesh (Matt. 19:6).

 

That no other married pairs are received into heaven is because no others can live together there, that is, be together in one house and in one chamber and bed. For in heaven all are consociated according to affinities and nearnesses of love; and according to these they have their abodes. For in the spiritual world there are not spaces but appearances of space, and these are according to the states of their life, and states of life are according to the states of love. For this reason no one there can dwell in any but his own house, which is provided and assigned to him according to the quality of his love. If he abides elsewhere he labors in the breast and breathing. Nor can two live together in the same house unless they are similitudes; and especially married partners cannot, unless they are mutual inclinations. If they are external inclinations and not at the same time internal, the very house or very place separates, rejects, and expels them. This is the reason why, for those who after preparation are introduced into heaven, a marriage is provided with a consort whose soul so inclines to union with that of the other that they do not desire to be two lives but one. And it is for this reason that after separation a suitable wife is given to the man, and a suitable husband to the woman in like manner.

 

51. (7) That married partners enjoy similar intercourse with each other as in the world, only more delightful and blessed, but without prolification; for which, or in place of it, they have spiritual prolification which is of love and wisdom. The reason why married partners enjoy similar intercourse as in the world is that the male is a male and the female is a female after death, and in both an inclination to conjunction is inherent by creation; and this inclination in man [homo] is of his spirit and thence of the body; and therefore after death when man becomes a spirit the same mutual inclination continues, and this cannot be without similar intercourse. For man [homo] is man just as before. Nothing whatever is wanting in the male and nothing whatever in the female. They are like themselves in respect to form, and equally so as to affections and thoughts. What else can follow then but that they have similar intercourse? And because conjugial love is chaste, pure, and holy, the intercourse is also full. But see further on this subject the relation in n. 44. The intercourse is then more delightful and blessed, because when the love becomes of the spirit it becomes more interior and pure, and therefore more perceptible, and every delight increases according as it is perceived, and increases until its blessedness is discernible in its delight.

 

52. The reason why marriages in the heavens are without prolification, but that instead of it there is spiritual prolification, which is of love and wisdom, is that the third degree, which is the natural, is wanting to those who are in the spiritual world, and this degree is the containant of things spiritual, and spiritual things without their containant have not consistence after the manner of those that are procreated in the natural world, and regarded in themselves spiritual things relate to love and wisdom; these therefore are what are born of their marriages. It is said that these are born, because conjugial love perfects an angel, for it unites him with his consort, whereby he becomes more and more man [homo]. For, as was said above, two married partners in heaven are not two but one angel. By conjugial unition they therefore fill themselves with the human—which is the desire to become wise and to love what pertains to wisdom.

 

53. (8) That it is thus with those that come into heaven; but with those that go into hell it is otherwise. That a suitable wife is given to a man after death, and likewise to the wife a suitable husband, and that they enjoy delightful and blessed intercourse, but without other than spiritual prolification, is to be understood of those that are received into heaven and become angels—for the reason that they are spiritual, and marriages in themselves are spiritual and therefore holy. But on the contrary those that go to hell are all natural, and merely natural marriages are not marriages, but conjunctions which originate in unchaste lust. What the nature of these conjunctions is will be shown hereafter, where the chaste and the unchaste, and further where promiscuous love is treated of.

 

54. To what has been related thus far respecting the state of married partners after death, the following is to be added:

 

(1) That all the married who are merely natural are separated after death; for the reason that the love of marriage grows cold with them and the love of adultery grows warm. And yet after separation they sometimes associate themselves with others as consorts. But in a brief time they mutually part; and frequently this is done again and again, until at length the man is given up to some harlot, and the woman to some adulterer, which takes place in an infernal prison where promiscuity is interdicted to both, under punishment. On which subject see Apocalypse Revealed n. 153[10].

 

(2) Married partners, one of whom is spiritual and the other natural, are also separated after death, and to the spiritual a suitable partner is given; but the natural is relegated to his like in the resorts of lasciviousness.

 

(3) But they who in the world lived unmarried, and altogether estranged their minds from marriage, if they are spiritual, remain single; but if natural they become fornicators [scortatores]. But it is different with those who in their single state have desired marriage, and still more with those who without success have solicited marriage; for them, if they are spiritual, blessed marriages are provided—but not until they are in heaven.

 

(4) They who in the world were shut up in monasteries, both virgins and men, at the close of their monastic life—which continues for some time after death—are released and allowed to go free, and gain the wished-for liberty of their desires, whether they would live a married life or not. If they desire marriage they are married; if not they are taken to those who live in celibacy at the side of heaven. But those that are inflamed with forbidden lust are cast down.

 

(5) The reason why the celibates are at the side of heaven is that the sphere of perpetual celibacy infests the sphere of conjugial love, which is the very sphere of heaven. The sphere of conjugial love is the very sphere of heaven because it descends from the heavenly marriage of the Lord and the church.

 

55. To the above I will add two relations:

 

First this. Once there was heard from heaven the sweetest melody; wives with maidens were there singing together a song the sweetness of which was as the affection of some love flowing forth harmoniously. Heavenly songs are nothing else than sonorous affections, or affections expressed and modified by sounds; for just as thoughts are expressed by speech, so affections are by song. From the symmetry and flow of the melody the angels perceive the subject of the affection.

 

There were many spirits about me at the time, and I heard from certain of them that they heard this most sweet melody, and that it was the song of some lovely affection the subject of which they did not know; wherefore they made various conjectures, but in vain; they conjectured that the song was an expression of the affection of a bridegroom and bride when betrothed. Some that it expressed the affection of a bridegroom and bride when they enter into the wedding. And others that it expressed the first love of husband and wife.

 

[2] But an angel from heaven then appeared in their midst, and said, that they were singing the chaste love of the sex. But those standing around asked, “What is the chaste love of the sex?”

 

The angel said: “It is the love of a man towards a maiden or wife of beautiful form and decorous manner, free from all idea of lasciviousness, and the similar love of a maiden or wife towards a man.” Saying this the angel vanished.

 

The singing continued, and as they then knew the subject of the affection it expressed they heard it with much variety, each one according to the state of his love. Those that looked chastely upon women heard the song as harmonious and sweet; but they that looked unchastely upon women heard it as inharmonious and sad; and those that looked disdainfully upon women heard it as discordant and harsh.

 

[3] Then suddenly the plain on which they were standing was changed into a theater, and a voice was heard, saying, “Investigate this love.”

 

And immediately there were spirits present from various societies, and in the midst of them several angels in white; and these then spoke and said, “We have inquired into all kinds of love in this spiritual world, not only into the love of man towards man and of woman towards woman, and into the reciprocal love of husband and wife, but also into the love of man towards women and of woman towards men; and it has been given us to pass through societies and explore them, and not yet have we found the love of the sex chaste except with those who from love truly conjugial are in constant potency, and these are in the highest heavens. And it was also given us to perceive the influx of this love into the affections of our hearts; and we clearly felt it to exceed in sweetness every other love, except the love of two married partners whose hearts are one. But we pray you to investigate this love, for to you it is new and unknown; and by us in heaven it is called heavenly sweetness, because it is pleasantness itself.”

 

[4] When they therefore investigated the subject, those spoke first who could not think of chastity as pertaining to marriages, and they said: “Who, when he sees a beautiful and lovely maiden or wife is able to so chasten and purify the ideas of his thought from lust as to love her beauty and yet not at all desire, if it were allowed, to taste it? Who is able to convert the lust that is innate in every man into such chastity, that is, into what is not itself, and yet to love? Can the love of the sex, as it passes by the eyes into the thoughts, stop at the face of a woman? Does it not instantly descend into the breast and beyond? The angels have idly said that this love can be chaste and yet be of all loves the sweetest; and that it is only possible with husbands who are in love truly conjugial and thence are in surpassing potency with their wives. Can they more than others when they see the beautiful keep the ideas of their thoughts on high and as it were suspended, so that they do not descend and go on to what constitutes the love?”

 

[5] After these they spoke who were both in cold and in heat, in cold towards their wives and in heat towards the sex; and they said, “What is a chaste love of the sex? Is not love of the sex when chastity is added a contradiction? And what is the contradiction in the addition but a subject from which its predicate is taken away, which then is nothing? How can the chaste love of the sex be the sweetest of all loves when chastity robs it of its sweetness? You all know wherein the sweetness of that love resides. When therefore the idea of conjunction with this is banished, where and whence is then its sweetness?”

 

Some then followed, saying, “We have been with the most beautiful and felt no desire; and we therefore know what the chaste love of the sex is.”

 

But their companions who knew their lewdness answered, “You were then in a state of distaste for the sex from lack of potency; and this is not the chaste love of the sex, but the last state of unchaste love.”

 

[6] The angels were indignant at hearing these things, and asked that they who were standing on the right, or at the south, would speak. And these said, “There is a love of man and man and of woman and woman; and there is a love of man to woman and of woman to man; and these pairs of loves are entirely different from each other. The love of man and man is as the love of understanding and understanding; for man was created and hence is born that he may become understanding. The love of woman and woman is as the love of affection and affection for the understanding of men; for the woman was created and is born to become the love of man’s understanding. These loves, that is to say of man for man and of woman for woman, do not enter deeply into the breast, but stand without, and merely touch each other; thus they do not inwardly conjoin the two. And therefore two men contend with each other by reasonings and reasonings like two athletes; and two women sometimes by lusts against lusts like two pugilists fighting with their fists.

 

[7] But the love of man and woman is the love between the understanding and its affection, and this enters deeply and conjoins; and this conjunction is that love. But conjunctions of minds and not at the same time of bodies, or the effort toward this conjunction alone is a spiritual and therefore a chaste love. And this love they alone have who are in love truly conjugial; and from this they are in eminent potency, because by reason of their chastity they do not admit the influx of love from the body of any other woman than their own wife; and being in supereminent potency they cannot but love the sex and at the same time hold in aversion what is unchaste. Thence they have a chaste love of the sex which regarded in itself is interior spiritual friendship, that derives its sweetness from eminent but chaste potency. This eminent potency they have from their total renunciation of promiscuity; and it is chaste because the wife only is loved. Now, this love is chaste with them because it does not partake of the flesh but only of the spirit; and it is sweet, because the beauty of the woman by native inclination enters at the same time into the mind.”

 

[8] On hearing these things many of those standing by put their hands to their ears, saying, “These words offend our ears; and to us what you have said is nothing.” They were unchaste.

 

And then again that singing was heard from heaven, and sweeter now than before. But to the unchaste it grated so discordantly, that because of the harshness of the discord they rushed from the theater and fled, a few only remaining who from wisdom loved conjugial chastity.

 

56. The second relation:

 

Once while talking with angels in the world of spirits I was inspired with a pleasing desire to see the temple of wisdom which I had seen once before; and I asked them the way to it. They said, “Follow the light and you will find it.”

 

I said, “What do you mean by ‘Follow the light?’”

 

They said, “Our light shines more and more brightly as we approach that temple. Therefore follow the light according to the increase of its brightness; for our light proceeds from the Lord as a sun and therefore considered in itself is wisdom.’’

 

Then in company with two angels I walked on, following the increasing brightness of the light, and ascended by a steep path to the summit of a hill which lay in the southern quarter, where there was a magnificent gate.

 

And the keeper, seeing the angels with me, opened the gate, and lo, there appeared an avenue of palm and laurel trees along which we walked. It was a winding avenue and terminated in a garden in the midst of which was the temple of wisdom.

 

As I looked around me there I saw smaller buildings, resembling the temple, wherein were wise men. We approached one of them, and at the entrance spoke to the one who dwelt there, and told him the reason of our coming, and how we came. And the host said, “Welcome! Come in; be seated; and let us join in discourses of wisdom.”

 

[2] I observed that the house within was divided into two and yet was one. It was divided into two by a translucid partition; and it appeared as one by reason of its translucency which was as of the purest crystal. I asked why it was so. He said, “I am not alone. My wife is with me; and we are two and yet not two but one flesh.”

 

And I said: “I know that you are a wise man, and what has a wise man or wisdom to do with a woman?” At this our host with a certain indignation changed countenance. And he put forth his hand, and lo, immediately other wise men were present from neighboring houses, to whom he playfully said, “Our newcomer here says inquiringly, ‘What has a wise man or wisdom to do with a woman?’”

 

They all smiled at this, and said: “What is a wise man or wisdom without a woman, or without love? The wife is the love of a wise man’s wisdom.”

 

[3] But the host said, “Now let us join in some conversation of wisdom. Let the conversation be respecting causes; and first, about the cause of the beauty of the female sex.” And then they spoke in succession. The first gave this cause: That women were created by the Lord affections of the wisdom of men; and the affection of wisdom is beauty itself. Another mentioned this: That woman was created of the Lord through the wisdom of the man because from the man; and therefore she is a form of wisdom inspired with the affection of love; and as the affection of love is life itself, woman is the life of wisdom; but the male is wisdom and the life of wisdom is beauty itself. The third mentioned this cause: That to women is given the perception of the delights of conjugial love; and as their whole body is an organ of that perception it cannot but be that the habitation of the delights of conjugial love with their perception is beauty.

 

[4] The fourth mentioned this cause: That the Lord has taken the beauty and grace of life from the man and transcribed them into the woman; and for this reason the man without reunition with his own beauty and grace in woman is stern, austere, dry, and unlovely; and is not wise unless for himself alone, and such a one is foolish. But when the man is united with his beauty and grace of life in the wife, he becomes agreeable, pleasant, animated, and lovely and thus wise. The fifth mentioned this cause: That women are created beauties not for their own sake but for men; that men, of themselves hard, may be softened; that their dispositions, of themselves severe, may become gentle; and their hearts, of themselves cold, may become warm. And such they do become when they become one flesh with their wives.

 

[5] The sixth mentioned this cause: The universe was created by the Lord a most perfect work; but nothing more perfect was created therein than woman, beautiful in countenance and charming in manner, to the end that the man may render thanks to the Lord for this bountiful gift, and repay it by the reception of wisdom from him.

 

After these and many such things had been said, the wife appeared through the crystal partition, and said to her husband, “Speak, if you please.” And as he spoke, the life of wisdom from the wife was perceived in his speech; for the love of it was in the tone of his voice. Thus did experience bear witness to that truth.

 

Afterwards we viewed the temple of wisdom, and also the scenes of the surrounding paradise, and filled thereby with joy we took our leave, passed through the avenue to the gate, and descended by the way we came.

 

 

 

 

(4)

 

Love Truly Conjugial

 

 

57. Conjugial love is of infinite variety. It is not alike in one as in any other. It appears indeed as if it were alike with many, but it appears so only before the judgment of the body, and by that judgment man has little discernment of such things, because it is gross and dull. By the judgment of the body is meant the judgment of the mind from the external senses. But to those who see from the judgment of the spirit the differences appear; and more distinctly before them who can more highly elevate the sight of this judgment, which is done by withdrawing it from the senses and raising it into higher light. They can finally confirm themselves by the understanding, and thus see that conjugial love is not alike in one as in another. And yet no one can see the infinite varieties of that love in any light of the understanding, though elevated, unless he first knows what that love is in its very essence and integrity; that is to say, what it was when together with life it was implanted in man by God. Unless this state which was most perfect is known, in vain can its distinctions be disclosed by any inquiry, because there is no settled point as a beginning whence distinctions may be deduced, or to which they may be referred as a criterion, and so appear truly and without fallacy. This is the reason why we here proceed to describe that love in its genuine essence and—because it was in this when together with life it was infused into man by God—to describe it in its primeval state. And as in this state it was truly conjugial this chapter is inscribed, “On Love Truly Conjugial.” The description of it shall be given in the following order:

 

(1) That there is love truly conjugial; which is so rare at the present day that its quality is not known, and scarcely that it exists.

 

(2) That the origin of this love is from the marriage of good and truth.

 

(3) That the correspondence of this love is with the marriage of the Lord and the church.

 

(4) That by virtue of its origin and its correspondence this love is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure, and clean, beyond any love from the Lord which exists with the angels of heaven and with the men of the church.

 

(5) That it is also the fundamental love of all loves, celestial and spiritual, and thence of all natural loves.

 

(6) That into this love are gathered all joys and all delights from first to last.

 

(7) That none come into this love, and can be in it, but those who come to the Lord and love the truths and do the goods of the church.

 

(8) That this love was the love of loves with the ancients who lived in the golden, silver, and copper ages; but afterwards it successively ceased.

 

The explanation of these subjects now follows.

 

58. (1) That there is love truly conjugial; which is so rare at the present day that its quality is not known, and scarcely that it exists.

 

That there is such conjugial love as is described in the following pages may indeed be acknowledged from the first state of the love, when it is instilling itself and entering into the heart of a young man and a maiden; that is, with those that are beginning to love one only of the sex and to desire her for a bride; and still more during the time of betrothment, while it is lingering and progressing to the wedding; and finally at the wedding, and during the first days that follow them. Who does not then acknowledge and assent to the propositions which follow: That this love is the fundamental of all loves? And that into this love are gathered all joys and all delights from first to last? And who does not know that after this pleasant time these states of gladness successively decline and pass away, till at length they become scarcely sensible of them? If it be said to them then, as before, that this love is the fundamental of all loves, and that into this love all joys and all gladnesses are brought together, they do not assent to it or acknowledge it; and perhaps will say they are idle words, or that they are transcendent mysteries. It is evident from this that the earliest love of marriage emulates love truly conjugial, and presents it to view in a certain image. This is so because then the love of the sex, which is unchaste, is cast aside, and love of one of the sex, which is love truly conjugial and chaste, is implanted and resides in its place. Who does not then look upon other women without love, and upon his own only one with love?

 

59. The reason why love truly conjugial is so rare that its quality is not known, and scarcely that it exists, is that the state of pleasantness before marriage is changed after marriage into a state of indifference, from insensibility to it. The causes of this change of state are more than can be here adduced; but they will be adduced hereafter where the causes of coldness, of separation, and of divorce are disclosed in their order, whence it will appear that with most persons at this day the likeness and with it the knowledge of conjugial love is so effaced that its quality is unknown, and it is scarcely known that there is such love.

 

It is known that every man when born is merely corporeal, and that from corporeal he becomes natural, more and more interiorly, and thus rational; and finally becomes spiritual. The reason why this takes place progressively is that the corporeal is as the ground in which things natural, rational, and spiritual in their order are implanted. A man thus becomes more and more a man.

 

[2] Almost the same takes place when he enters into marriage; then man becomes a fuller man because united with a consort with whom he acts as one man. But in the first state this takes place in a certain image already spoken of. He then in like manner begins from the corporeal and advances into the natural, but as to the conjugial life and thence as to conjunction into one. They who then love corporeal natural things, and only from them love things rational, cannot be conjoined with a consort as into one except as to those externals; and when the externals fail, a coldness invades the internals, and dispels the delights of that love, as from the mind so from the body, and afterwards as from the body so from the mind, and this until nothing is left of the remembrance of the earliest state of their marriage, and consequently no cognizance of it. Now since this occurs with most men at the present day, it is clear that it is not known what love truly conjugial is, and scarcely that there is any such love. It is different with those that are spiritual. With them the first state is the introduction to perpetual states of bliss; which increase in degree as the spiritual rational of the mind, and from this the sensual natural of the body of the one conjoin and unite themselves with those of the other. But these instances are rare.

 

60. (2) That the origin of this love is from the marriage of good and truth. It is acknowledged by every intelligent man, for it is a universal truth, that all things in the universe have relation to good and truth. And it cannot but be acknowledged that in each and all things of the universe good is conjoined with truth and truth with good, for this too is a universal truth coherent with the other. The reason why all things in the universe have relation to good and truth, and that good is conjoined with truth and truth with good, is that both proceed from the Lord and proceed from him as one. The two which proceed from the Lord are love and wisdom, for those are himself and are therefore from himself, and all things pertaining to love are called goods, and all that pertain to wisdom are called truths; and as these two proceed from him as the creator, it follows that these two are in the things created. This may be illustrated by the heat and light that proceed from the sun. From these are all things on the earth; for according to their presence and according to their conjunction they germinate; and natural heat corresponds to spiritual heat which is love; and natural light corresponds to spiritual light which is wisdom.

 

61. That conjugial love proceeds from the marriage of good and truth will be shown in the following article or chapter. It is brought forward here only that it may be seen that this love is celestial, spiritual, and holy, because from a celestial, spiritual, and holy origin. And in order that it may be seen that the origin of conjugial love is from the marriage of good and truth, it is important that something should be briefly said here on that subject. It has been stated just above that there is a conjunction of good and truth in each and all created things. But there is no conjunction unless it is reciprocal, for conjunction on the part of one and not in turn on the part of the other is of itself dissolved. Now, as there is a conjunction of good and truth, and it is reciprocal, it follows that there is truth of good, or truth from good, and that there is good of truth, or good from truth. It will be seen in the chapter next following that the truth of good, or truth from good, is in the male, and is the very masculine, and that the good of truth, or good from truth, is in the female and is the very feminine; and that there is a conjugial union between these two. This is mentioned here in order that some preliminary idea may be had of it.

 

62. (3) That the correspondence of this love is with the marriage of the Lord and the church. That is, as the Lord loves the church and desires that the church shall love him, so husband and wife mutually love each other. It is known in the Christian world that there is a correspondence between them; but what is its nature is not yet known. This correspondence shall therefore be explained in a particular chapter which also follows. It is mentioned here to the end that it may be seen that conjugial love is celestial, spiritual, and holy, because it corresponds to the celestial, spiritual, and holy marriage of the Lord and the church. This correspondence moreover follows from the origin of conjugial love from the marriage of good and truth, of which in the preceding section, because the marriage of good and truth is the church with man; for the marriage of good and truth is the same as the marriage of charity and faith, since good is of charity and truth is of faith. That this marriage constitutes the church cannot but be acknowledged, for it is a universal truth, and every universal truth is acknowledged as soon as it is heard, which comes from the influx from the Lord and at the same time from the confirmation of heaven. Now, as the church is the Lord’s because from the Lord, and as conjugial love corresponds to the marriage of the Lord and the church, it follows that this love is from the Lord.

 

63. And in the chapter referred to above it will be illustrated how the church, and thereby conjugial love, is formed by the Lord with two married partners. That only here the church is formed by the Lord with the man and through the man with the wife; and that after it is formed in both it is a full church, for then there is full conjunction of good and truth, and the conjunction of good and truth is the church. It will be established in series hereafter, by demonstrative arguments, that the conjunctive inclination, which is conjugial love, is in like degree with the conjunction of good and truth, which is the church.

 

64. (4) That by virtue of its origin and its correspondence this love is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure, and clean, beyond every love from the Lord that exists with the angels of heaven and with the men of the church. That conjugial love by virtue of its origin, which is the marriage of good and truth, is of this character has been briefly confirmed just above but there only by anticipation; likewise that this love is such by virtue of its correspondence with the marriage of the Lord and the church. These two marriages, from which conjugial love as an offshoot descends, are very sanctities. Wherefore, if it is received from its author, who is the Lord, a holiness follows from him, and continually refines and purifies it. If then there is in the man’s will a desire and tendency to it, this love is made clean and pure from day to day, perpetually.

 

[2] Conjugial love is called celestial and spiritual for the reason that it is with the angels of the heavens; celestial with the angels of the highest heaven because they are called celestial angels; and spiritual with the angels below that heaven because they are called spiritual angels. The angels are so called for the reason that the celestial are loves and wisdoms therefrom, and the spiritual are wisdoms and loves therefrom. It is similar with their conjugial.

 

[3] Now, as conjugial love is with the angels of both the higher and the lower heavens, as was shown also in the first chapter, “On Marriages in Heaven,” it is evident that it is holy and pure. That considered in its essence by virtue of its derivation it is holy and pure beyond every love with angels and with men, is the reason why this love is as it were the head of all other loves. Of this, its eminence, something shall now be said in the following section.

 

65. (5) It is also the fundamental love of all loves, celestial, spiritual, and thence of all natural loves. The reason why conjugial love considered in its essence is the fundamental love of all the loves of heaven and the church is that its origin is from the marriage of good and truth, and from that marriage all the loves which make heaven and the church with man proceed. The good of that marriage constitutes the love, and the truth of it constitutes the wisdom; and when love approaches wisdom, or conjoins itself with it, it then becomes love indeed; and when in turn wisdom approaches love, or conjoins itself, with it, it becomes wisdom indeed. Love truly conjugial is nothing else than the conjunction of love and wisdom. Two married partners, between whom or in whom at the same time this love exists, are an effigy and form of it; and in all the heavens, where the faces are genuine types of the affections of their love, all are likenesses of it; for it is in them in general and in every individual part, as has been shown before. Now, since two married partners are this love in effigy and in form, it follows that every love that proceeds from the form of the love itself is a resemblance of it. If therefore conjugial love is celestial and spiritual the loves proceeding from it are also celestial and spiritual. Conjugial love then is as the parent and the other loves are as the offspring. Hence it is that from the marriages of the angels in the heavens spiritual offspring are generated, which are generations of love and wisdom, or of good and truth, of which generation see above, n. 51.

 

66. The same clearly appears from the creation of mankind into this love, and from their formation from it afterwards. The male was so created that he might become wisdom from the love of growing wise; and the female, so that she might become the love of the male from his wisdom and so according to it. It is plain from this that two married partners are very forms and effigies of the marriage of love and wisdom, or of good and truth.

 

It is to be well known that there is neither good nor truth which is not in a substance as in its subject. There are no abstract goods and truths; for they are nowhere because they have no abiding place. Nay, they cannot even appear as fleeting things. They are, therefore, merely entities about which reason seems to itself to think abstractly, but yet of which it cannot think except in subjects. For every idea of man, even the sublimest is substantial, that is, affixed to substances. Moreover, it should be known that there is no substance except it be a form. A substance not formed is not anything; for nothing can be predicated of it, and a subject without predicates is likewise not a rational entity. These philosophic considerations are added that it may be seen by them also, that two married partners who are in love truly conjugial are actually forms of the marriage of good and truth, or of love and wisdom.

 

67. Since natural loves flow forth from spiritual loves, and spiritual from celestial, for this reason it is said that conjugial love is the fundamental of all loves, celestial and spiritual, and thence of all natural loves. Natural loves have relation to the loves of self and of the world; but spiritual loves have relation to love towards the neighbor; and celestial loves have relation to love to the Lord. And such being the relation of these loves it is plain in what order they follow, and in what order they are in man. When they are in this order, the natural loves live from the spiritual, these from the celestial, and all in this order from the Lord from whom they are.

 

68. (6) And that into this love are gathered all joys and all delights from first to last. All delights whatsoever that are felt by man are of his love. By them the love manifests itself, yea, exists, and lives. It is known that delights are exalted in the degree that the love is exalted, and also as the incident affections touch the ruling love more nearly. Now, as conjugial love is the fundamental of all good loves, and as it is inscribed upon the very least things of man, as has been shown before, it follows that its delights exceed the delights of all loves; and also that it imparts delight to them according to its presence and at the same time its conjunction with them. For it expands the inmost things of the mind, and at the same time the inmost things of the body, as the delicious current of its fountain flows through and opens them.

 

[2] It is because of the superior excellence of its use above all other uses that all delights from first to last are gathered into this love. Its use is the propagation of the human race and of the angelic heaven therefrom; and as this use was the end of ends of the creation, it follows that all the states of blessedness, satisfaction, delight, gratification, and pleasure that could ever be conferred on man by the Lord creator are gathered into this love. That delights follow use, and are present with man according to the love of the use, is manifest from the delights of the five senses: of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Each of these has its delights, with variations according to their specific uses. What then should not be the delights of the sense of conjugial love whose use is the complex of all other uses?

 

69. I know few will acknowledge that all joys and all delights from first to last are gathered into conjugial love; for the reason that love truly conjugial into which they are gathered is so rare at this day that it is not known what is its nature, and it is scarcely known to exist, as was explained and confirmed above in n. 58 and 59. For these joys and delights are in no other but in the genuine conjugial love; and as this is so rare on earth it is impossible to describe its supereminent felicities otherwise than from the mouth of angels, for they are in it. They have said that its inmost delights, which are of the soul—into which the conjugial of love and wisdom, or of good and truth, from the Lord first flows—are imperceptible and therefore ineffable, because they are delights at once of peace and of innocence; but that in their descent they become perceptible, more and more—in the higher regions of the mind as states of blessedness, in the lower as states of happiness, in the breast as delights therefrom; and from the breast they diffuse themselves into each and every part of the body, and finally unite in the ultimates in the delight of delights. Moreover, the angels have related wonders respecting these delights, saying that the varieties of them in the souls of consorts, and therefrom in their minds and thence in their breasts, are infinite and also eternal; and that they are exalted according to the wisdom in the husbands, and this because to eternity they live in the flower of their age, and because nothing is more blessed to them than to grow wiser and wiser. But many things respecting these delights, narrated from the mouth of angels, may be seen in the relations, especially in those which come after some of the following chapters.

 

70. (7) But none come into this love, and can be in it, but those who come to the Lord, and love the truths and do the goods of the church.

 

The reason why no others but those that come to the Lord enter into this love is that monogamic marriages, or marriages of one man with one wife, correspond to the marriage of the Lord and the church, and that their origin is the marriage of good and truth, of which above at n. 60-62.

 

It cannot be fully confirmed that it follows from this origin, and this correspondence, that love truly conjugial is from the Lord and is with those who come directly to him, unless these two arcana are specially treated of, which shall be done in the chapters that next follow; of which one will be on the origin of conjugial love from the marriage of good and truth; and the other on the marriage of the Lord and the church and its correspondence. It will also be seen in those chapters that it follows thence that conjugial love with man is according to the state of the church with him.

 

71. The reason why none can be in love truly conjugial but those that receive it from the Lord, who are those that come directly to him and from him live the life of the church, is that this love viewed from its origin and its correspondence is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure, and clean, beyond every love that exists with the angels of heaven and with the men of the church, as was shown above, n. 64; and these its attributes cannot be given except with those who are conjoined with the Lord and are consociated by him with the angels of heaven. For these flee from loves outside of marriage, which are conjunctions with others than one’s own consort, as they would flee from the ruin of the soul and the lakes of hell; and so far as a married partner flees from such conjunctions even as to the lusts of the will and intentions thence, insofar the love is purified in them, and successively becomes spiritual, first while they live on earth and afterwards in heaven.

 

[2] No love can ever become pure, either with men or with angels, therefore not even this love. But as the Lord primarily regards the intention, which is of the will, insofar as a man is in this intention, and perseveres in it, he is introduced into and successively progresses in its purity and holiness. None can be in spiritual conjugial love but those who are of such character from the Lord, because heaven is in it, and the natural man with whom this love derives its pleasures from the flesh only, cannot approach heaven, nor can he come near to any angel, nay, nor to any man in whom this love is; for it is the fundamental love of all celestial and spiritual loves, as was shown above in n. 65-67.

 

[3] It has been confirmed to me by experience that this is so. In the spiritual world I have seen genii who were being prepared for hell approach an angel who was in delight with his consort. As they drew near, even at a distance, they became as furies and sought caves and pits into which they cast themselves for refuge. That evil spirits love what is homogeneous with their affection, however unclean, and have a repugnance to spirits of heaven as heterogeneous, because heaven is pure, may be concluded from the things related as preliminary in n. 10.

 

72. The reason why those that love the truths of the church and do its goods come into this love and can abide in it, is that they and no others are received by the Lord; for they are in conjunction with him, and thereby can be kept by him in this love. There are two things which constitute the church and therefore heaven with man, truth of faith and good of life. Truth of faith constitutes the Lord’s presence, and good of life according to the truths of faith effects conjunction with him, and thus makes the church and heaven. Truth of faith constitutes the Lord’s presence because it is of light. Spiritual light is nothing else. Good of life effects conjunction because it is of heat. Spiritual heat is nothing else; for it is love, and the good of life is of love. And it is known that all light, even that of winter, brings presence, and that heat united with light effects conjunction; for fruit and flower gardens appear in all kinds of light but do not blossom and bear fruit except when heat conjoins itself with light. From these things the conclusion is plain that they who only know the truths of the church are not gifted by the Lord with love truly conjugial, but they that both know its truths and do its goods.

 

73. (8) That this love was the love of loves with the ancients who lived in the golden, silver, and copper ages. It cannot be known from history that conjugial love was the love of loves with the most ancient and the ancient peoples who lived in those earliest ages that were so named, because their writings are not extant, and the accounts that exist are from writers after those ages. But by these they are named and the purity and integrity of their life is also described—as well as its successive decadence as from gold to iron. But the character of the last or iron age, which began in the time of these writers may in some measure be gathered from the history of the life of some of the kings, judges, and wise men, who in Greece and elsewhere were called sophi. But it is predicted in Daniel 2:43, that this age could not endure as iron by itself endures, but would become like iron mixed with clay, which do not cohere.

 

[2] Now, as the ages which were named from gold, silver, and copper had passed away before the time when writings came into use, and so a knowledge of their marriages could not be obtained on earth, it has pleased the Lord to disclose it to me in a spiritual way, by leading me to the heavens where their dwellings are, that there I might learn from their own mouths of what nature marriages were among them when they lived in their ages. For all who have passed from the natural world since the creation are in the spiritual world, and all as to their loves are similar and remain so to eternity. As these things are worthy to be known and related, and as they confirm the sacredness of marriages, I will give them to the public as they were shown to me in the spirit, awake, and afterwards were recalled to memory by an angel and so described.

 

And as they are from the spiritual world, like the other relations following the chapters, I shall divide them into six relations, according to the succession of the ages.

 

74. These six relations respecting conjugial love—which are from the spiritual world—reveal what the quality of that love was in the earliest ages; what it was after those ages; and what it is at this day. From which it appears that this love has gradually fallen away from its holiness and purity until it has become promiscuous; but that nevertheless there is hope of its being brought back again to its primeval or ancient holiness.

 

75. The first relation:

 

Once when I was meditating on conjugial love my mind was seized with a desire to know what the quality of that love was with those who lived in the golden age; and what it was afterwards among those that lived in the ages following, named from silver, copper, and iron. And as I knew that all who lived well in those ages are in the heavens, I prayed the Lord that he would permit me to discourse with them and be instructed.

 

And lo, an angel stood by me and said, “I am sent by the Lord to be your guide and companion. And first I will conduct and accompany you to those who lived in the first age or period, called the golden age.” And he added, “The way to them is difficult. It lies through a dark forest which no one can pass through without a guide given him by the Lord.”

 

[2] I was in the spirit and girded myself for the journey and we turned our faces towards the east. As we went on I saw a mountain whose height extended above the region of the clouds. We crossed a great desert and came into the forest, which the angel had told me of, thick with various kinds of trees and dark by reason of their density. But the forest was intersected by many narrow paths, and the angel said they were so many winding ways leading astray; and that unless the eyes were opened by the Lord to see olive trees wound around with vine tendrils, and the steps were directed from olive tree to olive tree, the traveler would wander away into the regions of Tartarus which are round about at the sides. Such is this forest to the end that it may guard the approach; for none but a primeval race dwell upon that mountain.

 

[3] After we entered the forest our eyes were opened and we saw the olive trees here and there, encircled with vines from which hung clusters of grapes of azure color. And the olive trees were disposed in perpetual circles, so that we went round and round according as the trees came into view. At length we saw a grove of lofty cedars and several eagles on their branches.

 

Seeing which the angel said, “We are now on the mountain not far from its summit.”

 

We continued on, and lo, beyond the grove a circular plain where male and ewe lambs were feeding, which were representative forms of the state of innocence and peace of the mountaineers. Then we passed over this plain and behold, tents on tents appeared before us and on either side, many thousands in number, as far as eye could reach.

 

And the angel said, “Now we are in the camp. There is the army of the Lord Jehovih. So they call themselves and their habitations. These most ancient people dwelt in tents when they lived in the world and they therefore dwell in them now also. But let us bend our way to the south, where the wiser of them are, that we may meet someone with whom we may converse.”

 

[4] As we went on I saw at a distance three boys and three girls sitting at the door of a certain tent; but as we came near they were seen to be men and women of middle stature.

 

And the angel said, “All the inhabitants of this mountain appear from a distance like little children because they are in a state of innocence, and infancy is the appearance of innocence.”

 

On seeing us the men ran up to us and asked, “From whence are you? And how came you here? Your faces are not of the faces of our mountain.”

 

In reply the angel told them how we passed through the forest and the reason of our coming. Hearing which one of the three men invited and introduced us into his tent. The man was clothed with a mantle the color of hyacinth and a tunic of white wool; and his wife with a flowing robe of crimson, and under it a tunic about the breast of fine linen embroidered.

 

[5] As in thought I had a desire to learn about the marriages of the most ancient people I looked alternately at the husband and the wife, and observed as it were a oneness of souls in their faces.

 

And I said, “You two are one.”

 

The man replied, “We are one. Her life is in me and mine in her. We are two bodies but one soul. The union between us is as that of the two dwellings in the breast called the heart and the lungs. She is my heart and I am her lungs. But as by the heart we here mean love and by the lungs wisdom, she is the love of my wisdom and I am the wisdom of her love. Therefore her love from without veils my wisdom, and my wisdom is inwardly in her love. Hence there is as you have said an appearance of oneness of souls in our faces.”

 

[6] I then asked, “If such is the union can you look at any other woman than your own?”

 

He replied, “I can; but as my wife is united to my soul we two look together, and then nothing of desire can enter. For when I look at the wives of others I look at them through my wife whom alone I love. And as she, my own, has a perception of all my inclinations, she as an intermediate gives direction to my thoughts, and turns away everything discordant, and imparts a cold and horror of everything unchaste. It is therefore as impossible for us here to look from lust upon any wife of a companion as it is to look from Tartarean shade at the light of our heavens. With us therefore there is no idea of thought, still less any word of language, for the allurements of wanton love.” He could not say promiscuity, for the chastity of their heaven strove against it.

 

The angel guide said to me, “You hear now the speech of the angels of this heaven that it is the language of wisdom; for they speak from causes.”

 

[7] Then looking about I saw that their tent was as if covered with gold, and asked, “Whence is this?”

 

He replied, “It is from the flaming light that gleams and glistens and touches the curtains of our tent as with gold when we are in conversation about conjugial love. For then the heat of our sun, which in its essence is love, bares itself, and tinges the light, which in its essence is wisdom, with its own golden color. And this is because in its origin conjugial love is the sport of wisdom and love; for a man is born that he may be wisdom; and a woman, that she may be the love of the man’s wisdom. Hence are the delights of that sport in conjugial love and from that love between us and our wives. We here for thousands of years have seen clearly that these delights, as to abundance, degree, and vigor, are superlative and eminent, according to the worship of the Lord Jehovih with us, from whom inflows the heavenly union, or the heavenly marriage, which is of love and wisdom.”

 

[8] When these words were said I saw a great light upon a hill in the midst among the tents, and asked, “Whence is that light?”

 

He replied, “It is from the holy place of the tabernacle of our worship.”

 

And I asked whether it was permitted to go to it. He said it was; and I went and saw a tabernacle, fashioned without and within exactly like the tabernacle that was built for the sons of Israel in the wilderness, the pattern of which was shown to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exod. 25:40; 26:30).

 

And I asked, “What is within the holy place from whence proceeds so great a light?”

 

He replied, “A tablet on which is the inscription, ‘The covenant between Jehovah and the heavens.’” He said no more.

 

[9] As now we were ready to depart I asked, “Did any of you while you lived in the natural world live with more than one wife?”

 

He answered, that he knew not one: “For we could not think of more. Those who had thought of more have told us that instantly the states of heavenly blessedness of their souls had retreated from the inmosts to the extremities of their bodies, even to the toenails, and with them at the same time the praiseworthy qualities of manhood. When this was perceived they were expelled from our countries.”

 

Having said this the man ran to his tent and returned with a pomegranate, in which there was an abundance of seeds of gold; and he gave it to me and I brought it away as a token that we had been with those who lived in the golden age. And then after a salutation of peace we departed and returned home.

 

76. The second relation:

 

The next day the same angel came to me and said, “Would you like me to conduct you and go with you to the people who lived in the silver age or period, that we may hear from them about the marriages of their time?” And he added that neither can they be approached except under the Lord’s auspices.

 

I was as before in the spirit and was accompanied by my guide. We came first to a hill on the border between the east and the south. And while we were on its sloping height he showed me a very extended region of country, and far away an eminence as if mountainous, between which and the hill on which we stood was a valley, and beyond that a plain and an acclivity gently rising from it.

 

We descended the hill to cross the valley and saw here and there on either side wood and stone carved in images of men, and of various beasts, birds, and fishes; and I asked the angel, “What are these? Are they idols?”

 

He replied, “Not at all. They are figures representative of various moral virtues and spiritual truths. With the peoples of this age there was a knowledge of correspondences; and as every man, beast, bird, and fish corresponds to some quality, therefore each sculptured form represents some aspect of a virtue or truth, and several together the virtue or truth itself in a general extended form. These in Egypt were called hieroglyphics.”

 

[2] We passed on through the valley, and as we entered upon the plain, lo, we saw horses and chariots, horses variously caparisoned and harnessed, and chariots of different forms; some carved like eagles, others like whales, others like stags with horns, others like unicorns; and finally some wagons also and stables around at the sides. But as we came near both horses and chariots disappeared and we saw in their stead men, by twos and twos, walking, conversing, and reasoning together. And the angel said to me, “The figures of horses, chariots, and stables, seen from a distance, were appearances of the rational intelligence of the men of that age. For horses by correspondence signify the understanding of truth; a chariot, its doctrine; and stables, instructions. You know that in this world all things appear according to correspondences.”

 

[3] But we passed by these and went up a long ascent, and at last saw a city which we entered. And in going through, we from the streets and public places took note of its houses. They were as many palaces built of marble. In front of them were steps of alabaster and at the sides of the steps columns of jasper. We also saw a temple of precious stone of the color of sapphire and lapis lazuli.

 

And the angel told me, “Their houses are of stone, because stones signify natural truths, and the precious stones spiritual truths; and all those that lived in the silver age had intelligence from spiritual truths and thence from natural truths. Silver has also a like signification.”

 

[4] As we wandered through the city we saw consorts here and there, pairs and pairs; and as they were husbands and wives we expected that we should be invited somewhere. While this was in mind, as we were passing along we were called back by two to their house; and we ascended and entered. And the angel speaking for me explained to them the reason of our coming to this heaven, that it was “for instruction respecting marriages among the ancients from whom you in this heaven are.”

 

He answered, “We were from the peoples in Asia; and the pursuit of our age was the pursuit of truths, by which we had intelligence. This was the pursuit of our soul and mind. But the pursuit of our bodily senses was the representations of truths in forms; and the knowledge of correspondences connected the sensuals of our bodies with the perceptions of our minds and gained us intelligence.”

 

[5] Hearing this the angel requested that they would tell us something about marriages among them.

 

The husband said, “There is a correspondence between spiritual marriage which is of truth with good, and natural marriage which is that of a man with one wife. And as we have studied correspondences we have seen that the church with its truths and goods cannot exist at all except with those who live in love truly conjugial with one wife. For the marriage of good and truth is the church in man. Therefore all of us who are here say that the husband is truth and the wife is its good; and that good cannot love other truth than its own, nor truth love in return other good than its own. If other were loved internal marriage which makes the church would vanish, and the marriage would become merely external, to which idolatry and not the church corresponds. For this reason we call marriage with one wife a sacrament, and if it should take place among us with more than one we should call it sacrilege.”

 

[6] When he had said this, we were introduced into an antechamber where were many works of art upon the walls, and small statues as if cast of silver; and I asked, “What are these?”

 

He said, “They are pictures and forms representative of many of the qualities, attributes, and delights which come of conjugial love. These represent the oneness of souls; these the conjunction of minds; these the concord of hearts; and those the delights springing from them.”

 

While we were examining them we saw what appeared to be a rainbow upon the wall, composed of three colors, crimson (purple),⁴ blue [hyacinthinum], and white; and we saw how the crimson passed over into the blue and tinged the white with dark blue, and that this color flowed back through the blue into the crimson and raised it as it were to a splendor of flaming red. And the husband said to me:

 

[7] “Do you understand these things?” I answered, “Instruct me.”

 

He replied, “The crimson, from its correspondence, signifies the conjugial love of the wife; the white, the intelligence of the husband; the blue, the beginning of conjugial love in the husband’s perception from the wife; and the dark blue with which the white was tinged, conjugial love then in the husband. That this color flowed back through the blue into the crimson and raised this as if to a splendor of flaming red, signifies the conjugial love of the husband flowing back to the wife. Such things are represented on these walls when from meditation on conjugial love—its mutual, successive, and simultaneous union—we look with intent eyes at the rainbows pictured there.”

 

To this I said, “These things are more than mystical at the present day; for they are appearances representative of the secrets of the conjugial love of one man with one wife.”

 

He replied, “They are so. But to us here they are not secrets and therefore are not mystical.”

 

[8] When he said this a chariot appeared a long way off drawn by two small white horses; seeing which the angel said, “That chariot is a signal to us that we should depart.”

 

Then as we descended the steps, our host gave us a cluster of white grapes with leaves from the vine attached; and lo, the leaves became silver. And we brought them away as a token that we had conversed with the peoples of the silver age.

 

77. The third relation:

 

The day after, the angel guide and companion came and said, “Make ready, and let us go to the heavenly inhabitants in the west, who are from the men that lived in the third or copper age. Their dwelling places are from the south through the west towards the north, but not into the north.”

 

I made ready and accompanied him and we entered their heaven at the southern side. There was a magnificent grove of palm and laurel trees. We passed through this grove and then just upon the western border we saw giants, of twice the stature of ordinary men; and they asked us, “Who let you in through the grove?”

 

The angel said, “The God of heaven.”

 

They responded, “We are guards to the ancient western heaven, but pass on.”

 

[2] We went on and from an eminence saw a mountain towering to the clouds; and between us on this height and the mountain were villas and villas, with interjacent gardens, groves, and fields. We passed by the villas even to the mountain and ascended. And lo, its summit was not a mountain top but a plain, with an extensive and spacious city upon it. And all its houses were of the woods of resinous trees and their roofs were of planks.

 

I asked, “Why are the houses here of wood?”

 

The angel replied, “Because wood signifies natural good, and the men of the third age of the earth were in that good; and as copper also signifies natural good, the age in which they lived was named by the ancients from copper. There are also sacred buildings here constructed of olive wood; and in the midst of them is a holy place where lies in an ark the Word given to the inhabitants of Asia before the Israelitish Word, the historical books of which are called ‘The Wars of Jehovah,’ and the prophetical books, ‘Enunciations,’⁵ both mentioned by Moses in Num. 21:14, 15, 27-30. This Word at the present day is lost in the countries of Asia and is preserved only in Great Tartary.”

 

The angel then conducted me to one of these buildings and we looked in, and saw the holy place in the midst of it, all in most brilliant white light. And the angel said, “This light is from that ancient Asiatic Word, for all Divine truth shines in the heavens.”

 

[3] Going out of the building we heard that it had been announced in the city that two strangers were there, and that they ought to be examined as to whence they came, and what is their business here. And an attendant of the court came up to us and ordered us before the judges.

 

To the question whence we came and what was our business here we answered, “We came through the grove of palm trees, and also passed the abodes of the giants who are the guardsmen of your heaven, and afterwards through the region of villas, from which you may conclude that it is not of ourselves but of the God of heaven that we are come hither. And our business for which we came is that we may be informed respecting your marriages, whether they are monogamic or polygamic.”

 

They responded, “What are polygamic marriages? Are they not promiscuous?”

 

[4] And then the assembled judges commissioned an intelligent man to inform us in relation to this matter in his own house. And at his house he set his wife by his side and spoke to us in these words:

 

“From the primeval or most ancient people who were in love truly conjugial, and hence were before others in the virtue and potency of that love in the world, and are now in a most blessed state in their heaven, which is in the east, we have preserved among us precepts respecting marriages. We are their descendants, and they as fathers gave to us as sons canons of life, among which was this respecting marriages: ‘Sons, if you would love God and the neighbor, and if you would be wise and be happy to eternity, we counsel you to live in single marriage.

 

“`If you depart from this precept every heavenly love will flee from you, and with it internal wisdom, and you will be destroyed.’ To this precept of our fathers we as sons have been obedient. And we perceive the truth of it, which is, that insofar as any man loves only one married partner he becomes heavenly and internal; and that insofar as any man does not love one only married partner he becomes natural and external, and does not love at all, except himself and the imaginations of his own mind, and is foolish and insane. It is from this that we in this heaven are all in single marriage.

 

[5] “And because we are so the boundaries of our heaven are all guarded against polygamists, adulterers, and fornicators [scortatores]. If polygamists enter they are cast out into the darkness of the north; if adulterers, they are cast out into the fires of the west; and if whoremongers, they are cast out into the fatuous lights of the south.”

 

On hearing this I asked what he meant by the darkness of the north, the fires of the west, and the fatuous lights of the south.

 

He answered, “The darkness of the north is dullness of mind and ignorance of truth; the fires of the west are the loves of evil; and the fatuous lights of the south are falsifications of truth. These are spiritual promiscuity.”

 

[6] He then said, “Follow me to our treasure house.”

 

And we followed, and he showed us the writings of the most ancient peoples. They were on tablets of wood and of stone; and after that upon polished tablets of wood; and the second age inscribed their writings on parchments. And he brought a parchment on which the canons of the first people had been copied from the tables of stone, among which was the precept concerning marriages.

 

[7] Having seen these and other memorable things of very early antiquity the angel said, “It is now time for us to depart.”

 

Our host then went out into the garden and plucked several little branchlets from a tree and tied them in a bunch and gave them to us, saying, “These branchlets are from a tree native or peculiar to our heaven, the juice of which has a fragrance from balsam.”

 

We brought the bunch away with us, and descended by a way nearly eastward which was not guarded. And lo, the branchlets were turned to shining brass and the very tips of them to gold, as a token that we have been with the people of the third age, which is named from copper or brass.

 

78. The fourth relation:

 

After two days the angel spoke to me again, saying, “Let us complete the period of the ages. There still remains the last stage which is named from iron. The people of that age dwell in the north, on the westward side towards the interior, or to the side. These are all from the ancient inhabitants of Asia who had the ancient Word, and whose worship was from that; of a time, therefore, prior to the advent of our Lord into the world. This is evident from the writings of the ancients wherein those times were so named. The same ages are meant by the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar, the head of which was of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and the thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet of iron and also of clay (Dan. 2:32-33).

 

[2] These things the angel told me on the way, which was shortened and speeded by changes of state induced upon our minds according to the genius of the inhabitants of the countries through which we passed; for spaces and therefore distances in the spiritual world are appearances, according to the states of minds. When we lifted up our eyes, behold, we were in a forest consisting of beeches, chestnut trees, and oaks; and as we looked about there we saw bears on the right hand and leopards on the left.

 

As I was wondering at this the angel said, “These are not bears and leopards but men, who guard the inhabitants of the north. With their nostrils they scent the spheres of life of them that pass by, and rush upon those that are spiritual; for the inhabitants are natural. They that only read the Word and draw nothing of doctrine from it appear at a distance like bears, and those who confirm falsities from it appear as leopards.” But seeing us they turned away and we passed on.

 

[3] After the forest there appeared thickets; and beyond that grassy plains divided into beds surrounded by box. Then the country descended gently into a valley wherein were cities and cities. Some of these we passed; but into one great city we entered. Its streets were irregular; the houses likewise. They were built of brick with interlacing timbers and plastered. In the public places were temples of hewn limestone, the substructure of which was below the ground and the superstructure above. Into one of these we descended by three steps; and round about against the walls we saw idols in various forms and a crowd upon their knees adoring them. In the midst was an assemblage out of which rose the head of the tutelary god of the city. As we were going out the angel told me that among the ancients who lived in the silver age, spoken of above, idols were representative images of spiritual truths and moral virtues; and that when the knowledge of correspondences faded from memory, and became extinct, these images became first objects of worship, and afterwards were adored as gods. Hence idolatry arose.

 

[4] When we were outside the temple we observed the people and their dress. They had faces of a bluish gray color, like steel; and they were dressed like clowns, with skirts around their hips hanging from a tunic fitting tightly to the chest, and on their heads they had sailors’ cocked hats.

 

But the angel said, “Enough of this. Let us be informed respecting the marriages of the peoples of this age.”

 

And we entered the house of one of the magnates, on whose head was a cap of turret shape. He received us benignantly, and said, “Walk in, and let us converse together.”

 

We passed into the vestibule, and sat there. And I asked him about the marriages of this city and country. He said, “We do not live with one wife, but some with two and three, and some with more; for the reason that we delight in variety, and in obedience and honor as of majesty. These we receive from our wives when there are several. With only one there would not be the pleasure from variety but tedium from sameness; nor the flattery that comes from obedience but annoyance from equality; nor would there be the enjoyment of ruling, and thence of honor, but disquiet from the contention about superiority. And what is woman? Was she not born subject to the will of man? And to serve and not to rule? Therefore every husband here has as it were royal majesty in his own house. And as this is of our love it is also the blessedness of our life.”

 

[5] “But,” I asked, “where then is conjugial love, which of two souls makes one, and conjoins minds, and blesses man? That love cannot be divided; if divided it becomes a burning heat which effervesces and passes away.”

 

He replied to this, “I do not understand what you say. What else blesses man but the emulation of wives for the honor of precedence with their husband?”

 

Saying this the man went into the women’s apartment, opening two doors; but there came out from it a lustful effluvium which stank like mire. It was from polygamic love which is connubial and at the same time promiscuous. I therefore got up and shut the doors.

 

[6] Afterwards I said, “How can you on this earth subsist when you have nothing of love truly conjugial and when you also worship idols?”

 

He responded, “As to connubial love we are so ardently jealous for our wives that we permit no one to enter our houses farther than the vestibule; and as we have jealousy we also have love. As to idols we do not worship them; but we cannot think of the God of the universe except by means of images presented to our eyes. For we cannot raise our thoughts above the sensuals of the body, and can have no thought of God higher than the visible things thereof.”

 

Then again I asked, “Are not your idols of different forms? How can these present the vision of one God?”

 

To this he answered, “That is a mystery to us. Something of the worship of God is latent in each form.”

 

I said, “You are merely sensual corporeal men. You have not a love of God nor a love of a married partner that derives anything from the spiritual, and these loves together make man, and from sensual make him heavenly.”

 

[7] As I was saying this there appeared as it were lightning through the portal; and I asked “What is this?”

 

He said, “Such lightning is a sign to us that there will come an ancient one from the east who will teach us about God, and that he is one, the only omnipotent, who is the first and the last. And he admonishes us not to worship idols, but to look to them only as images representative of the powers going forth from the one God, which together form the worship of him. This ancient one is our angel whom we revere and to whom we hearken. He comes to us and raises us up when we fall into obscure worship of God from fantasy respecting the images.”

 

[8] Having heard these things we left the house and the city. And on our way we drew conclusions from what we had seen in the heavens, respecting the circuit and the progression of conjugial love. Of the circuit, that it passed from the east into the south, thence into the west, and from thence into the north. Of its progression, that it decreased according to its circular course; that is to say, that in the east it was celestial, in the south it was spiritual, in the west natural, and in the north sensual; and also that it declined in like degree with the love and the worship of God. From which comes the conclusion that in the first age this love was as gold, in the second as silver, and in the third as brass, in the fourth as iron, and that finally it ceased.

 

Then my angel guide and companion said, “And yet I am fed with the hope that this love will be revived again by the God of heaven, who is the Lord; for it can be revived.”

 

79. The fifth relation:

 

The former angel who had been my guide and companion to the ancient peoples that lived in the four ages, the golden, silver, copper, and iron, came to me again and said, “Do you wish to see the age that followed those ancient ones, what was its nature and what it still is? Follow me, then, and you shall see. They are those of whom Daniel prophesied thus:

 

A kingdom shall arise after those four wherein iron shall be mixed with miry clay; they shall mingle themselves by the seed of man, but they shall not cleave the one to the other, even as iron is not commingled with clay (Dan. 2:41-43).”

 

And he added, “‘The seed of man by which the iron shall be mixed with clay and yet they shall not cohere,’ means the truth of the Word falsified.”

 

[2] These things said, I followed him, and on the way he told me that these people dwell on the border between the south and the west, but a great distance behind those that lived in the four former ages and also at a profounder depth.

 

We proceeded by the south to a region bordering upon the west and passed through a dreadful forest. For in it there were stagnant pools, out of which crocodiles raised their heads and opened upon us their gaping jaws set with teeth; and between the pools were terrible dogs, some three-headed like cerberus, some two-headed; and all glared at us as we passed with a horrible ravenous look and ferocious eyes. We entered the western part of this region and saw dragons and leopards, such as are described in Rev. 12:3 and 13:2.

 

[3] And the angel said to me, “All these wild beasts that we have seen are not beasts but corresponding and thus representative forms of the lusts in which the people are whom we are to visit. The lusts themselves are represented by those horrible dogs; their evil cunning and slyness by the crocodiles; their falsities and depraved leaning to the things of their worship by the dragons and leopards.

 

But the inhabitants represented do not dwell next to the forest, but behind a great desert that intervenes, that they be kept entirely separate and apart from the peoples of the preceding ages. They are also totally alien and different from them. They have indeed heads above their breasts, and breasts above their loins, and loins above their feet, like the primeval men; but there is nothing of gold in their heads, or silver in their breasts, nor of brass in their loins, nay, nor even anything of pure iron in their feet; but in their heads is iron mixed with clay; in their breasts, both of these mixed with brass; in their loins, both also mixed with silver; and in their feet these are mixed with gold. By this inversion they have been changed from men into graven images of men, in whom nothing within is coherent; for that which was highest has become lowest, so that what was the head has become the heel, and vice versa. They appear to us from heaven like acrobats who, with the body upside down, lie upon their elbows and move forward; or like beasts that lie upon their backs, lift up their feet, and from the head which they bury in the earth look up to heaven.”

 

[4] We passed through the forest and entered the desert which was not less terrible. It consisted of heaps of stones with gulches between, out of which hydras and vipers stealthily crept, and fiery serpents flew forth. The whole desert was a continuous descent, and we went down the long decline and came at length into a valley where dwell the inhabitants of that region and age.

 

There were huts here and there which were seen to come together at length and to be connected in the form of a city. We entered it, and lo, the houses were constructed of scorched branches of trees cemented with mud. The roofs were covered with black slates. The streets were irregular, all narrow at their beginnings, but grew wider as they went on and were broad at the ends where there were public places. Thus there were as many public places as streets.

 

As we entered the city it became dark, because heaven was not visible. We therefore looked up and light was given us and we saw. And then we asked those whom we met, “Can you see when heaven is not visible above you?”

 

They replied, “What do you ask? We see clearly. We walk about in full light.”

 

Hearing this, the angel said to me, “Darkness to them is light and light darkness, just as it is with the birds of night, for they look downwards and not upwards.”

 

[5] We went into the cabins here and there, and in everyone we saw a man with his woman. And we asked whether all here live in their own house with only one wife.

 

They answered with a hissing, “What, with only one wife? Why not ask whether we live with only one harlot? What is a wife but a harlot? By our laws it is not permissible to fornicate with more than one woman. And yet with more it is not dishonorable or disgraceful among us, but it must be out of the house. We glory in this among ourselves. In this way we rejoice in license and in the pleasure of it more than polygamists. Why is a plurality of wives denied to us, and yet has been conceded, and is at this day conceded, to the whole world round about us? What is life with one woman alone but captivity and imprisonment? But here we break down the barrier of this prison and deliver and free ourselves from this servitude. Who is angry with a captive that sets himself free when he can?”

 

[6] To this we answered, “You talk, friend, as if you were without religion. Who that is imbued with any reason does not know that adulteries are profane and infernal? And that marriages are holy and heavenly? Are not adulteries with the devils in hell, and marriages with the angels in heaven? Have you read the sixth commandment of the Decalogue? And in Paul,⁶ that adulterers can in no wise enter into heaven?”

 

Our host laughed heartily at this and looked upon me as a simpleton and almost as a madman. At that moment a messenger came running from the chief man of the city and said, “Bring the two strangers into the forum. And if they will not come, drag them there. We have seen them in a shade of light. They came in secretly. They are spies.”

 

And the angel said to me, “The reason we were seen in the shade was that the light of heaven in which we were is shade to them, and the shade of hell to them is light. And this is so because they regard nothing as sin, not even adultery, and therefore see falsity altogether as truth. And falsity gives out light before the satans in hell; and truth darkens their eyes like the shade of night.”

 

[7] We said to the messenger, “We need not be urged, still less dragged to the forum, but will go with you of our own accord.”

 

And we went. And lo, a great crowd was there out of which some lawyers came and whispered in our ears, “Have a care for yourselves that you do not say anything against religion, or the form of government, or against good manners.”

 

We replied, “No, but we shall speak for them and according to them.”

 

And we inquired, “What is your religion regarding marriages?”

 

At this the crowd murmured, and said, “What have you to do with marriages here? Marriages are marriages.”

 

And we asked, again, “What is your religion respecting promiscuity?”

 

At this also the crowd murmured, saying, “What have you to do here with promiscuity? Promiscuity is promiscuity. Let him that is without guilt cast the first stone.”

 

And the third time we asked, “Does your religion teach concerning marriages that they are holy and heavenly, and concerning adulteries that they are profane and infernal?”

 

At this many in the crowd laughed aloud, and mocked and jeered, saying, “Ask of our priests about matters of religion, and not of us. We acquiesce entirely in their declarations; for nothing of religion falls within the judgment of the understanding. Have you not heard that the understanding is insane as to the mysteries of which religion entirely consists? And what have actions to do with religion? Are not the mutterings from a devout heart about expiation, satisfaction, and imputation the things that make souls blessed and not works?”

 

[8] Then some of the so-called wise of the city came to us and said, “Go away from here. The crowd is excited. It will shortly become riotous. We will talk with you about this matter alone. There is a walk behind the court; let us withdraw to that. Come with us.”

 

And we followed. And then they asked us whence we came, and what was our business here?

 

We said, “That we may be instructed respecting marriages; whether with you as with the ancients who lived in the golden, silver, and copper ages they are sacred or not.”

 

They replied, “What! Sacred! Are they not doings of the flesh, and of the night?”

 

And we answered, “Are they not also deeds of the spirit? And what the flesh does from the spirit, is it not spiritual? And all that the spirit does it does from the marriage of good and truth. Is not this a spiritual marriage that enters into the natural marriage which is of husband and wife?”

 

To this the so-called wise men responded, “You refine and exalt this thing too much. You climb above things rational to spiritual. Who can begin there, descend thence, and thus form a judgment about anything?” To this they added in derision, “Perhaps you have the pinions of an eagle and can fly into the uppermost region of heaven and see such things. We cannot.”

 

[9] We then asked them to tell us from the height or region in which the winged ideas of their minds fly, whether they know or can know that there is a conjugial love of one man with one wife, into which are brought together all the blessings, satisfactions, joys, amenities, and pleasures of heaven, and that this love is from the Lord, according to the reception of good and truth from him, that is, according to the state of the church?

 

Hearing this they turned away and said, “These men are mad. They enter with their judgment into the ether, and conjecturing vain things scatter nuts.”⁷

 

[10] Then they turned to us and replied, “We will make a direct answer to your windy conjectures and dreams.” And they said, “What has conjugial love in common with religion and with inspiration from God? Has not every man that love according to the state of his potency? And is it not as much with those out of the church as with those that are within it? Equally with gentiles as with Christians? Nay, equally with the impious as with the pious? And is not the strength of that love with everyone either from his heredity, or his bodily health, or from temperance of life, or the warmth of the climate? And can it not also be strengthened and stimulated by medicines? Is it not similar as with beasts, especially birds, which love in pairs? Is not that love carnal? What has a thing that is carnal in common with the spiritual state of the church? Does the love with a wife, as to its last effect, differ in the least, as to that effect, from love with a harlot? Is not the lust similar, and the delight similar? It is therefore harmful to deduce the origin of conjugial love from the holy things of the church.”

 

On hearing this we said to them, “You reason from the frenzy of lasciviousness and not from conjugial love. You know not at all what conjugial love is because it is cold with you. We are convinced by what you have said that you are from the age that is called ‘from iron and clay,’ and which consists of it, which do not cohere according to the prophecy in Daniel (2:43), for you make conjugial love and promiscuous love to be one. Do these cohere more than iron and clay? You are believed to be and are called wise; but you are anything but wise.”

 

Inflamed with anger at these words they shouted and called the crowd together to cast us out. But then by power given us by the Lord we stretched forth the hand, and lo, fiery serpents, vipers, and hydras, and dragons also, appeared from the desert; and rushed in and filled the city from which the inhabitants fled in terror.

 

And the angel told me, “In this region newcomers from the earth arrive daily, and by turns the former inhabitants are sent away and are cast down into gulfs at the west, which at a distance appear as lakes of fire and brimstone. All these are both spiritual and natural adulterers.”

 

80. The sixth relation:

 

As these words were said, I was looking to the extreme west, and behold, there appeared as it were lakes of fire and brimstone. And I asked the angel, “Why have the hells there such an appearance?”

 

He answered, “They appear as lakes from their falsifications of truth; because water in the spiritual sense is truth. And there appears the likeness of fire round about them and in them, from their love of evil; and of brimstone from their love of the false. These three, the lake, the fire, and the brimstone, are appearances, because they are the correspondences of the evil loves in which they are. All these are shut up in eternal workhouses, where they labor for their food, their clothing, and their bed. And when they do evil they are severely and miserably punished.”

 

[2] Again I asked the angel, “Why did you say that those who are there are spiritual and natural adulterers? Why not say evil doers and impious?”

 

He replied, “Because all who regard adulteries as nothing, that is, who believe from confirmation that they are not sins, and so do them of set purpose, are evil doers and impious in their heart. For the human conjugial and religion go together at every step. Every advance and every step from religion and into religion is also an advance and step from the conjugial and into the conjugial that belongs to and is peculiar to the Christian man.”

 

To the question, “What is this conjugial?” he said, “It is the desire of living with one only wife. And the Christian man has this desire according to his religion.”

 

[3] Afterwards I was grieved in spirit that marriages, which in the ancient ages were most holy, are so wretchedly changed into adulteries.

 

And the angel said, “It is the same with religion at the present day; for the Lord says:

 

In the consummation of the age there shall be the abomination of desolation foretold by Daniel. And there shall be great affliction, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world (Matt. 24:15, 21).

 

“The abomination of desolation” signifies the falsification and deprivation of all truth; “affliction” signifies the state of the church infested by evils and falsities; and “the consummation of the age” of which these things are predicated signifies the last time or end of the church. The end is now; because there is no truth left that is not falsified; and falsification of truth is spiritual promiscuity, which acts as one with natural promiscuity, for they cohere.”

 

81. As we were conversing and grieving about these things, a burst of light suddenly appeared, powerfully affecting my eyes. Wherefore I looked up, and lo, the whole heaven above us appeared luminous, and from east to west in long succession a glorification was heard.

 

And the angel said to me, “This glorification is a glorification of the Lord on account of his advent, which is being celebrated by the angels of the eastern and the western heavens.”

 

From the southern and the northern heavens only a gentle murmur was heard.

 

As the angel understood it all he explained to me first that the glorifications and celebrations of the Lord are made out of the Word, because they then are made from the Lord; for he is the Word, that is, the very Divine truth therein.

 

And he said, “Now, in particular they are glorifying and celebrating the Lord with these words spoken by Daniel the prophet:

 

Thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves by the seed of man, but they shall not cohere. But in those days the God of the heavens shall make to arise a kingdom that in the ages shall not be destroyed. It shall break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms, but itself shall stand for the ages (Dan. 2:43, 44).”

 

[2] After this I heard as it were the voice of song again, and more deeply in the east I saw a glittering light more splendid than the former. And I asked the angel, “What are they glorifying there?”

 

He said, “With these words in Daniel:

 

I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven came one like unto the son of man, and unto him was given dominion and a kingdom; and all peoples and nations shall worship him. His dominion is the dominion of an age that shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed (Dan. 8:13-14).

 

Besides these words they celebrate the Lord also from the words in Revelation:

 

To Jesus Christ be glory and strength. Behold he cometh with the clouds. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last; who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. I, John, heard this from the son of man out of the midst of the seven candlesticks (Rev. 1:5-9, 10-13; 22:13; and from Matt. 24:30-31).

 

[3] I looked again towards the eastern heaven and a light shone forth on the right, and this light entered the southern expanse.

 

And I heard a sweet sound, and asked the angel, “What of the Lord are they glorifying there?”

 

He said, “These words in Revelation:

 

I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, descending from God out of heaven prepared as a bride for her husband. And the angel spoke with me and said, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit upon a mountain, great and high, and showed me the city, the holy Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1-2, 9-10).

 

And with these words:

 

I, Jesus, am the bright and morning star. And the spirit and the bride say, Come. He said, Yea, I come quickly. Amen, yea, come, Lord Jesus (Rev. 22:16-17, 20).

 

[4] After these and many others there was heard one common glorification from the east to the west of heaven, and also from the south to the north. And I asked the angel, “What is it now?”

 

He said, “They are these words from the prophets:

 

Let all flesh know that I, Jehovah, am thy savior and thy redeemer (Isa. 49:26).

 

Thus saith Jehovah, the king of Israel, and thy redeemer, Jehovah of hosts, I am the first and the last, and besides me there is no God (Isa. 44:6).

 

It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God, whom we have waited for, that he should save us. This is Jehovah, whom we have waited for (Isa. 25:9).

 

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah. Behold, the Lord Jehovih shall come in strength. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd (Isa. 40:3, 5, 10, 11).

 

Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. His name shall be Wonderful, Counselor, God, Hero, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6).

 

Behold the days come and I will raise unto David a just branch, who shall reign king. And this is his name, Jehovah our justice (Jer. 23:5-6; 33:15-16).

 

Jehovah Zebaoth is his name; and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be called (Isa. 54:5).

 

In that day Jehovah shall be for a king over all the earth, in that day there shall be one Jehovah, and his name one (Zech. 14:8, 9).

 

[5] On hearing and understanding these glorifications my heart exulted, and in joy I went home. And there, from the state of the spirit, I returned into that of the body; in which state I wrote down the things that were seen and heard. To which I now add this: That conjugial love will be raised up anew by the Lord after his advent, such as it was with the ancients. For that love is of the Lord alone, and is with those who are made spiritual by him through the Word.

 

82. After this a man from the northern quarter ran up to me in a passion, regarded me with a threatening look, and addressing me in an excited tone said, “Are you the man that wishes to seduce the world by establishing a new church, which you understand by the ‘new Jerusalem’ that is to descend out of heaven from God? And by teaching that the Lord will grant to those who embrace the doctrinals of that church a love truly conjugial, the delights and felicity of which you exalt even to heaven? Is not this an invention? And do you not adduce this as an enticement and allurement to the acceptance of your novelties? But tell me in brief what are these doctrinals of the new church. And I will see whether they agree or disagree.”

 

I replied, “The doctrinals of the church which is meant by the ‘new Jerusalem’ are these: (1) That there is one God, in whom is the Divine trinity, and that he is the Lord Jesus Christ. (2) That saving faith is to believe in him. (3) That evils must be shunned as sins, because they are of the devil, and from the devil. (4) That goods must be done, because they are of God, and from God. (5) That they are to be done by man as of himself; yet that he must believe they are from the Lord with man, and through him.”

 

[2] On hearing these, for a few moments his fury abated. But after some deliberation he again looked at me with a fierce aspect and said, “Are these five precepts doctrinals of the faith and charity of the new church?”

 

I answered, “They are.”

 

And then he asked me, harshly, “How can you prove the first, ‘That there is one God, in whom is the Divine trinity, and that he is the Lord Jesus Christ?’”

 

I said, “I prove it thus: Is not God one and indivisible? Is there not a trinity? If God is one and indivisible, is he not one person? If one person, is not the trinity in that person? That he is the Lord Jesus Christ, I prove by these teachings; that:

 

He was conceived of God the Father (Luke 1:34, 36);

 

so that as to the soul he is God, and hence, as he himself says:

 

The Father and he are one (John 10:30).

 

That he is in the Father and the Father in him (John 14:10, 11).

 

That he that seeth him and knoweth him, seeth and knoweth the Father (John 14:7, 9).

 

That no one seeth and knoweth the Father but he who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18).

 

That all things of the Father are his (John 3:35; 16:15).

 

That he is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no man cometh to the Father but by him (John 14:6).

 

Thus he is from him because he is in him; and according to the teaching of Paul, that:

 

In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9).

 

And besides we are taught that:

 

He hath power over all flesh (John 17:2);

 

He hath all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18),

 

from which it follows that he is the God of heaven and earth.”

 

[2] He then asked me, “How do you prove the second, ‘That saving faith is to believe in him’?”

 

I replied, “I prove it by these words of the Lord himself:

 

This is the will of the Father, that all who believe in the son shall have everlasting life (John 6:40).

 

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

 

He that believeth in the son hath everlasting life; but he that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the anger of God abideth on him (John 3:36).”

 

[4] Then he said, “Prove the third also, and the following ones.”

 

I answered, “What need is there to prove that ‘evils ought to be shunned because they are of the devil and from the devil’? And that ‘goods ought to be done because they are of God and from God’? And that ‘these things ought to be done by man as if of himself, yet that he ought to believe that they are done from the Lord with him and through him’? That these three doctrines are true the whole of the sacred Scripture confirms from beginning to end. What else does it contain in summary, but admonition to shun evils and do goods, and to believe in the Lord God? And moreover, without these three there is no religion. Is not religion a matter of life? And what is life but the shunning of evils and doing goods? And how can a man do these and believe these except as of himself? Therefore if you take these doctrines away from the church you take from it the sacred Scriptures, and you also take away religion from it, which being removed from the church, the church is not a church.”

 

On hearing these things the man withdrew and pondered; and yet he went away in indignation.

 

 

 

 

(5)

 

On the Origin of Conjugial Love from the Marriage of Good and Truth

 

 

83. There are internal and external origins of conjugial love; and the internal are many and likewise the external. But the inmost or universal origin of all is one. That this is the marriage of good and truth is to be shown in what now follows. That no one has hitherto deduced the origin of that love from thence is because it has been unknown that there is any union between good and truth. And the reason why this has been unknown is that good does not, like truth, appear in the light of the understanding; and so knowledge of it conceals itself, and it has eluded investigation. And as from this cause good is among the things unknown, no one could suspect any marriage between it and truth. Nay, more, to the sight of the natural rational mind, good appears a thing so distant from truth as to have no conjunction with it.

 

That this is so can be seen from common speech when they are mentioned. As when one says “This is good” there is no thought about truth; and when one says “This is true” there is no thought of good. By many therefore at this day it is believed that truth is absolutely other than good, and good than truth. And many also believe that a man is intelligent and wise, and thus is a man, according to the truths that he thinks, speaks, writes, and believes, and not at the same time according to goods. But it shall now be explained that there is not a good without truth nor a truth without good; consequently, that there is an eternal marriage between them; and that this marriage is the origin of conjugial love. It shall be done in this order:

 

(1) That good and truth are the universals of creation, and hence they are in all created things; but that they are in created subjects according to the form of each.

 

(2) That there is no solitary good nor solitary truth but that everywhere they are conjoined.

 

(3) That there is the truth of good and the good of truth from that, or the truth from good and good from that truth; and that in these two there is inherent from creation an inclination to conjoin themselves into one.

 

(4) That in the subjects of the animal kingdom the truth of good, or truth from good, is the masculine; and that the good of truth from that, or good from that truth, is the feminine.

 

(5) That from the influx of the marriage of good and truth from the Lord, there is the love of the sex, and there is conjugial love.

 

(6) That the love of the sex is of the external or natural man and hence it is common to all animals.

 

(7) But that conjugial love is of the internal or spiritual man and is therefore peculiar to man.

 

(8) That with man conjugial love is within the love of the sex, as a gem in its matrix.

 

(9) That the love of the sex with man is not the origin of conjugial love but is its first; thus it is as the external natural in which the internal spiritual is implanted.

 

(10) That while conjugial love is being implanted the love of the sex inverts itself and becomes the chaste love of the sex.

 

(11) That the male and the female were created to be the very form of the marriage of good and truth.

 

(12) That two married partners are that form in their inmosts, and hence in the things that follow therefrom, according as the interiors of their mind are opened.

 

84. (1) That good and truth are the general concepts of creation, and hence they are in all created things; but that they are in created subjects according to the form of each. Good and truth are the general concepts of creation because these two are in the Lord God the creator, yea, are himself; for he is Divine good itself and Divine truth itself. But this will enter more clearly into the perception of the understanding and so into the idea of the thought if for good we say love, and for truth, wisdom; then, that in the Lord God the creator are Divine love and Divine wisdom, and that these are himself; that is, that he is love itself and wisdom itself. For these two are the same with good and truth. The reason is that good is of love and truth is of wisdom; for love consists of goods and wisdom of truths. As these two and those two are the same, in the following pages they will be called sometimes the one way and sometimes the other way, and the same will be meant by either. This preliminary explanation is made here lest hereafter where the terms are used the understanding should conceive of a difference.

 

85. Since then the Lord God the creator is love itself and wisdom itself, and the universe was created by him, which is therefore as a work proceeding from him, it cannot be but that in each and all things created there is something of good and of truth from him. For what is done and goes forth from anyone bears a likeness of him. And reason can also see that it is so, from the order in which each and all things were created in the universe, which is that one thing is for another and that therefore one depends upon another, like the links of a chain. For they are all for the sake of the human race, to the end that from this there may be an angelic heaven, through which the creation returns to the creator himself from whom it came. Hence there is a conjunction of the created universe with its creator, and through conjunction perpetual conservation. It is on this account that good and truth are said to be the general concepts of creation. That it is so is plain to everyone who reflects upon the matter from reason. He sees what relates to good and what relates to truth in every created thing.

 

86. Good and truth in created subjects are according to the form of each, because every subject receives influx according to its form. The conservation of the whole is nothing else than the perpetual influx of Divine good and Divine truth into the forms created by them; for thus subsistence or conservation is perpetual existence or creation. That every subject receives influx according to its form may be illustrated by various phenomena: As by the influx of heat and light from the sun into all kinds of plants. Each one of these receives it according to its form: every tree according to its form; every shrub according to its form; every herb, and every grass according to its form. The influx is alike into all, but the reception, because it is according to the form, causes that each species continues to be the same species. The same may be illustrated by the influx into all kinds of animals according to the form of each. That influx is according to the form of each thing even a rustic may see if he attends to the various instruments of sound, pipes, flutes, cornets, trumpets, and organs, in the fact that these all sound from a similar breath or inflowing of the air, according to their forms.

 

87. (2) That there is no solitary good nor solitary truth but that everywhere they are conjoined. He who would acquire an idea of good, from any sense, cannot obtain it unless something be added which presents and manifests it. Without this, good is a nameless entity. That by which it is presented and manifested relates to truth. Say good only, and not at the same time speak of this or that thing with which it is, or define it abstractly and apart from any adjunct connected with it, and you will see that it is not anything; but that with its adjunct it is something. And if you bring the point of reason to bear upon it you will perceive that good without any adjunct is a notion of no predication, and which therefore has no relation, no affection, no state, in a word no quality. It is similar with truth if it is heard without connection. Refined reason can see that its connection has reference to good.

 

[2] But as goods are innumerable, and as each ascends to its greatest and descends to its least as by the steps of a ladder; and as it also varies its name according to its progression and according to its quality, it is difficult for any but the wise to see the relation of good and truth to objects, and their conjunction in them. Yet it is plain from common perception that there is no good without truth nor truth without good, if only it be first acknowledged that each and all things in the universe have a relation to good and truth, as has been shown in the preceding section (n. 84-85).

 

[3] That there is no solitary good nor solitary truth may be illustrated and at the same time confirmed by various considerations: As that there is no essence without form and no form without an essence; and good is the essence or being of a thing, and truth is that by which the essence is formed and the being comes into existence. Again, in man there is will and understanding; good is of the will and truth is of the understanding. But the will does nothing alone; it acts only through the understanding. Nor does the understanding do anything alone but acts from the will. Again, there are in man two fountains of the life of the body, the heart and the lungs.

 

The heart cannot produce any sensitive and motory life without the respiration of the lungs; nor can the lungs without the heart. The heart has relation to good and the respiration of the lungs to truth. There is also a correspondence. It is similar with respect to each and all things of the mind, and to each and all things of the body with man.

 

[4] But there is no leisure to offer further confirmations here. These truths may, however, be seen more fully confirmed in Divine Providence, n. 3-26, where they are explained in this order: (a) That the universe, with every single created thing of it, is from Divine love by Divine wisdom, or what is the same from Divine good by Divine truth. (b) That Divine good and Divine truth proceed from the Lord as one. (c) That this one, in a certain image, is in every created thing. (d) That good is not good except as it is united with truth; and that truth is not truth except as it is united with good. (e) That the Lord does not suffer that anything shall be divided; therefore a man must either be in good and at the same time in truth, or he must be in evil and at the same time in falsity. Besides many other confirmations.

 

88. (3) That there is the truth of good and the good of truth from that, or the truth from good and good from that truth; and that in these two there is inherent from creation an inclination to conjoin themselves into one. It is necessary that some distinct idea should be acquired respecting these because a knowledge of the essential origin of conjugial love depends upon it. For, as explained below, the truth of good or truth from good is the masculine, and the good of truth or good from that truth is the feminine. But this can be more distinctly comprehended if for good we say love, and for truth, wisdom; for it has been seen above that they are one and the same (n. 84). Wisdom cannot exist with man except by the love of growing wise. If this love be taken away, a man is entirely incapable of becoming wise. Wisdom from this love is meant by the truth of good, or truth from good. But when from that love, man has acquired wisdom and loves that wisdom in himself, or loves himself on account of it, then he forms a love which is the love of wisdom; and this is meant by the good of truth, or good from that truth.

 

[2] There are, then, two loves in man [vir], of which one, which is prior, is the love of becoming wise, and the other, which comes after, is the love of wisdom. But this love if it remains in the man is an evil love and is called conceit, or love of his own intelligence. It will be established in the following pages that it was provided by creation that this love should be taken from the man, that it might not destroy him, and transcribed into the woman, so that it may become conjugial love which restores him to integrity. Something regarding these two loves and the transcription of the latter into the woman may be seen above, n. 32-33; and in the preliminaries, n.

 

20. If, therefore, for love, good is understood, and for wisdom truth, it is evident from what has been said before and now, that there is the truth of good, or truth from good, and from that the good of truth, or good from that truth.

 

89. That there is inherent in these two from creation an inclination to conjoin themselves into one is because the one is formed from the other; wisdom, from the love of growing wise, or truth from good; and the love of wisdom from that wisdom, or the good of truth from that truth. It can be seen from this formation that there is a mutual inclination to reunite and to conjoin themselves into one. But this reunion takes place with men who are in genuine wisdom, and with women who are in the love of that wisdom in the husband, who are thus in love truly conjugial. But the wisdom which should be with the man and be loved by the wife is also to be spoken of hereafter.

 

90. (4) That in the subjects of the animal kingdom the truth of good, or truth from good, is the masculine; and that the good of truth from that, or good from that truth, is the feminine. It has been shown above (n. 84-86) that a perpetual union of love and wisdom, or the marriage of good and truth, flows in from God, the creator and sustainer of the universe; and that created subjects receive this, each according to its form. But that from this marriage, or this union, the male receives the truth of wisdom, and to this the good of love is conjoined by the Lord according to reception; and that this reception takes place in the understanding; and that from this the male is born to become intellectual These points can be seen by reason’s own light from various aspects of the male, especially from his affection, his interest, his manners, and from his form.

 

[2] They can be seen from the affection of the male, in that it is an affection of knowing, of understanding, and becoming wise; the affection of knowing in boyhood; the affection of understanding in youth and early manhood; and the affection of becoming wise from manhood to old age. From which it is plain that his nature or innate disposition inclines to the formation of the understanding, consequently that he is born to become intellectual. But as this cannot be effected except from love, therefore the Lord adjoins love to him according to reception, that is, according to the spirit with which he wills to become wise.

 

[3] They can be seen from his interest, which is to such things as are intellectual, or in which the understanding predominates, very many of which are out of doors and look to uses in public. They can be seen from his manners, which all partake of the predominance of the understanding. Hence it is that the actions of his life, which are meant by manners, are according to reason—or if not, he would have them appear so; and masculine rationality is conspicuous in his every virtue. They may be seen from his form, in that it is different and entirely distinct from the female form, respecting which something may also be seen above in n. 33. An additional point is the fact that the power of insemination belongs to the male. This is from no other source than from the understanding; for it is by truth from good there. That the power of insemination is from this source will be seen in what follows.

 

91. On the other hand, that the female is born to be volitional, but volitional from the intellectual of the man, or what is the same, that she is to be the love of man’s wisdom, because she was formed through his wisdom, of which see n. 88-89 above. This too is evident from the affection of the female, from her interest, from her manners, and from her form. It is from the affection of the female, in that it is an affection for loving knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, and yet not in herself but in the man, and so for loving the man. For the man cannot be loved solely on account of his form, because he appears as a man, but on account of the endowment that is in him which makes him a man. It is from her interest, in that it is to such works as are done with the hands, called netting, embroidery, and by other names, which are of service for ornament, and for the adornment of her person and the enhancement of her beauty; and besides this to the various duties which are called domestic and adjoin themselves to the duties of the men, which, as was said, are called out-of-door occupations. Women apply themselves to these uses from an inclination to marriage, that they may become wives and so be one with their husbands. That it appears also from her manners and form is clear without explanation.

 

92. (5) That from the influx of the marriage of good and truth from the Lord, there is the love of the sex, and there is conjugial love. It has been shown above in n. 84-87, that good and truth are the general concepts of creation, and that hence they are in all created subjects; that they are in them according to the form of each; and that good and truth proceed from the Lord not as two but as one. It follows from this that a universal conjugial sphere proceeds from the Lord, and pervades the universe from its first things to its last, thus from angels even to worms. The reason why such a sphere of the marriage of good and truth goes forth from the Lord, is that it is the sphere also of propagation, that is, of prolification and fructification; and this is the same as the Divine providence for the conservation of the universe by successive generations. Now, as this universal sphere, which is of the marriage of good and truth, flows into subjects according to the form of each (n. 86), it follows that the male receives it according to his form, that is, in the understanding, because he is in an intellectual form; and that the female receives it according to her form, thus in the will, because she is a volitional form from the intellectual of the man. And as this same sphere is the sphere of prolification, it follows that from this comes the love of the sex.

 

93. Conjugial love is also from this, because that sphere flows into the form of wisdom with men and also with angels; for man can grow in wisdom to the end of his life in the world and afterwards in heaven to eternity. And as he increases in wisdom his form is perfected; and this form receives, not the love of the sex, but the love of one of the sex. For with this one he can be united even to the inmosts in which heaven is with its felicities; and this union is of conjugial love.

 

94. (6) That the love of the sex is of the external or natural man and hence it is common to all animals. Every man is born corporeal, and becomes more and more interiorly natural; then according as he loves intelligence he becomes rational; and afterwards if he loves wisdom he becomes spiritual. What the wisdom is by which man becomes spiritual will be stated hereafter (n. 130). Now, as man progresses from knowledge to intelligence, and from intelligence to wisdom, so also his mind changes its form; for it is opened more and more, and conjoins itself more closely with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; and hence he becomes more a lover of truth and more earnest for the good of life. If therefore he stops at the first threshold of his progress towards wisdom, the form of his mind remains natural; and this receives the influx of the universal sphere—which is of the marriage of good and truth—no otherwise than as the lower subjects of the animal kingdom receive it, which are called beasts and birds. And as they are merely natural, such a man becomes like them, and so loves the sex in the same manner as they. This is what is meant by “the love of the sex is of the external or natural man and hence is common to all animals.”

 

95. (7) But that conjugial love is of the internal or spiritual man and is therefore peculiar to man. The reason why conjugial love is of the internal or spiritual man, is that the more intelligent and wise a man becomes the more he becomes internal or spiritual, and the more perfect becomes the form of his mind, and that form receives conjugial love. For in that love it perceives and feels a spiritual delight which is inwardly beatific; and from this a natural delight which draws from that its soul and life and essence.

 

96. The reason why conjugial love is peculiar to man is that man alone can become spiritual. For he can elevate his understanding above his natural loves, and from that height see them beneath him, and judge of them as to what quality they are of; and can also amend, chasten, and remove them. This no animal can do, for his loves are altogether united with his connate knowledge; and this knowledge therefore cannot be elevated into intelligence, still less into wisdom. For which reason an animal is borne along by the love implanted in his knowledge, as a blind man through the streets by a dog. This is the reason why conjugial love is peculiar to man. And it may also be called native and germane to man, because in man is the faculty for growing wise with which this love makes one.

 

97. (8) That with man conjugial love is within the love of the sex, as a gem in its matrix. But as this is only a comparison the subject will be explained in the section which now follows. By this comparison, however, the truth is illustrated that the love of sex is of the external or natural man, and conjugial love of the internal or spiritual man, as was shown just above (n. 95).

 

98. (9) That the love of the sex with man is not the origin of conjugial love but is its first; thus it is as the external natural in which the internal spiritual is implanted. The subject here treated of is love truly conjugial, and not the common love which is also called conjugal, and with some is no other than a limited love of the sex. But love truly conjugial is with those only who earnestly desire wisdom, and therefore progress in wisdom more and more. The Lord foresees them and provides conjugial love for them; which love begins with them, it is true, from the love of the sex, or rather through that love, but yet it does not originate from that; for it springs up just in proportion as wisdom advances its step and comes forth into the light with him. For wisdom and this love are inseparable companions.

 

[2] That conjugial love begins through the love of the sex is from the fact that before a consort is found the sex in general is loved and regarded with a fond eye, and is treated with courteous morality: For a young man has his choice to make; and at that time, from an inherent inclination to marriage with one, which lies hidden in the inmost shrine of his mind, there is an agreeable warmth in his external. And from the fact also that decisions with reference to marriage are for various reasons delayed, even to the middle of manhood, and meanwhile the beginning of the love is as lustful desire, which with some actually goes aside into the love of the sex; but even with them its curb is not loosed except just so much as is conducive to health. But these things are said of the male sex, because it has the allurement which actually inflames; but not of the female sex. From this it is clear that the love of the sex is not the origin of love truly conjugial, but that it is first in time though not in end. For what is first in end is first in the mind and its intention, because it is the chief thing. But this first is not attained, except successively through means; and these are not in themselves first but are only things leading to that which is first in itself.

 

99. (10) That while conjugial love is being implanted the love of the sex inverts itself and becomes the chaste love of the sex. It is said that the love of the sex inverts itself, because while conjugial love is coming to its origin, which is in the interiors of the mind [mens], it sees the love of the sex not before itself; but after it, or not above but below itself, and thus as a thing that in passing is left behind. It is similar as when anyone by service climbs from office through office up to some supreme dignity, and then looks behind him or below him to the offices through which he has passed, or as when anyone purposes a journey to the court of some king, and after his arrival turns his view back to the things that he saw on the way. That the love of the sex still remains with those who are in love truly conjugial, and becomes chaste and yet sweeter than before, may be seen from the description of it by those who are in the spiritual world, in the two relations thence, in n. 44 and 45.

 

100. (11) That the male and the female were created to be the very form of the marriage of good and truth. The reason is that the male was created to be the understanding of truth, thus truth in form; and the female was created to be the will of good, thus good in form; and to both was imparted from the inmosts an inclination to conjunction into one, as may be seen above, n. 88. The two thus make one form, which emulates the conjugial form of good and truth. It is said that it emulates this, because it is not the same but similar to it. For the good that conjoins itself with truth with the man is from the Lord immediately; but the good of the wife which conjoins itself with truth with the man is from the Lord mediately through the wife. Therefore there are two goods, one internal, the other external, which conjoin themselves with truth with the husband; and these effect that the husband is constantly in the understanding of truth and thence in wisdom through love truly conjugial. But more will be said on this subject hereafter.

 

101. (12) That two married partners are that form in their inmosts, and hence in the things that follow therefrom, according as the interiors of their mind are opened. There are three things of which every man consists, and which follow in order with him, the soul, the mind, and the body. His inmost is the soul [anima]; his intermediate is the mind [mens]; and his last is the body. All that flows into man from the Lord flows into his inmost which is the soul; and descends thence into his intermediate, which is the mind; and through this into his last, which is the body. In this way the marriage of good and truth flows into man from the Lord, immediately into his soul; and thence it goes on to the things that follow and through these to the extremes; and thus conjoined they make conjugial love. From this conception of the influx it is plain that two married partners are that form in their inmosts, and thence in the things that follow therefrom.

 

102. The reason why married partners become that form according as the interiors of their mind are opened is that the mind is opened successively, from infancy to extreme old age. For a man is born corporeal; and as the mind next above the body is opened he becomes rational. And as this rational is purified, and as it were emptied of the fallacies that flow in by the bodily senses, and of the lusts that flow in from the allurements of the flesh, in this way the rational is opened, and this is done by wisdom alone. And when the interiors of the rational mind [mens] are opened the man becomes a form of wisdom; and this is the receptacle of love truly conjugial.

 

The wisdom which makes this form and receives this love is rational and at the same time moral wisdom. Rational wisdom looks to the goods and truths that appear interiorly in man, not as his own, but flowing in from the Lord; and moral wisdom flees from evils and falsities as leprosies, especially those of wantonness, which contaminate his conjugial love.

 

103. To the above I will add two relations. First this:

 

One morning before sunrise I was looking towards the east in the spiritual world, and saw four horsemen flying forth as it were out of a cloud resplendent with the flame of dawn. Upon the horsemen’s heads appeared crested helmets; upon their arms, as it were wings; and about their bodies light, orange colored tunics. Thus clad as for a rapid race they rose, laid the reins upon their horses’ manes, and they sped as with winged feet. I followed their course, or flight, with my eyes, with a mind to know whither they were going. When lo, three of the horsemen scattered in three directions, to the south, to the west, and to the north; and the fourth stopped a brief space to the east.

 

[2] Wondering at this, I looked up to heaven and asked where those horsemen were going; and received the answer:

 

“To the wise in the kingdoms of Europe, who are men of keen reason and acute discernment in the investigation of subjects, and renowned for the fame of their genius among their own; that they may come and solve the mystery of the origin of conjugial love, and of its virtue or potency.”

 

And they said from heaven, “Wait a little and you will see twenty-seven chariots, three with Spaniards in them, three with French, three with Italians, three with Germans, three with Netherlanders, three with English, three with Swedes, three with Danes, and three with Poles.”

 

And then after two hours the chariots appeared, drawn by small, light bay horses, elegantly caparisoned. They sped swiftly towards a spacious building that was seen on the confines of the east and south; around which all that rode in the chariots alighted and entered in high spirit.

 

[3] And then it was said to me, “Go also and enter in and you shall hear.”

 

I went and entered. And looking about the building within I observed that it was square, the sides looking to the four quarters. On each side were three lofty windows of crystalline glass, the frames of which were of olive wood. On either hand, at the side of the frames, were projections from the walls like chambers, vaulted above, with tables in them. The walls of these were of cedar, the roof of the noble thyine tree, and the floor was of poplar plank. Against the eastern wall, where windows were not seen, was set a table overlaid with gold, whereon was placed a tiara set around with precious stones, which was to be given as a prize or reward to him who should discover the secret about to be propounded to them.

 

[4] As I glanced at the chambered projections, which were as closets next to the windows, I saw in each five men, from each country of Europe, who were ready, waiting for the subject of their judgments.

 

At that instant an angel stood in the midst of the palace, and said, “The subject of your judgments will be the origin of conjugial love, and of its virtue or potency. Consider it and decide, and write your decision on paper and put it into this silver urn which you see placed beside the golden table; and subscribe the initial letter of the kingdom from which you are; that is for the French F; for the Netherlanders, N; for the Italian, I; for the English, E; for the Polish, P; for the German, G; for the Spanish, Sp; for the Danish, D; and for the Swedish, Sw.” With these words the angel departed, saying, “I will come again.”

 

Then the five compatriots, in each apartment by the windows, turned the proposition over, looked it through, and according to the excellence of their gift of judgment made their decision, wrote it upon paper subscribed with the initial letter of their kingdom, and cast it into the silver receptacle. This done, after three hours the angel returned, and drew the papers in succession out of the urn and read them before the assemblage.

 

104. From the first paper, which his hand took at random, he read as follows: “We five compatriots, in our closet, have concluded that the origin of conjugial love is from the most ancient people in the golden age, and with them was from the creation of Adam and his wife. Thence is the origin of marriages, and with marriages the origin of conjugial love. As regards the virtue or potency of conjugial love we derive this from no other source than from climate, or the situation of the sun and the heat therefrom in different lands. It is not by vain conjectures of reason that we have considered the subject, but from the evident indications of experience. That is, from the peoples under the equinoxial line or circle, where the heat of day is as it were burning; and from the peoples who dwell nearer and farther from that circle. Also from the cooperation of solar heat with vital heat with the animals of the earth and the birds of heaven in springtime, when they propagate. Besides, what is conjugial love but heat, which if the supplementary heat of the sun be added to it becomes virtue or potency?” To this was subscribed the letters Sp, the initial letter of the kingdom they were from.

 

105. Then the second time he put his hand into the urn and, took from it a paper from which he read this: “We compatriots in our apartment have agreed, that the origin of conjugial love is the same as the origin of marriages; which have been sanctioned by laws for the restraint of the innate lusts of men for adulteries, which ruin the soul, debase the reason of the mind, defile the morals, and consume the body with wasting disease. For adulteries are not human but bestial, not rational but brutish, and thus not by any means Christian but barbarous. The institution of marriages, and the rise at the same time of conjugial love, was for the condemnation of such evils. And so is it with the virtue or potency of this love, because it depends upon chastity, which is abstinence from roving promiscuity. The reason is that with him who loves only his married partner, the virtue or potency of his love is reserved for one, and so it is collected, and as it were concentrated; and then it becomes this noble, so to say, quintessence, abstracted from the defilements which otherwise would dissipate and scatter it in every direction. One of us five, who is a priest, adds also predestination as a cause of that virtue or potency, saying, ‘Are not marriages predestinated? And with them, the prolifications from them and what renders efficient thereto is also predestinated.’ He has insisted upon this cause because he had sworn to it.” To this was subscribed the letter N.

 

On hearing this someone said in a mocking tone, “Predestination! O, what a beautiful apology for defect or impotence!”

 

106. Presently, the third time, he drew a paper out of the urn from which he read as follows: “We compatriots, in our cell, have meditated upon the causes of the origin of conjugial love, and have seen as the chief of them that it is the same as the origin of marriage. For that love had no existence before, and arises from the fact that when one pines for or desperately loves a virgin with heart and soul, he desires to possess her as a possession lovely above all things. And as soon as she pledges herself he regards her as self regards its own. That this is the origin of conjugial love is very clear from the fury of everyone against rivals, and from the jealousy against violators. We afterwards considered the origin of the virtue or potency of that love; and three against two have decided that the virtue or potency with a married partner is from some license with the sex. They said that they know from experience that the potency of the love of the sex surpasses the potency of conjugial love.” This was subscribed with the letter I. Hearing this there was a cry from the tables, “Put away this paper and take another from the urn.”

 

107. And in a moment he drew out a fourth, from which he read the following: “We compatriots, under our window, have decided that the origin of conjugial love and of the love of the sex is the same, because the one is from the other, only that the love of the sex is unlimited, indeterminate, loose, promiscuous, and roving; while conjugial love is limited, determinate, restrained, certain, and constant. And for that reason this love has been sanctioned and established by the prudence of human wisdom. For otherwise no empire, nor kingdom, nor republic, nor even society could exist, but men in troops and bands would roam in fields and woods, with harlots and ravished women; and would fly from place to place to escape from bloody murders, violations, and rapine, whereby the whole human race would be extirpated. This is our judgment concerning the origin of conjugial love. But the virtue or potency of conjugial love we deduce from soundness of body, continually preserved from birth to old age. For a man kept continuously sound, and possessed of stable health, is not deficient in vigor; his fibers, nerves, muscles, and virile cords do not become torpid, relaxed, and feeble, but continue in the strength of their powers. Farewell.” This was subscribed with the letter E.

 

108. The fifth time he took a paper from the urn from which he read as follows: “We compatriots, at our table, from the rational light of our minds have looked into the origin of conjugial love, and the origin of its virtue or potency, and have seen and confirmed by careful reasonings that the origin of conjugial love is none other than this: That every man, from the cravings and thence incitements concealed in the secret chamber of his mind and body, after various longings of his eyes, at length directs and inclines his mind to one of the female sex, until he inwardly burns towards her. From this time his heat increases from flame to flame until he is all on fire. In this state the love of the sex is banished, and instead of lust there arises conjugial love. A youthful husband in this burning does not know but that the virtue or potency of that love will never cease; for he is without experience and hence without the knowledge of a state of deficiency of his powers, and of the cooling of the love after its delights. The origin of conjugial love therefore is from this first ardor before the wedding; and from this is its virtue or potency. But after the wedding this changes, decreases, and increases; and yet with stable change—that is, decreasing and increasing—it endures even to old age by prudent moderation, and by the bridling of the lusts, that break forth from the caverns of the mind not yet cleansed. For lust precedes wisdom. This is our judgment respecting the origin and preservation of conjugial virtue and potency.” To this was subscribed the letter P.

 

109. The sixth time he drew a paper from which he read as follows: “We compatriots, from our fraternity, have considered the causes of the origin of conjugial love and have agreed upon two; one of which is the right education of children, and the other the distinct possession of inheritances. We have assumed these two because they look to and aim at one object, which is the public good. And this is secured by the fact that children conceived and born of conjugial love become its true and very own, and from the love of offspring exalted because they are of legitimate descent are educated as heirs of all the possessions, spiritual as well as natural, of their parents. That the public good is founded upon the right education of children and on the distinct possession of inheritances is evident to reason. There is the love of the sex, and there is conjugial love, and this latter love appears as one with the former, but they are distinctly different. And the one is not by the side of the other, but one is within the other, and what is within is nobler than that which is without. And we have seen that from creation conjugial love is within and concealed in the love of the sex, as an almond in its shell. Therefore when conjugial love is unfolded from its shell, which is the love of the sex, it glitters before the angels like the gem, beryl, and the star stone. This is so because on conjugial love is inscribed the safety of the whole human race, which is what we mean by the public good. This is our judgment respecting the origin of that love. But the origin of its virtue or potency we conclude, from a consideration of the causes, to be the unfolding and the separation of conjugial love from the love of the sex, which is effected by wisdom on the part of the man, and by love of the man’s wisdom on the part of the wife. For the love of the sex is in common with beasts, but conjugial love is peculiar to man [homo]. And therefore insofar as conjugial love is freed from the love of the sex, the man is a man and not a beast, and a man obtains virtue or potency from his own love, and a beast from his.” This was subscribed with the letter G.

 

110. The seventh time he drew out a paper from which he read this: “We compatriots in the chamber, under the light of our window, have exhilarated our thoughts, and thence our judgments, by meditation upon conjugial love. Who would not be exhilarated by it? For while that love is in the mind it is at the same time in the whole body. We judge of the origin of that love from its delights. Who knows or ever has known a trace of any love except from the delight and pleasure of it? The delights of conjugial love are felt in their origins as states of blessedness, satisfactions, and felicities; and in their derivations as sensations of loveliness and pleasure; and in their ultimates as the delight of delights. The origin of the love of the sex, therefore, is when the interiors of the mind and thence the interiors of the body are opened for the inflowing of these delights; and the origin of conjugial love was when, by betrothal begun, the primitive sphere of that love ideally promoted them. As regards the virtue or potency of that love, that comes from the ability of the love to pass through with its current from the mind into the body; for the mind from the head is in the body, while it is feeling and acting, especially while it is in delight from this love. Hence, we judge, are the degrees of potency and the constancy of its alternations. And besides we deduce the virtue of potency also from the stock. If that be noble in the father it becomes noble also by derivation with the offspring. That this nobility is reproduced, inherited, and descends by derivation is a fact as to which reason agrees with experience.” To this was subscribed the letter F.

 

111. For the eighth time a paper came forth, from which he read the following: “We compatriots, in our meeting, have not found the very origin of conjugial love, because being stored up in the sanctuaries of the mind it is inmostly concealed. Not the most consummate wisdom even, by any ray of understanding, can reach that love in its origin. We have formed many conjectures, but after in vain revolving the subtleties in our minds, we know not whether we were conjuring up trifles or rational judgments. He therefore who would draw forth the origin of that love from the sanctuaries of the mind, and set it before his eyes, let him go to Delphi. We have contemplated the love below its origin; that in the mind it is spiritual, and is as a fountain of a delicious current whence it flows into the breast, where it becomes delightful and is called bosom love, which considered in itself is full of friendship and full of confidence, from a full inclination to mutuality; and when it has passed beyond the breast it becomes genital love. When a young man revolves these and like things in his thoughts, as he does when he chooses for himself one of the sex, they kindle in his heart the fire of conjugial love; which fire, as it is the primitive of that love is the origin of it. We acknowledge no origin of its virtue or potency other than that love itself, for they are inseparable companions, and yet such that sometimes one goes before and sometimes the other. When love precedes and virtue or potency follows it, each is noble, because the potency then is the virtue of conjugial love. But if the potency precedes and love follows, each then is ignoble because the love is then of carnal potency. We therefore judge the quality of both from the order in which the love descends or ascends, and so proceeds from its origin to its goal.” To this was subscribed the letter D.

 

112. The last or ninth time he took up a paper from which he read as follows: “We compatriots, from our assemblage, have exercised our judgments upon the two points of the proposition, the origin of conjugial love, and the origin of its virtue or potency. While discussing the subtleties of the origin of conjugial love, to avoid obscurity in our reasonings, we have distinguished between the spiritual, the natural, and the carnal love of the sex. And by the spiritual love of the sex we mean love truly conjugial, because this is spiritual; and by the natural love of the sex we mean polygamic love, for this is natural; and by the merely carnal love of the sex we mean promiscuous love, because this is merely carnal. While looking with our judgments into love truly conjugial, we have seen clearly that it is a love only between one male and one female; and that from creation it is heavenly, inmost, and the soul and father of all good loves, having been inspired into our first parents, and being inspirable into Christians.

 

It is also so conjunctive that by it two minds can become one mind, and two human beings as one person [homo], which is meant by becoming ‘one flesh.’ That this love was inspired from creation is plain from these words in the book of creation:

 

And a man shall leave father and mother; and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh (Gen. 2:24).

 

That it may be inspired into Christians is plain from these words:

 

Jesus said, Have ye not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female? And he said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and the twain shall become one flesh; wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh (Matt. 19:4-6).

 

This, respecting the origin of conjugial love. But the origin of the virtue or potency of love truly conjugial we conjecture to arise from similarity of minds and unanimity. For when two minds are conjugially conjoined, their thoughts spiritually, mutually kiss each other, and these breathe their virtue or potency into the body.” To this was subscribed the letters Sw.

 

113. Behind an oblong partition, erected before the doors in the palace, were standing some foreigners from Africa, who called out to the natives of Europe, “Permit someone of us also to offer an opinion concerning the origin of conjugial love, and its virtue or potency.” And all at the tables gave signal with their hands that it should be permitted. And then one of them entered and stood at the table whereon the tiara was placed, and said, “You Christians deduce the origin of conjugial love from the love itself. But we Africans deduce it from the God of heaven and earth. Is not conjugial love a chaste love, pure and holy? Are not the angels of heaven in that love? Is not the whole human race and thence the whole angelic heaven the seed of that love? Can a thing so supereminent spring from any other source than God himself, the creator and sustainer of the universe? You Christians deduce conjugial virtue or potency from various rational and natural causes. But we Africans deduce it from the state of conjunction of man with the God of the universe. This state we call a state of religion, but you a state of the church. For since the love is thence, and is stable and perpetual, it cannot but put forth its virtue, which is of its likeness and so is also stable and perpetual. Love truly conjugial is known only to the few who are near to God; and therefore the potency of that love is known to no others. This potency with that love is described by the angels in the heavens as the delight of perpetual spring.”

 

114. This having been said all arose; and lo, behind the golden table whereon the tiara lay, a window was made, not seen before, and through the window a voice was heard, “The tiara shall be for the African”; and it was given by the angel into his hand, but not on his head, and he went home with it. And the natives of the countries of Europe went out, entered their chariots, and returned to their own.

 

115. The second relation:

 

Awaking from sleep in the middle of the night, I beheld at some height towards the east an angel holding in his right hand a paper, which by the inflowing light of the sun appeared in shining white; and on the middle of it was a writing in letters of gold. And I saw written: “The marriage of good and truth.” There flashed forth from the writing a splendor which diffused itself in a wide circle around the paper. The circle or halo from it appeared as the dawn in springtime.

 

After this I saw the angel descending with the paper in his hand. And as he descended the paper appeared less and less bright, and the writing, which was “the marriage of good and truth,” changed from the color of gold to silver, then to copper, afterwards to iron, and finally to that of the rust of iron, and the rust of copper. At last the angel was seen to enter an obscure cloud, and to descend through the cloud upon the earth; and there the paper, although still held in the angel’s hand, was not seen. This was in the world of spirits where all men first come together after death.

 

[2] And then the angel spoke to me, saying, “Ask those that come hither whether they see me or anything in my hand.”

 

There came a multitude, a company from the east, a company from the south, a company from the west, and a company from the north. And I asked those that came from the east and the south who had been in the pursuit of learning in the world whether they saw anyone here with me, and saw anything in his hand. They all said they saw nothing at all. I then asked those that came from the west and the north, who were such as had believed in the words of the learned in the world. They said they did not see anything. But the last of them, who in the world were in simple faith from charity, or in some truth from good, after the others had gone away, said that they saw a man with a paper, a man in becoming apparel, and the paper had letters traced upon it; and when they brought their eyes nearer they said that they read, “the marriage of good and truth.” And they spoke to the angel, asking him to tell them what it meant.

 

[3] And he said, “All things that exist in the universal heaven and all that exist in the universal world are nothing but a marriage of good and truth; for each and all things, both those that live and breathe, and those that do not live and breathe, were created from and into the marriage of good and truth. Nothing whatever is created into truth alone and nothing whatever into good alone. Either one of them alone is not anything; but by marriage they exist and become something, of such kind as the marriage is. In the Lord the creator are Divine good and Divine truth in their very substance. The being of his substance is Divine good, and the existing [existere] of his substance is Divine truth. And in him they also are in their very union; for they infinitely make one in him. As these two are one in the creator himself, they therefore are one also in each and all things created from him; and thereby also the creator is conjoined with all things created from himself in an eternal covenant, as it were, of marriage.”

 

[4] The angel said further that the sacred Scripture, which proceeded immediately from the Lord, in general and in particular is a marriage of good and truth. And as the church, which is formed by truth of doctrine, and religion, which is formed by the good of life according to the truth of doctrine, are, with Christians, solely from the sacred Scripture, it is evident that the church is a marriage of good and truth in general and in particular. That it is so may be seen in Apocalypse Revealed, n. 373, 483. What has been said above respecting the marriage of good and truth is said also of the marriage of charity and faith, since good is of charity and truth is of faith.

 

Some of the former, who did not see the angel and the writing, still standing by and hearing these things said in a low tone, “Yes, truly, we comprehend that.”

 

But then the angel said to them, “Turn away a little from me and say the same.”

 

And they turned away and said in a full voice, “It is not so.”

 

[5] After this the angel spoke of the marriage of good and truth with married partners, saying, that if their minds were in that marriage, the husband truth and the wife its good, they would both be in the delights of the blessedness of innocence, and thence in the happiness in which the angels of heaven are. In that state the generative power of the husband would be in perpetual spring, and thence in the effort and ability to propagate his truth; and the wife would be in perpetual reception of it from love: “The wisdom that is with men from the Lord feels nothing more delightful than to propagate its truths; and the love of wisdom which is in wives feels nothing more pleasing than to receive them, as in the womb, and so to conceive, carry in the womb, and bring them forth. Of such kind are spiritual prolifications among the angels of heaven. And if you will believe it, natural prolifications also are from this origin.”

 

After a salutation of peace the angel raised himself up from the earth, and passing through the cloud ascended into heaven. And then, according to the degrees of ascent, the paper shone as before; and lo, the circle of light which appeared before, as the dawn, then descended and dispelled the cloud that shed darkness upon the earth, and it became sunny.

 

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