PART 2

 

The Insane Pleasures

of Promiscuous Love

 

 

 

(18)

 

The Opposition of Promiscuous Love and Conjugial Love

 

 

423. At this threshold it is to be explained first what is meant by promiscuous love in this chapter. The fornicatory love that precedes marriage is not meant; nor that which follows it after the death of a married partner; nor the taking of a mistress which is entered upon for legitimate, just, and weighty reasons; nor are the mild kinds of adultery meant; nor the graver kinds of which a man actually repents. For these do not become opposite, and those are not opposite to conjugial love. That they are not opposite will be seen hereafter when each comes to be treated of. But by the promiscuous love opposite to conjugial love here is meant the love of adultery when it is such that it is not regarded as a sin, nor as evil, dishonorable, and against reason, but as permissible with reason. This promiscuous love not only makes conjugial love the same as itself, but also ruins, destroys, and at length nauseates it.

 

[2] The opposition of this love to conjugial love is treated of in this chapter. That it treats of no other may be manifest from the chapters that follow concerning fornication, taking of a mistress, and the different kinds of adultery. But that the opposition may be evident to the rational sight, it shall be shown in the following sequence:

 

(1) That the quality of promiscuous love is not known unless the quality of conjugial love is known.

 

(2) That promiscuous love is opposite to conjugial love.

 

(3) That promiscuous love is opposite to conjugial love, just as the natural man regarded in himself is opposite to the spiritual man.

 

(4) That promiscuous love is opposite to conjugial love just as the intermarriage of the evil and the false is opposite to the marriage of good and truth.

 

(5) That promiscuous love is therefore opposite to conjugial love just as hell is opposite to heaven.

 

(6) That the uncleanness of hell is from promiscuous love; and that the cleanness of heaven is from conjugial love.

 

(7) Likewise the uncleanness in the church; and the cleanness there.

 

(8) That promiscuous love makes man more and more not human [homo], and not a man [vir]; and that conjugial love makes man more and more human [homo], and more and more a man [vir].

 

(9) That there is a sphere of promiscuous love and a sphere of conjugial love.

 

(10) That the sphere of promiscuous love comes up out of hell; and that the sphere of conjugial love comes down from heaven.

 

(11) That in each world these two spheres meet each other but do not conjoin themselves.

 

(12) That between these two spheres there is an equilibrium, and that man is in this.

 

(13) That man is able to turn himself to whichever he pleases, but that insofar as he turns himself to the one he turns himself away from the other.

 

(14) That each sphere carries delights with it.

 

(15) That the delights of promiscuous love begin from the flesh, and that they are of the flesh even in the spirit; but that the delights of conjugial love begin in the spirit, and that they are of the spirit even in the flesh.

 

(16) That the delights [jucunditates] of promiscuous love are pleasures of insanity; and that the delights [jucunditates] of conjugial love are the delights [delitiae] of wisdom.

 

The explanation of these now follows.

 

424. (1) That the quality of promiscuous love is not known unless the quality of conjugial love is known. By promiscuous love is meant the love of adultery which destroys conjugial love, as above in n. 423. That the quality of this promiscuous love is not known unless the quality of conjugial love is known, there is no need to demonstrate, but only to illustrate by similar examples. For instance, who can know what is evil and false, unless he knows what is good and true? Or who knows what is unchaste, dishonest, indecorous, and unbeautiful, unless he knows what is chaste, honest, decorous, and beautiful?

 

Or who can discern insanity but one who is wise or knows what wisdom is? Or who can rightly perceive discordant, grating sounds but one who through learning and study has drunk in harmonious numbers? In like manner, who can perceive what the quality of adultery is unless he has perceived clearly what the quality of marriage is? Or who can present to the judgment the filthiness of the pleasures of promiscuous love, unless he has previously presented to his own judgment the cleanness of conjugial love? Now, because I have completed the work on Delights of Wisdom pertaining to Conjugial Love, from the intelligence thence acquired I am able to describe the pleasures of promiscuous love.

 

425. (2) That promiscuous love is opposite to conjugial love. There is nothing in the universe which has not its opposite; and opposites are not things having relation to each other, but are contraries. Relatives are between what is the greatest and least of the same thing; but contraries are in opposition over against them, and these are relative among themselves just as those are among themselves, and therefore the relations themselves also are opposites. That to all things and to everything there is an opposite is manifest from light, heat, the times in the world, from affections, from perceptions, sensations, and from many other things. The opposite of light is thick darkness; the opposite of heat is cold; the opposites of times in the world are day and night, summer and winter; the opposites of affections are joys and sorrows, and gladness and sadness; the opposites of perceptions are goods and truths and evils and falses; and the opposites of sensations are delightful and undelightful. From all this evidence then it must be concluded that conjugial love has its opposite. That this opposite is adultery everyone can see if he will, from all the dictates of sound reason. Say if you can what else is its opposite. To this is added, that inasmuch as sound reason has been able to see this clearly of its own light, it has therefore established laws, which are called civil laws of justice, for the protection of marriages and against adulteries.

 

[2] To make it still more obvious that they are opposites, I may refer to what I have frequently seen in the spiritual world. When those who in the natural world were adulterers from confirmation perceive the sphere of conjugial love flowing down out of heaven, they either instantly flee into caverns and hide themselves, or if they stand out against it they are excited to rage and become like furies. That it is so is because there all delightful and all undelightful things of the affections are perceived, sometimes as clearly as odor is perceived by the smell, for they have not a material body which absorbs such things.

 

[3] But that the opposition of promiscuous love and conjugial love is unknown to many in the natural world is from the delights of the flesh, which in the extremes apparently emulate the delights of conjugial love; and they that are in delights alone know nothing of that opposition. And I can affirm that if you should tell them that everything has its opposite, and conclude that conjugial love has also, adulterers would reply that there is no such opposite to that love, for that promiscuous love in no sense distinguishes itself from it. From which it is evident also, that one who does not know what the quality of conjugial love is does not know the quality of promiscuous love. And besides that, the quality of conjugial love is not known from promiscuous love, but the latter from the former. No one from evil knows good, but from good one knows evil; for evil is in thick darkness but good is in light.

 

426. (3) That promiscuous love is opposite to conjugial love, just as the natural man, regarded in himself, is opposite to the spiritual man.

 

That the natural man and the spiritual man are opposed to each other, even so that the one does not will what the other wills, yea, that they fight against each other, is known in the church, but has not as yet been explained. It shall therefore be told what distinguishes the spiritual and the natural, and excites the one against the other. It is the natural man into which everyone is first introduced while he is growing up, which introduction is by knowledges and cognitions, and by the rational things of the understanding; but the spiritual man is that into which he is introduced by the love of performing uses, which love is also called charity. So far therefore as anyone is in this love he is spiritual, but so far as he is not in this love he is natural, even though he be of penetrating genius and of wise judgment. That this man which is called natural, apart from the spiritual, howsoever much it may elevate itself into rational light, yet dissolves itself in lusts, and is devoted to them, is made plain by its ruling spirit alone, in that it is destitute of charity; and he who is destitute of this is loosed to all the wantonnesses of promiscuous love. For which reason when he is told that this libidinous love is the opposite of chaste conjugial love, and he is asked to consult the light of his reason, he yet does not consult that light except in conjunction with the delight of the evil that is inherent in the natural man from nativity; whence he concludes that his reason does not see anything contrary to the pleasant sensuous allurements of his body; after he has confirmed himself in these his reason is benumbed to all the sweets that are predicated of conjugial love. Nay, more, as was said above, he fights against and overcomes them, and as a victor after the defeat he destroys the camp of conjugial love within himself from outmosts to inmosts. This the natural man does out of his promiscuous love. This is adduced in order that it may be known whence comes the opposition of these two loves. For, as has been shown many times before, conjugial love regarded in itself is spiritual love, and promiscuous love viewed in itself is natural love.

 

427. (4) That promiscuous love is opposite to conjugial love just as the intermarriage of the evil and the false is opposite to the marriage of good and truth. It has been shown above in its own chapter (n. 83-102) that the origin of conjugial love is from the marriage of good and truth. It follows from this that the origin of promiscuous love is the intermarriage of evil and the false, and that thence they are opposite as evil is opposite to good and the falsity of evil to the truth of good. The delights of each love are what are thus opposite, for love is nothing without its delights. It does not at all appear that they are thus opposite. The reason why it does not appear is because in externals the delight of the evil love counterfeits the delight of the good love. But in internals the delight of the evil love consists of mere lusts of evil. The evil itself is a conglomerate mass or ball of them. But the delight of the good love consists of innumerable affections of good. Good itself is as a bundle of these united together. This latter bundle and that former ball are not felt by man except as one delight; and as in externals the delight of evil counterfeits the delight of good, as was said, therefore the delight of adultery is like the delight of marriage. But after death, when everyone puts off externals, and the internals are laid bare, then it is manifest to the sense that the evil of adultery is a conglomeration of lusts of evil; and that the good of marriage is a bundle of affections of good; and thus that they are altogether opposite to each other.

 

428. As regards the intermarriage itself of the evil and the false, it is known that evil loves the false and wills that it shall be one with itself, and they also conjoin themselves; in like manner as good loves truth and wills that it may be one with it, and they also conjoin themselves. From which it appears that as the spiritual origin of marriage is the marriage of good and truth, so the spiritual origin of adultery is the intermarriage of the evil and the false. Hence it is that this intermarriage is meant by adulteries, promiscuity, and whoredoms in the spiritual sense of the Word (see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 134). It is from this principle that he who is in evil and weds the false, and he who is in the false and takes evil into the companionship of his bed chamber, from the joint covenant confirms adultery, and commits it so far as he dares and is able. He confirms it from evil by falsity and commits it from falsity by evil. And on the other hand, he too, who is in good and weds truth, or who is in truth and takes good with him into the companionship of his bed chamber confirms himself against adultery and in favor of marriage, and embraces a blessed conjugial life.

 

429. (5) That promiscuous love is therefore opposite to conjugial love just as hell is opposite to heaven. All who are in hell are in the intermarriage of evil and the false; and all who are in heaven are in the marriage of good and truth. And as the intermarriage of evil and the false is likewise adultery, as has been shown above (n. 427, 428), hell also is adultery. Hence it is that all there are in the lust, the lasciviousness, and the shamelessness of promiscuous love, and fly from and shudder at the chastities and modesties of conjugial love (see above n. 428). From these considerations it may be seen that these two loves, promiscuous and conjugial love, are opposite to each other as hell is to heaven and heaven to hell.

 

430. (6) That the uncleanness of hell is from promiscuous love; and that the cleanness of heaven is from conjugial love. All hell reeks with uncleannesses, and the universal origin of them is shameless and obscene promiscuous love. Into such things its delights are turned. Who could believe that in the spiritual world every delight of love is presented to the sight under a variety of appearances, to sensual perception under various odors, and to view under various forms of beasts and birds? The forms under which the lascivious delights of promiscuous love are presented to view in hell are excrements and mire; the odors under which they are presented to the sensible perception there are stenches and noisome vapors; and the forms of beasts and birds under which they are there presented to view are swine, serpents, and birds called ochim and tziim. But the very opposite are the chaste delights of conjugial love in heaven. The appearances under which these are there presented to the sight are gardens and flowery fields; the odors under which they are presented to sensible perception are the aromas from fruits and the fragrant perfumes from flowers; and the forms of animals under which they are there presented to view are lambs and kids, turtledoves and birds of paradise. The reason why the delights of love are turned into such and similar forms is that all things that come into existence in the spiritual world are correspondences. The internals of their mind are turned into them as they go forth and become external before the senses. It should be known, however, that there are innumerable varieties of unclean things into which the lewdnesses of promiscuity are turned as they go forth into their correspondences; and the varieties are according to the kinds and species of them, which may be seen in what follows, where adulteries and the degrees of them are treated of. But such unclean things do not go forth from the delights of the love of those who have repented, because they have been washed from them in the world.

 

431. (7) Likewise the uncleanness in the church; and the cleanness there. The reason is that the church is the Lord’s kingdom on earth corresponding to his kingdom in the heavens; and the Lord also conjoins them that they may make one. And he likewise distinguishes those who are there, just as he distinguishes heaven and hell, and distinguishes them according to their loves. Those that are in the immodest and obscene delights of promiscuous love join to themselves their like from hell; but those who are in the pure and chaste delights of conjugial love are associated by the Lord with similar angels from heaven. These their angels, when in attendance on men they stand near confirmed and determined adulterers, perceive the stench spoken of above (n. 430) and withdraw a little.

 

On account of the correspondence of filthy loves with excrement and mire, it was commanded the sons of Israel:

 

That they should carry with them a paddle with which they should cover their excrement, lest Jehovah walking in the midst of their camp should see the nakedness of the thing and turn back (Deut. 23:13-14).

 

This was commanded because the camp of the sons of Israel represented the church, and those unclean things represented the lasciviousness of promiscuity; and by Jehovah God walking in the midst of their camp was signified his presence with the angels; that they should cover it, was because all those places in hell where crowds of such abide are covered and closed; and for that reason it is also said, “lest he see the nakedness of the thing.” That all the places in hell are closed it has been given me to see; and also that when they were opened, which was when a new demon entered, a stench exhaled therefrom so foul that it infested my belly with a heavy oppression; and what is surprising, those foul odors are as delightful to them as excrements are to swine. From which it is plain how it is to be understood that what is unclean in the church is from promiscuous love, and what is clean there is from conjugial love.

 

432. (8) That promiscuous love more and more makes man not human [homo], and a man not a man [vir]; and that conjugial love makes man more and more human [homo] and more and more a man [vir]. Each and all things that have been shown to reason in light in the first part concerning love and the delights of its wisdom illustrate and confirm that conjugial love makes man. For example:

 

(a) That one who is in love truly conjugial becomes more and more spiritual, and the more spiritual one is the more human [homo] he is. (b) That he becomes more and more wise, and the more wise one becomes the more he is a man. (c) That with him the interiors of the mind are opened more and more, even until he sees or intuitively acknowledges the Lord, and the more one is in that sight, or that acknowledgment, the more is he a man. (d) That he becomes more and more moral and civil, because a spiritual soul is in his morality and citizenship, and the more one is morally civil the more he is a man. (e) That after death he also becomes an angel of heaven, and an angel is a man in essence and in form, and true humanity shines forth also in his face, from his speech, and from his deportment. From these considerations it is evident that conjugial love makes man more and more a man.

 

[2] That with adulterers the contrary is the case follows conclusively from the very opposition of adultery and marriage, which has been and is being treated of in this chapter. For example:

 

(a) That they are not spiritual but in the lowest degree natural, and the natural man apart from the spiritual is man only as to his understanding and not as to the will. This he immerses in the body, and in the lusts of the flesh, and at those times the understanding too accompanies it. That he is but half a man he himself can see, from the reason of his own understanding if he elevates it. (b) That adulterers are not wise except in speech and gestures, and when in company with those eminent in dignity, renowned by their erudition, and men of good morals. But it will be shown in the chapter on adulteries that alone, with themselves, they are insane, making light of the divine and holy things of the church, and defiling the moralities of life with things immodest and unchaste. Does anyone not see that such gesticulators are only men as to outward form, and as to the inward form not men? (c) That adulterers become more and more not men my own experience has served to confirm manifestly, from seeing them in hell—for they are demons there, whose faces when seen in the light of heaven are as it were pustules, their bodies humped, their voices rough, and their manner simulated.

 

[3] It should be understood, however, that purposed and confirmed adulterers are such but not unpremeditated adulterers. For there are four kinds of adultery, of which in the chapter on adulteries and their degrees. Adulterers of purpose are such from the lust of the will; adulterers by confirmation are such by persuasion of the understanding; adulterers from premeditation are such from the allurements of the senses; and unpremeditated adulterers are such as have not the faculty or the freedom of consulting the understanding. The two former kinds of adulterers are those that become more and more not men; but the two latter kinds become men just in the degree that they recede from those errors and afterwards become wise.

 

433. The things adduced in the preceding part, on conjugial love and its delights, also confirm the truth that conjugial love makes a human [homo] more a man [vir]. They are: (a) That the faculty and virtue called virile accompany wisdom, just in proportion as this is animated by the spiritual things of the church, and that thence they inhere in conjugial love; and that wisdom opens the current of this love from its fountain in the soul, and thus invigorates the intellectual life, which is the masculine life itself, and blesses it also with perennity. (b) That thence it is, according to the words of their own mouth in the relation, n. 355-356, that the angels of heaven are in this virile virtue to eternity; and I have heard from their own lips (see relations, n. 75-76), that the most ancient people in their ages, the golden and the silver ages, were in enduring efficacy, because they loved the blandishments of their wives and shuddered at the blandishments of harlots. It has been told me from heaven that this spiritual sufficiency is even in the natural, and will not be wanting at this day to those who come to the Lord and abominate adulteries as infernal.

 

But the contrary befalls purposed and confirmed adulterers, of whom just above, n. 432. It is known, though not much proclaimed, that with them the faculty and virtue which is called manly become enfeebled even to none; and after that also begins coldness towards the sex; and then follows disdain which leads to loathing. That those adulterers are such in hell I have heard from sirens—who are wornout figures of sexual lust—and also from brothels there at a distance.

 

From these considerations it is clear that promiscuous love makes a man more and more not human [homo], and not a man [vir], and that conjugial love makes man more and more human [homo], and more and more a man [vir].

 

434. (9) That there is a sphere of promiscuous love and a sphere of conjugial love. What is meant by spheres, and that they are manifold, and that those which are of love and wisdom proceed from the Lord and descend through the angelic heavens into the world and pervade it, even to its very ultimates, has been shown above in n. 222-225; and in n. 386-397. That there is not a thing in the universe which has not its opposite, may be seen above at n. 425; from which it follows that because there is a sphere of conjugial love there is also a sphere opposite to it which is called the sphere of promiscuous love. For those spheres are opposite to each other just as the love of adultery is opposite to the love of marriage, which opposition has been treated of in the preceding parts of this chapter.

 

435. (10) That the sphere of promiscuous love comes up out of hell; and that the sphere of conjugial love comes down from heaven. That the sphere of conjugial love comes down from heaven is shown in the places cited just above in n. 434; but that the sphere of promiscuous love comes up out of hell is because this love is from there, n. 429. That sphere comes up thence from the unclean things into which the delights of adultery are turned of those there who are of each sex; concerning which see above, n. 430, 431.

 

436. (11) That in each world these two spheres meet each other but do not conjoin themselves. By each world is meant the spiritual world and the natural world. In the spiritual world these spheres meet each other in the world of spirits, because this is intermediate between heaven and hell; but in the natural world they meet each other on the rational plane with man, which also is intermediate between heaven and hell; for into this plane the marriage of good and truth inflows from above and the marriage of evil and the false inflows into it from beneath. This flows in through the world, but the former through heaven. Hence it is that the human rational can turn itself to either side it pleases, and receive the influx; if it turns to good it receives the influx from above, and then the rational of the man is formed more and more to the reception of heaven; but if it turns to evil it receives the influx from beneath, and his rational is then formed more and more to the reception of hell. That those two spheres do not conjoin themselves is because they are opposites; and an opposite acts upon an opposite no otherwise than as enemies, one of which, inflamed with internecine hatred, furiously attacks the other, although that other is in no hatred but only in zeal for self-protection. From this it is clear why the two spheres only meet each other, but do not conjoin themselves. The middle interval that they form between them is on the one side from evil not of falsity and from falsity not of evil; and on the other side from good not of truth and from truth not of good, which two may indeed come in contact with each other but cannot conjoin themselves.

 

437. (12) That between these two spheres there is an equilibrium, and that man is in this. The equilibrium between them is a spiritual equilibrium, for it is between good and evil; from this equilibrium man has free will. In this, and by means of this, man thinks and wills, and thence speaks and acts, as if from himself. His rational consists in the option and choice whether he will receive good, or will receive evil, and so whether he will rationally from freedom dispose himself towards conjugial love, or will rationally from freedom dispose himself towards promiscuous love. If to this, he turns the hinder part of his head and his back to the Lord; if to the other, he turns the forehead and breast to the Lord. If he turns to the Lord, his rationality and liberty are led by him; but if backwards from the Lord, his rationality and liberty are led by hell.

 

438. (13) That man is able to turn himself to whichever sphere he pleases, but that insofar as he turns himself to the one, he turns himself away from the other. Man was created to do what he does from freedom according to reason, and just as if from himself. Without these two he would not be man but a beast; for he would not receive anything inflowing to him out of heaven and appropriate it to himself as his own, and therefore nothing of eternal life could be inscribed upon him. For in order to be his own it must be inscribed upon him as his. And because there is no freedom in one direction unless there is the like in the other also, just as there is no weighing, unless the scales by virtue of equilibrium can incline either way, so with man, unless he has freedom to turn also to evil, thus from right to left and from left to right, alike to the infernal sphere which is the sphere of adultery, as to the heavenly sphere which is that of marriage.

 

439. (14) That each sphere carries delights with it. That is to say that both the sphere of promiscuous love which ascends from hell and the sphere of conjugial love which comes down from heaven, affect the man receiving it with delights. The reason is that the ultimate plane, in which the delights of each love terminate, and where they fill and complete themselves, and which presents them in their sense, is the same. Hence it is that promiscuous caresses and conjugial caresses are perceived alike in the extremes although utterly unlike in the internals. That they are thence unlike also in the extremes is not judged from a sense of the difference; for the unlikenesses from these differences are not felt in the extremes by others than those who are in love truly conjugial, because evil is recognized from good and not good from evil, just as a sweet odor is not perceived by the nostrils while a foul stench clings to them. I have heard from the angels that they distinguish the lascivious from the nonlascivious in the extremes just as one distinguishes the flame of dung or of burning horn by their offensive smell from a fire of spice or of burning cinnamon wood by their fragrant odor; and that this is from the difference of the internal delights which enter into the externals and compose them.

 

440. (15) That the delights of promiscuous love begin from the flesh, and that they are of the flesh even in the spirit; but that the delights of conjugial love begin in the spirit, and that they are of the spirit even in the flesh. That the delights of promiscuous love begin from the flesh is because the burning heats of the flesh are their beginning; that they infect the spirit, and even in the spirit are of the flesh, is because the flesh does not feel, but the spirit feels in the flesh, the things that take place in it. It is the same with this sense as with the others; as that the eye does not see and distinguish the various things in objects but the spirit; nor does the ear hear and distinguish the harmonies of the modulations in song, and the concords of the articulations of sounds in speech, but the spirit. And the spirit feels everything according to its elevation into wisdom. A spirit that is not elevated above the sensuals of the body, and so clings to them, does not feel any other delights than those that flow in from the flesh and from the world through the bodily senses. These it seizes, with these it is delighted and makes them its own. Now, as the beginnings of promiscuous love are only the burning heat and prurient itchings of the flesh, it is plain that in the spirit they are filthy enticements, which as they ascend and descend, and go back and forth, thus excite and inflame. In general the cupidities of the flesh regarded in themselves are nothing else than conglomerated lusts of the evil and the false. Hence this truth in the church, that the flesh lusteth against the spirit, that is, against the spiritual man. It therefore follows that the delights of the flesh, as to the delights of promiscuous love, are nothing but effervescences of lust which in the spirit become the bubblings up of immodesties.

 

441. But the delights of conjugial love have nothing in common with the foul delights of promiscuous love. These do indeed inhere in the flesh of every man [homo]; but in proportion as the spirit of a man is elevated above the sensuals of the body, and it looks down from a height upon their appearances and fallacies, these are separated and removed. He likewise then perceives the carnal delights, first as apparent and fallacious delights; afterwards as lustful and lascivious, which ought to be shunned; and gradually as pernicious and hurtful to the soul; and finally senses them as undelightful, filthy, and nauseating. And in the degree that he thus perceives and senses these delights, in the same degree he perceives the delights of conjugial love as harmless and chaste; and finally as delicious and blessed. The delights of conjugial love become also delights of the spirit in the flesh, because after the delights of promiscuous love are removed, as was said just above, the spirit being released from them enters chaste into the body and fills the breasts, and from the breasts also the ultimates of that love in the body with the delights of its own blessedness. Thence afterwards the spirit acts with these, and these with the spirit, in full communion.

 

442. (16) That the delights [jucunditates] of promiscuous love are pleasures of insanity; and that the delights [jucunditates] of conjugial love are the delights [delitiae] of wisdom. The delights of promiscuous love are pleasures of insanity, because none others than natural men are in that love, and the natural man is insane in spiritual things; for he is against them, and therefore embraces only natural, sensual, and corporeal delights. It is said the delights are natural, sensual, and corporeal, because the natural is distinguished into three degrees. The natural in the highest degree are those who from rational sight see the insanities, and yet are carried away by the delights of them, as boats by the current of a stream; in a lower degree are the natural who only see and judge by the senses of the body, and spurn and reject, as trifles, things rational that are contrary to appearances and fallacies; in the lowest degree are the natural who without judgment are carried away by the alluring heats of their body. It is these who are called corporeal-natural; the former sensual-natural; but the first, natural. Promiscuous love with them, its insanities and pleasures, are of like degree.

 

443. The delights of conjugial love are the delights [delitiae] of wisdom, because none others than spiritual men are in that love, and the spiritual man is in wisdom, and therefore embraces no delights but such as accord with spiritual wisdom. Of what quality the delights of promiscuous love are, and of what quality are those of conjugial love, may be illustrated by comparison with houses. The delights of promiscuous love may be compared to a house whose walls have a reddish glow outwardly, like a sea shell, or like the specular stones of spurious golden color called selenites, while in the apartments within the walls are filth and rubbish of every kind. But the delights of conjugial love may be likened to a house whose walls are radiant as from pure gold, and the rooms within resplendent, filled as with jewel boxes with many precious stones.

 

444. To this shall be added the following relation:

 

After I had brought to a close my meditations on conjugial love, and had begun the meditations on promiscuous love, two angels suddenly stood by me and said, “We perceived and understood what you meditated before, but the things on which you are now meditating pass away and we do not perceive them. Let these alone, for they are of no account.”

 

But I answered, “This love on which I am now meditating is not of no account, for it exists.”

 

And they said, “How can there be a love that is not from creation? Is not conjugial love from creation? Is not this love between two who can become one? How can there be a love which divides and separates? Can any young man love any other virgin than one who loves in return? Must not the love of one cognize and acknowledge the love of the other, and conjoin themselves of themselves when they meet? Who can love a nonlove? Is not conjugial love alone mutual and reciprocal? If not reciprocal does it not rebound and become nothing?”

 

[2] On hearing this I asked the two angels from what society in heaven they came. They said, “We are from the heaven of innocence. We came as infants into this heavenly world and were reared under the auspices of the Lord. And when I became a young man, and my wife who is with me here became a marriageable girl, we were affianced and bethrothed, and joined at the first omens.²⁹ And because we have not known of any other love than true wedded and conjugial love, when the ideas of your thought about a strange love entirely opposite to our love were communicated to us we did not comprehend it at all. We have therefore come down to ask of you the reason why you are meditating upon things that cannot be perceived. Tell us then how there can be a love which is not only not from creation, but is actually against creation. We regard opposites to creation as objects that have no reality.”

 

[3] As he said this I was gladdened in heart that it was granted me to speak with angels of such innocence that they did not know in the least what promiscuity is. I therefore opened my mouth and taught them, saying, “Do you not know that there is good and evil, and that good and not evil is from creation? And yet evil viewed in itself is not nothing, although it is nothing of good. Good is from creation, and also good in the greatest degree and in the least degree; and when this least becomes none on the other side evil springs up. There is therefore no relation nor progression of good to evil; but a relation and progression of good to greater and less good, and of evil to greater and to less evil; for in every and in all things they are opposites. And good and evil being opposites, there is an intermediate, and in that is equilibrium, in which evil acts against good; but because it does not prevail it abides in the endeavor. Every man is brought up in this equilibrium, which, as it is between good and evil, or what is the same between heaven and hell, is a spiritual equilibrium, which produces freedom with those who are in it. From this equilibrium the Lord draws all to himself, and the man who from freedom follows is led out from evil into good and thus into heaven. So it is with love, especially with conjugial love and with promiscuous love. The latter love is evil and the former is good. Every man who hears the Lord’s voice and from freedom follows is introduced by the Lord into conjugial love, and into all its delights and satisfactions; but he who does not hear and does not follow introduces himself into promiscuous love, and at first into its delights, but afterwards into what is undelightful and finally into its miseries.”

 

[4] When I had said this the two angels asked, “How could evil come into existence when from creation nothing but good had existed? That anything may come into existence it must have its origin. Good could not be the origin of evil, because evil is nothing of good, for it is privative and destructive of good. And yet as it exists and is felt it is not nothing but is something. Say, then, whence comes this something after nothing.”

 

To this I replied, “This arcanum cannot be unfolded unless it be known that no one is good but God only, and that there is not anything good which in itself is good except from God. He therefore who looks to God, and wills to be led by God is in good; but he who turns himself away from God and wills to be led of himself is not in good, for the good that he does is either for himself or for the sake of the world; thus it is either meritorious, or is simulated, or hypocritical. Whence it is plain that man himself is the origin of evil. Not that this origin was inherent in man from creation, but that by turning away from God he imposed it upon himself. That origin of evil was not in Adam and his wife, but when the serpent said:

 

In the day that ye eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, ye shall be as God (Gen. 3:5);

 

and because they then turned away from God and turned to themselves as to a god, they made in themselves the origin of evil. ‘To eat of that tree’ signified to believe that he knows good and evil and has wisdom of himself, and not from God.”

 

[5] But the two angels then asked, “How could man turn himself away from God and turn to himself, when yet man can will, think, and therefore do nothing except from God? Why did God permit this?”

 

I replied, “Man was so created that all that he wills, thinks, and does appears to him just as if in himself and thus of himself. Without this appearance man would not be man, for he could not receive, retain, and as it were appropriate to himself anything of good and truth, or of love and wisdom. Whence it follows that without this, as it were, living appearance man would have no conjunction with God, and therefore no eternal life. But if from this appearance he induces on himself the belief that he does will, think, and therefore do good of himself, and not from the Lord, although it is in all appearance as if of himself, he then turns good into evil within him, and thus makes in himself the origin of evil. This was the sin of Adam.

 

[6] But I will open this subject somewhat more clearly. The Lord looks at everyone in the frontal part of his head, and this look passes through into the hinder part of his head; beneath the frontal part is the cerebrum and beneath the hinder part is the cerebellum. The latter is dedicated to love and its goods and the former to wisdom and its truths. He therefore who looks with the face to the Lord receives wisdom from him, and through wisdom love; but he who looks backwards from the Lord receives love and not wisdom, and love without wisdom is love from man and not from the Lord. And this love, because it conjoins itself with falsities, does not acknowledge God, but itself as a god; and this it tacitly confirms by the faculty of understanding and of becoming wise as if of himself which is implanted in him from creation. This love therefore is the origin of evil. That this is so can be shown to the eye. I will call thither some evil spirit who turns himself away from God, and will speak to him from behind, or into the back part of his head, and you will see that the things said will be turned into their opposites.”

 

[7] And I called such a one. He presented himself and I spoke to him from behind, saying, “Do you know anything about hell, about damnation, and about the torment there?” And presently when he had turned towards me I asked, “What did you hear?” He answered, “I heard this: ‘Do you know anything about heaven, about salvation, and the happiness there?’” And afterwards when these words were spoken to him behind his back he said that he heard the former. Then it was said to him from behind his back, “Do you know that they who are in hell are insane from falsities?” And being asked by me concerning this, what he heard, he said, “I heard ‘Do you know that they who are in heaven are wise from truths?’” And when these words were spoken from behind his back he said that he heard, “Do you know that they who are in hell are insane from falsities?” And so on. “From which it was very manifest that when the mind turns itself away from the Lord it turns to itself, and then perceives opposites. This is the reason why in this spiritual world, as you know, one may not stand behind another and speak to him; for thus a love is inspired into him which his own intelligence favors and obeys, on account of its delight, but which, because it is from man and not from God, is a love of evil or a love of falsity.

 

[8] “Besides this I will tell you of another similar thing, namely, that several times I have heard goods and truths let down from heaven into hell, and that in the descent they were gradually turned into their opposites, the good into evil, and the truth into falsity.

 

The cause of this fact is undoubtedly the same, that all who are in hell turn themselves away from the Lord.”

 

Having heard these things the two angels thanked me, and said, “As you are now meditating and writing upon a love which is opposite to our conjugial love, and the opposite to that love saddens our minds, we will take our leave.”

 

And when they said, “Peace be to you,” I begged them not to tell anything about this love to their brethren and sisters in heaven, because it would hurt their innocence.

 

I can affirm for a certainty that those who die in infancy grow up in heaven, and when they attain the stature of young men in the world at eighteen, and girls at fifteen years, they remain at that age; and that then marriages are provided for them by the Lord. Also that both before marriage and after it they are entirely ignorant of what promiscuity is, or that it is possible.

 

 

 

 

(19)

 

Fornication

 

 

444a.³⁰ By fornication is meant the lust of a youth or man with a woman, a harlot, before marriage. But lust with a woman not a harlot, that is with a virgin, or with the wife of another, is not fornication; but this with a virgin is debauchery; and with the wife of another it is adultery. How these two differ from fornication cannot be seen by any rational man unless he clearly sees the love of the sex in its degrees and diversities, its chaste things on the one hand and its unchaste on the other; and on either hand divides and thus distinguishes it into genera and into species. Otherwise the distinction between the more and less chaste, and between the more and the less unchaste, cannot stand forth clearly in the idea of anyone; and without these distinctions all relation and with it all perspicacity in matters of judgment perishes, and the understanding is involved in such obscurity that it does not know how to distinguish fornication from adultery, and still less the mild from the grievous kinds of fornication and likewise of adultery. It thus mixes the evils, and of diverse evils makes one pottage, and of different goods one paste. In order, therefore, that the love of the sex may be known distinctly, as to that part in which it inclines and progresses towards the promiscuous love which is entirely opposite to conjugial love, it is expedient to examine the beginning of it, which is fornication. This shall be done in the following order:

 

(1) That fornication is of the love of the sex.

 

(2) That this love has its beginning when a youth begins to think and act from his own understanding, and the voice of his speech begins to become masculine.

 

(3) That fornication is of the natural man.

 

(4) That fornication is lust, but not the lust of adultery.

 

(5) That with some men the love of sex cannot without harm be totally withheld from going forth into fornication.

 

(6) That for this reason in populous cities brothels are tolerated.

 

(7) That the lust of fornication is light insofar as it looks to conjugial love, and prefers it.

 

(8) That the lust for fornication is grievous in the degree that it looks to adultery.

 

(9) That the lust of fornicating is grievous as it inclines towards a desire of varieties, and towards a desire of defloration.

 

(10) That the sphere of the lust of fornicating, as it is in its beginning, is intermediate between the sphere of promiscuous love and the sphere of conjugial love and makes the equilibrium.

 

(11) That care should be taken lest by immoderate and inordinate fornications conjugial love should be destroyed.

 

(12) Inasmuch as the conjugial of one man with one wife is the precious treasure of human life, and the repository of the Christian religion.

 

(13) That with those who for various causes cannot yet enter into marriage, and on account of salacity cannot control their lusts, it is possible that this conjugial may be preserved if the wandering love of the sex be confined to one mistress.

 

(14) That taking of a mistress is to be preferred to wandering lust, if only it be not entered into with more than one; and not with a virgin or unravished woman; nor with a married woman; and if it be kept apart from conjugial love.

 

The explication of these subjects now follows.

 

445. (1) That fornication is of the love of the sex. It is said fornication is of the love of the sex because fornication is not the love of the sex, but is from it. The love of the sex is as a fountain from which both conjugial love and promiscuous love can be derived; and they can be derived through fornication and also without it. For the love of the sex is in every man, and it either puts itself forth or does not put itself forth; if it puts itself forth before marriage with a woman that is a harlot it is called fornication; if not until with a wife it is called marriage; if after marriage with another woman it is called adultery. Therefore, as it is said, the love of the sex is a fountain from which may issue either love that is chaste or love that is unchaste. And with what caution and prudence chaste conjugial love can come forth through fornication; and from what imprudence unchaste or promiscuous love comes forth through it will be shown in what follows. Who can come to the conclusion that one who has indulged in fornication might not be more chaste in marriage?

 

446. (2) That the love of the sex, from which is fornication, has its beginning when a youth begins to think and act from his own understanding, and the voice of his speech begins to become masculine.

 

This is adduced to the end that the rise of the love of sex and thence of fornication may be known, that it is when the understanding begins of itself to become rational, or begins of its own reason to look and provide such things as are of emolument and of use, whereto what is in the memory, from parents and masters, then serves as a plane. At that time a change in the mind takes place. Before, he only thought from things carried in the memory, meditating upon and obeying them; afterwards, from reasoning upon them; and then, love leading, he disposes the things seated in his memory into a new order, and conformably to this order begins his own life, and successively more and more thinks according to his own reason, and wills from his own freedom. That the love of the sex follows this beginning of his own understanding, and progresses according to the vigor of it is known; an indication that this love ascends as the understanding ascends and descends as that descends. By ascends is meant into wisdom; and by descends is meant into insanity. And it is wisdom to restrain the love of the sex; and insanity to let it loose. If it is let forth into fornication, which is a beginning of its activity, then, from principles of honor and of morality implanted in the memory and thence in the reason, and to be implanted afterwards in reason and thence in the memory, it ought to be moderated. The reason why, together with the beginning of his own understanding, the voice also begins to become masculine is that the understanding thinks and through the thought speaks, an indication that the understanding makes the man [vir], and also makes him masculine; consequently, that insofar as his understanding is elevated he thus becomes a manly human [homo-vir] and also a masculine man [vir]. (See above, n. 433-434.)

 

447. (3) That fornication is of the natural man, in like manner as is the love of the sex, which if it becomes active before marriage is called fornication. Every man is born corporeal, becomes sensual, then natural, and successively rational; and if he does not then stop he becomes spiritual. The reason why he progresses thus is in order that planes may be formed upon which the higher degrees may rest, as a palace upon its foundations. The ultimate plane with the things built upon it may also be likened to ground prepared, in which noble seed may be planted.

 

[2] As regards the love of the sex in particular, it also is first corporeal, for it begins from the flesh; then it becomes sensual, for the five senses are delighted from its common principle; after that it becomes natural, quite like the same love with animals, for it is the wandering love of the sex. But as man is born so that he may become spiritual, the love afterwards becomes rational-natural; and from rational-natural, spiritual; and at last spiritual-natural. And then the love, made spiritual, flows in and acts upon the rational love; and through that upon the sensual love; and through that finally upon the love in the body and the flesh. And as this is its ultimate plane, it acts in this plane spiritually, and at the same time rationally and sensually. And it does thus successively flow in and act while the man is in meditation upon it, but simultaneously when he is in the ultimate.

 

[3] Fornication is of the natural man, because it comes forth proximately from the natural love of the sex; and it can be rational- natural but not spiritual, for the love of the sex cannot become spiritual until it becomes conjugial love; and from natural the love of the sex becomes spiritual when man recedes from wandering lust and devotes himself to one, to whose soul he unites his own soul.

 

448. (4) That fornication is lust, but not the lust of adultery. That fornication is lust is from these causes: (a) That it comes from the natural man, and in all that comes from that man there is lust and immoderate desire; for the natural man is nothing but an abode and receptacle of lusts and immoderate desires, since all the propensities to evil inherited from parents reside there. (b) Because the fornicator looks vagrantly and promiscuously towards the sex, and not yet to one of the sex, and so long as he is in that state lust incites him to the doing of what he does; but in proportion as he looks to one, and loves to conjoin his life with her life, lust becomes chaste affection, and lust becomes human love.

 

449. That the lust of fornication is not the lust of adultery anyone can see from common perception. What law, or what judge, imputes to a fornicator the same criminality as to an adulterer? The reason whence this is seen by common perception is that fornication is not opposite to conjugial love, as adultery is. In fornication conjugial love may lie concealed within, as the spiritual may be within the natural; yea, the spiritual is in fact actually evolved out of the natural; and when the spiritual has been evolved, then the natural compasses it about as bark does the wood, and as the sheath the sword, and also serves the spiritual for protection against violence. It is evident from these considerations that the natural love which is towards the sex precedes spiritual love, which is towards one of the sex; but if fornication goes forth from the natural love of the sex, it can also be wiped away, if only conjugial love be regarded, wished for, and sought as the chief good.

 

It is entirely otherwise with the libidinous and obscene love of adultery, which is opposite to conjugial love and the destroyer of it, as has been shown in the preceding chapter on the opposition of promiscuous love and conjugial love. If therefore an adulterer of purpose or from confirmation for various reasons enters the conjugial bed, the case is inverted; concealed within lies the natural, with its obscenities, while without a spiritual appearance veils it over. From which reason may see that the lust of limited fornication, in comparison with the lust of adultery, is as the first warmth to the cold of midwinter in the northern regions.

 

450. (5) That with some men the love of the sex cannot without harm be totally restrained from going forth into fornication. There is no need to recount the injuries which excessive restraint of the love of the sex may cause and effect with those who from superabundance suffer from intense venereal excitement. Hence are the origins with them of certain diseases of the body and disorders of the mind, to say nothing of unknown evils not to be named. It is different with those whose love of the sex is so scanty that they are able to resist the urgings of its lust. Equally so with those who at the age of early manhood, thus at the first favorable opportunity, are free, without the loss of worldly fortune, to introduce themselves to a legitimate partnership of the bed. As it is so in heaven with infants when they are grown to conjugial age, it is unknown there what fornication is. But on earth the case is not the same in places where marriages cannot be contracted until after the time of early manhood is past; which is so with many in governments where offices are obtained, and the means for supporting a house and family are acquired by long service, and then first can a worthy wife be sought.

 

451. (6) That therefore in populous cities brothels are tolerated. This fact is adduced in confirmation of the preceding article. It is known that they are tolerated by kings, magistrates, and hence by judges, inspectors, and by the people, in London, Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna, Venice, Naples, and also in Rome, and many other places. Among the reasons for which they are tolerated are those that are mentioned above.

 

452. (7) That fornication is light insofar as it looks to conjugial love and prefers it. There are degrees of the quality of evil as there are degrees of the quality of good. And therefore every evil is lighter and more grievous, just as every good is better and best. It is similar with fornication, which, because it is lust and of the natural man not yet purified, is an evil. But as every man can be purified, therefore, in proportion as he advances towards a purified state that evil becomes a lighter evil, for to that degree it is wiped away; and thus so far as fornication approaches towards conjugial love, which is the love of the sex purified. That the evil of fornication is more grievous in proportion as it approaches the love of adultery will be shown in the following article.

 

[2] That fornication is light so far as it looks to conjugial love is because man is then looking from the unchaste state in which he is to a chaste state, and insofar as he prefers this he is really in it as to his understanding; and insofar as he not only prefers it but also loves it more, to that degree he is in it also as to his will, thus as to his internal man. And then fornication, if nevertheless he continues in it, is to him a necessity for reasons that he has explored.

 

[3] There are two reasons which make fornication light with those who prefer the conjugial state and love it more. The first is that with them conjugial life is the purpose, intention, or end. The other is that they separate evil from good with themselves. As regards the first, that with them conjugial life is the purpose, intention, or end; it is because a man is such a man as he is in his purpose, intention, or end; and such also he is before the Lord and before the angels, yea, and so he is also regarded by wise men in the world. For the intention is the soul of all actions, and causes inculpation and exculpation in the world, and imputation after death.

 

[4] As to the second reason, that they who prefer conjugial love to the lust of fornication separate evil from good, and thus the unchaste from the chaste; those who separate these two in perception and in intention, before they are in the good or the chaste, are also separated and purified from the evil of this lust when they come into the conjugial state. It will be seen in the article now following that this does not come to pass with those who in fornication look towards adultery.

 

453. (8) That the lust of fornicating is grievous in the degree that it looks towards adultery. They all look to adultery in their lust of fornication who do not believe adulteries to be sins, and who think of marriages in a similar way as of adulteries, with the difference only of what is licit and what is illicit. These also make of all evils one evil and mix them together, as filth with edible food in one dish, or as refuse with wine in one cup, and thus eat and drink. The like do they with the love of the sex, with fornication, with taking of a mistress, with adultery, the milder, the more grievous, and the most grievous, yea, with debauchery or defloration. Add to this, that they not only mix all these together, but even mix them in with marriages, and defile them with the same notion. But to those who do not even distinguish between the latter and the former, after roving intercourse with the sex there comes cold, disdain, and loathing, first for the married partner, then for others, and finally for the sex. It is self-evident that with them there is no purpose, intention, or end of what is good or chaste, that they may be exculpated; nor any separation of evil from good, or of what is unchaste from what is chaste, that they may be purified, as there is with those who from fornication look to conjugial love and prefer it, of whom in the preceding article, n. 452.

 

These things it is permitted to confirm by this new information from heaven: I have met with several who in the world had lived like others in externals, clothing themselves splendidly, faring sumptuously, trafficking with advantage as others did, seeing theatrical entertainments, jesting about love affairs as if from lust, and other like things, and yet to some the angels imputed these things as evils of sin and to some not as evils; and these they pronounced guiltless, but the others guilty. To the question why they did so, when yet they had done like things, they answered that they view everyone according to his purpose, intention, or end, and according to this they distinguish them; and therefore those whom the end excuses or condemns they excuse or condemn, for all in heaven have an end of good, and all in hell have an end of evil; and that this and nothing else is meant by the Lord’s words:

 

Judge not that ye be not condemned (Matt. 7:1).

 

454. (9) That the lust of fornicating is more grievous as it inclines towards a desire of varieties, and towards a desire of defloration. The reason is that these two are accessories of adultery, and thus aggravate it. For there are mild, grievous, and more grievous adulteries; and they are adjudged in each case according to their opposition to conjugial love and hence their destructiveness of it. That the desire of varieties and the desire of deflorations, confirmed by acts, lay waste conjugial love and sink it as in the depths of the sea will be seen in the chapters concerning them which are to follow.

 

455. (10) That the sphere of the lust of fornicating, as it is in its beginning, is intermediate between the sphere of promiscuous love and the sphere of conjugial love, and makes the equilibrium. The two spheres, of promiscuous love and of conjugial love, have been treated of in a preceding chapter. And it was shown that the sphere of promiscuous love comes up out of hell, and the sphere of conjugial love descends from heaven (n. 435); that in each world the two spheres meet, but do not conjoin themselves (n. 436); that between these two spheres there is an equilibrium, and man is in it (n. 437); that a man can turn himself to which sphere he pleases, but insofar as he turns himself to the one, he turns from the other (n. 438); what is meant by spheres (n. 434, and the places there cited). That the sphere of the lust of fornicating is intermediate between those two spheres and makes the equilibrium is from the fact that while one is in that state he is able to turn himself to the sphere of conjugial love, that is to that love, and also to the sphere of the love of adultery, which is to that love. But if he turns to conjugial love he turns himself toward heaven; if to the love of adultery he turns himself towards hell; each is at the free determination, pleasure, and will of the man, because he has the ability to act freely according to reason, and not from instinct; that is, that he may be a man, and appropriate influx to himself, and not a beast which appropriates nothing of it to himself. It is said, the lust of fornication as it is in its beginning, because then it is in an intermediate state. Who does not know that whatever man does at the beginning is from lust, because from the natural man? And who does not know that this lust is not imputed to him while from natural he is becoming spiritual? It is similar with the lust of fornication while the man’s love is becoming conjugial love.

 

456. (11) That care ought to be taken lest by immoderate and inordinate fornications conjugial love should be destroyed. B y immoderate and inordinate fornications by which conjugial love is destroyed are meant fornications whereby not only the powers are enervated, but all the dainties of conjugial love are taken away. For from an unbridled indulgence of them arise not only weaknesses and consequent want, but also foulness and immodesties, in consequence of which conjugial love in its cleanness and chastity cannot be perceived and felt, and thus neither in its sweetness nor in the delightfulness of its flower, to say nothing of the injuries to body and mind, and of the forbidden allurements which not only despoil conjugial love of its blessed enjoyments, but even take it away and turn it into cold and thus into disdain. Such fornications are wild excesses by which conjugial sports are turned into tragic scenes. For immoderate and inordinate fornications are as flaming fires that spring up from the ultimates and consume the body, parch its fibers, defile the blood, and vitiate the rationals of the mind; for they burst forth as a flame from the foundation into a house and burn up the whole. Care ought to be taken by parents that this may not be, because a youth growing up, greatly excited by lust, cannot yet from reason put the curb upon himself.

 

457. (12) Inasmuch as the conjugial of one man with one wife is the precious treasure of human life, and the repository of the Christian religion. These are the two things which have been shown, universally and particularly, in the whole of the preceding part on conjugial love and the delights of its wisdom. It is the precious treasure of human life because the quality of a man’s life is such as is the quality of this love in him, for this makes the inmost of his life, for it is the life of wisdom cohabiting with its love, and of love cohabiting with its wisdom, and is therefore the life of the delights of both. In a word, man is a living soul through this love. Hence it is that the conjugial love of one man with one wife is called the precious treasure of human life.

 

This is confirmed by the following considerations presented above: that with one wife there is friendship truly conjugial, confidence, and potency, because there is a union of minds (n. 333-334); that in and from this union are the celestial beatitudes, the spiritual satisfactions, and from these the natural delights, which have been provided from the beginning for those who are in love truly conjugial (n. 335); that it is the fundamental love of all celestial, spiritual, and thence of all natural loves; and that into this love are brought together all joys and all gladnesses, from the first to the last (n. 65-69); and in the delights of wisdom pertaining to conjugial love, which forms the first part of this work, it has been fully shown that regarding it in its origin, it is the sport of wisdom and love.

 

458. Conjugial love is the repository of the Christian religion because that religion makes one and dwells together with this love. For it has been shown that no others can come into this love, and be in it, but those who approach the Lord and do the truths of his church and its goods (n. 70-71); that this love is from the Lord only, and for that reason is with those who are of the Christian religion (n. 131, 335-336); that this love is according to the state of the church, because it is according to the state of wisdom with man (n. 130). That these things are so is confirmed in the entire chapter on its correspondence with the marriage of the Lord and the church (n. 116-131), and in the chapter on the origin of this love from the marriage of good and truth (n. 83-102).

 

459. (13) That with those who for various causes cannot yet enter into marriage, and on account of salacity cannot control their lusts, it is possible that this conjugial may be preserved if the love of the sex be confined to one mistress. That immoderate and inordinate lust cannot be restrained by those who are salacious, reason sees and experience teaches. In order then that the immoderation and inordinacy may be curbed, and be brought to something moderate and ordinate, with those who labor under a raging heat and cannot for many reasons hasten and anticipate marriage, there seems no other refuge and as it were asylum than to take a mistress, called in French a maitresse.

 

It is known that in kingdoms where there are government regulations, matrimonies cannot be contracted by many until after the period of early manhood is passed, because employment must first be obtained by service, and means to support a house and family must be acquired, and then first may a worthy wife be sought. And yet with few during the preceding age can the fountain of manhood be kept closed and reserved for a wife. It is indeed preferable that it be reserved; but if on account of the unbridled power of lust it cannot be, then an intermediary course is to be sought whereby conjugial love can meanwhile be kept from perishing. That taking of a mistress is such a means, the following considerations advise: (a) That thereby inordinate promiscuous fornications are curbed and limited, and a more restrained state induced which is more nearly akin to the life of conjugial love.

 

[2] (b) That the ardor of sexual activity, boiling and as it were burning in its beginning, is quieted and assuaged, and thus the licentiousness of salacity, which is foul, is tempered by something as it were analogous to marriage.

 

[3] (c) That by this the virile forces are not thrown away and imbecilities contracted, as by vagrant and unlimited indulgences.

 

[4] (d) That thereby also diseases of the body and insanities of mind are avoided.

 

[5] (e) Likewise adulteries are thereby guarded against, which are whoredoms with wives; and debaucheries, which are violations of virgins, not to speak of those disgraceful things which are not to be named. For a boy at the age of puberty has no thought that adulteries and debaucheries are other than fornications, but thinks that one is the same as the other; nor has he knowledge from reason to withstand the enticements of some of the sex who have carefully studied the arts of courtesans; but in taking of a mistress which is a more regulated and saner fornication he may learn and see the distinctions.

 

[6] (f) There is no approach through taking of a mistress to the four kinds of lust that are in the highest degree destructive of conjugial love, which are the lust of defloration, the lust of varieties, the lust of violation, the lust of seducing innocences, of which in what follows.

 

But these things are not said for those who can control the surging heat of lust; nor for those who can enter into marriage as soon as they are grown to manhood, and can offer and devote the first fruits of their manly power to their wife.

 

460. (14) That taking of a mistress is to be preferred to wandering lust, if only it be not entered into with more than one; and not with a virgin or undeflowered woman; nor with a married woman; and if it be kept apart from conjugial love. When and with whom taking of a mistress is preferable to wandering lust has been pointed out just above. (a) The reason why taking of a mistress should not be entered into with more than one is that with more there is something polygamous in it, which brings man into a state merely natural, and thrusts him down into the sensual so far that he cannot be elevated into the spiritual state in which conjugial love must be (see n. 338-339).

 

[2] (b) That it must not be engaged in with a virgin or undeflowered woman is because with women conjugial love makes one with their virginity. Hence the chastity, the purity, and the sanctity of that love. Wherefore, to pledge and give up her virginity to any man is to give a token that she will love him to eternity. For that reason a virgin can by no rational consent bargain it away, unless with the promise of the conjugial covenant. It is also the crown of her honor. To snatch it therefore beforehand without the covenant of marriage and afterwards to discard her is to make a harlot of some virgin who might have become a bride, and a chaste wife, or to defraud some man, and either is damnable. He therefore who does take to himself a virgin as a mistress, may indeed cohabit with her, and thus initiate her into the friendship of love, but still with the constant intention, if she does not commit whoredom, that she shall be or shall become his wife.

 

[3], (c) It is plain that taking of a mistress must not be engaged in with a married woman, because that is adultery.

 

[4] (d) The reason why the love of taking of a mistress must be kept apart from conjugial love is that the loves are distinct, and must not therefore be mixed together. For the love of taking of a mistress is an unchaste, natural, and external love, while conjugial love is chaste, spiritual, and internal; the love of taking of a mistress keeps the souls of the two apart, and conjoins only the sensuals of the body; while conjugial love unites the souls, and from the union of souls unites the sensuals of the body also, even so that the two become as it were one, that is one flesh.

 

[5] (e) The love of taking of a mistress only enters the understanding, and into those things which depend upon the understanding; but the love of marriage enters also into the will, and into those things that depend on the will, and thus into all things and everything of the man. If then the love of taking of a mistress becomes the love of marriage, the man cannot by any right withdraw without a violation of conjugial union; and if he does withdraw and take another, conjugial love perishes in the breach of it. It must be known that the love of taking of a mistress is held apart from conjugial love, if the man does not promise marriage to the mistress, nor lead her into any hope of marriage.

 

But it is better that the torch of the love of the sex be first lighted with a wife.

 

461. To this shall be added the following relation:

 

I was once speaking with a novitiate spirit who, while in the world, had meditated much about heaven and hell. By novitiate spirits are meant men recently deceased, who, because they are now spiritual men, are called spirits. As soon as he entered the spiritual world, he began in like manner to think about heaven and hell; and while thinking about heaven he seemed to himself in joy, and while thinking about hell in sadness. When he realized that he was in the spiritual world he asked immediately where heaven was, and where hell; and then, what and of what quality was the one and the other; he was told that, “Heaven is above your head, and hell is beneath your feet. For you are now in the world of spirits, which is intermediate between heaven and hell. But what and of what quality heaven and hell are we cannot describe in a few words.”

 

And then, as he was burning with the desire to know about them, he threw himself upon his knees and devoutly prayed to God that he might be instructed. And lo, an angel appeared at his right hand and raised him up, and said:

 

“You have besought that you may be instructed about heaven and hell. Inquire and learn what delight is, and you will know”; and when he had said these words, the angel was lifted up.

 

[2] The novitiate spirit then said to himself, “What is this?

 

‘Inquire and learn what delight is, and you will know what and of what quality heaven and hell are’?”

 

But going away from that place he wandered about, asking those whom he met,

 

“Pray, tell me, if you please, what delight is?”

 

And some said, “What sort of a question is this? Who does not know what delight is? Is it not joy and gladness? Delight then is delight. One delight is like another. We know no difference.”

 

Others said, “Delight is laughter of the mind. For when the mind laughs the face is merry, the speech jovial, the gestures playful, and the whole man is in delight.”

 

Others again said, “Delight is nothing but to feast, and to eat delicious food, and drink and be intoxicated with generous wine, and then chat together on various subjects, especially on the sports of Venus and Cupid.”

 

[3] Hearing these things the novitiate spirit, indignant, said within himself, “These answers are rustic and not of the public forum. Such delights are not heaven and are not hell. Would that I might meet wise men.”

 

And he went away from them and inquired, “Where are the wise?”

 

And then he was observed by a certain angelic spirit, who said, “I perceive that you are kindled with a desire to know what is the universal of heaven, and the universal of hell; and as this is delight, I will lead you upon a hill where every day there is an assemblage of those who are inquiring as to effects, those who search into causes, and those who investigate ends. There are three companies: Those that inquire about effects are called spirits of knowledges, and abstractly, knowledges; those that search into causes are called spirits of intelligence, and abstractly, intelligences; and those who investigate ends are called spirits of wisdom, and abstractly, wisdoms. Directly over them in heaven are the angels who from ends see causes, and from causes, effects. From these angels the three companies receive enlightenment.”

 

[4] Then taking the novitiate spirit by the hand, he led him upon the hill, and to the company of those who investigate ends, and are called wisdoms. He said to them, “Pardon me for coming up to you. The reason is that from boyhood I have meditated about heaven and hell, and have lately come into this world; and some who have been associated with me have said that heaven here is above my head, and hell is beneath my feet. But they did not tell me the nature and quality of either of them. Having therefore from constant thought become anxious about them, I prayed to God, and then an angel stood by me and said, ‘Inquire and learn what delight is, and you will know.’ I have inquired, but as yet in vain. I beg you therefore to teach me, if you please, what delight is.”

 

[5] To this the wise responded, “Delight is the all of life with everyone in heaven, and the all of life with everyone in hell. With those who are in heaven, it is the delight of good and truth; but with those that are in hell, it is the delight of what is evil and false. For all delight is of love, and love is the very being [esse] of man’s life. Therefore, as man is man according to the quality of his love, so is he man according to the quality of his delight. The activity of the love produces the sense of delight. In heaven its activity is with wisdom; in hell its activity is with insanity. Each presents itself in its subjects as delight. But the heavens and the hells are in opposite delights, because in opposite loves; the heavens are in the love and thence in the delight of doing good, but the hells, in the love and thence in the delight of doing evil. If, then, you know what delight is, you know what and of what nature heaven is, and hell. But inquire and learn further about what delight is from those who search into causes, and are called intelligences. They are to the right from here.”

 

[6] He then left and went to them, and told them the cause of his coming, and asked that they would instruct him as to what delight is. And they, pleased with the question, said, “It is true that he who knows delight knows what heaven is and hell, and the nature of them. The will, by virtue of which man is man, is not moved a jot except by delight; for will, viewed in itself, is nothing but the affect and effect of some love, thus of delight; for it is a something pleasing, grateful, and pleasurable that makes it will. And as the will moves the understanding to think, there is not the least of an idea of thought but from an inflowing delight of the will. The reason why this is so is that the Lord, by influx from himself, actuates all things of the soul, and all things of the mind, with angels, spirits, and men, and he actuates them by the inflowing of love and wisdom; and this inflowing is the very activity from which all delight comes, which in its origin is called blessed, satisfactory, and happy; and in its derivation, delight, pleasantness, and pleasure, in a universal sense, good. But infernal spirits invert all things with themselves, and thus turn good into evil and truth into falsity, delight remaining continually; for without the continuance of delight they would have no will and no sensation, thus no life. It is manifest from these considerations what, of what kind, and whence the delight of hell is; and what, of what kind, and whence is the delight of heaven.”

 

[7] After hearing these things he was conducted to the third company where they were who inquire into effects and are called knowledges. These said to him, “Go down into the lower earth, and ascend into the higher earth. In the latter you will perceive and feel the delights of the angels of heaven, in the former the delights of the spirits of hell.”

 

And lo, at a distance from them the ground then opened and through the opening came up three devils appearing aflame with the delight of their love; and as those consociated with the novitiate spirit perceived that the three devils came up out of hell providentially, they said to them, “Come no nearer; but tell something about your delights from the place where you are.”

 

And they said, “Know, that everyone, good or evil, is in his own delight, a good man in the delight of good and an evil man in the delight of evil.”

 

And they asked, “What is your delight?”

 

They answered, that they were in the delight of whoring, stealing, defrauding, blaspheming. And they asked again, “What is the quality of these delights?”

 

They said, “They are perceived by others as fetid odors from excrements, and as the stench from dead bodies, and the rank smell from stagnant urine.”

 

And they were asked, “Are these delightful to you?” They answered, “Most delightful.”

 

The others said, “Then you are like the unclean beasts that live in such things.”

 

They replied, “If we are, we are; but such things are the delights of our nostrils.”

 

[8] And the others asked, “What else?”

 

They answered, that, “Everyone is allowed to be in his own delight, even the most unclean, as they call it, if only they do not infest good spirits and angels; but because from our delight, we cannot but infest them, we are cast into workhouses where we suffer horrible things. The prohibition and withdrawal of our delights there is what is called the torment of hell. It is really interior pain.”

 

Then they asked, “Why do you infest the good?”

 

They said they could not do otherwise. When they see any angel and feel the Divine sphere about him it is as if a fury seized them. Then they said, “So you are like wild beasts.”

 

And presently, when they saw the novitiate spirit with the angels, a fury came over the devils which appeared as the fire of hatred. Therefore lest the devils should do harm they were cast back into hell.

 

After this, angels appeared who from ends see causes, and through causes effects, and who were in the heaven above the three companies. They were seen in a brilliant white light, which rolling itself like spiral turnings downwards brought with it a circular wreath of flowers, and placed it on the head of the novitiate spirit. And then there came a voice to him from heaven, saying: “This laurel is given you because from childhood you have meditated on heaven and hell.”

 

 

 

 

(20)

 

Taking a Mistress

 

 

462. In the preceding chapter where fornication is treated of it treats also of resorting to a courtesan, and by this was meant a stipulated conjunction of an unmarried man with a woman. But by taking a mistress is here meant the similarly arranged conjunction of a married man with a woman. Those that do not make this distinction use these two words indiscriminately as having one meaning and thence one signification. But since in kind they are two, and the word taking a courtesan is appropriate to the former (because a courtesan is a promiscuouse woman), and as the word mistress suits the latter (because a mistress is a substituted partner of the bed), therefore for the purpose of distinction, an antenuptial arrangement with a woman is signified by taking a courtesan and a postnuptial arrangement by taking a mistress. Taking a mistress is treated of here for the sake of order; for from order it is discovered of what quality marriage is on the one hand and of what quality adultery is on the other. That marriage and adultery are opposites was first set forth in a chapter concerning the opposition of them; and to what degree and in what respect they are opposites can only be gathered from the intermediates that intervene, of which taking a mistress also is one. But as there are two kinds of taking a mistress, and these are to be totally separated, therefore this chapter, like the former ones, is to be divided into its parts, which are as follows:

 

(1) That there are two kinds of taking a mistress, which differ very greatly from each other; one conjointly with a wife; the other apart from a wife.

 

(2) That taking a mistress conjointly with a wife is to Christians altogether unlawful and detestable.

 

(3) That it is polygamy, which by the Christian world is condemned, and ought to be condemned.

 

(4) That it is promiscuity by which the conjugial, which is the precious jewel of Christian life, is destroyed.

 

(5) That taking a mistress apart from the wife, when engaged in for legitimate, just, and truly weighty causes, is not unlawful.

 

(6) That the legitimate causes of this taking a mistress are the legitimate causes of divorce, while the wife is nevertheless retained at home.

 

(7) That the just causes of this taking a mistress are just causes of separation from the bed.

 

(8) That weighty causes of this taking a mistress are real, and not real.

 

(9) That the weighty causes are real which are from what is just.

 

(10) But that weighty causes not real are such as are not from what is just, although from an appearance of what is just.

 

(11) That those who from legitimate, just, and really weighty causes are in this taking a mistress may at the same time be in conjugial love.

 

(12) That while this taking a mistress lasts actual conjunction with the wife is not lawful.

 

The exposition of these now follows:

 

463. (1) That there are two kinds of taking a mistress, which very greatly differ from each other; one conjointly with a wife; the other apart from a wife. There are two kinds of taking a mistress, which differ very greatly from each other. One kind is the taking of a rival to the bed and living with her at the same time and conjointly with the wife; the other kind the taking of a woman in her place, as companion of the bed, after legitimate and just separation from the wife.

 

[2] They who look at things clearly and distinctly can see that these two kinds of taking a mistress are as alien from each other as dirty linen from that which is washed; but by those who view things confusedly and indistinctly it cannot be seen. Yea, it can be seen by those who are in conjugial love, but not by those who are in the love of adultery. These are in night respecting all the derivatives of the love of the sex, but those are in the day respecting them. And yet they who are in adultery can see these derivations and their distinctions, not indeed in themselves, of themselves, but when they hear them from others; for an adulterer has a like faculty of elevating the understanding as a chaste married partner. But the adulterer after he has acknowledged the distinctions heard from others, yet obliterates them as soon as he plunges his understanding into his filthy pleasures; for, though the chaste and the unchaste, and the sane and the insane, cannot abide together, yet they can be distinguished by the understanding when separated.

 

[3] Once, in the spiritual world, some that do not regard adulteries as sin were asked by me whether they knew any distinction between fornication, taking a mistress, the two kinds of taking a mistress, and the degrees of adultery. They said that one was as the other. And they were asked whether marriage was so too. They looked about to see whether any of the clergy were present, and as they were not, they said that in themselves they are alike. It was otherwise with those who in the ideas of their thoughts regarded adulteries as sins. They said that in their interior ideas, which are of perception, they saw distinctions, but had not yet studied to discern and distinguish them. This I can affirm, that by the angels of heaven the distinctions are perceived as to their least particulars.

 

To make it clear then that there are the two kinds of taking a mistress, opposite to each other; one of which abolishes conjugial love, and the other does not abolish it, to that end the damnable kind shall first be described, and afterwards the other which is not damnable.

 

464. (2) That taking a mistress conjointly with a wife is to Christians unlawful and detestable. It is unlawful because it is against the conjugial covenant; and it is detestable because it is contrary to religion, and what is at the same time contrary to the one and to the other is contrary to the Lord. As soon therefore as any man without weighty, real cause adds to his wife a mistress, heaven is closed to him, and he is no more numbered by the angels among Christians. And from that time he also actually spurns the things of the church and of religion; and afterwards does not lift up his face above nature, but turns to it as to a god that favors his lust, the inflowing of which then animates his spirit. The interior cause of this apostasy will be disclosed in what follows. The man himself does not see that this taking a mistress is detestable, because when heaven is closed to him he comes into spiritual insanity. But a chaste wife sees it, because she is conjugial love and this love nauseates it; therefore also many of them refuse actual conjunction with their husbands after it, as a thing that would contaminate their chastity by the contagion of lust adhering to the men from the courtesans.

 

465. (3) That it is polygamy, which by the Christian world is condemned, and ought to be condemned. That taking a mistress at the same time or conjointly with a wife is polygamy, though not acknowledged as such, because not established by any law, and not so-called, everyone sees even if not clearsighted; for a woman kept for use and a sharer of the conjugial bed is as a wife. That polygamy is condemned, and ought to be condemned by the Christian world, has been shown in the chapter on polygamy, especially under these heads in that chapter: that it is not permitted to a Christian to marry more than one wife, n. 338; and that if a Christian marries more wives than one, he commits not only natural adultery, but also spiritual adultery, n. 339; that it was permitted to the Israelitish nation because there was no Christian church with them, n. 340. From which it is plain that to join to a wife a mistress and share the bed with both is filthy polygamy.

 

466. (4) That it is promiscuity by which the conjugial, which is the precious jewel of Christian life, is destroyed. That it is promiscuity more antagonistic to conjugial love than ordinary promiscuity, which is called simple adultery, and that it is a deprivation of all the faculty and inclination for conjugial life which is inherent in Christians from nativity can be clearly shown to the reason of a wise man by valid arguments. As to the first: That taking a mistress at the same time and conjointly with a wife is promiscuity more antagonistic to conjugial love than ordinary promiscuity, which is called simple adultery, may be seen from these considerations: That in ordinary promiscuity or simple adultery there is no love analogous to conjugial love, for it is only a burning heat of the flesh which quickly ceases to rage and sometimes does not leave a vestige of love for the woman; and therefore this effervescing lasciviousness, if not indulged in from purpose or from confirmation, and if the adulterer repents of it, only takes away in some small degree from conjugial love. It is not so with polygamic promiscuity. In this there inheres a love analogous to conjugial love, for it does not effervesce, dissipate, and pass away into nothing after effervescence like the former, but remains, renews, and establishes itself, and insofar takes away from the love to the wife and in its place induces cold towards the wife. For the man then looks upon the courtesan bedfellow as lovely, from a freedom of will, in that he can draw back if he pleases, a freedom that is innate in the natural man, and being therefore grateful, it supports that love; and the more, that with the mistress there is a closer unition by allurements than with the wife. And on the other hand he does not look upon the wife as lovely, on account of the duty of cohabitation with her enjoined by the covenant for life, which he then feels to be the more constrained because of his freedom with the other. That love for the married partner grows cold and she herself vile in proportion as love for the courtesan grows warm, and she is held in favor, is evident.

 

[2] As regards the second point: That taking a mistress at the same time and conjointly with a wife deprives a man of every faculty and inclination to conjugial life, which is inherent in Christians from nativity, may be seen from these considerations: That insofar as love for the married partner is transcribed into love for the mistress, that for the married partner is torn off, exhausted, and emptied out, as has been shown just above. That this takes place through the closing of the interiors of his natural mind and the opening of its lower parts is very evident from the fact that with Christians the seat of the inclination to love one of the sex is in their inmosts, and that this seat may be closed up but cannot be extirpated. The reason why the inclination to love one of the sex, and also the faculty for receiving that love, is implanted in Christians from nativity, is that the love is from the Lord alone and is become a matter of religion, and in Christendom the Divine of the Lord is acknowledged and is worshiped, and the religion is from his Word. Hence comes the ingrafting of it, and also the transplanting of it, from generation to generation. It was said that the Christian conjugial is destroyed by polygamic promiscuity; but by that is meant that in a Christian polygamist it is shut off and intercepted; but yet it may be resuscitated in his posterity, just as takes place with the likeness of a grandfather or a great great grandfather returning in his grandson or great great grandson. Hence it is that this conjugial is called the jewel of the Christian life, and above, n. 457-458, the precious treasure of human life and the repository of Christian religion.

 

[3] That this conjugial is destroyed by polygamic promiscuity in the case of a Christian who is in it is manifest from the fact that he cannot love a mistress and a wife equally, as a Mohammedan polygamist can, but that insofar as he loves the mistress, or grows warm towards her, insofar he does not love his wife and grows cold to her. And what is more detestable, insofar he in heart regards the Lord as a natural man only and the son of Mary, and not at the same time as the son of God; and insofar he also makes the Christian religion of no account. But it should be well known that this is the case with those who add a mistress to the wife, and actually conjoin themselves to both, and not at all to those who for causes legitimate, just, and truly weighty, separate themselves, and as to actual love disunite themselves from the wife, and put a woman kept for use in her place. The consideration of this kind of taking a mistress now follows.

 

467. (5) That taking a mistress apart from the wife, when it is engaged in for legitimate, just, and truly weighty causes, is not unlawful. What causes are meant by legitimate, what by just, and by truly weighty will be explained in their order. Only a mention of the causes is here premised, so that this taking a mistress which is to be treated of now in what follows may be distinguished from the former taking a mistress.

 

468. (6) That the legitimate causes of this taking a mistress are the legitimate causes of divorce, while the wife is nevertheless retained at home. By divorce is meant the abolition of the conjugial covenant and thence complete separation, and entire liberty after that to take another wife. The only cause of this total separation or divorce is promiscuity, according to the Lord’s precept in Matt. 19:9. To the same cause belong also manifest obscenities, which dissolve modesty, and fill and infest the house with infamous intrigues, from which arises a promiscuous shamelessness in which the whole mind is dissolved. Add to these malicious desertion which involves promiscuity and causes the wife to commit adultery and thus to be put away (Matt. 5:32). These three, because they are the legitimate causes of divorce, the first and the third before a public judge, and the second before the man as judge, are also legitimate causes of taking a mistress, but when the adulterous wife is retained at home. That promiscuity is the only cause of divorce, because it is diametrically opposite to the life of conjugial love, and destroys it even to the point of extermination, may be seen above, n. 255.

 

469. The reasons why by many men the wanton wife is yet retained at home are: (1) That the man is afraid to bring legal suit against the wife accusing her of adultery, and thus to publish her crime abroad; for if she were not convicted by eye witnesses, or the equivalent of eye witnesses, he would be overwhelmed with reproaches, secret in companies of men, and open in companies of women. (2) He fears also the crafty vindications of his adulteress, and her being shielded by the judges, and so the dishonor of his name. (3) Besides these there are circumstances of domestic utility which dissuade him from a separation from the house; for example, if they have small children towards whom even the adulteress has maternal love; if mutual duties interpose and conjoin, which cannot be severed; if the wife has favor and protection from kindred and relations, and there is hope of fortune from them; if he had held loving intercourse with her in the beginning and if since she became a harlot she knows how to artfully soothe the man with engaging pleasantries and pretended civilities, that she may not be blamed. Besides other reasons, which because the causes of divorce are in themselves legitimate are also legitimate causes of taking a mistress, for reasons of retention at home do not take away the cause of divorce when the wife has committed promiscuity. Who that is not vile can keep the laws of the conjugial bed and share the bed with a harlot? If this is done here and there it is not conclusive.

 

470. (7) That the just causes of this taking a mistress are just causes of separation from the bed. There are legitimate causes of separation, and there are just causes. The legitimate causes are determined by decisions of the judges; and the just by decisions adjudged by the man alone. Both the legitimate and the just causes of separation from the bed, and also from the house, are briefly recounted above, n. 252-253, of which vitiated conditions of the body are diseases by which the whole body is infected to such a degree as may by contagion induce fatal results. Such are malignant and pestilential fevers, leprosy, venereal diseases, cancers; and diseases by which the entire body becomes so weighed down that there is no consociability and from which hurtful effluvia and noxious vapors are exhaled, either from the surface of the body or from its interiors, especially from the stomach and the lungs. On the surface of the body are malignant pocks, warts, pustules, scorbutic wasting away, virulent scab, especially if the face is defiled with them; from the stomach, constantly rising foul, rank, and fetid eructations; from the lungs, foul and putrid breath, exhaled from imposthumes, ulcers, or abscesses, or from vitiated blood or serum. Besides these are also other maladies of various names, as lipothymy, which is a total languidness of the body and failure of strength; paralysis, which is a loosening and laxation of the membranes and ligaments that serve for motion; epilepsy; permanent debility from apoplexy; certain chronic diseases; the iliac passion; hernia; and other diseases which pathology teaches. Vitiated conditions of the mind that are just causes of separation from bed and from the house, as mania, frenzy, insanity, actual foolishness and idiocy, loss of memory, and other like conditions. That, because these are just causes of separation, they are just causes of taking a mistress reason sees without a judge.

 

471. (8) That weighty causes of this taking a mistress are real, and not real. Since, besides the just causes—which are just causes of separation and thence become just causes of taking a mistress—there are also weighty causes, which depend on the judgment and the justice of the man, these ought therefore to be mentioned. But as the judgment of justice may be perverted, and by confirmations be converted into an appearance of justice, for that reason these causes are distinguished into real weighty causes, and not real, and are described separately.

 

472. (9) That the weighty causes are real which are from what is just. In order to know these causes it is sufficient to enumerate some of those that are really weighty: For example, no love for infants, and hence the rejection of infants; intemperance; drunkenness; uncleanness; shamelessness; a passion for divulging the secrets of the house, for wrangling, for striking, for revenging, for mischief-making, stealing, cheating; internal dissimilitude which begets antipathy; a forward requirement of the conjugial debt whence the man becomes as a cold stone; addiction to magic and sorcery; extreme impiety; and other like depravities.

 

473. There are also milder causes which are really weighty, and separate from the bed though not from the house; such as the cessation of fertility with the wife from advancing age, and consequent intolerance and refusal of actual love, ardor still continuing with the man; besides other like causes in which the rational judgment sees what is just, and which do not wound the conscience.

 

474. (10) That weighty causes not real are such as are not from what is just, although from an appearance of what is just. These are recognized from the real weighty causes recounted above. If not rightly scrutinized they may appear just and yet be unjust. For example, the times of abstinence that are requisite after parturition; transitory illnesses of the wife, and thence and from other causes loss of fecundity; the permission of polygamy to the Israelites; and other like excuses of no validity from justice. These reasons are framed by men after they have contracted coldness, when unchaste lusts have deprived them of conjugial love and infatuated them with an idea of its likeness to promiscuous love. These men, when they enter into taking a mistress, pretend that such spurious and fallacious causes are true and genuine, lest they suffer in reputation; and commonly they also spread abroad falsehoods about the wife, and these are assented to and bruited abroad by their social friends, according to favor.

 

475. (11) That those who from legitimate, just, and really weighty causes are in this taking a mistress may at the same time be in conjugial love. It is said they may at the same time be in conjugial love, and the meaning is that this love may be kept concealed within them; for the love does not perish in the subject within whom it is, but is quiescent. The reasons why conjugial love is preserved with those who prefer marriage to taking a mistress and yet enter into this for the causes mentioned above are these: That this taking a mistress is not repugnant to conjugial love; that it is not a separation from it; that it is but an overveiling of it; and that this veil is removed in them after death. (a) That this taking a mistress is not repugnant to conjugial love follows from what was shown above, that when this taking a mistress is entered into for causes that are legitimate, just, and really weighty it is not unlawful, n. 467-473.

 

[2] (b) That this taking a mistress is not a separation from conjugial love, for when causes that are legitimate, or just, or really weighty interpose, persuade, and are urgent, conjugial love is not severed with the marriage, but only interrupted, and love interrupted and not severed remains in the subject. It is as one who is in an office which he loves, and is detained from it by company, by shows, or by travel, yet his love of the office is not destroyed; or as with one who likes generous wine, and yet when he drinks that which is not noble, it does not spoil his eager taste for the generous.

 

[3] (c) This taking a mistress is only an overveiling of conjugial love because the love of taking a mistress is natural and the love of marriage is spiritual, and natural love covers over the spiritual when that is intercepted. The lover does not know that this is so because spiritual love is not sensibly perceived of itself, but through the natural, and is felt as delight wherein is blessedness from heaven. But natural love by itself is felt only as delight.

 

[4] (d) After death this veil is removed, because then the man from natural becomes spiritual, and rejoices in a substantial instead of the material body, in which natural delight from the spiritual is felt in its preeminence. That this is so I have learned from communication with some in the spiritual world, also from kings there, who in the natural world were in taking a mistress from real weighty causes.

 

476. (12) That while this taking a mistress lasts, actual conjunction with the wife is not lawful. The reason is that then conjugial love, which in itself is spiritual, chaste, pure, and holy, becomes natural, is defiled, becomes obsolete, and thus perishes. Therefore in order that this love may be preserved it is expedient that for real weighty causes (n. 472-473) taking a mistress may be resorted to, but only with one, and not with two at the same time.

 

477. To this shall be added the following relation:

 

I heard a certain spirit, a young man recently from the world, boasting of his promiscuity, and desiring to gain praise because he was a man more masculine than others. And among the insolencies of his boasting, he put forth this: “What is more dismal than to imprison a man’s love and live with only one? And what more delightful than to let the love go free? Who does not tire of one only? And who is not enlivened by many? What is sweeter than promiscuous liberty, variety, deflorations, deceiving husbands, and promiscuous hypocrisies? Do not these, which are got by cunning, deception, and stealthy arts, delight the inmosts of the mind?”

 

[2] Those standing by hearing these things said, “Do not speak in this way. You know not where you are, and with whom you are. You are a newcomer here. Under your feet is hell, and above your head is heaven. You are now in a world that is intermediate between these two, which is called the world of spirits. All who depart out of the world come into this, and are gathered together here and explored as to their quality; and the evil are prepared for hell and the good for heaven. Perhaps you still remember, from priests in the world, that whoremongers and harlots are cast down into hell; and that chaste married partners are taken up into heaven.”

 

The newcomer laughed at this, and said, “What is heaven? And what is hell? Is it not heaven where one is free? And is he not free who can love as many as he pleases? And is it not hell where one is a slave? And is he not a slave who is obliged to cling to one?”

 

[3] But a certain angel looking down from heaven heard these things and interrupted his speech, that he might go no further in profaning marriages, and said to him, “Come up hither and I will show you to the life what heaven is, and what hell is, and of what kind the latter is to confirmed whoremongers.”

 

And he showed the way and the young man went up. And after reception he was led first into a paradisal garden where were fruit trees and flowers, which with their beauty, pleasantness, and fragrance filled the mind with the delights of life, which when he saw he admired with great admiration. But he was then in the external sight in which he had been when he saw analogous things in the world, and in this sight he was rational. But in his internal sight, wherein promiscuity took the lead and occupied every point of thought, he was not rational. Therefore his external sight was closed and his internal sight opened; which being opened he said, “What do I see now? Is it not straw and dry wood? And what do I now perceive? Is there not a disgusting smell? Where now are the things of paradise?”

 

The angel said, “They are near and are even present, but they do not appear to your internal sight, which is promiscuous, for this turns heavenly things into infernal, and sees only their opposites. Every man has an internal and an external mind, and so an internal and an external sight. With evil men the internal mind is insane, and the external is sane; but with the good the internal is sane, and from that the external also. And as the mind is, so man sees objects in the spiritual world.”

 

[4] After this the angel, from power given him, closed the young man’s internal sight and opened his external, and led him through the portals towards the very midst of the habitations; and he saw magnificent palaces of alabaster, of marble, and of various precious stones, and near them porticos, and columns round about, overlaid and embellished with decorations and ornaments, of marvelous beauty, which when he saw he was astonished, and said, “What do I see? I see magnificent things, in their own magnificence, and works of architecture in their very art!”

 

But then the angel closed his external sight again and opened his internal sight, which was evil, because he was foully promiscuous, which done he exclaimed, saying, “What do I see now? Where am I? Where now are the palaces, and the magnificent things? I see heaps, ruins, and cavernous places!”

 

[5] But presently he was brought back into his external, and was conducted into one of the palaces, and saw the decorations of the gates, of the windows, of the walls, and the ceilings; especially the things for use, upon which and about which were heavenly forms of gold and precious stones, such as no words can describe, nor any art portray; for they surpassed the ideas of words, and were beyond the conceptions of art. Seeing these he exclaimed again, saying, “These things are very wonders, such as eye has never seen!”

 

Then his internal sight was opened and the external closed, as before, and he was asked what he saw now, and replied, “Nothing but walls of rushes here, of straw there, and of firebrands yonder!”

 

[6] But he was brought yet again into his external state of mind, and virgins were brought before him, who were beauties, because images of heavenly affection, and with the sweet voice of their affection they spoke to him; and then from the very sight and hearing of them, his countenance changed and of himself he returned into his internals, which were promiscuous; and because these could not bear anything of heavenly love, and on the other hand could not be endured by heavenly love, they both vanished, the virgins from the sight of the man and the man from the sight of the virgins.

 

After this the angel instructed him whence came these inversions of his state of vision, saying, “I perceive that in the world from which you have come you were double, one man in internals and another in externals, that in externals you were a civil, moral, and rational man, while in internals you were neither civil, nor moral, nor rational, because you were a whoremonger and adulterer. And such men, when it is permitted them to ascend into heaven and they are kept there in their externals, are able to see the heavenly things there; but when their internals are opened instead of the heavenly they see infernal things. And you must know that with everyone here the externals are successively closed and the internals opened, and in that way they are prepared for heaven or for hell. And because the evil of promiscuity more than any other evil fouls the internals of the mind, you cannot but be brought down to the filthy things of your love, and these are in hells where the caverns stink with excrements. Who cannot know, from reason, that the unchaste and lascivious in the spiritual world is impure and unclean, and thus that nothing more pollutes and befouls a man and brings the infernal into him. Beware then that you glory no more in your promiscuities, that in them you are a man more masculine than others. I foretell you that you will become impotent to such a degree that you will scarcely know where your manhood is. Such a lot awaits those that glory in the potency of promiscuity.”

 

After hearing this the young man descended and returned to the world of spirits, and to his former associates there, and spoke modestly and chastely with them, but yet not for long.

 

 

 

 

(21)

 

Adulteries and Their Kinds and Degrees

 

 

478. No one can know that there is any evil in adultery who judges of it from the externals only, for in them it is similar to marriage. These external judges, when internals are mentioned, and they are told that from them the externals derive their good or their evil, say, “What are internals? Who sees them? Is not this soaring above the sphere of anyone’s intelligence?” They are like those that accept all simulated good as genuine, belonging to the will, and who estimate the wisdom of a man by the elegance of his speech, or the man himself from his splendid apparel and his driving in a grand carriage, and not from his internal character, which pertains to judgment from the affection of what is good. So, it is like the judgment of the fruit of a tree, or of anything edible, from the sight and touch alone, and not as to its goodness from taste and knowledge. Thus all do who will regard nothing relating to the internals of a man. Hence the madness of many at this day, in that they see nothing of evil in adulteries, nay, that they conjoin marriages with them in the same bed chamber, that is, make them alike, and this merely on account of the appearance of likeness in externals.

 

[2] That it is so, this proof from experience convinced me: Some hundreds out of the European world, of those renowned there for genius, for learning, and for wisdom, were once called together by the angels and questioned about the difference between marriage and adultery; and were asked to consider the reasons of their understanding. And after consultation all but ten answered, that only public law makes the distinction, for the sake of some advantage, which advantage may indeed be known but yet provided for by civil prudence.

 

Then they were asked whether they saw anything of good in marriage and anything of evil in adultery.

 

They replied, “Not any rational evil and good.”

 

Asked whether any sin, they said, “Wherein is it? Is not the act the same?”

 

The angels were astounded at these answers and exclaimed, “O of what nature and how great is the grossness of this age!”

 

Hearing which the hundreds of wise turned about and laughing among themselves said, “Is this grossness? Can there be any wisdom which can convince us that to love the wife of another merits eternal damnation?”

 

But it has been shown in the first chapter of this part of the work on the opposition of promiscuous love and conjugial love that adultery is a spiritual evil, and thence is a moral evil and a civil evil, and diametrically opposite to rational wisdom; and that the love of adultery is from hell and returns to hell, while the love of marriage is from heaven and returns to heaven. Yet as all evils, like all goods, have breadth and height, and according to breadth they have their kinds, and according to height they have their degrees, therefore in order that adulteries may be known according to each dimension they shall be first divided into their kinds, and then into their degrees. This is to be done in the following order:

 

(1) That there are three kinds of adulteries, simple, double, and triple.

 

(2) That simple adultery is that of an unmarried man with the wife of another, or of an unmarried woman with the husband of another.

 

(3) That double adultery is that of a husband with the wife of another, or the converse.

 

(4) That triple adultery is with blood relations.

 

(5) That there are four degrees of adulteries, according to which the predications, inculpations, and after death the imputations of them are made.

 

(6) That adulteries of the first degree are adulteries of ignorance, committed by those who do not yet or who cannot take counsel of the understanding, and thereby restrain them.

 

(7) That adulteries committed by such are mild.

 

(8) That adulteries of the second degree are adulteries of lust, which are committed by those who indeed are able to consult the understanding, yet for contingent causes at those moments cannot.

 

(9) That adulteries committed by these are imputable according as the understanding afterwards favors them, or does not favor them.

 

(10) That adulteries of the third degree are adulteries of the reason, committed by those who by the understanding confirm that they are not evils of sin.

 

(11) That adulteries committed by these are grievous, and are imputed according to their confirmations.

 

(12) That adulteries of the fourth degree are adulteries of the will, committed by those who regard them as allowable and pleasing, and not of so much account as to make it worthwhile to consult the understanding about them.

 

(13) That adulteries committed by these are most grievous, and are imputed to them as evils of purpose; and they are deeply seated as guilt.

 

(14) That adulteries of the third and fourth degree are evils of sin according to the measure and the quality of the understanding and the will in them, whether they are committed in act or are not committed in act.

 

(15) That adulteries from purpose of the will, and adulteries from confirmation of the understanding, render men natural, sensual, and corporeal.

 

(16) And this to such a degree that at length they cast away from them all things of the church and of religion.

 

(17) That nevertheless they are still possessed of human rationality like others.

 

(18) But that they use this rationality when they are in externals, but when in their internals they abuse it.

 

The explanation of these now follows.

 

479. (1) That there are three kinds of adulteries, simple, double, and triple. The creator of the universe has distinguished all things and everything that he created into kinds; and every kind into species; and has discriminated every species, and each variety likewise, and so on, to the end that an image of the infinite shall be presented in the perpetual variety of qualities. The creator of the universe thus distinguished goods and their truths; and likewise evils and their falsities after they had arisen.

 

That he has distinguished all things and everything in the spiritual world into kinds and species and varieties; and that he has brought together all things good and true in heaven; and all things evil and false in hell; and has disposed them exactly opposite to each other, is made evident by the disclosures in Heaven and Hell, published in London in the year 1758.

 

That in the natural world also he has thus distinguished, and does distinguish, goods and truths, and evils and falsities with men, and thus distinguishes men, may be known from their lot after death, in that for the good there is heaven and for the evil there is hell.

 

Now, as all good things which are of good and all that are of evil are distinguished into kinds, species, and so on, therefore marriages are so distinguished; and likewise their opposites, which are adulteries.

 

480. (2) That simple adultery is that of an unmarried man with the wife of another, or of an unmarried woman with the husband of another. By adultery here, and in what follows, is meant promiscuity which is opposite to marriage. It is opposite because it violates the covenant of life contracted between married partners; rends their love asunder; befouls it, and closes up the union begun at the time of betrothal and confirmed at the beginning of the marriage. For the conjugial love of a man with one wife, after the pact and covenant, unites the souls. This union adultery does not dissolve, for it cannot be dissolved, but closes it up as if one should stop up a fountain at its source and thus stop its flow, and should fill the cistern with feculent and fetid waters. So conjugial love, whose origin is a union of souls, is smeared with mud and covered up by adultery; which being befouled there rises up from below the love of adultery; and as this increases the former love becomes carnal, and this rises up against conjugial love and destroys it. Hence the opposition of adultery and marriage.

 

481. Again, that it may be known how gross is this age, that it cannot see any sin in adultery, as was brought to light by the angels, related just above at n. 478, I will add the following relation:

 

There were certain spirits who, from practice in the life of the body, infested me with peculiar skill, and this by an influx rather soft, as it were undulating, such as that of upright spirits is wont to be. But it was perceived that there was cunning and like qualities in them, that they might captivate and deceive. At length I spoke with one of them, who it was told me was general of an army when he lived in the world. And as I perceived there was licentiousness in the ideas of his thought, I conversed with him in spiritual language with representatives, which fully express the meaning, and many things in a moment. He said that in the life of the body, in the former world, he had accounted adulteries as nothing. But it was given me to tell him that adulteries are heinous (notwithstanding that they do not appear so before those who are adulterers, from the delight that they take in them and thence a persuasion that they are not so, yea, that they are allowable), which indeed he might know from the fact that marriages are the seminaries of the human race, and thence the seminaries also of the heavenly kingdom, and for that reason are not to be violated, but to be held sacred; and from this also, which he ought to know, because he was now in the spiritual world, and in a state of perception, that conjugial love comes down from the Lord through heaven; and that from this love as from a parent is derived mutual love, which is the foundation of heaven; and from the fact that adulterers when they only come near to the heavenly societies perceive their own offensive smell and precipitate themselves thence towards hell. At the least he might know that to violate marriages is contrary to the Divine laws; contrary to the civil laws of all kingdoms; and against the genuine light of reason; and so against the law of nations, because contrary to order, both Divine and human, besides other considerations. He answered that he had not thought of such things in the former life. And he wished to reason whether they were so. But it was told him, the truth did not admit of reasonings; for they defend the delights of the flesh against the delights of the spirit, of the nature of which he had no knowledge; and that he ought first to reflect upon the things that had been said to him, because they are true; or to think from the principle, well known in the world, that no one should do to another what he would not be willing that another should do to him; and thus if anyone had so beguiled his wife whom he loved, as is the case in the beginning of every marriage, if he then spoke his mind, while in a state of wrath about it, would he not himself also have denounced adulteries? And being a man of ability, would not he beyond others have confirmed himself against them? Would he not have condemned them even to hell? And being the general of an army, and with valiant men about him, would he not either have slain the adulterer, that he might not bring disgrace upon him, or cast the adulteress out of his house?

 

482. (3) That double adultery is that of a husband with the wife of another, or the converse. This is called double adultery because it is committed by two, and by each of them the marriage covenant is violated; wherefore also it is twofold more grievous than the former. It was said just above at n. 480 that the conjugial love of one man with one wife, after the pact and covenant, unites the souls; and that this union is the love itself in its origin, and that by adultery this is closed and stopped up, like the spring and flow of a fountain. That the souls of two unite themselves when the love of the sex on the part of each is restricted to one of the sex, which takes place when the virgin pledges herself wholly to the young man, and on the other hand the young man pledges himself wholly to the virgin, is very plain from the fact that the lives of both unite themselves; consequently the souls, because these are the beginnings of life. There cannot be this union of souls except in monogamic marriages, or marriages of one man with one wife; but not in polygamic marriages, or of a man with more wives than one, because in the latter the love is divided, in the former it is united. That in this, its highest seat, conjugial love is spiritual, holy, and pure, is from the cause that the soul of every man by virtue of its origin is celestial, and therefore receives influx immediately from the Lord, for it receives from him the marriage of love and wisdom, or of good and truth, and this influx makes him man, and distinguishes him from beasts. From this union of souls conjugial love, which there is in its spiritual holiness and purity, flows down into the life of the whole body, and fills it with blessed delights so long as its flow remains open, which it does with those who from the Lord become spiritual. That nothing else but adultery closes up and stops this seat and origin, or fountain of conjugial love and its flow, is plain from the Lord’s words in Matthew 19:4-9 that: “It is not lawful for a man to put away his wife and marry another except for adultery”; and from these words in the same place that: “Whoso shall marry her that is put away committeth adultery” (Matt. 19:9). When therefore this pure and holy fountain is stopped up as was said before, it is encompassed with foulness, as a gem with excrement, or as bread with vomit, the very opposite to the purity and holiness of that fountain, or of conjugial love; from which opposition comes conjugial cold, and according to this the lascivious pleasure of promiscuous love, which spontaneously consumes itself. This is an evil of sin, because what is holy is covered up and its flow into the body thus obstructed, and there succeeds in its place what is profane, and the flow of this into the body is opened. Thence from heavenly, man becomes infernal.

 

483. To this I will add some things from the spiritual world which are worthy of being related: I heard there that some married men have a lust for promiscuity with unmarried women or virgins; some with deflowered women or harlots; some with married women or wives; some with such as are of noble family; and some with such as are of a race not noble. I have been convinced, by many from the various kingdoms of the world, that this is so. While meditating upon the variety of such lusts, I asked whether there are any who take all delight with the wives of others, and none with unmarried women. Therefore, in order that I might know that there are such, several out of a certain kingdom were brought to me, and were constrained to speak according to their libidinous desires. They said their sole pleasure and delight was and is to commit adultery with the wives of others; and that they look out for the beautiful, and hire them for themselves at great cost, according to their wealth; and for the most part they bargain about the price with her alone.

 

I asked why they did not hire unmarried women? They said that this to them was common, that it was mean in itself, and there was no pleasure in it. I asked again whether the wives afterwards returned to their husbands and lived with them. They answered they either did or did not, or did so coldly, because they had become harlots.

 

I afterwards asked them, seriously, whether they ever thought or even now think that this is double adultery, because committed while they have wives, and that such adultery lays a man waste of every spiritual good. But the most of those present laughed at this and said, “What is spiritual good?”

 

But I insisted, saying, “What is more detestable than to commingle your soul with the soul of a husband in his wife? Do you not know that the soul of a man is in his seed?”

 

At this they turned away, and muttered, “What harm does it do there?”

 

At length I said, “Although you have no fear of the Divine laws, have you no dread of the civil laws?”

 

They answered that they had none, “only of certain of the ecclesiastical order; but in their presence we conceal it, and if we cannot we act with them in a friendly manner.”

 

Afterwards I saw them separated into groups and some of them cast into hell.

 

484. (4) That triple adultery is with blood relations. This adultery is called triple because it is threefold more grievous than the two former. What the consanguinities or “remnants of the flesh” are, who shall not be approached, may be seen recounted in Lev. 18:6-17. The reasons why such adulteries are threefold more grievous than the two mentioned above are internal and external. The internal are on account of their correspondence with the violation of spiritual marriage, which is of the Lord and the church, and thence of good and truth; but the external reasons are for guards lest man become a beast. But there is no leisure to proceed to the exposition of those reasons here.

 

485. (5) That there are four degrees of adultery, according to which the predications, inculpations, and after death the imputations of them are made. These degrees are not kinds, but they enter into each kind and make its differences of more and less evil or good—here, where an adultery of either kind by reason of the circumstances and contingencies should be accounted milder or more grievous. That circumstances and contingencies do vary is known by everyone. And yet they are accounted in one way by man from the light of his rational light [lumen], in another by a judge from the law, and in another by the Lord from the man’s state of mind; and therefore predications, inculpations, and after death, imputations are spoken of. For predications are made by man according to the light of his reason; inculpations are made by a judge according to the law; and imputations are made by the Lord according to the man’s state of mind. That these three greatly differ from each other can be seen without exposition; for man, by rational conviction according to circumstances and contingencies, may absolve one whom a judge sitting in judgment according to the law cannot absolve; and also a judge may absolve one who after death is condemned. The reason is that the judge pronounces sentence according to the facts; but after death everyone is judged according to the intentions of his will and thence of his understanding, and according to the confirmations of the understanding and thence of the will. Neither of these does the judge see; and yet both judgments are just, one for the good of civil society, the other for the good of heavenly society.

 

486. (6) That adulteries of the first degree are adulteries of ignorance, committed by those who do not yet or who cannot take counsel of the understanding, and thereby restrain them. All evils, and consequently also adulteries, regarded in themselves are at the same time of the internal and of the external man; the internal man intends them and the external man does them. Such then as the internal man is, in the deeds that are done by the external, such are the deeds regarded in themselves. But as the internal man with its intention does not appear before man, everyone must be judged in a court by his deeds and spoken words, according to the established law and its requirements. The inner sense of the law ought also to be considered by the judge. But let examples illustrate: if perchance adultery be committed by an adolescent boy, who does not yet know that adultery is more evil than fornication; if the same were committed by a man of extreme simplicity; if it be committed by one who by disease is bereft of clear judgment; or by one who, as is the case with some, is at times delirious, and who is then in the state of those that are actually delirious; or even if it be done in insane drunkenness; and so on. It is evident that then the internal man, or the mind, is not present in the external, scarcely otherwise than as in an irrational person. Their adulteries are characterized by a rational man according to those circumstances; and yet, by the same man as judge the doer is inculpated and punished from the law. But after death their deeds are imputed according to the presence, the quality, and the faculty of the understanding in their will.

 

487. (7) That adulteries committed by such are mild. This is manifest from what has been said above in n. 486 without further confirmation; for it is known that the quality of every deed and of everything in general depends upon the circum stances, and that these mitigate or aggravate. But adulteries of this degree are mild the first time they are committed; and they also remain mild insofar as he or she in the after course of life abstains from them for the reasons that they are evils against God, or that they are evils against the neighbor, or that they are evils against the good of the state, and because being either of these they are evils against reason. But on the other hand, if they do not abstain from them for one of the reasons mentioned, these also are numbered among grievous ones. It is so according to the Divine law in Ezek. 18:21-22, 24, and elsewhere. And yet by man they cannot be exculpated and inculpated, or accounted and judged as light or grievous from those circumstances, because these do not appear before him, yea, are not within the province of his judgment. Therefore the meaning is that they are so accounted and imputed after death.

 

488. (8) That adulteries of the second degree are adulteries of lust, which are committed by those who although able to consult the understanding, yet for contingent causes at those moments cannot.

 

With the man who from natural is becoming spiritual there are two things that in the beginning contend against each other, which are commonly called the spirit and the flesh. And as the love of marriage is of the spirit and the love of adultery is of the flesh, a contest then is also waged between these. If the love of marriage conquers, it subdues and subjugates the love of adultery, which is done by the expulsion of it. But if it comes to pass that the lust of the flesh is excited to surging heat beyond what the spirit by reason can control, it results that the state is reversed, and the surging heat of lust overwhelms the spirit with incitements, even so that it no longer is master of its reason, nor thence master of itself. This is meant by adulteries of the second degree being committed by those who, although able to consult the understanding, yet for contingent causes at those moments cannot. But let examples serve for illustration: If a wanton wife by cunning captivates a man’s mind, enticing him into her bed chamber, and inflaming him until he loses the mastery of his judgment, and the more if she then threatens him with disgrace if he does not; so, if some wanton wife is skilled in deceptive arts, or with stimulating potions so excites a man that frenzy of the flesh takes away the freedom of reason from his understanding; likewise if a man by pleasing allurements leads on the wife of another until her will, being inflamed, is no longer within her control; besides other such cases. That these and like contingencies lighten the gravity of adultery, and give a milder turn to the attribution of blame for it, against the man or the woman seduced, reason favors and admits. Now follows a consideration of the imputations of this degree of adultery.

 

489. (9) That adulteries committed by these are imputable according as the understanding afterwards favors them, or does not favor them.

 

So far as his understanding favors evils, man appropriates them to himself and makes them his own. Favor is consent, and consent induces in the mind a state of love of them. It is similar with adulteries that in the beginning were committed without the consent of the understanding, and are favored. If they are not favored afterwards the contrary results. The reason is that evils or adulteries that are committed in blindness of the understanding are done from the lust of the body; in likeness they approach to instincts such as are with beasts. With man, it is true, the understanding is present when they are committed, but with a passive or dead force, and not in active or living force. From these considerations it follows of itself, that such deeds are not imputed except as they are afterwards favored, or are not favored. By imputation here is meant, accusation, and thence adjudication after death, which takes place according to the state of the spirit of the man. But inculpation by man before a judge is not meant. This is not pronounced according to the state of his spirit, but of the body, in the deed. If these did not differ, they would be absolved after death who are absolved in the world, and they would be condemned who are there condemned; and thus for these there would be no hope of salvation.

 

490. (10) That adulteries of the third degree are adulteries of the reason, committed by those who by the understanding confirm that they are not evils of sin. Every man knows that there is will and understanding, for in speech he says, “This I will” and “This I understand.” And yet he does not distinguish them, but makes one the same with the other. The reason is that he only reflects upon the things which are of thought from the understanding, and not upon those which are of the love from the will; for these do not, like those, appear in the light. And yet he who does not distinguish between will and understanding cannot distinguish between things evil and good, and hence can know nothing at all about the blame for sin. But who does not know that good and truth are two distinct things, as love and wisdom are? And who, when he is in rational light [lumen] cannot thence conclude that there are two faculties in man which distinctly receive and appropriate these to themselves, and that one is the will and the other the understanding, for the reason that what the will receives and reproduces is called good, and what the understanding receives is called truth? For what the will loves and does is called good, and what the understanding perceives and thinks is called true.

 

[2] Now, as the marriage of good and truth has been treated of in the first part of this work, and as many things were there adduced respecting the will and the understanding, and respecting the various attributes and predicates of each, which as I think are perceived even by those who had not thought distinctly about the understanding and the will (for human reason is such that it understands truths from the light of them, even though it has not distinguished them before), therefore, in order that the distinctions of the understanding and the will may be more clearly perceived I will here present some truths, to the end that it may be known of what quality adulteries of the reason or the understanding are, and after that of what quality adulteries of the will are.

 

[3] The following may serve for the cognizance of them: (a) That the will does nothing of itself alone, but whatever it does it does by the understanding. (b) And on the other hand the understanding does nothing of itself alone, but that whatever it does it does from the will. (c) That the will inflows into the understanding, but not the understanding into the will; but that the understanding teaches what is good and evil, and consults the will, in order that of the two it may choose and do what is pleasing to it. (d) That after this a twofold conjunction results, one in which the will acts from within and the understanding from without, another in which the understanding acts from within and the will from without. Thus are the adulteries of the reason, here treated of, distinguished from the adulteries of the will, to be considered hereafter. They are distinguished because one is more grievous than the other; for adultery of the reason is less grievous than adultery of the will, because in adultery of the reason the understanding acts from within and the will from without; while in adultery of the will, the will acts from within and the understanding from without, and the will is the very man, and the understanding is the man from the will, and that which acts from within dominates over that which acts from without.

 

491. (11) That adulteries committed by these are grievous according to their confirmation. The understanding alone confirms, and when it confirms it makes an ally of the will and stations it round about itself, and so brings it to compliance. Confirmations are effected by reasonings which the mind lays hold of, either from its higher or from its lower region; if from the higher region which communicates with heaven it confirms marriages and condemns adulteries; but if from its lower region which communicates with the world it confirms adulteries and makes light of marriages. Every man is able to confirm evil as well as good; likewise falsity and truth; and the confirmation of evil is perceived as more delightful than the confirmation of good, and the confirmation of falsity appears clearer than the confirmation of truth. The reason is that the confirmation of what is evil and false draws its reasonings from the delights, the pleasures, the appearances, and the fallacies of the bodily senses, while the confirmation of good and truth takes its reasons from a region above the sensuals of the body.

 

Now, as things evil and false can be confirmed equally with things good and true, and as the confirming understanding draws the will to its side, and the will with the understanding forms the mind, it follows that the form of the human mind is according to confirmations, turned towards heaven if its confirmations are for marriages, but turned towards hell if they are for adulteries. And such as the form of a man’s mind is such is his spirit, that is to say, such is the man. It is manifest now from these considerations that adulteries of this degree are imputed after death according to their confirmations.

 

492. (12) That adulteries of the fourth degree are adulteries of the will, committed by those who regard them as allowable and pleasing, and not of so much account as to make it worthwhile to consult the understanding about them. These adulteries are distinguished from the former by their origins. Their origin is from a depraved will connate with man; or from inherited evil which man after he uses his own judgment, obeys blindly, passing no judgment upon it as to whether it be evil or not. For this reason it is said that he does not regard them of so much account as to make it worthwhile to consult the understanding about them. But the origin of the adulteries which are called adulteries of the reason is from a perverse understanding; and they are committed by those who confirm that they are not evils of sin. In these the understanding takes the lead; in those, the will. These two distinctions appear to no man in the natural world, but they plainly appear to the angels in the spiritual world. In the latter world, in general, all are distinguished according to evils that issue originally from the will, or from the understanding, and are accepted and appropriated. And according to these distinctions they are separated in hell. Those there who are evil from the understanding dwell towards the front and are called satans; but those that are evil from the will dwell behind and are called devils. On account of this universal distinction they are called satans and devils in the Word. With those evil ones, and also with the adulterers who are called satans, the understanding leads; but with those who are called devils the will takes the lead. But it is impossible to explain the difference so that the understanding shall see it, unless the distinction is first known between the will and the understanding; and unless the formation of the mind by the will through the understanding, and its formation by the understanding through the will is first described. An acquaintance with these must send its light before, in order that the above mentioned distinctions may be seen by the reason. But that is the work of a volume.

 

493. (13) That adulteries committed by these are most grievous, and are imputed to them as evils of purpose; and they are deeply seated in them as guilt. That these are most grievous, and more grievous than the former, is because in them the will takes the leading part, and in the former the understanding, and the life of a man is of his will essentially, and of his understanding formally. The reason is that the will acts as one with the love, and love is the essence of a man’s life, and this forms itself by such things as are accordant with it in the understanding. The understanding regarded in itself is therefore nothing else than the form of the will. And as love is of the will, and wisdom is of the understanding, therefore wisdom is no other than the form of love. In like manner truth is but the form of good. That which flows out from the very essence of a man’s life, that is, what comes from his will or love, is chiefly called purpose; but what flows from the form of his life, that is, from the understanding and its thought, is called intention. Guilt also is predicated chiefly of the will. Hence it is said that everyone has the guilt of evil by inheritance, but evil is from the man. It is for these reasons that adulteries of the fourth degree are imputed as evils of purpose, and are deeply seated as guilt.

 

494. (14) That adulteries of the third and the fourth degree are evils of sin, according to the measure and the quality of the understanding and the will in them, whether they are committed in act, or not committed in act. That adulteries of the reason or understanding, which are of the third degree, and adulteries of the will, which are of the fourth degree, are grievous and consequently are evils of sin, according to the quality of the understanding and the will in them, may be seen from the comments upon them above in n. 490-493. The reason is that man is man by virtue of the will and understanding; for from these two exist not only all things that take place in the mind, but also all that take place in the body. Who does not know that the body does not act of itself, but the will through the body? And that the mind does not speak of itself, but the thought through the mouth? If therefore the will were taken away action would cease in a moment; and if thought were taken away the speech of the mouth would cease in a moment. Hence it is very evident that adulteries which are committed in act are grievous according to the measure and quality of the understanding and the will in them. That they are alike grievous if the same are not committed in act is plain from these words of the Lord:

 

It was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery; but verily I say unto you that whosoever looketh on the woman of another to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matt. 5:27-28).

 

To commit adultery in the heart is in the will.

 

[2] There are many reasons which effect that one may not be an adulterer in act and yet be an adulterer in will and understanding. For there are those who abstain from adulteries as to the act for fear of the civil law and its penalties; for fear of the loss of reputation and thence of honor; for fear of diseases from them; for fear of quarrels with the wife at home, and hence intranquillity of life; for fear of vengeance by the husband, or by relations; and for fear also of chastisement by servants; from poverty or from avarice; for weakness, arising from sickness, or from abuse, or from age, or from impotency and thence shame. If for these and like causes anyone restrains himself from adulteries in act, and yet favors them in will and understanding, he is still an adulterer; for he nevertheless believes that they are not sins, and in his spirit does not hold them to be unlawful in the sight of God, and thus in spirit he commits them, although not in the body before the world. Therefore after death when he becomes a spirit he speaks openly in favor of them.

 

495. (15) That adulteries from purpose of the will and adulteries from confirmation of the understanding render men natural, sensual, and corporeal. Man is man, and is distinguished from the beast by the fact that his mind is divided into three regions, into as many as the heavens; and that he can be elevated from the lowest region into the higher, and also from this into the highest, and so become an angel of one heaven, and even of the third heaven. To this end the faculty is given to man of elevating his understanding even thither. But if the love of his will is not elevated at the same time he does not become spiritual but remains natural. Nevertheless he retains the faculty of elevating the understanding. The reason why he retains it is that he may be reformed; for he is reformed by means of the understanding, which is effected by cognitions³¹ of good and of truth, and by rational intuition from them. If he views these cognitions rationally, and lives according to them, then the love of the will is at the same time elevated, and in that degree the human is perfected, and the man becomes more and more man.

 

[2] It otherwise betides if he does not live according to the cognitions of good and truth. Then the love of his will remains natural, and his understanding becomes spiritual by turns; for it elevates itself alternately, like an eagle, and looks down upon what is of his love beneath, and when it sees it it flies down and conjoins itself to it. If therefore the lusts of the flesh are of his love, to these it swoops down from its height, and in conjunction with them satisfies itself with their delights; and then, on the watch for reputation, that it may be deemed wise, it soars again on high, and so up and down by turns, as has just been said.

 

[3] Adulterers of the third and the fourth degree—who are those that have made themselves adulterers from purpose of the will, and by confirmation of the understanding—evidently are natural; and that they gradually become sensual and corporeal is because they immerse the love of their will, and at the same time the understanding with it, in the unclean things of promiscuous love and take delight in them, like unclean birds and beasts in stinking and excrementitious matters as in dainties and delicacies; for the reeking fumes surging up out of the flesh fill the dwelling place of their mind with their grossness, and make that the will sensates nothing more dainty and delicate. These are they who after death become corporeal spirits, and from whom stream forth the unclean things of hell, and of the church, of which above at n. 430, 431.

 

496. There are three degrees of the natural man. In the first degree are those who love the world alone, setting their heart upon riches. These properly are meant by the natural. In the second degree are those who love only the delights of the senses, placing their heart in every kind of luxury and pleasure. These properly are meant by the sensual. In the third degree are those that love only themselves, setting their heart upon the attainment of honor. These properly are meant by the corporeal, for the reason that they immerse all things of the will and thence of the understanding in the body, and looking back from others at themselves, they regard but themselves and love only their own. But the sensual immerse all the things of the will, and thence of the understanding, in the allurements and fallacies of the senses, indulging in them alone. But the natural pour all the activities of the will, and thence of the understanding, into the world, greedily and fraudulently seeking wealth, and looking to no other use in it and from it but that of possession. The adulteries named above turn human beings into these degenerate degrees, one into one kind, another into another, each as suits his pleasure, which constitutes his genius.

 

497. (16) And this to such a degree that at length they cast away from them all things of the church and of religion. That adulterers from purpose and from confirmation cast away from them all things of the church and of religion results from the fact that the love of marriage and the love of adultery are opposites (n. 425), and the love of marriage makes one with the church and with religion (see n. 130, and everywhere else in the first part). Hence the love of adultery, being opposite, makes one with the things that are against the church. That these adulterers cast away from them all things of the church and of its religion is because the love of marriage and the love of adultery are opposites, just as the marriage of good and truth is opposite to the connubial bond of evil and falsity (n. 427-428). And the marriage of good and truth is the church, and the connubial bond of the evil and false is opposed to the church. That these adulterers reject from them all things of the church and of religion is because the love of marriage and the love of adultery are opposite as heaven and hell are (n. 429), and in heaven is the love of all things of the church, and in hell is the hatred against all things of the church. That these adulterers reject from them all things of the church and of religion, is also because their delights begin from the flesh and are of the flesh even in the spirit (n. 440-441), and the flesh is against the spirit, that is, contrary to the spiritual things of the church; and for that reason also the delights of promiscuous love are called pleasures of insanity. If you desire proofs, pray go to those whom you know to be such adulterers, and ask in secret what they think about God, about the church, and about eternal life, and you will hear. The real reason is that as conjugial love opens the interiors of the mind, and thus elevates them above the sensuals of the body even into the light and warmth of heaven, so on the other hand the love of adultery closes up the interiors of the mind, and thrusts the mind itself as to its will down into the body, even into all the lusts of its flesh, and the deeper the depth, the more it is drawn away and removed from heaven.

 

498. (17) That nevertheless they are still possessed of human rationality, like others. That the natural, sensual, and corporeal man is equally rational with the spiritual man as to the understanding has been shown me from satans and devils rising up by permission out of hell, and conversing with angelic spirits in the world of spirits, respecting which see here and there in the relations. But as the love of the will makes the man, and draws the understanding into consent, therefore such are not rational except when in a state removed from the love of the will, but when they return again into that love they rave worse than wild beasts. And yet without the faculty of elevating the understanding above the love of the will man would not be man, but a beast, for a beast does not enjoy that faculty, consequently he would not have the power of choosing anything, and of doing from choice what is good and to advantage, and thus could not be reformed, and be led to heaven, and to live to eternity. It is for this that adulterers, from purpose and from confirmation, although merely natural, sensual, and corporeal, have yet like others the gift of understanding and rationality. But when they are in the lust of adultery, and think and speak from that and of that, they do not enjoy that rationality. The reason is that then the flesh acts upon the spirit and not the spirit upon the flesh. But it should be known that after death these at length become stupid. Not that the faculty of becoming wise is taken away from them, but that they will not be wise because wisdom is undelightful to them.

 

499. (18) But that they use this rationality when they are in externals, but when in their internals they abuse it. They are in externals when they speak in public places and in company; but in their internals when at home and by themselves. Put it to the test if you will. Take any such person, one of the order called Jesuits for example, cause him to speak in company or teach in a temple about God, about the holy things of the church, and about heaven and hell, and you will find him a more rational zealot than any other, perhaps he will even move you to groans and tears for your salvation. But take him to your house, extol him above the other orders, call him a father of wisdom, and make yourself a friend until he opens his heart, and you will hear what he will then declare about God, about the holy things of the church, and about heaven and hell; namely, that they are fantasies and delusions, and thus are bonds invented for souls, wherewith to catch and bind the great and the small, the rich and the poor, and keep them under the yoke of their dominion. This will suffice to illustrate what is meant by saying that natural men, even down to the corporeal, are, like others, possessed of human rationality, but that they use it when they are in externals but abuse it when in their internals. The deduction from it is that one is not to be judged from the wisdom of his mouth, but from the wisdom of his life joined with that.

 

500. To this I will add the following relation:

 

Once in the world of spirits I heard a great tumult. Thousands were congregated, and were crying out, “Punish them! Punish them!”

 

I went nearer, and asked, “What is the matter?”

 

One who had separated from the great assemblage told me they were in angry wrath against three priests who were wandering about and preaching everywhere against adulterers, saying that with adulterers there is no acknowledgment of God, and that heaven is closed and hell opened to them, and that in hell they are unclean devils, because a long way off they appear like swine wallowing in excrements; and that the angels of heaven abhor them.

 

I asked, “Where are those priests? And why is there such an outcry on account of it?”

 

He replied, “The three priests are in the midst of them guarded by attendants; and the assemblage is of those who believe adulteries are not sins, and who declare that there is an acknowledgment of God among adulterers, equally as with those who keep to their wives. They are all from the Christian world. And a visitation was made by angels to see how many there were who believed adulteries to be sins, and there were not found a hundred out of a thousand.”

 

[2] And he told me that these nine hundred speak in this way about adulteries:

 

“Who does not know that the delight of adultery is preeminent above the delight of marriage? That adulterers are in perpetual heat, and thence in alertness, in industry, and an active life more than those who live with only one woman? On the other hand that love with a married partner grows cold, and sometimes to such a degree that at length scarcely a word of converse and companionship with her is alive? Not so with harlots. That the deadening of life with a wife arising from lack of potency is restored and revived by promiscuities? Is not that which restores and revives more excellent than that which deadens? What is marriage but licensed promiscuity? Who knows the distinction? Can love be forced? And yet love with a wife is forced, by the covenant, and by the laws. Is not love with a wife the love of the sex? And so universal is this love that it exists even among birds and beasts. What is conjugial love but the love of the sex? And the love of the sex is free with every woman. The reason why the civil laws are against adultery is that the proposers of the laws have believed it would be for the public good; and yet the proposers themselves and sometimes the judges commit adultery, and say among themselves, ‘He that is without sin let him cast the first stone.’ Only the simple and the religious believe adulteries to be sins; not so the intelligent who, like us, view them from the light of nature.

 

[3] “Are not offspring born from adulteries as well as from marriages? Are not those of illegitimate birth just as fit and useful for employments and ministries as the legitimate? And besides, families are provided for the otherwise unfruitful. Is not this a benefit and not an injury? What harm to a wife if she admits several rivals, and what harm to a man? That it is a dishonor to a man is a frivolous notion from fancy. That adultery is contrary to the laws and statutes of the church is from the ecclesiastical order, for the sake of power. But what has the theological and spiritual to do with a merely corporeal and carnal delight? Are there not such presbyters and monks? And can they not for all that acknowledge and worship God? Why then do these three preach that with adulterers there is no acknowledgment of God? We do not tolerate such blasphemies. Let them therefore be judged and punished.”

 

[4] Then I saw that they called judges, whom they asked to sentence them to punishment. But the judges said, “That is not within our province, for it concerns the acknowledgment of God and sin, and thus salvation and damnation. Judgment concerning these must be from heaven. But we will give you counsel how you may know whether those three priests have been preaching things that are true. There are three places which we judges know of, where such matters are investigated and revealed in a singular manner. One is where a way stands open for all to heaven; but when they enter heaven they themselves perceive what is their quality with respect to the acknowledgment of God. The second place is where also a way stands plainly open into heaven; but none can enter the way but those who have heaven within them.

 

“The third place is where there is a way to hell; and that way they that love infernal things enter spontaneously, because from delight. We judges send to those places all who demand judgment of us respecting heaven and hell.”

 

[5] Hearing this the assemblage said: “Let us go to those places.”

 

And as they were going to the first place, where a way is open to all into heaven, there suddenly arose thick darkness wherefore some lighted torches and carried these before them.

 

The judges with them said, “This befalls all who go to the first place, but as they draw near, the fire of the torches grows more dim and is extinguished in that place by the light of heaven flowing in, which is a sign that they are there. This is because heaven is first closed and afterwards is opened to them.”

 

And they came to that place, and the torches having gone out, of themselves, they saw a way tending obliquely upwards into heaven. Those who were in angry wrath against the priests entered it. Among the first were those who were adulterers from purpose; after them those who were adulterers from confirmation. And as they were ascending the first cried out “Come on,” and they that followed cried, “Make haste”; and they pressed forward.

 

[6] After a short time, when all were within the heavenly society, there appeared a cleft between them and the angels, and the light of heaven flowing in into their eyes over the cleft opened the interiors of their minds, from which they were constrained to speak as they inwardly thought. And then they were questioned by the angels whether they acknowledged that there is a God.

 

The first, who were adulterers from purpose of the will, answered, “What is God?”

 

And they looked at each other and said: “Who among you has seen him?”

 

The second, who were adulterers from confirmation of the understanding, said: “Are not all things of nature? What is there above her but the sun?”

 

And then the angel said to them: “Depart from us. Now you yourselves perceive that you have no acknowledgment of God. When you descend, the interiors of your mind will be closed and its exteriors opened, and then you can speak contrary to the interiors, and say that there is a God. Believe, that as soon as a man actually becomes an adulterer, heaven is closed to him; and if this is closed, God is not acknowledged. Listen to the reason: From adultery comes all the uncleanness of hell, and it stinks in heaven like the rotting mire of streets.”

 

Hearing this they turned and descended by three ways. And when they were below, the first and second conversing among themselves said, “The priests have conquered there. But we know that we as well as they can speak of God, and when we say that he is, do we not acknowledge him? The interiors and exteriors of the mind which the angels told of are inventions. But let us go to the second place designated by the judges, where a way to heaven is opened to those that have heaven within them, that is to those who are about to go to heaven.”

 

[7] And when they drew near there went forth a voice out of that heaven, “Shut the gates! There are adulterers in the neighborhood.”

 

And instantly the gates were closed, and guards with staffs in their hands drove them away. And the guards released from custody the three priests against whom they had raised the outcry, and led them into heaven. And the moment the gate was opened for the priests the delight of marriage breathed forth out of heaven upon the rebels, which because it was chaste and pure almost took their breath away. And therefore for fear of fainting from suffocation they hurried away to the third place which the judges told them of, from whence there was a way to hell. And then there breathed forth from thence the delight of adultery, by which those who were adulterers from purpose and those who were adulterers from confirmation were so revived that they went down, dancing as it were, and plunged like swine into the unclean things there.

 

 

 

 

(22)

 

Lust for Defloration

 

 

501. The lusts that are treated of in the four chapters following are not only lusts of adultery, but more grievous than they, seeing that they do not exist except from adulteries; for they are seized upon after adulteries are loathed. As the lust of defloration, the first treated of, which cannot begin with anyone before; equally so the lust of varieties, the lust of violation, and the lust of seducing innocences—the consideration of which lusts is to follow. They are called lusts, because according to the measure and the quality of the lust for them, so great and of such quality is the appropriation of them. As regards the lust of defloration, in particular, to make evident the conviction that it is infamous, the subject shall be exhibited under these heads:

 

(1) From the state of a virgin or undefiled woman before marriage and after marriage.

 

(2) That virginity is the crown of chastity and the token of conjugial love.

 

(3) That defloration without the purpose of marriage is the infamous act of a robber.

 

(4) That the lot after death of those who have confirmed within them that the lust of defloration is not an evil of sin is grievous.

 

The elucidation of this now follows.

 

502. (1) On the state of a virgin or undefiled woman before marriage and after marriage. What the state is of a virgin before she is informed respecting the various particulars of the conjugial torch, has been made clear to me by wives in the spiritual world, by those there who departed from the natural world in their infancy and were educated in heaven. They said that when they came to a marriageable state they began to love conjugial life from seeing married partners, but only to the end that they might be called wives, and might have friendly and trustful companionship with one man, and also that, being released from the house of obedience, they might act of their own right.

 

[2] And respecting marriage, they said that they only thought from the blessedness of mutual friendship and confidence in a consort man, and not at all from the delight of any flame. But that after the wedding their virgin state was changed into a new state, of which they knew nothing at all before. And they said that this was a state of expansion of all things of the life of the body, from the first to the last, for the reception of the gifts of the husband and for the uniting of these to her own life, so that she might become the love of him and a wife; and that this state began from the moment of defloration, and that after this the flame of love burned for the husband alone; and that the delights of that expansion they felt to be heavenly; and that because she was introduced into that state by her husband, and because it was from him and so was his in her, she clearly could not but love him alone.

 

[3] By these revelations it was made plain what is the nature of the state of virgins in heaven before marriage and after marriage. That on earth the state is similar, of virgins and wives who are joined at the first omens³² is not unknown. What virgin can know that new state before she is in it? Ask, and you will hear. It is different with those who catch allurement from information before marriage.

 

503. (2) That virginity is the crown of chastity and the token of conjugial love. Virginity is called the crown of chastity because it crowns the chastity of marriage, and is also the sign of chastity. For that reason the bride at the wedding bears upon her head a crown. It is also a sign of the holiness of marriage; for the bride after the virgin flower gives and consecrates her whole self to the bridegroom, then her husband; and on the other hand the husband gives and consecrates his whole self to the bride, now his wife. Virginity is also called the token of conjugial love because it is of the covenant, and the covenant is that love shall unite them into one man, or into one flesh. The men themselves also before the wedding regard the virginity of the bride as the crown of her chastity, and as the token of conjugial love, as the very dainty from which the delights of that love are to begin and to be perennial. From these considerations, and those presented before, it is evident that after the zone is taken away and the virginity tasted, the virgin becomes a wife, and if not a wife she becomes a harlot. For the new state into which she is then inducted is a state of love for her man, and if not for the man it is a state of wantonness.

 

504. (3) That defloration without the purpose of marriage is the infamous act of a robber. Some adulterers have a passion for deflowering virgins, and thence girls also in their guileless age. They are allured to such abasement either by the persuasions of bawds, and by gifts from the men, or by the promise of marriage; and after defloration those men abandon them and search for others and others. Add to this that they take no pleasure in past victims, but continually from new ones; and that the lust increases until it becomes the head of their carnal delights. And to these they join also this villainy, that by various wiles they decoy virgins about to be married, or immediately after the wedding, to offer them the first fruits of marriage, which they actually thus basely defile. I have also heard that when that burning heat with its potency has failed, they glory in the number of virginities as in so many golden fleeces of Jason.

 

[2] This atrocity, which is violation, because it has its beginning in the age of vigor and is confirmed by boastings afterwards, remains inrooted and thus infixed after death. How great the atrocity is, appears from what has been shown above, that virginity is the crown of chastity, the pledge of future conjugial love, and that the virgin gives up her soul and life to him on whom she bestows it. Conjugial friendship and its confidence are also founded upon it. And a woman deflowered by such, after this door of conjugial love has been broken through, loses her modesty and becomes a harlot, and of this also the robber is the cause.

 

[3] These robbers themselves, if after going through these licentious excesses and profanations of chastity they apply the mind to marriage, have in mind only the virginity of their future married partner, after they have tasted which they loathe both bed and bed chamber, yea, they also loathe the whole female sex, except young girls. And because such men are violators of marriage and despisers of the female sex and thus are spiritual robbers, it is plain that the Divine nemesis pursues them.

 

505. (4) That the lot after death of those who have confirmed with themselves that the lust of defloration is not an evil of sin is grievous.

 

Their lot is this: That when they have passed through the first period in the world of spirits, which is of modesty and morality, because in association with angelic spirits, after they from their externals are let into their internals, and at the same time into the lusts by which they had been allured in the world; and they are let into these in order that it may appear in what degree they were, and if in a minor degree, that after they have been let into them they may be released and be suffused with shame.

 

[2] But those who had been in this malignant lust to such a degree that they perceived eminent delight in it, and gloried in these thefts as over the most honorable spoils, do not suffer themselves to be led away from it. They are therefore allowed to go forth in their freedom, and then immediately they wander about and inquire for brothels, and when they are pointed out to them they also go in.

 

These places are at the sides of hell. But when they there meet only with prostitutes they go away and inquire where there are virgins. And then they are taken to harlots who by fantasy are able to assume surpassing beauty, and blooming girlish grace, and to boast that they are virgins, towards whom they burn in like manner as in the world. And therefore they bargain with them; but when about to enjoy their bargain the fantasy induced is dispelled from heaven, and those virgins then appear in their own deformity, monstrous and swarthy, to whom nevertheless they are compelled to cleave for a brief hour. These harlots are called sirens.

 

[3] But if they do not suffer themselves to be led out of their insane lust by such fascinations, they are cast down into a hell which is on the border of the south and west, beneath the hell of the more cunning courtesans, and are associated there with their companions.

 

It was given me to see them in that hell, and I was told that there were many there of noble stock and of the more opulent. But because they had been of such character in the world, all memory of those things—of their lineage, and of their dignity by virtue of wealth—is taken away, and the persuasion is induced that they are vile slaves and hence unworthy of any honor.

 

[4] Among themselves indeed they appear as men, but as seen by others who are permitted to look in there, they appear like apes, with a savage instead of a kindly face, and horrid features instead of those of pleasantry. They walk drawn together at the loins and thus crooked, the upper part inclined forwards as if about to fall. And they have an offensive smell. They loathe the opposite sex, and turn away from those of them whom they see, for they have no desire. Such do they appear when near, but at a distance like lap dogs or whelps of delights; and something like barking is heard in the sound of their speech.

 

 

 

 

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Lust for Variety

 

 

506. By the lust of varieties here treated of is not meant the lust of fornication, which was treated of in its own chapter. This, although wont to be promiscuous and vagrant, yet does not occasion the lust of varieties, except when it exceeds moderation and the fornicator looks to the number and boasts of that from yearning. This idea initiates this lust, but what it becomes in its progress cannot be perceived distinctly, unless in some order; which shall be this:

 

(1) That by the lust of varieties is meant the lust of promiscuity altogether unrestrained.

 

(2) That this lust is love of the sex and at the same time a loathing of it.

 

(3) That this lust altogether annihilates conjugial love with them.

 

(4) That their lot after death is miserable, since the inmost of life is wanting to them.

 

The exposition of these heads follows.

 

507. (1) That by the lust of varieties is meant the lust of promiscuity altogether unrestrained. This lust instills itself with those who in youth have loosed the restraints of modesty, and with whom there have not been wanting plenty of courtesans, especially if there was no lack of means to meet their demands. They implanted and inrooted the lust within themselves by inordinate and unlimited promiscuity, by shameless thoughts about the love of the female sex, and by confirmations that adulteries are not at all sins. As it goes on, the lust so increases in them that they desire the women of all the world, and would have a troupe, and a new one every day. Since this lust casts itself out from the common love of the sex implanted in every man, and altogether from the love of one of the sex, which is conjugial love, and casts itself into the exteriors of the heart as the delight of a love apart from them and yet of them, therefore it is so inrooted inwardly in the cuticles that it remains in the touch after the bodily powers have become languid. They make nothing of adulteries, and therefore think of the whole female sex as of a common strumpet, and of marriage as common prostitution, and so they mix immodesty with modesty and from the mixture are made insane. From this it is manifest what is meant by saying that the lust of varieties is the lust of promiscuity altogether dissolute.

 

508. (2) That this lust is love and at the same time a loathing of the sex. They have a love for the sex because there is variety from the sex, and they have a loathing for the sex because after the first enjoyment they cast the woman off and lust for others. This obscene lust rages with heat towards a new woman, and after the heat, becomes cold to her, and cold is loathing. That this lust is love and at the same time loathing for the sex may be illustrated thus: Place on the left hand a company of those that they have enjoyed, and on the right a company of those whom they have not enjoyed. Would they not look upon the latter with love and upon the former with loathing? And yet each company is of the sex.

 

509. (3) That this lust altogether annihilates conjugial love with them. This is because that lust is utterly opposed to conjugial love, so opposed in fact that it not merely rends but as it were grinds it to dust and thus annihilates it. For conjugial love is towards one of the sex; but this lust does not stop with one, but after an hour or a day turns as cold towards her as it was hot before, and as cold is aversion, by the cohabitation and brief tarrying together it is increased to loathing, and conjugial love is so completely destroyed that no remnant of it is left.

 

It may be seen from these considerations that this lust is deadly to conjugial love, and that as conjugial love constitutes the inmost of life with man it is deadly to his life. And that this lust, by successive interceptions and closing of the interiors of the mind, becomes at length cutaneous, and thus merely alluring, the understanding or reasoning faculty nevertheless remaining.

 

510. (4) That their lot after death is miserable, since the inmost of life is wanting to them. The excellence of the life of everyone is according to his conjugial love; for it conjoins itself with the life of the wife and by the conjunction exalts itself. But as with these not the least of conjugial love remains, nor therefore anything of the inmost of life, for that reason their lot after death is wretched. After passing a period of time in their externals, during which they speak rationally and act civilly, they are let into their internals, and then into a similar lust and its delights, in the same degree of it in which they had been in the world. For after death everyone is let into the same state of life that he had appropriated to himself, to the end that he may be led out of it; for one cannot be led away from his evil unless he has first been led into it. Otherwise the evil would hide itself and pollute the interiors of the mind, and diffuse itself like a pestilence, and finally burst the barriers, and ruin the externals which are of the body. To this end brothels are opened to them, which are at the side of hell where there are harlots, with whom there is opportunity of varying their lusts; but indulgence is permitted with only one a day, and with more on the same day is prohibited under penalty.

 

[2] Afterwards, when it has been found out by exploring them, that the lust is so implanted that they cannot be led away from it, they are taken to a certain place which is directly over the hell assigned to them, and then they appear to themselves as if falling into a swoon, and to others as if they were sinking down with upturned face; and the ground is actually opened under their backs and they are swallowed up, and sink down into the hell where their like are. They are thus gathered to their own. It was given me to see them there and also to speak with them. Among themselves they appear like men, which is granted them that they may not be a terror to their associates. But at some distance they appear with a face constantly white, as if of cuticle only, and this because there is no spiritual life in them, which everyone has according to the conjugial inherent in him. Their speech is dry, parched, and sad.

 

[3] When hungry they wail, and their wailings are heard as a grumbling of peculiar sound. They have tattered garments, and the nether garments are drawn up over the belly around the breast, for they have no loins, but the ankles of their feet start from the lowest part of the belly. The reason is that the loins with men correspond to conjugial love, and this they have not. They said that they loathe the sex for the reason that they have no potency. And yet among themselves they can argue about various matters, as if from rationality; but because they are cutaneous, they reason from the fallacies of the senses. Their hell is in the western quarter towards the north. But these same from a long way off do not appear as men, nor as monsters, but as formed of ice. But it should be known that such do they become who are imbued with that lust to such a degree that they have rent in pieces and annihilated the human conjugial with themselves.

 

 

 

 

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Lust to Rape

 

 

511. By the lust to rape is not meant the lust of defloration. This lust is for the violation of virginities, but not of virgins when it is done by consent. But the lust of violation here treated of draws back from consent, and is intensified by refusal. In fact it is a passion for violating whatsoever women entirely refuse and violently resist, whether virgins or widows or wives. They are like robbers and pirates who delight in rapine and spoils, and not in gifts or things justly acquired; and like malefactors who are eager for unlawful and forbidden things, and spurn those that are lawful and permitted. These violators are utterly averse to consent, and are impassioned by repugnance, which if they observe not to be internal, the ardor of their lust is instantly quenched, as a fire by water thrown upon it.

 

It is known that wives do not submit themselves spontaneously to the will of their husbands in respect to the ultimate acts of love; and that from prudence they offer resistance, as if to violations, to the end that they may ward off from their husbands the cold springing from what is common because continually allowable, and springing also from an idea of the licentious with respect to them.

 

Yet these repugnancies, although they inflame, are not the cause but only the beginnings of this lust. The reason of it is that after conjugial love and also promiscuous love have become spent by practice, they like to be kindled by absolute refusals, that they may recover. The lust thus begun increases afterwards, and as it increases it spurns and breaks all bounds of the love of the sex and exterminates itself, and from a licentious, corporeal, and fleshly love it becomes cartilaginous and bony; and then, from the periostea which have acute sensibility, it becomes acute. But yet this lust is rare, because it exists only with those who have entered into marriage and then indulged in promiscuities until they became spent. Besides this natural cause of that lust there is yet a spiritual cause, of which something is to be said in what follows.

 

512. Their lot after death is of this kind. These violators then, of their own accord, separate themselves from those who are in the limited love of the sex; and altogether from those who are in conjugial love, and thus from heaven. Afterwards they are given up to most crafty strumpets, who, not only by persuasion, but also by perfectly dramatic imitation, are able to feign and represent as if they were chastities themselves. These perceive well who are in that lust; they talk before them about chastity and its preciousness; and when the violator approaches and touches them, they burn with indignation and fly as with terror to their chamber, where there is a couch and a bed, and when they have lightly closed the door after them they lie down. And then by their art they inspire the violator with an unbridled desire to force the door, burst in, and rush to the assault. When he does this, the strumpet rising up begins to fight the violator, tearing his face with her hands and nails, rending his garments, and with frantic voice calling upon her strumpet companions, as upon female attendants, for help, and opening the window calling, “Thief! Robber! Murderer!” And when the violator is ready she wails and weeps, and after the violation casts herself down and cries “Infamous!” And then, in a low tone, she threatens that unless he atones for the violation with a large payment she will compass his ruin. While they are in this theatrical sexual activity, they appear at a distance like cats, which in a manner almost similar fight, run away, and squall, before connection.

 

[2] After some such brothel contests they are taken away, and removed to a cavern where they are compelled to some work. But because they have a bad odor, from the fact that they have dispersed the conjugial, which is the precious jewel of human life, they are sent away to the utmost limits of the western quarter, where they appear at some distance, emaciated as if consisting of bones covered only with skin, and from afar off like panthers.

 

When it was given me to see them nearer, I was astonished to see that some of them held books in their hands and were reading; and I was told that this is because in the world they spoke various things about the spiritual things of the church and yet defiled them by adulteries, even to these, their extremities, and that such is the correspondence of this lust with the violation of the spiritual marriage. But it should be known that they are few who are in this lust.

 

It is certain that women, because it does not become them to put forth their love, do from time to time resist, and that the resistance invigorates; but yet this is not from any lust of violation.

 

 

 

 

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Lust to Seduce Innocent Women

 

 

513. The lust to seduce innocent women is not the lust of defloration, and not the lust of violation, but is peculiar and singular by itself. It exists especially with the crafty. The women who appear to them as innocences are those who regard the evil of promiscuity as an enormous sin, and who therefore strive for chastity and at the same time for piety. Towards these they burn. In countries of the Catholic religion there are monastic virgins. As they believe these to be pious innocences before all others, they regard them as the dainties and delicacies of their lust. That they may seduce the ones or the others, being crafty they first devise artifices, and then, after they have imbued their genius with them, without being withdrawn by shame, they practice them as if from nature. Their artifices are chiefly simulations of innocence, of love, of chastity, and of piety. By these and other crafty wiles they enter into their interior friendship and thence into their love; and this, by various persuasions and at the same time instillings, they turn from spiritual into natural; and after that, by excitations on the corporeal plane into carnal love, and then they take possession of them at pleasure; having accomplished this, they rejoice in heart, and laugh to scorn those whom they have violated.

 

514. The lot of these seducers after death is sad, for this seduction is not only impiety but also malignity. After they have passed through the first period, which is in externals, during which they excel many others in elegant manners and pleasant speech, they are brought into another period of their life, which is in internals, in which the lust is set free and begins its play. And then they are first brought to women who had taken the vow of chastity. With these they are explored, as to the quality of the malignity of their lust, to the end that they may not be judged until convicted. When they perceive their chastity their deceit begins to act and to practice its wiles; but as it is in vain they leave them.

 

[2] Afterwards they are introduced to women of genuine innocence. When they attempt in like manner to beguile these, by a power given these women, they are grievously punished. They occasion a heavy numbness upon their hands and feet, and likewise upon their necks, and finally make them feel as it were a swoon, and while they are suffering these distresses they escape from them.

 

After this a way is opened for them to a certain company of harlots who have learned skillfully to counterfeit innocence. These at first expose them to laughter among themselves; and finally, after various promises, they suffer themselves to be violated.

 

[3] After some such scenes the third period comes upon them, which is that of judgment; and then, having been convicted, they sink down and are gathered to their like in a hell which is in the northern quarter, and they appear there from afar off like weasels. But if they had been filled with deceit they are taken down from this to the hell of the deceitful, which is at a depth below, at the back, in the western quarter. In this hell they appear from afar like serpents of various kinds, and the most deceitful like vipers. But in the hell itself, into which it was given me to look, they appeared lurid, with a chalky face. And as they are mere lusts they do not like to speak, and if they speak they only mutter and mumble various things, which are understood by none but the companions at their side. But presently, as they sit or stand, they make themselves inconspicuous; and they flit about in the cavern like specters; for they are then in fantasy and a phantom appears to fly. After the flight they rest, and then, which is surprising, they do not know one another. This is due to the fact that they are in deceit, and deceit does not believe another, and so withdraws itself. When they perceive anything of conjugial love they flee into crypts and hide themselves. They also are without love of the sex and are completely impotent. They are called infernal genii.

 

 

 

 

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The Correspondence of Promiscuities with the Violation of Spiritual Marriage

 

 

515. I might here premise something respecting correspondence, what it is. But it does not belong to this book; a brief summary as to what correspondence is may be seen above at n. 76 and n. 342, and fully in Apocalypse Revealed, from beginning to end: that it is the relation between the natural sense and the spiritual sense of the Word. That in the Word there is a natural and a spiritual sense, and a correspondence between them, has been shown in Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, in particular, n. 5-26 of that work.

 

516. By the spiritual marriage is meant the marriage of the Lord and the church, of which above at n. 116-131; and thence also the marriage of good and truth, of which likewise above at n. 83-102. And as this marriage is of the Lord and the church, and the marriage of good and truth thence is in all and the single things of the Word, it is the violation of this that is meant here by the violation of the spiritual marriage; for the church is from the Word and the Word is the Lord. The Lord is the Word because he is the Divine good and the Divine truth therein. That the Word is that marriage may be seen fully confirmed in Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, n. 80-90.

 

517. Since, therefore, the violation of the spiritual marriage is the violation of the Word, it is plain that this violation is the adulteration of good and the falsification of truth; for the spiritual marriage is the marriage of good and truth, as has been said. It follows from this that when the good of the Word is adulterated and the truth of the Word is falsified, that marriage is violated.

 

How that violation is committed, and by whom, will to some degree be evident from what follows.

 

518. Where the marriage of the Lord and the church was treated of before, n. 116 and the following numbers, and where the marriage of good and truth was treated of, n. 83 and the following, it was shown that that marriage corresponds to marriages on earth. It follows thence that violations of that marriage correspond to promiscuity and adulteries. That it is so is very plain from the Word itself, in that by promiscuity and by adulteries there, the falsifications of truth and the adulterations of good are signified, as may be seen in evidence from passages out of the Word cited in abundance in Apocalypse Revealed, n. 134.

 

519. Violation of the Word is committed by those in the Christian church who adulterate its goods and truths; and they do this who separate truth from good and good from truth, as also by those who take and confirm appearances of truth and fallacies for genuine truth; and they also who know truths of doctrine from the Word and live an evil life; and other such. These violations of the Word and of the church correspond to the prohibited degrees enumerated in Leviticus 18.

 

520. Since the natural and the spiritual with every man are closely connected like the soul and the body, for man without the spiritual, which flows in and vivifies the natural, would not be man; it follows thence, that whoever is in spiritual marriage is also in a happy natural marriage, and on the other hand that whoever is in spiritual adultery is also in natural adultery, and vice versa. Now, as all who are in hell are in the intermarriage of the evil and false, and this is spiritual adultery itself, and as all who are in heaven are in the marriage of good and truth, and this is marriage itself, therefore the whole hell is called adultery and the whole heaven is called a marriage.

 

521. To this shall be added the following relation:

 

My eye was opened and I saw a shady wood and a crowd of satyrs there. As to their chests the satyrs were hairy; and as to the feet some like calves, some like panthers, and some like wolves; and they had the claws of wild beasts on their feet in place of toes. They were running about like wild beasts and calling out, “Where are the women?” And then whores appeared, who were waiting for them. They also were monstrous in divers ways. The satyrs ran up to and seized them and bore them into a cavern, which was deep down beneath the earth in the middle of the wood. And on the earth round about the cavern there lay a great serpent, in spiral coil, which breathed its venom into the cave. And upon the branches of the trees above the serpent, dismal birds of night were croaking and screeching among the branches. But the satyrs and whores did not see these things, because they were correspondences of their lewdness and thus were the usual appearances at a distance.

 

[2] They afterwards came out of the cavern and went into a sort of low cabin, which was a brothel; and then apart from the whores they had a conversation together, to which I bent my ear, for in the spiritual world conversation can be heard at a distance as if present, because extension of space is only an appearance. They were talking about marriages, about nature, and about religion.

 

Those who as to the feet appeared like calves, were speaking of marriages, and said, “What are marriages but licensed adulteries? And what is sweeter than promiscuous hypocrisies, and making sport of husbands?” At this the others in loud laughter clapped their hands.

 

The satyrs who as to the feet appeared like panthers, spoke of nature and said, “What else is there but nature? What difference is there between man and beast, except that a man has articulate speech and a beast only that of sound? Have they not both life from heat and understanding from light, by the operation of nature?” At this the rest exclaimed, “Ha! You speak from judgment.”

 

Those who as to the feet appeared like wolves, spoke of religion, and said, “What is God or the Divine but the inmost of nature operating? What is religion but an invention to captivate and bind the common people?” To this the others cried out, “Bravo!”

 

[3] Some moments afterwards they rushed out, and in the rush descried me at a distance, with eyes intent, observing them. Exasperated at this they ran out of the wood and with menacing looks hastened their course towards me, and said, “Why do you stand here and listen to our whisperings?”

 

I answered, “Why not? What hinders? It was talk.” And I repeated what I had heard from them. Their minds were quieted by this, that is, quieted from fear that their sayings should be divulged. And then they began to speak modestly and to act becomingly, from which I recognized that they were not of the common crowd, but of more honorable birth. I then told them that I had seen them in the wood as satyrs, twenty as calf satyrs, six as panther satyrs, and four as wolf satyrs, for they were thirty in number.

 

[4] They were astonished at this, for to themselves they had appeared no otherwise than as men, just as they saw themselves here with me.

 

And I informed them that they appeared so from a distance because of their promiscuous lust, and this satyrlike form is the form of dissolute adultery, and not of the person. “The cause,” I said, “is that every evil lust presents its own likeness in a certain form, which is not visible to themselves but to those standing at a distance.” And I said, “That you may believe, send out some of you into the wood, while you remain here and look at them.”

 

And they did so, and sent two, and saw them near the brothel cabin exactly like satyrs. And when they returned they saluted them as satyrs and said, “O what laughingstocks!”

 

As they were laughing I said various things to them in jest, and told them I had seen adulterers as swine; and then recalled the fable of Ulysses and Circe, how that she sprinkled the companions and servants of Ulysses with enchanter’s herbs and touched them with her magic wand and turned them into swine, perhaps into adulterers, “for by no art could she turn any man into a hog.”

 

When they were through with their loud laughter at this and other like things, I asked them if they knew from what kingdoms of the world they came. They said they were from different kingdoms, and mentioned Italy, Poland, Germany, England, and Sweden. And I asked whether they had seen anyone from Holland among them. And they said, “Not one.”

 

[5] After this I turned the conversation to serious things, and asked whether they had ever thought that adultery was a sin?

 

They answered, “What is sin? We do not know what it is.” I asked whether they ever remembered that adultery was against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue?

 

They replied, “What is the Decalogue? Is it the catechism? What have we men to do with that childish little book?”

 

I asked them whether they ever thought anything about hell.

 

They answered, “Who has ever come up from there and told about it?”

 

I asked whether in the world they had ever thought about a life after death.

 

They said, “As about that of beasts. And sometimes as that of ghosts, which if they exhale from dead bodies are dissipated.”

 

I asked again whether they had heard about one or the other of these things from the priests.

 

They answered that they gave attention only to the sound of their voices, and not to the subject. And what is this?

 

[6] Astounded at these answers, I said to them, “Turn your faces and your eyes toward the middle of the wood, where the cavern is in which you were.”

 

And they turned and saw that great serpent in spiral coil around it, breathing its venom into it, and also the dismal birds in the branches above it.

 

And I asked, “What do you see?”

 

But they were terrified, and made no answer. And I said, “Did you not see the horrible thing? Know, that this is a representative of adultery in the atrociousness of its lust.”

 

Then suddenly a certain angel stood by. He was a priest; and he opened the hell in the western region where such are finally gathered together, and said, “Look there!” And they saw a lake as it were of fire, and recognized some friends there whom they had known in the world who invited them to come to them.

 

On seeing and hearing these things they turned away, rushed from my sight and left the wood; but I observed their steps, that they seemed to withdraw, but by a roundabout way returned into the wood.

 

522. After this I went home. And the next day, from a recollection of these sad scenes I looked towards the same wood, and saw that it had disappeared, and in its place was a sandy plain, and in the midst of this a pool, in which were some red serpents. But some weeks afterwards I looked again at the place, and saw on the right side of it a fallow field and several husbandmen upon it. And again, after some weeks, I saw that the fallow land had become a cultivated field, surrounded by small trees. And then I heard a voice from heaven, “Enter into your chamber and shut the door, and go on with the work begun upon Revelation, and pursue it to the end within two years.”

 

 

 

 

(27)

 

The Imputation of Each Love, Promiscuous and Conjugial

 

 

523. The Lord says: “Judge not, that ye be not condemned.” (Matt. 7:1); by which can by no means be meant the judgment of the moral and civil life of anyone in the world, but the judgment as to his spiritual and celestial life. Who does not see, that if one may not judge as to the moral life of those that dwell with him in the world, society would perish? What would society be if there were no public judgments? Or if everyone might not form his judgment of another? But to judge what his interior mind or soul is, thus what is his spiritual state and therefore his lot after death, of this one may not judge for it is known to the Lord only; and the Lord does not reveal it until after death, in order that everyone may do what he does in freedom, and that by this fact the good or the evil shall be from him, and thus in him; and thence that he may live to himself and be his own to eternity. That the interiors of the mind, hidden in the world, are revealed after death is because it is of interest and of advantage to the societies into which man then comes; for there all are spiritual. That they are then revealed is plain from these words of the Lord:

 

There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hidden that shall not be made known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed from the housetops (Luke 12:2-3).

 

A general judgment like this is allowable: “If in internals you are such as you appear in externals you will be saved, or will be condemned.” But a particular judgment such as “You are such in internals and therefore will be saved, or will be condemned” is not allowable.

 

Judgment of man’s spiritual life, or of the internal life of his soul, is meant by the imputation here treated of. Who among men knows which one is a whoremonger at heart? Or which a consort at heart? And yet the thoughts of the heart, which are the purposes of the will, judge every man. But these subjects shall be laid open in the following order:

 

(1) That to everyone after death is imputed the evil in which he is; likewise the good.

 

(2) That a transcription of the good of one into another is impossible.

 

(3) That imputation, if such a transcription is meant by it, is an idle word.

 

(4) That the evil of everyone is imputed according to the quality of his will and according to the quality of his understanding; likewise the good.

 

(5) It is in this wise that promiscuous love is imputed to anyone.

 

(6) That conjugial love is imputed in like manner. The explanation of these follows.

 

524. (1) That to everyone after death is imputed the evil in which he is; likewise the good. That this may appear in some clearness it shall be illustrated under distinct heads, thus: (a) That everyone has his peculiar life. (b) That his own life remains with everyone after death. (c) That to an evil man is then imputed the evil of his life, and to the good man is imputed the good of his life.

 

(1) That everyone has his peculiar life, thus a life distinct from that of another, is known; for there is a perpetual variety and no one thing is the same as another. Each one therefore has what is his own. This is very manifest from the faces of men, in that there is no one face just like another, and cannot be to eternity. The reason is that there are no minds alike, and the faces are from the mind; for the face, as has been said, is the type of the mind, and the mind derives its origin and form from the life.

 

[2] If a man had not his own life, just as he has his own mind and his own face, he would have no life after death distinct from that of another. Yea, neither would there be any heaven, for heaven consists of perpetually distinct individuals. Its form is solely from the varieties of souls and minds disposed in such order as to make one, and they make one from the one whose life is in all and in the single ones therein, as the soul is in man. If it were not so heaven would be dispersed because its form would be dissolved. The one, from whom all and each single individual have life, and from whom the form coheres, is the Lord. Every form in general is from various things, and is such as is their harmonious coordination and disposition into one. Such is the human form. Hence it is that man, consisting of so many members, viscera and organs, has no feeling within himself or from himself but that he is one.

 

[3] (2) That his own life awaits everyone after death is known in the church from the Word, as from these things there:

 

The son of man shall come, and then he shall reward every man according to his works (Matt. 16:27).

 

I saw the books opened, and they were judged every man according to his works (Rev. 20:12-13).

 

In the day of judgment God shall render to every man according to his deeds (Rom. 2:5-6; 2 Cor. 5:10).

 

The deeds, according to which it will be rendered to everyone, are the life, because the life does them and they are according to the life.

 

As it has been given to me for many years to be with the angels, and to talk with those that were coming from the world, I can testify for a certainty that everyone is explored there as to what his life has been; and that the life which he has contracted in the world remains with him to eternity. I have conversed with those who lived ages ago whose life was known to me from history, and have recognized that it was like the description. I have also heard from the angels that the life of no one can be changed after death, because it is organized in accordance with his love and thence his works, and if they were changed the organization would be torn to pieces, which can never be done. And that a change in organization only takes place while in the material body, and is entirely impossible in the spiritual body, after the former is cast off.

 

[4] (3) That then is imputed to an evil man the evil of his life; and to the good man is imputed the good of his life. The imputation of evil is not accusation, crimination, inculpation, and judgment, as in the world, but the evil itself works this; for the evil, of their own free will, separate themselves from the good, because they cannot be together. The delights of the love of evil have an aversion to the delights of the love of good, and from everyone his delights exhale, as do the odors from every plant on earth; for they are not absorbed and concealed by a material body as before, but flow freely forth from their loves into the spiritual aura. And as evil is there sensibly perceived as in its odor, it is this that accuses, criminates, inculpates, and judges, not before any judge, but before everyone who is in good. And this is what is meant by imputation. Moreover, an evil man chooses his companions, with whom he may live in his delight; and as he has an aversion to the delight of good, he of his own accord betakes himself to his own in hell.

 

[5] The imputation of good is effected in like manner. This takes place with those who in the world acknowledged that all the good in them is from the Lord and none from themselves. These are let into the interior delights of good, after they are prepared, and then the way is opened for them into heaven, to the society where its delights are homogeneous. This is done by the Lord.

 

525. (2) That transcription of the good of one into another is impossible. The evidence of this also can be seen from these considerations in order: (a) That every man is born in evil. (b) That he is led into good by the Lord, through regeneration. (c) That this is done by a life according to his commandments. (d) Therefore the good which is thus implanted cannot be transcribed.

 

(1) That every man is born in evil is known in the church. It is said that this evil is by inheritance from Adam; but it is from the parents. Everyone derives his disposition, which is inclination, from them. Reason and experience prove that this is so, for the likeness to the parents, in face, in genius, and in manners, is manifest, in the immediate children, and in the posterities from them. Hence families are known by many, and judgment as to their minds is formed. The evils therefore in which men are born are those that the parents themselves have contracted, and have passed on by derivation to their offspring. The reason why it is believed that the guilt of Adam is inscribed upon the whole human race is that few reflect upon any evil in themselves, and thence know it.

 

They therefore suppose it to be so deeply hidden as not to appear except before God.

 

[2] (2) That man is led into good by the Lord, through regeneration. That there is regeneration, and that no one can enter heaven unless he is regenerated, is very plain from the Lord’s words in John 3:3, 5. That regeneration is purification from evils, and thus renovation of the life, cannot be unknown in the Christian world; for reason also sees this, when it acknowledges that everyone is born in evil, and that evil cannot be washed and purged away like filth with soap and water, but by repentance.

 

[3] (3) That man is led into good by the Lord, through a life according to his commandments. The commandments of regeneration are five, which may be seen above, n. 82. Among them are these: that evils are to be shunned because they are of the devil, and from the devil; and that goods are to be done because they are of God, and from God; and that the Lord is to be approached in order that he may lead men to the doing of these commandments. Let everyone consult himself, and consider whether a man has good from any other source, and if not good he has not salvation.

 

[4] (4) That good when thus implanted cannot be transcribed. By transcription is meant the transcription of the good of one into another. It follows from what has been said above, that by regeneration a man as to his spirit is made altogether new, and that this is effected by a life according to the Lord’s commandments. Who does not see that this renovation cannot be accomplished except from time to time, scarcely otherwise than as a tree successively takes root and grows from the seed, and is perfected. Those who conceive otherwise of regeneration know nothing of man’s state; nor anything about evil and good, that these two are altogether opposite, and that good cannot be implanted except as evil is removed. Nor do they know that so long as anyone is in evil he is averse to good which in itself is good. If therefore the good of one could be transferred into anyone who is in evil, it would be as if a lamb were cast to a wolf, or as a pearl tied to the snout of a hog, from which it is manifest that inscription is impossible.

 

526. (3) That imputation, if such a transcription is meant by it, is an idle word. It has been shown above in n. 524, that after death to everyone is imputed the evil in which he is; likewise the good. What is meant by imputation is thence evident. But if transcription of good into anyone who is in evil be meant by imputation, it is an idle word, because the thing is impossible, as also was shown just above at n. 525.

 

By men in the world merits can in a manner be transcribed. That is, good can be done to children on account of their parents, or to the friends of an adherent out of favor; but the good of merit cannot be inscribed upon their souls, it can only be adjoined from without. The like cannot be done with men as their spiritual life. This, as has been shown above, must be implanted; and if it be not implanted by the life according to the Lord’s commandments, mentioned above, the man remains in the evil in which he was born. Until this is done no good can reach him, or if it touches him it is instantly repelled and recoils, like an elastic ball falling upon a rock, or is swallowed up as a diamond cast into a bog. Man not reformed is as to his spirit like a panther, or like an owl, and may be compared to a briar and a nettle. But man regenerated is as a sheep, or as a dove, and may be compared to an olive tree and a vine.

 

Think, I pray you if you please, How can a male panther be converted into a male sheep, or an owl into a dove, or a briar into an olive tree, or a nettle into a vine by any imputation, if by that be meant a transcription? That the conversion may be effected, must not the wild nature of the panther and the owl, and the noxiousness of the briar and the nettle be first removed, so that the truly human and innocuous can be implanted? And how this is done the Lord teaches in John 15:1-7.

 

527. (4) That the evil of everyone is imputed according to the quality of his will, and according to the quality of his understanding. It is known that there are two things which make man’s life, will and understanding; that all things done by a man are done by his will and by his understanding; and that without these acting, man would have no action nor speech other than as a machine. From which it is plain that such as is the quality of his will and understanding such is the man; and that the action of man in itself is such as the affection of his will is which produces it; and that a man’s speech in itself is such as is the thought of his understanding which produces it. Therefore a number of men may act and speak alike, and yet act and speak unlike, one of them from a depraved will and thought, another from an upright will and thought.

 

[2] From this it is evident what is meant by the deeds or works, according to which everyone will be judged, namely, the will and the understanding; consequently that by evil deeds are meant the deeds of an evil will, of what quality soever they may outwardly appear; and that by good deeds are meant the deeds of a good will, although outwardly they appear similar to the works of an evil man.

 

All things that are done from a man’s interior will are done for a purpose, for that will does the thing which it purposes to itself in its intention. And all things that are done from the understanding are done from confirmation, since the understanding confirms. It is evident from this that the evil or the good imputed to anyone is according to the quality of his will in the things done, and according to the quality of his understanding concerning them. This may be confirmed by the following.

 

[3] I have met with many in the spiritual world who in the natural world had lived like others, clothing themselves splendidly, faring sumptuously, trafficking for gain like others, attending dramatic performances, jesting about love affairs as if from lust, and other like things, and yet with some the angels accounted these as evils of sin, and with others accounted them not as evils; and these they declared innocent, but those guilty. To the question why it was so, when yet they had done like things, they answered that they regard all from their purpose, intention, or end, and according to this distinguish them, and that therefore those whom the end excuses or condemns they excuse or condemn, for all in heaven have an end of good, and all in hell have an end of evil.

 

528. To this is added the following. It is said in the church that no one can fulfill the law, and the less so for the reason that if a man offends against one commandment of the Decalogue, he offends against all. But this form of speech is not as it sounds. For it must be thus understood, that he who of purpose or from confirmation acts against one commandment acts against the rest, because to act thus from purpose or from confirmation is to deny altogether that it is a sin, and he who denies it to be a sin makes nothing of acting against the other commandments. Who does not know that one who is an adulterer is not therefore a murderer, a thief, and a false witness, and does not wish to be? But a man who from purpose and from confirmation is an adulterer makes nothing of anything pertaining to religion, and so makes nothing of murder, of theft, and of false witness, and abstains from them, not because they are sins, but because he has fear of the law and of his reputation. That adulterers from purpose and from confirmation regard the sacred things of the church and of religion of no account may be seen above, n. 490-493, and in the two relations, n. 500, 521-522. It is similar if one from purpose or from confirmation acts against any other commandment of the decalogue, he acts also against the rest, because he does not regard anything as a sin.

 

529. It is quite similar with those who are in good from the Lord. If they from will and understanding, or from purpose and confirmation, abstain from one evil because it is a sin, they abstain from all, and more yet if they abstain from several; for as soon as one from purpose, or from confirmation, abstains from any evil because it is a sin, he is kept by the Lord in the purpose of abstaining from the rest. If then he does evil from ignorance, or from some prevailing lust of the body, it is yet not imputed to him, because he did not propose it to himself, and does not confirm it with himself. A man comes into this purpose if once or twice in a year he examines himself, and repents of the evil that he discovers with himself. It is otherwise with him who never examines himself. From these considerations it is manifest who it is to whom evil is imputed and to whom it is not imputed.

 

530. (5) It is in this wise that promiscuous love is imputed to anyone. That is to say, not according to the deeds as they appear outwardly to men, yea, nor as they appear before a judge, but as they appear inwardly before the Lord, and from him before the angels, which is according to the quality of the man’s will, and the quality of his understanding in them. There are various circumstances in the world which mitigate and excuse crimes, and which aggravate and incriminate. But still after death imputations are not made according to circumstances that are the externals of the deed, but according to internal circumstances of the mind, and these are regarded according to the church in everyone.

 

For example, a man impious of will and understanding, one who has no fear of God nor love of the neighbor, and therefore no reverence for any holiness of the church: After death he is accounted guilty of all the crimes that he committed in the body, and his good deeds do not come into remembrance; because his heart, from which they issued as from a fountain, was turned away from heaven and turned towards hell, and the deeds of everyone flow from the place of his heart’s abode. That this may be understood I will mention a secret.

 

[2] Heaven is distinguished into innumerable societies. Likewise, by opposition, hell. And the mind of every man, according to his will and thence his understanding, is actually dwelling in some one society, and intends and thinks in like manner with those who are there. If his mind is in some society of heaven, then he intends and thinks in like manner with those who are there; if it is in some society of hell, in like manner with those who are there. But as long as he lives in the world he migrates from one society to another, according to the changes of the affections of his will and thence of the thoughts of his mind. But after death his wanderings are brought together, and from the wanderings collected in one, the place for him is designated, if evil, in hell; if good, in heaven.

 

[3] Now as all in hell have a will of evil, from that all there are regarded; and as all in heaven have a will of good, from that all there are regarded. And therefore imputations after death are made according to the quality of the will and the understanding of everyone. Thus it is with promiscuity, whether it is fornication or taking a mistress, or adultery; because they are imputed to everyone not according to the deeds, but according to the state of mind in the deeds; for deeds follow the body in the tomb, but the mind rises again.

 

531. (6) That in like manner conjugial love is imputed to everyone. There are marriages in which conjugial love does not appear and yet is there; and there are marriages in which conjugial love appears and yet is not there. The reasons for each are many, knowable in part from what has been written respecting love truly conjugial, n.

 

57-73; respecting the causes of colds and separations, n. 234-260; and respecting the causes of apparent love and friendship in marriages, n. 271-292. But the appearances in externals determine nothing as to imputation. The one thing that determines is the conjugial, which is seated in the will of everyone, and is guarded, in whatsoever state of marriage the man is; for that conjugial is as the balance wherein that love is weighed. For the conjugial of one man with one wife is the precious treasure of human life and the repository of the Christian religion, as was shown above in n. 457, 458. And because this is so the love can be with one married partner and not with the other; and the love can lie so deeply concealed that the man himself takes no notice of it; and it may be inscribed too in the course of the life. The reason is, that this love in its steps goes hand in hand with religion, and religion, because it is the marriage of the Lord and the church, is the starting point at which this love is infused; therefore conjugial love is imputed to everyone after death according to his spiritual rational life. And for him to whom this love is imputed after death, marriage is provided in heaven, of whatsoever kind his marriage may have been on earth.

 

From all these considerations comes now this final conclusion: That not from the appearances of marriages, nor from the appearances of promiscuity, is it to be determined respecting anyone, whether he is in conjugial love or not. Wherefore, “Judge not, that ye be not condemned” (Matt. 7:1).

 

532. Hereto I will add this relation:

 

I was once, as to my spirit, taken up into the angelic heaven, and into one of its societies, and then some of the wise there came to me and said, “What is there new from earth?”

 

I said to them, “This is new: That the Lord has revealed secrets that surpass in excellence the secrets revealed hitherto from the beginning of the church.”

 

They asked, “What are they?”

 

I replied, “They are these: (1) That in the Word, in all and in the single things of it, there is a spiritual sense corresponding to the natural sense; and that through that sense there is conjunction of the men of the church with the Lord, and consociation with the angels; and that therein resides the holiness of the Word. (2) That the correspondences of which the spiritual sense of the Word consists have been disclosed.”

 

The angels asked, “Have not the inhabitants of the globe known about correspondences before?”

 

I replied, “Nothing at all. And they have lain hidden now for some thousands of years, ever since the time of Job; yet with those who lived at that time, and before, the knowledge of correspondences was the knowledge of knowledges, from which they had wisdom, because cognition concerning things spiritual, which are those of heaven and thence of the church. But because that knowledge was converted to idolatrous purposes, it was, of the Lord’s Divine providence, so blotted out of remembrance and lost that no one saw any sign of it. But now, at last, it has been laid open by the Lord, in order that there may be brought to pass conjunction of the men of the church with him, and consociation with the angels, and this is effected through the Word, wherein all and the single things are correspondences.”

 

The angels were greatly rejoiced that it had pleased the Lord to reveal this great secret, which for several thousands of years had lain so deeply concealed, and said, “It is to the end that the Christian church, which is founded upon the Word, and is now at its end, may revive again and draw breath through heaven from the Lord.” And they asked whether through this knowledge it has at this day been made known what is signified by baptism and the holy supper, about which hitherto men have thought so variously.

 

I answered that it has been made known.

 

(3) I said further that a revelation has at this day been made by the Lord respecting the life of men after death.

 

The angels said, “What about life after death? Who does not know that man lives after death?”

 

I replied, “They know and they do not know. They say it is not the man but his soul that lives, and that this lives as a spirit and of the spirit they cherish the idea that it is as wind or ether, and that the man does not live until after the day of the last judgment; and that then the bodies that men had left behind in the world, though eaten by worms, mice, and fishes, will be gathered up and brought together again into a body, and that thus men will rise again.”

 

The angels said, “What is this? Who does not know that man lives as a man after death, with the difference only that then he lives as a spiritual man, and that the spiritual man sees the spiritual man as the material man sees the material, and that they know not a single difference except that they are in a more perfect state?”

 

(4) The angels asked, “What do they know about our world, and about heaven and hell?”

 

I said, “They know nothing. But at this day the Lord has disclosed the nature of the spiritual world in which angels and spirits live, and thus what the nature of heaven is, and of what quality hell is, as also that angels and spirits are in conjunction with men, and many wonderful things about them.”

 

The angels were glad that the Lord had been pleased to make such things known, so that men may no longer grope in uncertainty from ignorance respecting their immortality.

 

(5) I told them further: “At this day the Lord has revealed that in your world there is another sun from that in ours, and that the sun of your world is pure love, and the sun of our world is pure fire. And that therefore all that proceeds from your sun, because it is pure love, partakes of life; and that all that proceeds from our sun, because it is pure fire, partakes nothing of life, and that thence is the difference between the spiritual and the natural; which difference, hitherto unknown, has also been disclosed. From which it has become known whence the light is that enlightens the human understanding with wisdom, and whence is the heat which enkindles the human will with love. (6) It has besides been made known that there are three degrees of life; and that thence there are three heavens; and that the human mind is distinguished into three degrees, and thence man corresponds to the three heavens.”

 

The angels said, “Did they not know this before?”

 

I answered that, “They knew of degrees between greater and less, but nothing of the degrees between prior and posterior.”

 

(7) The angels asked whether any more things than these have been revealed.

 

I said, “Many more. Namely: respecting the last judgment; respecting the Lord, that he is the God of heaven and earth; that God is one, both in person and in essence, in whom is a Divine trinity, and that he is the Lord; and respecting the new church to be established by him; and concerning the doctrine of that church; respecting the holiness of the sacred Scripture; also that the book of Revelation has been revealed, which could not have been revealed, even as to one little verse, except by the Lord; Moreover, respecting the inhabitants of the planets, and of the earths in the universe; besides many notable and wonderful things out of the spiritual world, whereby many things that pertain to wisdom have been revealed from heaven.”

 

533. The angels were greatly rejoiced on hearing these things, but they perceived a sadness in me, and inquired, “Whence is your sadness?”

 

I said, “Because the secrets at this day revealed by the Lord, although in excellence and worth they surpass the knowledges hitherto made known, are yet on earth esteemed as of no value.”

 

The angels were astounded at this, and besought the Lord that they might be permitted to look down into the world. And they looked down, and lo! mere darkness there! And they were told to write these secrets upon paper, and to let the paper down upon the earth, and they would see a marvel. And it was done. And behold, the paper on which the secrets were written was let down from heaven, and in its descent while still in the spiritual world it shone like a star; but as it passed down into the natural world the light disappeared, and by degrees as it descended it was veiled in darkness. And when it was let down by the angels into companies where there were doctors and learned men—from some of the clergy and of the laity—a murmur was heard from many, in which were these words:

 

“What is this? Is it anything? What matters it whether we know these things or do not know them? Are they not offspring of the brain?”

 

And there was an appearance as if some took the paper and folded and rolled and unrolled it with their fingers, in order to obliterate the writing. And it appeared as if some tore it in pieces, and as if some wished to trample it under their feet. But they were withheld by the Lord from such an outrage, and the angels were commanded to withdraw it and guard it. And as the angels were made sad, and were thinking, “How long will this be?” it was declared:

 

For a time, and times, and half a time (Rev. 12:14).

 

534. After this I spoke with the angels, and said that yet another thing is revealed in the world by the Lord.

 

They asked, “What is it?”

 

I said, “Respecting love truly conjugial, and its heavenly delights.”

 

The angels said, “Who does not know that the delights of conjugial love excel the delights of all other loves? And who cannot see that into some love are brought together all the states of blessedness, satisfaction, and delight that can ever be conferred by the Lord? And that the receptacle of these is love truly conjugial, which can receive and perceive them even to full sensation.”

 

I answered, “Men do not know this, because they have not come to the Lord, and lived according to his commandments, by shunning evils as sins, and doing good, and love truly conjugial with its delights is from the Lord only, and is given to those that live according to his commandments. That thus it is given to those who are received into the new church of the Lord, which is meant by ‘the new Jerusalem’ in Revelation.” To this I added, “I am in doubt whether at this day in the world they are willing to believe that this is in itself a spiritual love, and is therefore from religion, for the reason that they cherish only a corporeal idea of it.”

 

They then said to me, “Write about it, and follow the revelation. And afterwards the book written about it shall be let down by us out of heaven, and we shall see whether the things therein are received, and at the same time whether they are willing to acknowledge that this love is according to religion with man, spiritual with the spiritual, natural with the natural, and merely carnal with adulterers.”

 

535. After this I heard a hostile murmur from those below, and at the same time these words, “Work miracles and we will believe.”

 

I asked, “Are not these miracles?”

 

And they answered, “No!”

 

I asked, “What miracles then?”

 

And it was said: “Discover and reveal things to come, and we shall have faith.”

 

“But,” I replied, “such things are not given from heaven, because insofar as man knows the future his reason and understanding, with his prudence and wisdom, fall into inaction, and become torpid and decay.” And I asked again, “What other miracles shall I do?”

 

And then the cry was made, “Perform miracles like those which Moses did in Egypt.”

 

To this I answered, “Perhaps you would harden your hearts at them, as Pharaoh and the Egyptians did.”

 

It was answered that they would not.

 

And again I said, “Assure me that you will not dance around a golden calf and adore it, as the posterity of Jacob did within the space of a month after they had seen the whole of Mount Sinai on fire, and heard Jehovah himself speaking out of the fire, thus after a miracle which was the greatest of all.” (“A golden calf” in the spiritual sense is the pleasure of the flesh.)

 

And it was answered from below, “We shall not be like the posterity of Jacob.”

 

But I then heard it said to them from heaven, “If you believe not Moses and the prophets, that is, the Word of the Lord, you would no more believe from miracles than did the sons of Jacob in the wilderness, no more indeed than they believed when they saw with their own eyes the miracles which the Lord himself wrought when he was in the world.”

 

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