The Delights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love
by
Emanuel Swedenborg
Part 8 out of 12
animals, but also to vegetables and minerals; see n. 389; it also passes
into the earth itself, which is the mother of all vegetables and
minerals; for the earth, in the spring, is in a prepared state for the
reception of seeds, as it were in the womb; and when it receives them,
it, as it were, conceives, cherishes them, bears, excludes, suckles,
nourishes, clothes, educates, guards, and, as it were, loves the
offspring derived from them, and so forth. Since the sphere of
procreation proceeds thus far, how much more must it proceed to animals
of every kind, even to worms! That as the earth is the common mother of
vegetables, so there is also a common mother of bees in every hive, is a
well known tact, confirmed by observation.
398. X. IN THE DEGREE IN WHICH INNOCENCE RETIRES FROM INFANTS, AFFECTION
AND CONJUNCTION ALSO ABATE, AND THIS SUCCESSIVELY EVEN TO SEPARATION. It
is well known that the love of infants, or _storge_, retires from
parents according as innocence retires from them; and that, in the case
of men, it retires even to the separation of children from home, and in
the case of beasts and birds, to a rejection from their presence, and a
total forgetfulness of relationship. From this circumstance, as an
established fact, it may further appear, that innocence flowing in on
each side produces the love called _storge_.
399. XI. A STATE OF RATIONAL INNOCENCE AND PEACE WITH PARENTS TOWARDS
INFANTS, IS GROUNDED IN THE CIRCUMSTANCE, THAT THEY KNOW NOTHING AND CAN
DO NOTHING FROM THEMSELVES, BUT FROM OTHERS, ESPECIALLY FROM THE FATHER
AND MOTHER; AND THIS STATE SUCCESSIVELY RETIRES, IN PROPORTION AS THEY
KNOW AND HAVE ABILITY FROM THEMSELVES, AND NOT FROM OTHERS. That the
sphere of the love of infants is a sphere of protection and support of
those who cannot protect and support themselves, was shewn above in its
proper article, n. 391: that this is only a rational cause with men, but
not the very essential cause of that love prevailing with them, was also
mentioned in the same article. The real original cause of that love is
innocence from the Lord, which flows in while the man is ignorant of it,
and produces the above rational cause; therefore as the first cause
produces a retiring from that love, so also does the second cause at the
same time; or what is the same, as the communication of innocence
retires, so also the persuading reason accompanies it; but this is the
case only with man to the intent that he may do what he does from
freedom according to reason, and from this, as from a rational and at
the same time a moral law, may support his adult offspring according to
the requirements of necessity and usefulness. This second cause does not
influence animals who are without reason, they being affected only by
the prior cause, which to them is instinct.
400. XII. THE SPHERE OF THE LOVE OF PROCREATING ADVANCES IN ORDER FROM
THE END THROUGH CAUSES INTO EFFECTS, AND MAKES PERIODS; WHEREBY CREATION
IS PRESERVED IN THE STATE FORESEEN AND PROVIDED FOR. All operations in
the universe have a progression from ends through causes into effects.
These three are in themselves indivisible, although in idea they appear
divided; but still the end, unless the intended effect is seen together
with it, is not any thing; nor does either become any thing, unless the
cause supports, contrives, and conjoins it. Such a progression is
inherent in every man in general, and in every particular, altogether as
will, understanding, and action: every end in regard to man relates to
the will, every cause to the understanding, and every effect to the
action; in like manner, every end relates to love, every efficient cause
to wisdom, and every effect thence derived to use. The reason of this
is, because the receptacle of love is the will, the receptacle of wisdom
is the understanding, and the receptacle of use is action: since
therefore operations in general and in particular with man advance from
the will through the understanding into act, so also do they advance
from love through wisdom into use. By wisdom here we mean all that which
belongs to judgement and thought. That these three are a one in the
effect, is evident. That they also make a one in ideas before the
effect, is perceived from the consideration, that determination only
intervenes; for in the mind an end goes forth from the will and produces
for itself a cause in the understanding, and presents to itself an
intention; and intention is as an act before determination; hence it is,
that by a wise man, and also by the Lord, intention is accepted as an
act. What rational person cannot see, or, when he hears, acknowledge,
that those three principles flow from some first cause, and that that
cause is, that from the Lord, the Creator and Conservator of the
universe, there continually proceed love, wisdom, and use, and these
three are one? Tell, if you can, in what other source they originate.
401. A similar progression from end through cause into effect belongs
also to the sphere of procreating and of protecting the things
procreated. The end in this case is the will or love of procreating; the
middle cause, by which the end is effected and into which it infuses
itself, is conjugial love; the progressive series of efficient causes is
the loving, conception, gestation of the embryo or offspring to be
procreated; and the effect is the offspring itself procreated. But
although end, cause, and effect successively advance as three things,
still in the love of procreating, and inwardly in all the causes, and in
the effect itself, they make a one. They are the efficient causes only,
which advance through times, because in nature; while the end or will,
or love, remains continually the same: for ends advance in nature
through times without time; but they cannot come forth and manifest
themselves, until the effect or use exists and becomes a subject; before
this, the love could love only the advance, but could not secure and fix
itself. That there are periods of such progressions, and that creation
is thereby preserved in the state foreseen and provided for, is well
known. But the series of the love of infants from its greatest to its
least, thus to the boundary in which it subsists or ceases, is
retrograde; since it is according to the decrease of innocence in the
subject, and also on account of the periods.
402. XIII. THE LOVE OF INFANTS DESCENDS, AND DOES NOT ASCEND. That it
descends from generation to generation, or from sons and daughters to
grandsons and granddaughters, and does not ascend from these to fathers
and mothers of families, is well known. The cause of its increase in
descent is the love of fructifying, or of producing uses, and in respect
to the human race, it is the love of multiplying it; but this derives
its origin solely from the Lord, who, in the multiplication of the human
race, regards the conservation of creation, and as the ultimate end
thereof, the angelic heaven, which is solely from the human race; and
since the angelic heaven is the end of ends, and thence the love of
loves with the Lord, therefore there is implanted in the souls of men,
not only the love of procreating, but also of loving the things
procreated in successions: hence also this love exists only with man and
not with any beast or bird. That this love with man descends increasing,
is in consequence of the glory of honor, which in like manner increases
with him according to amplifications. That the love of honor and glory
receives into itself the love of infants flowing from the Lord, and
makes it as it were its own, will be seen in article XVI.
403. XIV. WIVES HAVE ONE STATE OF LOVE BEFORE CONCEPTION AND ANOTHER
AFTER, EVEN TO THE BIRTH. This is adduced to the end that it may be
known, that the love of procreating, and the consequent love of what is
procreated, is implanted in conjugial love with women, and that with
them those two loves are divided, while the end, which is the love of
procreating, begins its progression. That the love called _storge_ is
then transferred from the wife to the husband; and also that the love of
procreating, which, as we said, with a woman makes one with her
conjugial love, is then not alike, is evident from several indications.
404. XV. WITH PARENTS CONJUGIAL LOVE IS CONJOINED WITH THE LOVE OF
INFANTS BY SPIRITUAL CAUSES, AND THENCE BY NATURAL. The spiritual causes
are, that the human race may be multiplied, and from this the angelic
heaven enlarged, and that thereby such may be born as will become
angels, serving the Lord to promote uses in heaven, and by consociation
with men also in the earths: for every man has angels associated with
him from the Lord; and such is his conjunction with them, that if they
were taken away, he would instantly die. The natural causes of the
conjunction of those two loves are, to effect the birth of those who may
promote uses in human societies, and may be incorporated therein as
members. That the latter are the natural and the former the spiritual
causes of the love of infants and of conjugial love, even married
partners themselves think and sometimes declare, saying they have
enriched heaven with as many angels as they have had descendants, and
have furnished society with as many servants as they have had children.
405. XVI. THE LOVE OF CHILDREN AND INFANTS IS DIFFERENT WITH SPIRITUAL
MARRIED PARTNERS FROM WHAT IT IS WITH NATURAL. With spiritual married
partners the love of infants as to appearance, is like the love of
infants with natural married partners; but it is more inward, and thence
more tender, because that love exists from innocence, and from a nearer
reception of innocence, and thereby a more present preception of it in
man's self: for the spiritual are such so far as they partake of
innocence. But spiritual fathers and mothers, after they have sipped the
sweet of innocence with their infants, love their children very
differently from what natural fathers and mothers do. The spiritual love
their children from their spiritual intelligence and moral life; thus
they love them from the fear of God and actual piety, or the piety of
life, and at the same time from affection and application to uses
serviceable to society, consequently from the virtues and good morals
which they possessed. From the love of these things they are principally
led to provide for, and minister to, the necessities of their children;
therefore if they do not observe such things in them, they alienate
their minds from them and do nothing for them but so far as they think
themselves bound in duty. With natural fathers and mothers the love of
infants is indeed grounded also in innocence; but when the innocence is
received by them, it is entwined around their own love, and consequently
the love of their infants from the latter, and at the same time from the
former, kissing, embracing, and dangling them, hugging them to their
bosoms, and fawning upon and flattering them beyond all bounds,
regarding them as one heart and soul with themselves; and afterwards,
when they have passed the state of infancy even to boyhood and beyond
it, in which state innocence is no longer operative, they love them not
from any fear of God and actual piety, or the piety of life, nor from
any rational and moral intelligence they may have; neither do they
regard, or only very slightly, if at all, their internal affections, and
thence their virtues and good morals, but only their externals, which
they favor and indulge. To these externals their love is directed and
determined: hence also they close their eyes to their vices, excusing,
and favoring them. The reason of this is, because with such parents the
love of their offspring is also the love of themselves; and this love
adheres to the subject outwardly, without entering into it, as self does
not enter into itself.
406. The quality of the love of infants and of the love of children with
the spiritual and with the natural, is evidently discerned from them
after death; for most fathers, when they come into another life,
recollect their children who have died before them; they are also
presented to and mutually acknowledge each other. Spiritual fathers only
look at them, and inquire as to their present state, and rejoice if it
is well with them, and grieve if it is ill; and after some conversation,
instruction, and admonition respecting moral celestial life, they
separate from them, telling them, that they are no longer to be
remembered as fathers because the Lord is the only Father to all in
heaven, according to his words, Matt. xxiii. 9: and that they do not at
all remember them as children. But natural fathers, when they first
become conscious that they are living after death, and recall to mind
their children who have died before them, and also when, agreeably to
their wishes, they are presented to each other, they instantly embrace,
and become united like bundles of rods; and in this case the father is
continually delighted with beholding and conversing with them. If the
father is told that some of his children are satans, and that they have
done injuries to the good, he nevertheless keeps them in a group around
him, if he himself sees that they are the occasion of hurt and do
mischief, he still pays no attention to it, nor does he separate any of
them from association with himself; in order, therefore, to prevent the
continuance of such a mischievous company, they are of necessity
committed forthwith to hell; and there the father, before the children,
is shut up in confinement, and the children are separated, and each is
removed to the place of his life.
407. To the above I will add this wonderful relation:--in the spiritual
world I have seen fathers who, from hatred, and as it were rage, had
looked at infants presented before their eyes, with a mind so savage,
that, if they could, they would have murdered them; but on its being
hinted to them, though without truth, that they were their own infants,
their rage and savageness instantly subsided, and they loved them to
excess. This love and hatred prevail together with those who in the
world had been inwardly deceitful, and had set their minds in enmity
against the Lord.
408. XVII. WITH THE SPIRITUAL THAT LOVE IS FROM WHAT IS INTERIOR OR
PRIOR, BUT WITH THE NATURAL FROM WHAT IS EXTERIOR OR POSTERIOR. To think
and conclude from what is interior or prior, is to think and conclude
from ends and causes to effects; but to think and conclude from what is
exterior or posterior, is to think and conclude from effects to causes
and ends. The latter progression is contrary to order, but the former
according to it; for to think and conclude from ends and causes, is to
think and conclude from goods and truths, viewed in a superior region of
the mind, to effects in an inferior region. Real human rationality from
creation is of this quality. But to think and conclude from effects, is
to think and conclude from an inferior region of the mind, where the
sensual things of the body reside with their appearances and fallacies,
to guess at causes and effects, which in itself is merely to confirm
falsities and concupiscences, and afterwards to see and believe them to
be truths of wisdom and goodnesses of the love of wisdom. The case is
similar in regard to the love of infants and children with the spiritual
and the natural; the spiritual love them from what is prior, thus
according to order: but the natural love them from what is posterior,
thus contrary to order. These observations are adduced only for the
confirmation of the preceding article.
409. XVIII. IN CONSEQUENCE HEREOF THAT LOVE PREVAILS WITH MARRIED
PARTNERS WHO MUTUALLY LOVE EACH OTHER, AND ALSO WITH THOSE WHO DO NOT AT
ALL LOVE EACH OTHER; consequently it prevails with the natural as well
as with the spiritual; but the latter are influenced by conjugial love,
whereas the former are influenced by no such love but what is apparent
and pretended. The reason why the love of infants and conjugial love
still act in unity, is, because, as we have said, conjugial love is
implanted in every woman from creation, and together with it the love of
procreating, which is determined to and flows into the procreated
offspring, and from the women is communicated to the men. Hence in
houses, in which there is no conjugial love between the man and his
wife, it nevertheless is with the wife, and thereby some external
conjunction is effected with the man. From this same ground it is, that
even harlots love their offspring; for that which from creation is
implanted in souls, and respects propagation, is indelible, and cannot
be extirpated.
410. XIX. THE LOVE OF INFANTS REMAINS AFTER DEATH, ESPECIALLY WITH
WOMEN. Infants, as soon as they are raised up, which happens immediately
after their decease, are elevated into heaven, and delivered to angels
of the female sex, who in the life of the body in the world loved
infants, and at the same time feared God. These, having loved all
infants with maternal tenderness, receive them as their own; and the
infants in this case, as from an innate feeling, love them as their
mothers: as many infants are consigned to them, as they desire from a
spiritual _storge_. The heaven in which infants are appears in front in
the region of the forehead, in the line in which the angels look
directly at the Lord. That heaven is so situated, because all infants
are educated under the immediate auspices of the Lord. There is an
influx also into this heaven from the heaven of innocence, which is the
third heaven. When they have passed through this first period, they are
transferred to another heaven, where they are instructed.
411. XX. INFANTS ARE EDUCATED UNDER THE LORD'S AUSPICES BY SUCH WOMEN,
AND GROW IN STATURE AND INTELLIGENCE AS IN THE WORLD. Infants in heaven
are educated in the following manner; they learn to speak from the
female angel who has the charge of their education; their first speech
is merely the sound of affection, in which however there is some
beginning of thought, whereby what is human in the sound is
distinguished from the sound of an animal; this speech gradually becomes
more distinct, as ideas derived from affection enter the thought: all
their affections, which also increase, proceed from innocence. At first,
such things are insinuated into them as appear before their eyes, and
are delightful; and as these are from a spiritual origin, heavenly
things flow into them at the same time, whereby the interiors of their
minds are opened. Afterwards, as the infants are perfected in
intelligence, so they grow in stature, and viewed in this respect, they
appear also more adult, because intelligence and wisdom are essential
spiritual nourishment; therefore those things which nourish their minds,
also nourish their bodies. Infants in heaven, however, do not grow up
beyond their first age, where they stop, and remain in it to eternity.
And when they are in that age, they are given in marriage, which is
provided by the Lord, and is celebrated in the heaven of the youth, who
presently follows the wife into her heaven, or into her house, if they
are of the same society. That I might know of a certainty, that infants
grow in stature, and arrive at maturity as they grow in intelligence, I
was permitted to speak with some while they were infants, and afterwards
when they were grown up; and they appeared as full-grown youths, in a
stature, like that of young men full grown in the world.
412. Infants are instructed especially by representatives adequate and
suitable to their genius; the great beauty and interior wisdom of which
can scarcely be credited in the world. I am permitted to adduce here two
representations, from which a judgement may be formed in regard to the
rest. On a certain time they represented the Lord ascending from the
sepulchre, and at the same time the unition of his human with the
divine. At first they presented the idea of a sepulchre, but not at the
same time the idea of the Lord, except so remotely, that it was
scarcely, and as it were at a distance, perceived that it was the Lord;
because in the idea of a sepulchre there is somewhat funereal, which
they hereby removed. Afterwards they cautiously admitted into the
sepulchre a sort of atmosphere, appearing nevertheless as a thin vapor,
by which they signified, and this with a suitable degree of remoteness,
spiritual life in baptism. They afterwards represented the Lord's
descent to those who were bound, and his ascent with them into heaven;
and in order to accommodate the representation to their infant minds,
they let down small cords that were scarcely discernible, exceedingly
soft and yielding, to aid the Lord in the ascent, being always
influenced by a holy fear lest any thing in the representation should
affect something that was not under heavenly influence: not to mention
other representations, whereby infants are introduced into the
knowledges of truth and the affections of good, as by games adapted to
their capacities. To these and similar things infants are led by the
Lord by means of innocence passing through the third heaven; and thus
spiritual things are insinuated into their affections, and thence into
their tender thoughts, so that they know no other than that they do and
think such things from themselves, by which their understanding
commences.
413. XXI. IT IS THERE PROVIDED BY THE LORD, THAT WITH THOSE INFANTS THE
INNOCENCE OF INFANCY BECOMES THE INNOCENCE OF WISDOM (AND THUS THEY
BECOME ANGELS). Many may conjecture that infants remain infants, and
become angels immediately after death: but it is intelligence and wisdom
that make an angel: therefore so long as infants are without
intelligence and wisdom, they are indeed associated with angels, yet are
not angels: but they then first become so when they are made intelligent
and wise. Infants therefore are led from the innocence of infancy to the
innocence of wisdom, that is, from external innocence to internal: the
latter innocence is the end of all their instruction and progression:
therefore when they attain to the innocence of wisdom, the innocence of
infancy is adjoined to them, which in the mean time had served them as a
plane. I saw a representation of the quality of the innocence of
infancy; it was of wood almost without life, and was vivified in
proportion as the knowledges of truth and the affections of good were
imbibed: and afterwards there was represented the quality of the
innocence of wisdom, by a living infant. The angels of the third heaven,
who are in a state of innocence from the Lord above other angels, appear
like naked infants before the eyes of spirits who are beneath the
heavens; and as they are wiser than all others, so are they also more
truly alive: the reason of this is, because innocence corresponds to
infancy, and also to nakedness, therefore it is said of Adam and his
wife, when they were in a state of innocence, that they were naked and
were not ashamed, but that when they had lost their state of innocence,
they were ashamed of their nakedness, and hid themselves, Gen. ii. 25;
chap. iii. 7, 10, 11. In a word, the wiser the angels are the more
innocent they are. The quality of the innocence of wisdom may in some
measure be seen from the innocence of infancy above described, n. 395,
if only instead of parents, the Lord be assumed as the Father by whom
they are led, and to whom they ascribe what they have received.
414. On the subject of innocence I have often conversed with the angels
who have told me that innocence is the _esse_ of every good, and that
good is only so far good as it has innocence in it: and, since wisdom is
of life and thence of good, that wisdom is only so far wisdom as it
partakes of innocence: the like is true of love, charity, and faith; and
hence it is that no one can enter heaven unless he has innocence; which
is meant by these words of the Lord, "_Suffer infants to come to me, and
forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of the heavens; verily I say
unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of the heavens as an
infant, he will not enter therein_," Mark x. 14, 15; Luke xviii. 16, 17.
In this passage, as well as in other parts of the Word, infants denote
those who are in innocence. The reason why good is good, so far as it
has innocence in it, is, because all good is from the Lord, and
innocence consists in being led by the Lord.
* * * * *
415. To the above I shall add this MEMORABLE RELATION. One morning, as I
awoke out of sleep, the light beginning to dawn and it being very
serene, while I was meditating and not yet quite awake, I saw through
the window as it were a flash of lightning, and presently I heard as it
were a clap of thunder; and while I was wondering whence this could be,
I heard from heaven words to this effect, "There are some not far from
you, who are reasoning sharply about God and nature. The vibration of
light like lightning, and the clapping of the air like thunder, are
correspondences and consequent appearances of the conflict and collision
of arguments, on one side in favor of God, and on the other in favor of
nature." The cause of this spiritual combat was as follows: there were
some satans in hell who expressed a wish to be allowed to converse with
the angels of heaven; "for," said they, "we will clearly and fully
demonstrate, that what they call God, the Creator of all things, is
nothing but nature; and thus that God is a mere unmeaning expression,
unless nature be meant by it." And as those satans believed this with
all their heart and soul, and also were desirous to converse with the
angels of heaven, they were permitted to ascend out of the mire and
darkness of hell, and to converse with two angels at that time
descending from heaven. They were in the world of spirits, which is
intermediate between heaven and hell. The satans on seeing the angels
there, hastily ran to them, and cried out with a furious voice, "Are you
the angels of heaven with whom we are allowed to engage in debate,
respecting God and nature? You are called wise because you acknowledge a
God; but, alas! how simple you are! Who sees God? who understands what
God is? who conceives that God governs, and can govern the universe,
with everything belonging thereto? and who but the vulgar and common
herd of mankind acknowledges what he does not see and understand? What
is more obvious than that nature is all in all? Is it not nature alone
that we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, smell with our nostrils,
taste with our tongues, and touch and feel with our hands and bodies?
And are not our bodily senses the only evidences of truth? Who would not
swear from them that it is so? Are not your heads in nature, and is
there any influx into the thoughts of your heads but from nature? Take
away nature, and can you think at all? Not to mention several other
considerations of a like kind." On hearing these words the angels
replied, "You speak in this manner because you are merely sensual. All
in the hells have the ideas of their thoughts immersed in the bodily
senses, neither are they able to elevate their minds above them;
therefore we excuse you. The life of evil and the consequent belief of
what is false have closed the interiors of your minds, so that you are
incapable of any elevation above the things of sense, except in a state
removed from evils of life, and from false principles of faith: for a
satan, as well as an angel, can understand truth when he hears it; but
he does not retain it, because evil obliterates truth and induces what
is false: but we perceive that you are now in a state of removal from
evil, and thus that you can understand the truth which we speak; attend
therefore to what we shall say:" and they proceeded thus: "You have been
in the natural world, and have departed thence, and are now in the
spiritual world. Have you known anything till now concerning a life
after death? Have you not till now denied such a life, and degraded
yourselves to the beasts? Have you known any thing heretofore about
heaven and hell, or the light and heat of this world? or of this
circumstance, that you are no longer within the sphere of nature, but
above it; since this world and all things belonging to it are spiritual,
and spiritual things are above natural, so that not the least of nature
can flow into this world? But, in consequence of believing nature to be
a God or a goddess, you believe also the light and heat of this world to
be the light and heat of the natural world, when yet it is not at all
so; for natural light here is darkness, and natural heat is cold. Have
you known anything about the sun of this world from which our light and
heat proceed? Have you known that this sun is pure love, and the sun of
the natural world pure fire; and the sun of the world, which is pure
fire, is that from which nature exists and subsists; and that the sun of
heaven, which is pure love, is that from which life itself, which is
love with wisdom exists and subsists; and thus that nature, which you
make a god or a goddess, is absolutely dead? You can, under the care of
a proper guard, ascend with us into heaven; and we also, under similar
protection, can descend with you into hell; and in heaven you will see
magnificent and splendid objects, but in hell such as are filthy and
unclean. The ground of the difference is, because all in the heavens
worship God, and all in the hells worship nature; and the magnificent
and splendid objects in the heavens are correspondences of the
affections of good and truth, and the filthy and unclean objects in the
hells are correspondences of the lusts of what is evil and false. Judge
now, from these circumstances, whether God or nature be all in all." To
this the satans replied, "In the state wherein we now are, we can
conclude, from what we have heard, that there is a God; but when the
delight of evil seizes our minds, we see nothing but nature." These two
angels and two satans were standing to the right, at no great distance
from me; therefore I saw and heard them; and lo! I saw near them many
spirits who had been celebrated in the natural world for their
erudition; and I was surprised to observe that those great scholars at
one time stood near the angels and at another near the satans, and that
they favored the sentiments of those near whom they stood; and I was led
to understand that the changes of their situation were changes of the
state of their minds, which sometimes favored one side and sometimes the
other; for they were _vertumni_. Moreover, the angels said, "We will
tell you a mystery; on our looking down upon the earth, and examining
those who were celebrated for erudition, and who have thought about God
and nature from their own judgement, we have found six hundred out of a
thousand favorers of nature, and the rest favorers of God; and that
these were in favor of God, in consequence of having frequently
maintained in their conversation, not from any convictions of their
understandings, but only from hear-say, that nature is from God; for
frequent conversation from the memory and recollection, and not at the
same time from thought and intelligence, induces a species of faith."
After this, the satans were entrusted to a guard and ascended with the
two angels into heaven, and saw the magnificent and splendid objects
contained therein; and being then an illustration from the light of
heaven, they acknowledged the being of a God, and that nature was
created to be subservient to the life which is in God and from God; and
that nature in itself is dead, and consequently does nothing of itself,
but is acted upon by life. Having seen and perceived these things, they
descended: and as they descended the love of evil returned and closed
their understanding above and opened it beneath; and then there appeared
above it as it were a veil sending forth lightning from infernal fire;
and as soon as they touched the earth with their feet, the ground
cleaved asunder beneath them, and they returned to their associates.
416. After these things those two angels seeing me near, said to the
by-standers respecting me, "We know that this man has written about God
and nature; let us hear what he has written." They therefore came to me,
and intreated that what I had written about God and nature might be read
to them: I therefore read as follows. "Those who believe in a Divine
operation in everything of nature, may confirm themselves in favor of
the Divine, from many things which they see in nature, equally, yea more
than those who confirm themselves in favor of nature: for those who
confirm themselves in favor of the Divine, attend to the wonderful
things, which are conspicuous in the productions of both vegetables and
animals:--in the PRODUCTION OF VEGETABLES, that from a small seed sown
in the earth there is sent forth a root, by means of the root a stem,
and successively buds, leaves, flowers, fruits, even to new seeds;
altogether as if the seed was acquainted with the order of succession,
or the process by which it was to renew itself. What rational person can
conceive, that the sun which is pure fire, is acquainted with this, or
that it can endue its heat and light with a power to effect such things;
and further, that it can form wonderful things therein, and intend use?
When a man of elevated reason sees and considers such things, he cannot
think otherwise than that they are from him who has infinite wisdom,
consequently from God. Those who acknowledge the Divine, also see and
think so; but those who do not acknowledge it, do not see and think so,
because they are unwilling; and thereby they let down their rational
principle into the sensual, which derives all its ideas from the
luminous principle in which the bodily senses are, and confirms their
fallacies urging, 'Do not you see the sun effecting these things by its
heat and light? What is that which you do not see?' Is it anything?
Those who confirm themselves in favor of the Divine, attend to the
wonderful things which are conspicuous in the PRODUCTIONS OF ANIMALS; to
mention only what is conspicuous in eggs, that there lies concealed in
them a chick in its seed, or first principles of existence, with
everything requisite even to the hatching, and likewise to every part of
its progress after hatching, until it becomes a bird, or winged animal,
in the form of its parent stock. A farther attention to the nature and
quality of the form cannot fail to cause astonishment in the
contemplative mind; to observe in the least as well as in the largest
kinds, yea, in the invisible as in the visible, that is, in small
insects, as in fowls or great beasts, how they are all endowed with
organs of sense, such as seeing, smelling, tasting, touching; and also
with organs of motion, such as muscles, for they fly and walk; and
likewise with viscera, around the heart and lungs, which are actuated by
the brains: that the commonest insects enjoy all these parts of
organization is known from their anatomy, as described by some writers,
especially SWAMMERDAM in his Books of Nature. Those who ascribe all
things to nature do indeed see such things; but they think only that
they are so, and say that nature produces them: and this they say in
consequence of having averted their minds from thinking about the
Divine; and those who have so averted their minds, when they see the
wonderful things in nature, cannot think rationally, and still less
spiritually; but they think sensually and materially, and in this case
they think in and from nature, and not above it, in like manner as those
do who are in hell; differing from beasts only in this respect, that
they have rational powers, that is, they are capable of understanding,
and thereby of thinking otherwise, if only they are willing. Those who
have averted themselves from thinking about the Divine, when they see
the wonderful things in nature, and thereby become sensual, do not
consider that the sight of the eye is so gross that it sees several
small insects as one confused mass; when yet each of them is organized
to feel and to move itself, consequently is endowed with fibres and
vessels, also with a little heart, pulmonary pipes, small viscera, and
brains; and that the contexture of these parts consists of the purest
principles in nature, and corresponds to some life, by virtue of which
their minutest parts are distinctly acted upon. Since the sight of the
eye is so gross that several of such insects, with the innumerable
things in each, appear to it as a small confused mass, and yet those who
are sensual, think and judge from that sight, it is evident how gross
their minds are, and consequently in what thick darkness they are
respecting spiritual things.
417. "Every one that is willing to do so, may confirm himself in favor
of the Divine from the visible things in nature; and he also who thinks
of God from the principle of life, does so confirm himself; while, for
instance, he observes the fowls of heaven, how each species of them
knows its proper food and where it is to be found; how they can
distinguish those of their own kind by the sounds they utter and by
their external appearance; how also, among other kinds, they can tell
which are their friends and which their foes; how they pair together,
build their nests with great art, lay therein their eggs, hatch them,
know the time of hatching, and at its accomplishment help their young
out of the shell, love them most tenderly, cherish them under their
wings, feed and nourish them, until they are able to provide for
themselves and do the like, and to procreate a family in order to
perpetuate their kind. Every one that is willing to think of a divine
influx through the spiritual world into the natural, may discern it in
these instances, and may also, if he will, say in his heart, 'Such
knowledges cannot flow into those animals from the sun by the rays of
its light:' for the sun, from which nature derives its birth and its
essence, its pure fire, and consequently the rays of its light are
altogether dead; and thus they may conclude, that such effects are
derived from an influx of divine wisdom into the ultimates of nature.
418. "Every one may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from what is
visible in nature, while he observes worms, which from the delight of a
certain desire, wish and long after a change of their earthly state into
a state analogous to a heavenly one; for this purpose they creep into
holes, and cast themselves as it were into a womb that they may be born
again, and there become chrysalises, aurelias, nymphs, and at length
butterflies; and when they have undergone this change, and according to
their species are decked with beautiful wings, they fly into the air as
into their heaven, and there indulge in all festive sports, pair
together, lay their eggs, and provide for themselves a posterity; and
then they are nourished with a sweet and pleasant food, which they
extract from flowers. Who that confirms himself in favor of the Divine
from what is visible in nature, does not see some image of the earthly
state of man in these animals while they are worms, and of his heavenly
state in the same when they become butterflies? whereas those who
confirm themselves in favor of nature, see indeed such things; but as
they have rejected from their minds all thought of man's heavenly state,
they call them mere instincts of nature.
419. "Again, everyone may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from
what is visible in nature, while he attends to the discoveries made
respecting bees,--how they have the art to gather wax and suck honey
from herbs and flowers, and build cells like small houses, and arrange
them into the form of a city with streets, through which they come in
and go out; and how they can smell flowers and herbs at a distance, from
which they may collect wax for their home and honey for their food; and
how, when laden with these treasures, they can trace their way back in a
right direction to their hive; thus they provide for themselves food and
habitation against the approaching winter, as if they were acquainted
with and foresaw its coming. They also set over themselves a mistress as
a queen, to be the parent of a future race, and for her they build as it
were a palace in an elevated situation, and appoint guards about her;
and when the time comes for her to become a mother, she goes from cell
to cell and lays her eggs, which her attendants cover with a sort of
ointment to prevent their receiving injury from the air; hence arises a
new generation, which, when old enough to provide in like manner for
itself, is driven out from home; and when driven out, it flies forth to
seek a new habitation, not however till it has first collected itself
into a swarm to prevent dissociation. About autumn also the useless
drones are brought forth and deprived of their wings, lest they should
return and consume the provision which they had taken no pains to
collect; not to mention many other circumstances; from which it may
appear evident, that on account of the use which they afford to mankind,
they have by influx from the spiritual world a form of government, such
as prevails among men in the world, yea, among angels in the heavens.
What man of uncorrupted reason does not see that such instincts are not
communicated to bees from the natural world? What has the sun, in which
nature originates, in common with a form of government which vies with
and is similar to a heavenly one? From these and similar circumstances
respecting brute animals, the confessor and worshiper of nature confirms
himself in favor of nature, while the confessor and worshiper of God,
from the same circumstances, confirms himself in favor of the Divine:
for the spiritual man sees spiritual things therein, and the natural man
natural; thus every one according to his quality. In regard to myself,
such circumstances have been to me testimonies of an influx of what is
spiritual into what is natural, or of an influx of the spiritual world
into the natural world; thus of an influx from the divine wisdom of the
Lord. Consider also, whether you can think analytically of any form of
government, any civil law, any moral virtue, or any spiritual truth,
unless the Divine flows in from his wisdom through the spiritual world:
for my own part, I never did, and still feel it to be impossible; for I
have perceptibly and sensibly observed such influx now (1768) for
twenty-five years continually: I therefore speak this from experience.
420. "Can nature, let me ask, regard use as an end, and dispose uses
into orders and forms? This is in the power of none but a wise being;
and none but God, who is infinitely wise, can so order and form the
universe. Who else can foresee and provide for mankind all the things
necessary for their food and clothing, producing them from the fruits of
the earth and from animals? It is surely a wonderful consideration among
many others, that those common insects, called silk-worms, should supply
with splendid clothing all ranks of persons, from kings and queens even
to the lowest servants; and that those common insects the bees, should
supply wax to enlighten both our temples and palaces. These, with
several other similar considerations, are standing proofs, that the Lord
by an operation from himself through the spiritual world, effects
whatever is done in nature.
421. "It may be expedient here to add, that I have seen in the spiritual
world those who had confirmed themselves in favor of nature by what is
visible in this world, so as to become atheists, and that their
understanding in spiritual light appeared open beneath but closed above,
because with their thinking faculty they had looked downwards to the
earth and not upwards to heaven. The super-sensual principle, which is
the lowest principle of the understanding, appeared as a veil, in some
cases sparkling from infernal fire, in some black as soot, and in some
pale and livid as a corpse. Let every one therefore beware of
confirmation in favor of nature, and let him confirm himself in favor of
the Divine; for which confirmation there is no want of materials.
422. "Some indeed are to be excused for ascribing certain visible
effects to nature, because they have had no knowledge respecting the sun
of the spiritual world, where the Lord is, and of influx thence; neither
have they known any thing about that world and its state, nor yet of its
presence with man; and consequently they could think no other than that
the spiritual principle was a purer natural principle; and thus that
angels were either in the ether or in the stars; also that the devil was
either man's evil, or, if he actually existed, that he was either in the
air or in the deep; also that the souls of men after death were either
in the inmost part of the earth, or in some place of confinement till
the day of judgement; not to mention other like conceits, which sprung
from ignorance of the spiritual world and its sun. This is the reason
why those are to be excused, who have believed that the visible
productions of nature are the effect of some principle implanted in her
from creation: nevertheless those who have made themselves atheists by
confirmations in favor of nature, are not to be excused, because they
might have confirmed themselves in favor of the Divine. Ignorance indeed
excuses, but does not take away the false principle which is confirmed;
for this false principle agrees with evil, and evil with hell."
ADULTEROUS LOVE AND ITS SINFUL PLEASURES.
ON THE OPPOSITION OF ADULTEROUS LOVE AND CONJUGIAL LOVE.
423. At the entrance upon our subject, it may be expedient to declare
what we mean in this chapter by adulterous love. By adulterous love we
do not mean fornicatory love, which precedes marriage, or which follows
it after the death of a married partner; neither do we mean concubinage,
which is engaged in from causes legitimate, just, and excusatory; nor do
we mean either the mild or the grievous kinds of adultery, whereof a man
actually repents; for the latter become not opposite, and the former are
not opposite, to conjugial love, as will be seen in the following pages,
where each is treated of. But by adulterous love, opposite to conjugial
love, we here mean the love of adultery, so long as it is such as not to
be regarded as sin, or as evil, and dishonorable, and contrary to
reason, but as allowable with reason. This adulterous love not only
makes conjugial love the same with itself, but also overthrows,
destroys, and at length nauseates it. The opposition of this love to
conjugial love is the subject treated of in this chapter. That no other
love is treated of (as being in such opposition), may be evident from
what follows concerning fornication, concubinage, and the various kinds
of adultery. But in order that this opposition may be made manifest to
the rational sight, it may be expedient to demonstrate it in the
following series: I. _It is not known what adulterous love is, unless it
be known what conjugial love is._ II. _Adulterous love is opposed to
conjugial love._ III. _Adulterous love is opposed to conjugial love, as
the natural man viewed in himself is opposed to the spiritual man._ IV.
_Adulterous love is opposed to conjugial love, as the connubial
connection of what is evil and false is opposed to the marriage of good
and truth._ V. _Hence adulterous love in opposed to conjugial love, as
hell is opposed to heaven._ VI. _The impurity of hell is from adulterous
love, and the purity of heaven from conjugial love._ VII. _The impurity
and the purity in the church are similarly circumstanced._ VIII.
_Adulterous love more and more makes a man not a man (homo), and not a
man (vir), and conjugial love makes a man more and more a man (homo),
and a man (vir)._ IX. _There are a sphere of adulterous love and a
sphere of conjugial love._ X. _The sphere of adulterous love ascends
from hell, and the sphere of conjugial love descends from heaven._ XI.
_Those two spheres mutually meet each other in each world; but they do
not unite._ XII. _Between those two spheres there is an equilibrium, and
man is in it._ XIII. _A man is able to turn himself to whichever he
pleases; but so far as he turns himself to the one, so far he turns
himself from the other._ XIV. _Each sphere brings with it delights._ XV.
_The delights of adulterous love commence from the flesh and are of the
flesh even in the spirit; but the delights of conjugial love commence in
the spirit, and are of the spirit even in the flesh._ XVI. _The delights
of adulterous love are the pleasures of insanity; but the delights of
conjugial love are the delights of wisdom._ We proceed to an explanation
of each article.
424. I. IT IS NOT KNOWN WHAT ADULTEROUS LOVE IS, UNLESS IT BE KNOWN WHAT
CONJUGIAL LOVE IS. By adulterous love we mean the love of adultery,
which destroys conjugial love, as above, n. 423. That it is not known
what adulterous love is, unless it be known what conjugial love is,
needs no demonstration, but only illustration by similitudes: as for
example, who can know what is evil and false, unless he know what is
good and true? and who knows what is unchaste, dishonorable, unbecoming,
and ugly, unless he knows what is chaste, honorable, becoming, and
beautiful? and who can discern the various kinds of insanity, but he
that is wise, or that knows what wisdom is? also, who can rightly
perceive discordant and grating sounds, but he that is well versed in
the doctrine and study of harmonious numbers? in like manner, who can
clearly discern what is the quality of adultery, unless he has first
clearly discerned what is the quality of marriage? and who can make a
just estimate of the filthiness of the pleasures of adulterous love, but
he that has first made a just estimate of the purity of conjugial love?
As I have now completed the treatise ON CONJUGIAL LOVE AND ITS CHASTE
DELIGHTS, I am enabled, from the intelligence I thence acquired, to
describe the pleasures respecting adulterous love.
425. II. ADULTEROUS LOVE IS OPPOSED TO CONJUGIAL LOVE. Every thing in
the universe has its opposite; and opposites, in regard to each other,
are not relatives, but contraries. Relatives are what exist between the
greatest and the least of the same thing; whereas contraries arise from
an opposite in contrariety thereto; and the latter are relatives in
regard to each other, as the former are in their regard one to another;
wherefore also the relations themselves are opposites. That all things
have their opposites, is evident from light, heat, the times of the
world, affections, perceptions, sensations, and several other things.
The opposite of light is darkness; the opposite of heat is cold; of the
times of the world the opposites are day and night, summer and winter;
of affections the opposites are joys and mourning, also gladnesses and
sadnesses; of perceptions the opposites are goods and evils, also truths
and falses; and of sensations the opposites are things delightful and
things undelightful. Hence it may be evidently concluded, that conjugial
love has its opposite; this opposite is adultery, as every one may see,
if he be so disposed, from all the dictates of sound reason. Tell, if
you can, what else is its opposite. It is an additional evidence in
favor of this position, that as sound reason was enabled to see the
truth of it by her own light, therefore she has enacted laws, which are
called laws of civil justice, in favor of marriages and against
adulteries. That the truth of this position may appear yet more
manifest, I may relate what I have very often seen in the spiritual
world. When those who in the natural world have been confirmed
adulterers, perceive a sphere of conjugial love flowing down from
heaven, they instantly either flee away into caverns and hide
themselves, or, if they persist obstinately in contrariety to it, they
grow fierce with rage, and become like furies. The reason why they are
so affected is, because all things of the affections, whether delightful
or undelightful, are perceived in that world, and on some occasions as
clearly as an odor is perceived by the sense of smelling; for the
inhabitants of that world have not a material body, which absorbs such
things. The reason why the opposition of adulterous love and conjugial
love is unknown to many in the world, is owing to the delights of the
flesh, which, in the extremes, seem to imitate the delights of conjugial
love; and those who are in delights only, do not know anything
respecting that opposition; and I can venture to say, that should you
assert, that everything has its opposite, and should conclude that
conjugial love also has its opposite, adulterers will reply, that that
love has not an opposite, because adulterous love cannot be
distinguished from it; from which circumstance it is further manifest,
that he that does not know what conjugial love is, does not know what
adulterous love is; and moreover, that from adulterous love it is not
known what conjugial love is, but from conjugial love it is known what
adulterous love is. No one knows good from evil, but evil from good; for
evil is in darkness, whereas good is in light.
426. III. ADULTEROUS LOVE IS OPPOSED TO CONJUGIAL LOVE, AS THE NATURAL
MAN VIEWED IN HIMSELF IS OPPOSED TO THE SPIRITUAL MAN. That the natural
man and the spiritual are opposed to each other, so that the one does
not will what the other wills, yea, that they are at strife together, is
well known in the church; but still it has not heretofore been
explained. We will therefore shew what is the ground of discrimination
between the spiritual man and the natural, and what excites the latter
against the former. The natural man is that into which every one is
first introduced as he grows up, which is effected by sciences and
knowledges, and by rational principles of the understanding; but the
spiritual man is that into which he is introduced by the love of doing
uses, which love is also called charity: wherefore so far as any one is
in charity, so far he is spiritual; but so far as he is not in charity,
so far he is natural, even supposing him to be ever so quick-sighted in
genius, and wise in judgement. That the latter, the natural man,
separate from the spiritual, notwithstanding all his elevation into the
light of reason, still gives himself without restraint to the government
of his lusts, and is devoted to them, is manifest from his genius alone,
in that he is void of charity; and whoever is void of charity, gives
loose to all the lasciviousness of adulterous love: wherefore, when he
is told, that this wanton love is opposed to chaste conjugial love, and
is asked to consult his rational _lumen_, he still does not consult it,
except in conjunction with the delight of evil implanted from birth in
the natural man; in consequence whereof he concludes, that his reason
does not see anything contrary to the pleasing sensual allurements of
the body; and when he has confirmed himself in those allurements, his
reason is in amazement at all those pleasures which are proclaimed
respecting conjugial love; yea, as was said above, he fights against
them, and conquers, and, like a conqueror after the enemy's overthrow,
he utterly destroys the camp of conjugial love in himself. These things
are done by the natural man from the impulse of his adulterous love. We
mention these circumstances, in order that it may be known, what is the
true ground of the opposition of those two loves; for, as has been
abundantly shewn above, conjugial love viewed in itself is spiritual
love, and adulterous love viewed in itself is natural love.
427. IV. ADULTEROUS LOVE IS OPPOSED TO CONJUGIAL LOVE, AS THE CONNUBIAL
CONNECTION OF WHAT IS EVIL AND FALSE IS OPPOSED TO THE MARRIAGE OF GOOD
AND TRUTH. That the origin of conjugial love is from the marriage of
good and truth, was demonstrated above in its proper chapter, from n.
83-102; hence it follows, that the origin of adulterous love is from the
connubial connection of what is evil and false, and that hence they are
opposite loves, as evil is opposed to good, and the false of evil to the
truth of good. It is the delights of each love which are thus opposed;
for love without its delight is not anything. That these delights are
thus opposed to each other, does not at all appear: the reason why it
does not appear is, because the delight of the love of evil in externals
assumes a semblance of the delight of the love of good; but in internals
the delight of the love of evil consists of mere concupiscences of evil,
evil itself being the conglobated mass (or glome) of those
concupiscences: whereas the delight of the love of good consists of
innumerable affections of good, good itself being the co-united bundle
of those affections. This bundle and that glome are felt by man only as
one delight; and as the delight of evil in externals assumes a semblance
of the delight of good, as we have said, therefore also the delight of
adultery assumes a semblance of the delight of marriage; but after
death, when everyone lays aside externals, and the internals are laid
bare, then it manifestly appears, that the evil of adultery is a glome
of the concupiscences of evil, and the good of marriage is a bundle of
the affections of good: thus that they are entirely opposed to each
other.
428. In reference to the connubial connection of what is evil and false,
it is to be observed, that evil loves the false, and desires that it may
be a one with itself, and they also unite; in like manner as good loves
truth, and desires that it may be a one with itself, and they also
unite: from which consideration it is evident, that as the spiritual
origin of marriage is the marriage of good and truth, so the spiritual
origin of adultery is the connubial connection of what is evil and
false. Hence, this connubial connection is meant by adulteries,
whoredoms, and fornications, in the spiritual sense of the Word; see the
APOCALYPSE REVEALED, n. 134. It is from this principle, that he that is
in evil, and connects himself connubially with what is false, and he
that is in what is false, and draws evil into a partnership of his
chamber, from the joint covenant confirms adultery, and commits it so
far as he dares and has the opportunity; he confirms it from evil by
what is false, and he commits it from what is false by evil: and also on
the other hand, that he that is in good, and marries truth, or he that
is in truth, and brings good into partnership of the chamber with
himself, confirms himself against adultery, and in favor of marriage,
and attains to a happy conjugial life.
429. V. HENCE ADULTEROUS LOVE IS OPPOSED TO CONJUGIAL LOVE AS HELL IS
OPPOSED TO HEAVEN. All who are in hell are in the connubial connection
of what is evil and false, and all who are in heaven are in the marriage
of good and truth; and as the connubial connection of what is evil and
false is also adultery, as was shewn just above, n. 427, 428, hell is
also that connubial connection. Hence all who are in hell are in the
lust, lasciviousness, and immodesty of adulterous love, and shun and
dread the chastity and modesty of conjugial love; see above, n. 428.
From these considerations it may be seen, that those two loves,
adulterous and conjugial, are opposed to each other, as hell is to
heaven, and heaven to hell.
430. VI. THE IMPURITY OF HELL IS FROM ADULTEROUS LOVE, AND THE PURITY OF
HEAVEN FROM CONJUGIAL LOVE. All hell abounds with impurities, all of
which originate in immodest and obscene adulterous love, the delights of
that love being changed into such impurities. Who can believe, that in
the spiritual world, every delight of love is presented to the sight
under various appearances, to the sense under various odors, and to the
view under various forms of beasts and birds? The appearances under
which in hell the lascivious delights of adulterous love are presented
to the sight, are dunghills and mire; the odors by which they are
presented to the sense, are stinks and stenches; and the forms of beasts
and birds under which they are presented to the view, are hogs,
serpents, and the birds called ochim and tziim. The case is reversed in
regard to the chaste delights of conjugial love in heaven. The
appearances under which those delights are presented to the sight, are
gardens and flowery fields; the odors whereby they are presented to the
sense, are the perfumes arising from fruits and the fragrancies from
flowers; and the forms of animals under which they are presented to the
view are lambs, kids, turtle-doves, and birds of paradise. The reason
why the delights of love are changed into such and similar things is,
because all things which exist in the spiritual world are
correspondences: into these correspondences the internals of the minds
of the inhabitants are changed, while they pass away and become external
before the senses. But it is to be observed, that there are innumerable
varieties of impurities, into which the lasciviousnesses of whoredoms
are changed, while they pass off into their correspondences: these
varieties are according to the genera and species of those
lasciviousnesses, as may be seen in the following pages, where
adulteries and their degrees are treated of: such impurities however do
not proceed from the delights of the love of those who have repented;
because they have been washed from them during their abode in the world.
431. VII. THE IMPURITY AND THE PURITY IN THE CHURCH ARE SIMILARLY
CIRCUMSTANCED. The reason of this is, because the church is the Lord's
kingdom in the world, corresponding to his kingdom in the heavens; and
also the Lord conjoins them together, that they may make a one; for he
distinguishes those who are in the world, as he distinguishes heaven and
hell, according to their loves. Those who are in the immodest and
obscene delights of adulterous love, associate to themselves similar
spirits from hell: whereas those who are in the modest and chaste
delights of conjugial love, are associated by the Lord to similar angels
from heaven. While these their angels, in their attendance on man, are
stationed near to confirmed and determined adulterers, they are made
sensible of the direful stenches mentioned above, n. 430, and recede a
little. On account of the correspondence of filthy loves with dunghills
and bogs, it was commanded the sons of Israel, "That they should carry
with them a paddle with which to cover their excrement, lest Jehovah God
walking in the midst of their camp should see the nakedness of the
thing, and should return," Deut, xxiii. 13, 14. This was commanded,
because the camp of the sons of Israel represented the church, and those
unclean things corresponded to the lascivious principles of whoredoms,
and by Jehovah God's walking in the midst of their camp was signified
his presence with the angels. The reason why they were to cover it was,
because all those places in hell, where troops of such spirits have
their abode, were covered and closed up, on which account also it is
said, "lest he see the nakedness of the thing." It has been granted me
to see that all those places in hell are closed up, and also that when
they were opened, as was the case when a new demon entered, such a
horrid stench issued from them, that it infested my belly with its
noisomeness; and what is wonderful, those stenches are to the
inhabitants as delightful as dunghills are to swine. From these
considerations it is evident, how it is to be understood, that the
impurity in the church is from adulterous love, and its purity from
conjugial love.
432. VIII. ADULTEROUS LOVE MORE AND MORE MAKES A MAN (homo) NOT A MAN
(homo), AND A MAN (vir) NOT A MAN (vir), AND CONJUGIAL LOVE MAKES A MAN
(homo) MORE AND MORE A MAN (homo), AND A MAN (vir). That conjugial love
makes a man (_homo_) is illustrated and confirmed by all the
considerations which were clearly and rationally demonstrated in the
first part of this work, concerning love and the delights of its wisdom;
as 1. That he that is principled in love truly conjugial, becomes more
and more spiritual; and in proportion as any one is more spiritual, in
the same proportion he is more a man (_homo_). 2. That he becomes more
and more wise; and the wiser any one is, so much the more is he a man
(_homo_). 3. That with such a one the interiors of the mind are more and
more opened, insomuch that he sees or intuitively acknowledges the Lord;
and the more any one is in the sight or acknowledgement, the more he is
a man. 4. That he becomes more and more moral and civil, inasmuch as a
spiritual soul is in his morality and civility; and the more any one is
morally civil, the more he is a man. 5. That also after death he becomes
an angel of heaven; and an angel is in essence and form a man; and also
the genuine human principle in his face shines forth from his
conversation and manners: from these considerations it is manifest, that
conjugial love makes a man (_homo_) more and more a man (_homo_). That
the contrary is the case with adulterers, follows as a consequence from
the opposition of adultery and marriage, which is the subject treated of
in this chapter; as, 1. That they are not spiritual but in the highest
degree natural; and the natural man separate from the spiritual man, is
a man only as to the understanding, but not as to the will: this he
immerses in the body and the concupiscences of the flesh, and at those
times the understanding also accompanies it. That such a one is but half
a man (_homo_), he himself may see from the reason of his understanding,
in ease he elevates it. 2. That adulterers are not wise, except in their
conversation and behaviour, when they are in the company of such as are
in high station, or as are distinguished for their learning or their
morals; but that when alone with themselves they are insane, setting at
nought the divine and holy things of the church, and defiling the morals
of life with immodest and unchaste principles, will be shewn in the
chapter concerning adulteries. Who does not see that such gesticulators
are men only as to external figure, and not as to internal form? 3. That
adulterers become more and more not men, has been abundantly confirmed
to me by what I have myself been eye-witness to respecting them in hell:
for there they are demons, and when seen in the light of heaven, appear
to have their faces full of pimples, their bodies bunched out, their
voice rough, and their gestures antic. But it is to be observed, that
such are determined and confirmed adulterers, but not non-deliberate
adulterers: for in the chapter concerning adulteries and their degrees,
four kinds are treated of. Determined adulterers are those who are so
from the lust of the will; confirmed adulterers are those who are so
from the persuasion of the understanding; deliberate adulterers are
those who are so from the allurements of the senses; and non deliberate
adulterers are those who have not the faculty or the liberty of
consulting the understanding. The two former kinds of adulterers are
those who become more and more not men; whereas the two latter kinds
become men as they recede from those errors, and afterwards become wise.
433. That conjugial love makes a man (_homo_) more a man (_vir_), is
also illustrated by what was adduced in the preceding part concerning
conjugial love and its delights; as, 1. That the virile faculty and
power accompanies wisdom, as this is animated from the spiritual things
of the church, and that hence it resides in conjugial love; and that the
wisdom of this love opens a vein from its fountain in the soul, and
thereby invigorates, and also blesses with permanence, to the
intellectual life, which is the very essential masculine life. 2. That
hence it is, that the angels of heaven are in this permanence to
eternity, according to their own declarations in the MEMORABLE RELATION,
n. 355, 356. That the most ancient men in the golden and silver ages,
were in permanent efficacy, because they loved the caresses of their
wives, and abhorred the caresses of harlots, I have heard from their own
mouths; see the MEMORABLE RELATIONS, n. 75, 76. That that spiritual
sufficiency is also in the natural principle, and will not be wanting to
those at this day, who come to the Lord, and abominate adulteries as
infernal, has been told me from heaven. But the contrary befalls
determined and confirmed adulterers who are treated of above, n. 432.
That the virile faculty and power with such is weakened even till it
ceases; and that after this there commences cold towards the sex; and
that cold is succeeded by a kind of fastidiousness approaching to
loathing, is well known, although but little talked of. That this is the
case with such adulterers in hell, I have heard at a distance, from the
sirens, who are obsolete venereal lusts, and also from the harlots
there. From these considerations it follows, that adulterous love makes
a man (_homo_) more and more not a man (_homo_) and not a man (_vir_)
and that conjugial love makes a man more and more a man (_homo_) and a
man (_vir_).
434. IX. THERE ARE A SPHERE OF ADULTEROUS LOVE AND A SPHERE OF CONJUGIAL
LOVE. What is meant by spheres, and that they are various, and that
those which are of love and wisdom proceed from the Lord, and through
the angelic heavens descend into the world, and pervade it even to its
ultimates, was shewn above, n. 222-225; and n. 386-397. That every thing
in the universe has its opposites, may be seen above, n. 425: hence it
follows, that whereas there is a sphere of conjugial love, there is also
a sphere opposite to it, which is called a sphere of adulterous love;
for those spheres are opposed to each other, as the love of adultery is
opposed the love of marriage. This opposition has been treated of in the
preceding parts of this chapter.
435. X. THE SPHERE OF ADULTEROUS LOVE ASCENDS FROM HELL, AND THE SPHERE
OF CONJUGIAL LOVE DESCENDS FROM HEAVEN. That the sphere of conjugial
love descends from heaven, was shewn in the places cited just above, n.
434; but the reason why the sphere of adulterous love ascends from hell,
is, because this love is from thence, see n. 429. That sphere ascends
thence from the impurities into which the delights of adultery are
changed with those who are of each sex there; concerning which delight
see above, n. 430, 431.
436. XI. THOSE TWO SPHERES MEET EACH OTHER IN EACH WORLD; BUT THEY DO
NOT UNITE. By each world is meant the spiritual world and the natural
world. In the spiritual world those spheres meet each other in the world
of spirits, because this is the medium between heaven and hell; but in
the natural world they meet each other in the rational plane
appertaining to man, which also is the medium between heaven and hell:
for the marriage of good and truth flows into it from above, and the
marriage of evil and the false flows into it from beneath. The latter
marriage flows in through the world, but the former through heaven.
Hence it is, that the human rational principle can turn itself to either
side as it pleases, and receive influx. If it turns to good, it receives
it from above; and in this case the man's rational principle is formed
more and more to the reception of heaven; but if it turns itself to
evil, it receives that influx from beneath; and in this case the man's
rational principle is formed more and more to the reception of hell. The
reason why those two spheres do not unite, is, because they are
opposites; and an opposite acts upon an opposite like enemies, one of
whom, burning with deadly hatred, furiously assaults the other, while
the other is in no hatred, but only endeavours to defend himself. From
these considerations it is evident, that those two spheres only meet
each other, but do not unite. The middle interstice, which they make, is
on the one part from the evil not of the false, and from the false not
of the evil, and on the other part from good not of truth, and from
truth not of good: which two may indeed touch each other, but still they
do not unite.
437. XII. BETWEEN THOSE TWO SPHERES THERE IS AN EQUILIBRIUM, AND MAN IS
IN IT. The equilibrium between them is a spiritual equilibrium, because
it is between good and evil; from this equilibrium a man has free will,
in and by which he thinks and wills, and hence speaks and acts as from
himself. His rational principle consists in his having the option to
receive either good or evil; consequently, whether he will freely and
rationally dispose himself to conjugial love, or to adulterous love; if
to the latter, he turns the hinder part of the head, and the back to the
Lord; if to the former, he turns the fore part of the head and the
breast to the Lord; if to the Lord, his rationality and liberty are led
by himself; but if backwards from the Lord, his rationality and liberty
are led by hell.
438. XIII. A MAN CAN TURN HIMSELF TO WHICHEVER SPHERE HE PLEASES; BUT SO
FAR AS HE TURNS HIMSELF TO THE ONE, SO FAR HE TURNS HIMSELF FROM THE
OTHER. Man was created so that he may do whatever he does freely,
according to reason, and altogether as from himself: without these two
faculties he would not be a man but a beast; for he would not receive
any thing flowing from heaven, and appropriate it to himself as his own,
and consequently it would not be possible for anything of eternal life
to be inscribed on him; for this must be inscribed on him as his, in
order that it may be his own; and whereas there is no freedom on the one
part, unless there be also a like freedom on the other, as it would be
impossible to weigh a thing, unless the scales from an equilibrium could
incline to either side: so, unless a man had liberty from reason to draw
near also to evil, thus to turn from the right to the left, and from the
left to the right, in like manner to the infernal sphere, which is that
of adultery, as to the celestial sphere, which is that of marriage, (it
would be impossible for him to receive any thing flowing from heaven,
and to appropriate it to himself.)
439. XIV. EACH SPHERE BRINGS WITH IT DELIGHTS; that is, both the sphere
of adulterous love which ascends from hell, and the sphere of conjugial
love which descends from heaven, affects the recipient man (_homo_) with
delights; because the ultimate plane in which the delights of each love
terminate, and where they fill and complete themselves, and which
exhibits them in their own proper sensory, is the same. Hence, in the
extremes, adulterous caresses and conjugial caresses are perceived as
similar, although in internals they are altogether dissimilar; that
hence they are also dissimilar in the extremes, is a point not decided
from any sense of discrimination; for dissimilitudes are not made
sensible from their discriminations in the extremes, to any others than
those who are principled in love truly conjugial; for evil is known from
good, but not good from evil; so neither is a sweet scent perceived by
the nose when a disagreeable one is present in it. I have heard from the
angels, that they distinguish in the extremes what is lascivious from
what is not, as any one distinguishes the fire of a dunghill or of burnt
horn by its bad smell, from the fire of spices or of burnt cinnamon by
its sweet smell; and that this arises from their distinction of the
internal delights which enter into the external and compose them.
440. XV. THE DELIGHTS OF ADULTEROUS LOVE COMMENCE FROM THE FLESH AND ARE
OF THE FLESH EVEN IN THE SPIRIT; BUT THE DELIGHTS OF CONJUGIAL LOVE
COMMENCE IN THE SPIRIT AND ARE OF THE SPIRIT EVEN IN THE FLESH. The
reason why the delights of adulterous love commence from the flesh is,
because the stimulant heats of the flesh are their beginnings. The
reason why they infect the spirit and are of the flesh even in the
spirit, is, because the spirit, and not the flesh, is sensible of those
things which happen in the flesh. The case is the same with this sense
as with the rest: as that the eye does not see and discern various
particulars in objects, but they are seen and discerned by the spirit;
neither does the ear hear and discern the harmonies of tunes in singing,
and the concordances of the articulation of sounds in speech, but they
are heard and discerned by the spirit; moreover, the spirit is sensible
of every thing according to its elevation in wisdom. The spirit that is
not elevated above the sensual things of the body, and thereby adheres
to them, is not sensible of any other delights than those which flow in
from the flesh and the world through the senses of the body: these
delights it seizes upon, is delighted with, and makes its own. Now,
since the beginnings of adulterous love are only the stimulant fires and
itchings of the flesh, it is evident, that these things in the spirit
are filthy allurements, which, as they ascend and descend, and
reciprocate, so they excite and inflame. In general the cupidities of
the flesh are nothing but the accumulated concupiscences of what is evil
and false: hence comes this truth in the church, that the flesh lusts
against the spirit, that is, against the spiritual man; wherefore it
follows, that the delights of the flesh, as to the delights of
adulterous love, are nothing but the effervescences of lusts, which in
the spirit become the ebullitions of immodesty.
441. But the delights of conjugial love have nothing in common with the
filthy delights of adulterous love: the latter indeed are in the spirit
of every man; but they are separated and removed, as the man's spirit is
elevated above the sensual things of the body, and from its elevation
sees their appearances and fallacies beneath: in this case it perceives
fleshly delights, first as apparent and fallacious, afterwards as
libidinous and lascivious, which ought to be shunned, and successively
as damnable and hurtful to the soul, and at length it has a sense of
them as being undelightful, disagreeable, and nauseous; and in the
degree that it thus perceives and is sensible of these delights, in the
same degree also it perceives the delights of conjugial love as innocent
and chaste, and at length as delicious and blessed. The reason why the
delights of conjugial love become also delights of the spirit in the
flesh, is, because after the delights of adulterous love are removed, as
was just said above, the spirit being loosed from them enters chaste
into the body, and fills the breasts with the delights of its
blessedness, and from the breasts fills also the ultimates of that love
in the body; in consequence whereof, the spirit with these ultimates,
and these ultimates with the spirits, afterwards act in full communion.
442. XVI. THE DELIGHTS OF ADULTEROUS LOVE ARE THE PLEASURES OF INSANITY;
BUT THE DELIGHTS OF CONJUGIAL LOVE ARE THE DELIGHTS OF WISDOM. The
reason why the delights of adulterous love are the pleasures of insanity
is, because none but natural men are in that love, and the natural man
is insane in spiritual things, for he is contrary to them, and therefore
he embraces only natural, sensual, and corporeal delights. It is said
that he embraces natural, sensual, and corporeal delights, because the
natural principle is distinguished into three degrees: in the supreme
degree are those natural men who from rational sight see insanities, and
are still carried away by the delights thereof, as boats by the stream
of a river; in a lower degree are the natural men who only see and judge
from the senses of the body, despising and rejecting, as of no account,
the rational principles which are contrary to appearances and fallacies;
in the lowest degree are the natural men who without judgement are
carried away by the alluring stimulant heats of the body. These last are
called natural-corporeal, the former are called natural-sensual, but the
first natural. With these men, adulterous love and its insanities and
pleasures are of similar degrees.
443. The reason why the delights of conjugial love are the delights of
wisdom is, because none but spiritual men are in that love, and the
spiritual man is in wisdom; and hence he embraces no delights but such
as agree with spiritual wisdom. The respective qualities of the delights
of adulterous and of conjugial love, may be elucidated by a comparison
with houses: the delights of adulterous love by comparison with a house
whose walls glitter outwardly like sea shells, or like transparent
stones, called selenites, of a gold color; whereas in the apartments
within the walls, are all kinds of filth and nastiness: but the delights
of conjugial love may be compared to a house, the walls of which are
refulgent as with sterling gold, and the apartments within are
resplendent as with cabinets full of various precious stones.
* * * * *
444. To the above I shall add the following MEMORABLE RELATION. After I
had concluded the meditations on conjugial love, and had begun those on
adulterous love, on a sudden two angels presented themselves, and said,
"We have perceived and understood what you have heretofore meditated
upon; but the things upon which you are now meditating pass away, and we
do not perceive them. Say nothing about them, for they are of no value."
But I replied, "This love, on which I am now meditating, is not of no
value; because it exists." But they said, "How can there be any love,
which is not from creation? Is not conjugial love from creation; and
does not this love exist between two who are capable of becoming one?
How can there be a love which divides and separates? What youth can love
any other maiden than the one who loves him in return? Must not the love
of the one know and acknowledge the love of the other, so that when they
meet they may unite of themselves? Who can love what is not love? Is not
conjugial love alone mutual and reciprocal? If it be not reciprocal,
does it not rebound and become nothing?" On hearing this, I asked the
two angels from what society of heaven they were? They said, "We are
from the heaven of innocence; we came infants into this heavenly world,
and were educated under the Lord's auspices; and when I became a young
man, and my wife, who is here with me, marriageable, we were betrothed
and entered into a contract, and were joined under the first favorable
impressions; and as we were unacquainted with any other love than what
is truly nuptial and conjugial, therefore, when we were made acquainted
with the ideas of your thought concerning a strange love directly
opposed to our love, we could not at all comprehend it; and we have
descended in order to ask you, why you meditate on things that cannot be
understood? Tell us, therefore, how a love, which not only is not from
creation, but is also contrary to creation, could possibly exist? We
regard things opposite to creation as objects of no value." As they said
this, I rejoiced in heart that I was permitted to converse with angels
of such innocence, as to be entirely ignorant of the nature and meaning
of adultery: wherefore I was free to converse with them, and I
instructed them as follows: "Do you not know, that there exist both good
and evil, and that good is from creation, but not evil; and still that
evil viewed in itself is not nothing, although it is nothing of good?
From creation there exists good, and also good in the greatest degree
and in the least; and when this least becomes nothing, there rises up on
the other side evil: wherefore there is no relation or progression of
good to evil, but a relation and progression of good to a greater and
less good, and of evil to a greater and less evil; for in all things
there are opposites. And since good and evil are opposites, there is an
intermediate, and in it an equilibrium, in which evil acts against good;
but as it does not prevail, it stops in a _conatus_. Every man is
educated in this equilibrium, which, because it is between good and
evil, or, what is the same, between heaven and hell, is a spiritual
equilibrium, which, with those who are in it, produces a state of
freedom. From this equilibrium, the Lord draws all to himself; and if a
man freely follows, he leads him out of evil into good, and thereby into
heaven. The case is the same with love, especially with conjugial love
and adultery: the latter love is evil, but the former good. Every man
that hears the voice of the Lord, and freely follows, is introduced by
the Lord into conjugial love and all its delights and satisfactions; but
he that does not hear and follow, introduces himself into adulterous
love, first into its delights, afterwards into what is undelightful, and
lastly into what is unsatisfactory." When I had thus spoken, the two
angels asked me, "How could evil exist, when nothing but good had
existed from creation? The existence of anything implies that it must
have an origin. Good could not be the origin of evil, because evil is
nothing of good, being privative and destructive of good; nevertheless,
since it exists and is sensibly felt, it is not nothing, but something;
tell us therefore whence this something existed after nothing." To this
I replied, "This arcanum cannot be explained, unless it be known that no
one is good but God alone, and that there is not anything good, which in
itself is good, but from God; wherefore he that looks to God, and wishes
to be led by God, is in good; but he that turns himself from God, and
wishes to be led by himself, is not in good; for the good which he does,
is for the sake either of himself or of the world; thus it is either
meritorious, or pretended, or hypocritical: from which considerations it
is evident, that man himself is the origin of evil; not that that origin
was implanted in him by creation; but that he, by turning from God to
himself, implanted it in himself. That origin of evil was not in Adam
and his wife; but when the serpent said, 'In the day that ye shall eat
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, ye shall be as God' (Gen.
iii. 5), they then made in themselves the origin of evil, because they
turned themselves from God, and turned to themselves, as to God. _To eat
of that tree, signifies to believe that they knew good and evil, and
were wise, from themselves, and not from God._" But the two angels then
asked, "How could man turn himself from God, and turn to himself, when
yet he cannot will, think, and thence do anything but from God? Why did
God permit this?" I replied, "Man was so created, that whatever he
wills, thinks, and does, appears to him as in himself, and thereby from
himself: without this appearance a man would not be a man; for he would
be incapable of receiving, retaining, and as it were appropriating to
himself anything of good and truth, or of love and wisdom: whence it
follows, that without such appearance, as a living appearance, a man
would not have conjunction with God, and consequently neither would he
have eternal life. But if from this appearance he induces in himself a
belief that he wills, thinks, and thence does good from himself, and not
from the Lord, although in all appearance as from himself, he turns good
into evil with himself, and thereby makes in himself the origin of evil.
This was the sin of Adam. But I will explain this matter somewhat more
clearly. The Lord looks at every man in the forepart of his head, and
this inspection passes into the hinder part of his head. Beneath the
forepart is the _cerebrum_, and beneath the hinder part is the
_cerebellum_; the latter was designed for love and the goods thereof,
and the former for wisdom and the truths thereof; wherefore he that
looks with the face to the Lord receives from him wisdom, and by wisdom
love; but he that looks backward from the Lord receives love and not
wisdom; and love without wisdom, is love from man and not from the Lord;
and this love, since it conjoins itself with falses, does not
acknowledge God, but acknowledges itself for God, and confirms this
tacitly by the faculty of understanding and growing wise implanted in it
from creation as from itself; wherefore this love is the origin of evil.
That this is the case, will admit of ocular demonstration. I will call
hither some wicked spirit who turns himself from God, and will speak to
him from behind, or into the hinder part of the head, and you will see
that the things which are said are turned into their contraries." I
called such a spirit and he presented himself, and I spoke to him from
behind and said, "Do you know anything about hell, damnation, and
torment in hell?" And presently, when he was turned to me, I asked him
what he heard? He said, "I heard, 'Do you know anything concerning
heaven, salvation, and happiness in heaven?'" and afterwards when the
latter words were said to him from behind, he said that he heard the
former. It was next said to him from behind, "Do you know that those who
are in hell are insane from falses?" and when I asked him concerning
these words what he heard, he said, "I heard, 'Do you know that those
who are in heaven are wise from truths?'" and when the latter words were
spoken to him from behind, he said that he heard, "Do you know that
those who are in hell, are insane from falses?" and so in other
instances: from which it evidently appears, that when the mind turns
itself from the Lord, it turns to itself, and then it perceives things
contrary. "This, as you know, is the reason why, in this spiritual
world, no one is allowed to stand behind another, and to speak to him;
for thereby there is inspired into him a love, which his own
intelligence favors and obeys for the sake of its delight; but since it
is from man, and not from God, it is a love of evil, or a love of the
false. In addition to the above, I will relate to you another similar
circumstance. On certain occasions I have heard goods and truths let
down from heaven into hell; and in hell they were progressively turned
into their opposites, good into evil, and truth into the false; the
cause of this, the same as above, because all in hell turn themselves
from the Lord." On hearing these two things the two angels thanked me,
and said, "As you are now meditating and writing concerning a love
opposite to our conjugial love, and the opposite to that love makes our
minds sad, we will depart;" and when they said, "Peace be unto you," I
besought them not to mention that love to their brethren and sisters in
heaven, because it would hurt their innocence. I can positively assert
that those who die infants, grow up in heaven, and when they attain the
stature which is common to young men of eighteen years old in the world,
and to maidens of fifteen years, they remain of that stature; and
further, that both before marriage and after it, they are entirely
ignorant what adultery is, and that such a thing can exist.
* * * * *
ON FORNICATION.
[Transcriber's Note: The out-of-order section number which follows is in
the original text, as is the asterisk which does not seem to indicate a
footnote.]
444.* FORNICATION means the lust of a grown up man or youth with a
woman, a harlot, before marriage; but lust with a woman, not a harlot,
that is, with a maiden or with another's wife, is not fornication; with
a maiden it is the act of deflowering, and with another's wife it is
adultery. In what manner these two differ from fornication, cannot be
seen by any rational being unless he takes a clear view of the love of
the sex in its degrees and diversities, and of its chaste principles on
the one part, and of its unchaste principles on the other, arranging
each part into genera and species, and thereby distinguishing them.
Without such a view and arrangement, it is impossible there should exist
in any one's idea a discrimination between the chaste principle as to
more and less, and between the unchaste principle as to more and less;
and without these distinctions all relation perishes, and therewith all
perspicacity in matters of judgement, and the understanding is involved
in such a shade, that it does not know how to distinguish fornication
from adultery, and still less the milder kinds of fornication from the
more grievous, and in like manner of adultery; thus it mixes evils, and
of different evils makes one pottage, and of different goods one paste.
In order therefore that the love of the sex may be distinctly known as
to that part by which it inclines and makes advances to adulterous love
altogether opposite to conjugial love, it is expedient to examine its
beginning, which is fornication; and this we will do in the following
series: I. _Fornication is of the love of the sex._ II. _This love
commences when a youth begins to think and act from his own
understanding and his voice to be masculine._ III. _Fornication is of
the natural man._ IV. _Fornication is lust, but not the lust of
adultery._ V. _With some men the love of the sex cannot without hurt be
totally checked from going forth into fornication._ VI. _Therefore in
populous cities public stews are tolerated._ VII. _The lust of
fornication is light, so far as it looks to conjugial love, and gives
this love the preference._ VIII. _The lust of fornication is grievous,
so far as it looks to adultery._ IX. _The lust of fornication is more
grievous, as it verges to the desire of varieties and of defloration._
X. _The sphere of the lust of fornication, such as it is in the
beginning, is a middle sphere between the sphere of adulterous love and
the sphere of conjugial love, and makes an equilibrium._ XI. _Care is to
be taken, lest, by inordinate and immoderate fornications, conjugial
love be destroyed._ XII. _Inasmuch as the conjugial principle of one man
with one wife is the jewel of human life and the reservoir of the
Christian religion._ XIII. _With those who, from various reasons, cannot
as yet enter into marriage, and from their passion for the sex, cannot
restrain their lusts, this conjugial principle may be preserved, if the
vague love of the sex be confined to one mistress._ XIV. _Keeping a
mistress is preferable to vague amours, if only one is kept, and she be
neither a maiden nor a married woman, and the love of the mistress be
kept separate from conjugial love._ We proceed to an explanation of each
article.
445. I. FORNICATION IS OF THE LOVE OF THE SEX. We say that fornication
is of the love of the sex, because it is not the love of the sex but is
derived from it. The love of the sex is like a fountain, from which both
conjugial and adulterous love may be derived; they may also be derived
by means of fornication, and also without it: for the love of the sex is
in every man (_homo_), and either does or does not put itself forth: if
it puts itself forth before marriage with 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: wherefore, as we
have said, the love of the sex is like a fountain, from which may flow
both chaste and unchaste love: but with what caution and prudence chaste
conjugial love can proceed by fornication, yet from what imprudence
unchaste or adulterous love can proceed thereby, we will explain in what
follows. Who can draw the conclusion, that he that has committed
fornication cannot be more chaste in marriage?
446. II. THE LOVE OF THE SEX, FROM WHICH FORNICATION IS DERIVED,
COMMENCES WHEN A YOUTH BEGINS TO THINK AND ACT FROM HIS OWN
UNDERSTANDING, AND HIS VOICE TO BE MASCULINE. This article is adduced to
the intent, that the birth of the love of the sex, and thence of
fornication, may be known, as taking place when the understanding begins
of itself to become rational, or from its own reason to discern and
provide such things as are of emolument and use, whereto in such case
what has been implanted in the memory from parents and masters, serves
as a plane. At that time a change takes place in the mind; it before
thought only from things introduced into the memory, by meditating upon
and obeying them; it afterwards thinks from reason exercised upon them,
and then, under the guidance of the love, it arranges into a new order
the things seated in the memory, and in agreement with that order it
disposes its own life, and successively thinks more and more according
to its own reason, and wills from its own freedom. It is well known that
the love of the sex follows the commencement of a man's own
understanding, and advances according to its vigor; and this is a proof
that that love ascends and descends as the understanding ascends and
descends: by ascending we mean into wisdom, and by descending, into
insanity; and wisdom consists in restraining the love of the sex, and
insanity in allowing it a wide range: if it be allowed to run into
fornication, which is the beginning of its activity, it ought to be
moderated from principles of honor and morality implanted in the memory
and thence in the reason, and afterwards to be implanted in the reason
and in the memory. The reason why the voice also begins to be masculine,
together with the commencement of a man's own understanding, is, because
the understanding thinks, and by thought speaks; which is a proof that
the understanding constitutes the man (_vir_), and also his male
principle; consequently, that as his understanding is elevated, so he
becomes a man-man (_homo vir_), and also a male man (_masculus vir_);
see above, n. 432, 433.
447. III. FORNICATION IS OF THE NATURAL MAN, in like manner as the love
of the sex, which, if it becomes active before marriage, is called
fornication. Every man (_homo_) is born corporeal, becomes sensual,
afterwards natural, and successively rational; and, if in this case he
does not stop in his progress, he becomes spiritual. The reason why he
thus advances step by step, is, in order that planes may be formed, on
which superior principles may rest and find support, as a palace on its
foundations: the ultimate plane, with those that are formed upon it, may
also be compared to ground, in which, when prepared, noble seeds are
sown. As to what specifically regards the love of the sex, it also is
first corporeal, for it commences from the flesh: next it becomes
sensual, for the five senses receive delight from its common principle;
afterwards it becomes natural like the same love with other animals,
because it is a vague love of the sex; but as a man was born to become
spiritual, it becomes afterwards natural-rational, and from
natural-rational spiritual, and lastly spiritual-natural; and in this
case, that love made spiritual flows into and acts upon rational love,
and through this flows into and acts upon sensual love, and lastly
through this flows into and acts upon that love in the body and the
flesh; and as this is its ultimate plane, it acts upon it spiritually,
and at the same time rationally and sensually; and it flows in and acts
thus successively while the man is meditating upon it, but
simultaneously while he is in its ultimate. The reason why fornication
is of the natural man, is, because it proceeds proximately from the
natural love of the sex; and it may become natural-rational, but not
spiritual, because the love of the sex cannot become spiritual, until it
becomes conjugial; and the love of the sex from natural becomes
spiritual, when a man recedes from vague lust, and devotes himself to
one of the sex, to whose soul he unites his own.
448. IV. FORNICATION IS LUST, BUT NOT THE LUST OF ADULTERY. The reasons
why fornication is lust are, 1. Because it proceeds from the natural
man, and in everything which proceeds from the natural man, there is
concupiscence and lust; for the natural man is nothing but an abode and
receptacle of concupiscences and lust, since all the criminal
propensities inherited from the parents reside therein. 2. Because the
fornicator has a vague and promiscuous regard to the sex, and does not
as yet confine his attention to one of the sex; and so long as he is in
this state, he is prompted by lust to do what he does; but in proportion
as he confines his attention to one of the sex, and loves to conjoin his
life with hers, concupiscence becomes a chaste affection, and lust
becomes human love.
449. That the lust of fornication is not the lust of adultery, every one
sees clearly from common perception. What law and what judge imputes a
like criminality to the fornicator as to the adulterer? The reason why
this is seen from common perception is, because fornication is not
opposed to conjugial love as adultery is. In fornication conjugial love
may lie stored up within, as what is spiritual may lie stored up in what
is natural; yea, what is spiritual is also actually disengaged from what
is natural; and when the spiritual is disengaged, then the natural
encompasses it, as bark does its wood, and a scabbard its sword, and
also serves the spiritual as a defence against violence. From these
considerations it is evident, that natural love, which is love to the
sex, precedes spiritual love which is love to one of the sex; but if
fornication comes into effect from the natural love of the sex, it may
also be wiped away, provided conjugial love be regarded, desired, and
sought, as the chief good. It is altogether otherwise with the
libidinous and obscene love of adultery, which we have shewn to be
opposite to conjugial love, and destructive thereof, in the foregoing
chapter concerning the opposition of adulterous and conjugial love:
wherefore if a confirmed and determined adulterer for various reasons
enters into a conjugial engagement, the above case is inverted, since a
natural principle lies concealed within its lascivious and obscene
things, and a spiritual appearance covers it externally. From these
considerations reason may see, that the lust of limited fornication is,
in respect to the lust of adultery, as the first warmth is to the cold
of mid-winter in northern countries.
450. V. WITH SOME MEN THE LOVE OF THE SEX CANNOT WITHOUT HURT BE TOTALLY
CHECKED FROM GOING FORTH INTO FORNICATION. It is needless to recount the
mischiefs which may be caused and produced by too great a check of the
love of the sex, with such persons as labor under a superabundant
venereal heat; from this source are to be traced the origins of certain
diseases of the body and distempers of the mind, not to mention unknown
evils, which are not to be named; it is otherwise with those whose love
of the sex is so scanty that they can resist the sallies of its lust;
also with those who are at liberty to introduce themselves into a
legitimate partnership of the bed while they are young, without doing
injury to their worldly fortunes, thus under the first favorable
impressions. As this is the case in heaven with infants, when they have
grown up to conjugial age, therefore it is unknown there what
fornication is: but the case is different in the world where matrimonial
engagements cannot be contracted till the season of youth is past, and
where, during that season, the generality live within forms of
government, where a length of time is required to perform duties, and to
acquire the property necessary to support a house and family, and then
first a suitable wife is to be courted.
[Footnote: This, like some other of the author's remarks, is not so
applicable to English laws and customs as to those of several of the
continental states, especially Germany, where men are not allowed to
marry till they have attained a certain age, or can show that they
possess the means of supporting a wife and family.]
451. VI. THEREFORE IN POPULOUS CITIES PUBLIC STEWS ARE TOLERATED. This
is adduced as a confirmation of the preceding article. It is well known
that they are tolerated by kings, magistrates, and thence by judges,
inquisitors, and the people, at London, Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna,
Venice, Naples, and even at Rome, besides many other places: among the
reasons of this toleration are those also above mentioned.
452. VII. FORNICATION IS (COMPARATIVELY) LIGHT SO FAR AS IT LOOKS TO
CONJUGIAL LOVE AND GIVES THIS LOVE THE PREFERENCE. There are degrees of
the qualities of evil, as there are degrees of the qualities of good;
wherefore every evil is lighter and more grievous, as every good is
better and more excellent. The case is the same with fornication; which,
as being a lust, and a lust of the natural man not yet purified, is an
evil; but as every man (_homo_) is capable of being purified, therefore
so far as it approaches a purified state, so far that evil becomes
lighter, for so far it is wiped away; thus so far as fornication
approaches conjugial love, which is a purified state of the love of the
sex, (so far it becomes a lighter evil): that the evil of fornication is
more grievous, so far as it approaches the love of adultery, will be
seen in the following article. The reason why fornication is light so
far as it looks to conjugial love, is, because it then looks from the
unchaste state wherein it is, to a chaste state; and so far as it gives
a preference to the latter, so far also it is in it as to the
understanding; and so far as it not only prefers it, but also pre-loves
it, so far also it is in it as to the will, thus as to the internal man;
and in this case fornication, if the man nevertheless persists in it, is
to him a necessity, the causes whereof he well examines in himself.
There are two reasons which render fornication light with those who
prefer and pre-love the conjugial state; the first is, that conjugial
life is their purpose, intention, or end, the other is, that they
separate good from evil with themselves. In regard to the FIRST,--that
conjugial life is their purpose, intention, or end, it has the above
effect, inasmuch as every man is such as he is in his purpose,
intention, or end, and is also such before the Lord and the angels; yea,
he is likewise regarded as such by the wise in the world; for intention
is the soul of all actions, and causes innocence and guilt in the world,
and after death imputation. In regard to the OTHER reason,--that those
who prefer conjugial love to the lust of fornication, separate evil from
good, thus what is unchaste from what is chaste, it has the above
effect, inasmuch as those who separate those two principles by
perception and intention, before they are in good or the chaste
principle, are also separated and purified from the evil of that lust,
when they come into the conjugial state. That this is not the case with
those who in fornication look to adultery, will be seen in the next
article.
453. VIII. THE LUST OF FORNICATION IS GRIEVOUS, SO FAR AS IT LOOKS TO
ADULTERY. In the lust of fornication all those look to adultery who do
not believe adulteries to be sins, and who think similarly of marriage
and of adulteries, only with the distinction of what is allowed and what
is not; these also make one evil out of all evils, and mix them
together, like dirt with eatable food in one dish, and like things vile
and refuse with wine in one cup, and thus eat and drink: in this manner
they act with the love of the sex, fornication and keeping a mistress,
with adultery of a milder sort, of a grievous sort, and of a more
grievous sort, yea with ravishing or defloration: moreover, they not
only mingle all those things, but also mix them in marriages, and defile
the latter with a like notion; but where it is the case, that the latter
are not distinguished from the former, such persons, after their vague
commerce with the sex, are overtaken by colds, loathings, and
nauseousness, at first in regard to a married partner, next in regard to
women in other characters, and lastly in regard to the sex. It is
self-evident that with such persons there is no purpose, intention, or
end, of what is good or chaste, that they may be exculpated, and no
separation of evil from good, or of what is unchaste from what is
chaste, that they may be purified, as in the case of those who from
fornication look to conjugial love, and give the latter the preference,
(concerning whom, see the foregoing article, n. 452). The above
observations I am allowed to confirm by this new information from
heaven: I have met with several, who in the world had lived outwardly
like others, wearing rich apparel, feasting daintily, trading like
others with money, borrowed upon interest, frequenting stage
exhibitions, conversing jocosely on love affairs as from wantonness,
besides other similar things: and yet the angels charged those things
upon some as evils of sin, and upon others as not evils, and declared
the latter guiltless, but the former guilty; and on being questioned why
they did so, when the deeds were alike, they replied, that they regard
all from purpose, intention, or end, and distinguish accordingly; and
that on this account they excuse and condemn those whom the end excuses
and condemns, since all in heaven are influenced by a good end, and all
in hell by an evil end; and that this, and nothing else, is meant by the
Lord's words, _Judge not, that ye be not judged_, Matt. vii. I.
454. IX. THE LUST OF FORNICATION IS MORE GRIEVOUS AS IT VERGES TO THE
DESIRE OF VARIETIES AND OF DEFLORATION. The reason of this is, because
these two desires are accessories of adulteries, and thus aggravations
of it: for there are mild adulteries, grievous adulteries, and most
grievous; and each kind is estimated according to its opposition to, and
consequent destruction of, conjugial love. That the desire of varieties
and the desire of defloration, strengthened by being brought into act,
destroy conjugial love, and drown it as it were in the bottom of the
sea, will be seen presently, when those subjects come to be treated of.
455. X. THE SPHERE OF THE LUST OF FORNICATION, SUCH AS IT IS IN THE
BEGINNING, IS A MIDDLE SPHERE BETWEEN THE SPHERE OF ADULTEROUS LOVE AND
THE SPHERE OF CONJUGIAL LOVE, AND MAKES AN EQUILIBRIUM. The two spheres,
of adulterous love and conjugial love, were treated of in the foregoing
chapter, where it was shewn that the sphere of adulterous love ascends
from hell, and the sphere of conjugial love descends from heaven, n.
435; that those two spheres meet each other in each world, but do not
unite, n. 436; that between those two spheres there is an equilibrium,
and that man is in it, n. 437; that a man can turn himself to whichever
sphere he pleases; but that so far as he turns himself to the one, so
far he turns himself from the other, n. 438: for the meaning of spheres,
see n. 434, and the passages there cited. The reason why the sphere of
the lust of fornication is a middle sphere between those two spheres,
and makes an equilibrium, is, because while any one is in it, he can
turn himself to the sphere of conjugial love, that is, to this love, and
also to the sphere of the love of adultery, that is, to the love of
adultery; but if he turns himself to conjugial love, he turns himself to
heaven; if to the love of adultery, he turns himself to hell: each is in
the man's free determination, good pleasure, and will, to the intent
that he may act freely according to reason, and not from instinct:
consequently that he may be a man, and appropriate to himself influx,
and not a beast, which appropriates nothing thereof to itself. It is
said the lust of fornication such as it is in the beginning, because at
that time it is in a middle state. Who does not know that whatever a man
does in the beginning, is from concupiscence, because from the natural
man? And who does not know that that concupiscence is not imputed, while
from natural he is becoming spiritual? The case is similar in regard to
the lust of fornication, while a man's love is becoming conjugial.
456. XI. CARE IS TO BE TAKEN LEST, BY IMMODERATE AND INORDINATE
FORNICATIONS, CONJUGIAL LOVE BE DESTROYED. By immoderate and inordinate
fornications, whereby conjugial love is destroyed, we mean fornications
by which not only the strength is enervated, but also all the delicacies
of conjugial love are taken away; for from unbridled indulgence in such
fornications, not only weakness and consequent wants, but also
impurities and immodesties are occasioned, by reason of which conjugial
love cannot be perceived and felt in its purity and chastity, and thus
neither in its sweetness and the delights of its prime; not to mention
the mischiefs occasioned to both the body and the mind, and also the
disavowed allurements, which not only deprive conjugial love of its
blessed delights, but also take it away, and change it into cold, and
thereby into loathing. Such fornications are the violent excesses
whereby conjugial sports are changed into tragic scenes: for immoderate
and inordinate fornications are like burning flames which, arising out
of ultimates, consume the body, parch the fibres, defile the blood, and
vitiate the rational principles of the mind; for they burst forth like a
fire from the foundation into the house, which consumes the whole. To
prevent these mischiefs is the duty of parents; for a grown up youth,
inflamed with lust, cannot as yet from reason impose restraint upon
himself.
457. XII. INASMUCH AS THE CONJUGIAL PRINCIPLE OF ONE MAN WITH ONE WIFE
IS THE JEWEL OF HUMAN LIFE AND THE RESERVOIR OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
These two points have been demonstrated universally and singularly in
the whole preceding part of CONJUGIAL LOVE AND ITS CHASTE DELIGHTS. The
reason why it is the jewel of human life is, because the quality of a
man's life is according to the quality of that love with him; since that
love constitutes the inmost of his life; for it is the life of wisdom
dwelling with its love, and of love dwelling with its wisdom, and hence
it is the life of the delights of each; in a word, a man is a soul
living by means of that love: hence, the conjugial tie of one man with
one wife is called the jewel of human life. This is confirmed from the
following articles adduced above: only with one wife there exists truly
conjugial friendship, confidence, and potency, because there is a union
of minds, n. 333, 334: in and from a union with one wife there exist
celestial blessednesses, spiritual satisfactions, and thence natural
delights, which from the beginning have been provided for those who are
in love truly conjugial, n. 335. That it is the fundamental love of all
celestial, spiritual, and derivative natural loves, and that into that
love are collected all joys and delights from first to last, n. 65-69:
and that viewed in its origin, it is the sport of wisdom and love, has
been fully demonstrated in the CONJUGIAL LOVE AND ITS CHASTE DELIGHTS,
which constitutes the first part of this work.
458. The reason why that love is the reservoir of the Christian religion
is, because this religion unites and dwells with that love; for it was
shewn, that none come into that love, and can be in it, but those who
approach the Lord, and do the truths of his church and its goods; n. 70,
71: that that love is from the only Lord, and that hence it exists with
those who are of the Christian religion; n. 131, 335, 336: that that
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, was
fully confirmed in the chapter on the correspondence of that love with
the marriage of the Lord and the church; n. 116, 131; and in the chapter
on the origin of that love from the marriage of good and truth; n.
83-102.
459. XIII. WITH THOSE WHO, FROM VARIOUS REASONS, CANNOT AS YET ENTER
INTO MARRIAGE, AND FROM THEIR PASSION FOR THE SEX, CANNOT MODERATE THEIR
LUSTS, THIS CONJUGIAL PRINCIPLE MAY BE PRESERVED, IF THE VAGUE LOVE OF
THE SEX BE CONFINED TO ONE MISTRESS. That immoderate and inordinate lust
cannot be entirely checked by those who have a strong passion for the
sex, is what reason sees and experience proves: with a view therefore
that such lust may be restrained, in the case of one whose passions are
thus violent, and who for several reasons cannot precipitately enter
into marriage, and that it may be rendered somewhat moderate and
ordinate, there seems to be no other refuge, and as it were asylum, than
the keeping of a woman, who in French is called _maitresse_. It is well
known that in kingdoms, where certain forms and orders are to be
observed, matrimonial engagements cannot be contracted by many till the
season of youth is past; for duties are first to be performed, and
property to be acquired for the support of a house and family, and then
first a suitable wife is to be courted; and yet in the previous season
of youth few are able to keep the springing fountain of manliness
closed, and reserved for a wife: it is better indeed that it should be
reserved; but if this cannot be done on account of the unbridled power
of lust, a question occurs, whether there may not be an intermediate
means, by which conjugial love may be prevented from perishing in the
mean time. That keeping a mistress is such a means appears reasonable
from the following considerations: I. That by this means promiscuous
inordinate fornications are restrained and limited, and thus a less
disorderly state is induced, which more resembles conjugial life. II.
That the ardor of venereal propensities, which in the beginning is
boiling hot, and as it were burning, is appeased and mitigated; and
thereby the lascivious passion for the sex, which is filthy, is tempered
by somewhat analogous to marriage. III. By this means too the strength
is not cast away, neither are weaknesses contracted, as by vague and
unlimited amours. IV. By this means also disease of the body and
insanity of mind are avoided. V. In like manner by this means
adulteries, which are whoredoms with wives, and debaucheries, which are
violations of maidens, are guarded against; to say nothing of such
criminal acts as are not to be named; for a stripling does not think
that adulteries and debaucheries are different from fornications; thus
he conceives that the one is the same with the other; nor is he able
from reason to resist the enticements of some of the sex, who are
proficients in meretricious arts: but in keeping a mistress, which is a
more ordinate and safer fornication, he can learn and see the above
distinctions. VI. By keeping a mistress, also no entrance is afforded to
the four kinds of lusts, which are in the highest degree destructive of
conjugial love,--the lust of defloration, the lust of varieties, the
lust of violation, and the lust of seducing innocences, which are
treated of in the following pages. These observations, however, are not
intended for those who can check the tide of lust; nor for those who can
enter into marriage during the season of youth, and offer and impart to
their wives the first fruits of their manliness.
460. XIV. KEEPING A MISTRESS IS PREFERABLE TO VAGUE AMOURS, PROVIDED
ONLY ONE IS KEPT AND SHE BE NEITHER A MAIDEN NOR A MARRIED WOMAN, AND
THE LOVE OF THE MISTRESS BE KEPT SEPARATE FROM CONJUGIAL LOVE. At what
time and with what persons keeping a mistress is preferable to vague
amours, has been pointed out just above. I. The reason why only one
mistress is to be kept, is, because if more than one be kept, a
polygamical principle gains influence, which induces in a man a merely
natural state, and thrusts him down into a sensual state, so much so
that he cannot be elevated into a spiritual state, in which conjugial
love must be; see n. 338, 339. II. The reason why this mistress must not
be a maiden, is because conjugial love with women acts in unity with
their virginity, and hence constitutes the chastity, purity, and
sanctity of that love; wherefore when a woman makes an engagement and
allotment of her virginity to any man, it is the same thing as giving
him a certificate that she will love him to eternity: on this account a
maiden cannot, from any rational consent, barter away her virginity,
unless when entering into the conjugial covenant: it is also the crown
of her honor: wherefore to seize it without a covenant of marriage, and
afterwards to discard her, is to make a courtezan of a maiden, who might
have been a bride or a chaste wife, or to defraud some man; and each of
these is hurtful. Therefore whoever takes a maiden and unites her to
himself as a mistress, may indeed dwell with her, and thereby initiate
her into the friendship of love, but still with a constant intention, if
he does not play the whoremaster, that she shall be or become his wife.
III. That the kept mistress must not be a married woman, because this is
adultery, is evident. IV. The reason why the love of a mistress is to be
kept separate from conjugial love, is because those loves are distinct,
and therefore ought not to be mixed together: for the love of a mistress
is an unchaste, natural, and external love; whereas the love of marriage
is chaste, spiritual, and internal. The love of a mistress keeps the
souls of two persons distinct, and unites only the sensual principles of
the body; but the love of marriage unites souls, and from their union
conjoins also the sensual principles of the body, until from two they
become as one, which is one flesh. V. The love of a mistress enters only
into the understanding and the things which depend on it; but the love
of marriage enters also into the will and the things which depend on it,
consequently into every thing appertaining to man (_homo_); wherefore if
the love of a mistress becomes the love of marriage, a man cannot
retract from any principle of right, and without violating the conjugial
union; and if he retracts and marries another woman, conjugial love
perishes in consequence of the breach thereof. It is to be observed,
that the love of a mistress is kept separate from conjugial love by this
condition, that no engagement of marriage be made with the mistress, and
that she be not induced to form any such expectation. Nevertheless it is
far better that the torch of the love of the sex be first lighted with a
wife.
* * * * *
461. To the above I shall add the following MEMORABLE RELATION. I was
once conversing with a novitiate spirit who, during his abode in the
world, had meditated much about heaven and hell. (Novitiate spirits are
men newly deceased, who are called spirits, because they are then
spiritual men.) As soon as he entered into the spiritual world he began
to meditate in like manner about heaven and hell, and seemed to himself,
when meditating about heaven, to be in joy, and when about hell, in
sorrow. When he observed that he was in the spiritual world, he
immediately asked where heaven and hell were, and also their nature and
quality? And he was answered, "Heaven is above your head, and hell
beneath your feet; for you are now in the world of spirits, which is
immediate between heaven and hell; but what are their nature and quality
we cannot describe in a few words." At that instant, as he was very
desirous of knowing, he fell upon his knees, and prayed devoutly to God
that he might be instructed; and lo! an angel appeared at his right
hand, and having raised him, said, "You have prayed to be instructed
concerning heaven and hell; INQUIRE AND LEARN WHAT DELIGHT IS, AND YOU
WILL KNOW;" and having said this, the angel was taken up. Then the
novitiate spirit said within himself, "_What does this mean, Inquire and
learn what delight is, and you will know the nature and quality of
heaven and hell?_" And leaving that place, he wandered about, and
accosting those he met, said, "Tell me, if you please, what delight is?"
Some said, "What a strange question! Who does not know what delight is?
Is it not joy and gladness? Wherefore delight is delight; one delight is
like another; we know no distinction." Others said, that delight was the
laughter of the mind; for when the mind laughs, the countenance is
cheerful, the discourse is jocular, the behaviour sportive, and the
whole man is in delight. But some said, "Delight consists in nothing but
feasting, and delicate eating and drinking, and in getting intoxicated
with generous wine, and then in conversing on various subjects,
especially on the sports of Venus and Cupid." On hearing these
relations, the novitiate spirit being indignant, said to himself; "These
are the answers of clowns, and not of well-bred men: these delights are
neither heaven nor hell; I wish I could meet with the wise." He then
took his leave of them, and inquired where he might find the wise? At
that instant he was seen by a certain angelic spirit, who said, "I
perceive that you have a strong desire to know what is the universal of
heaven and of hell; and since this is DELIGHT, I will conduct you up a
hill, where there is every day an assembly of those who scrutinize
effects, of those who investigate causes, and of those who explore ends.
There are three companies; those who scrutinize effects are called
spirits of knowledges, and abstractedly knowledges; those who
investigate causes are called spirits of intelligence, and abstractedly
intelligences; and those who explore ends are called spirits of wisdom,
and abstractedly wisdoms. Directly above them in heaven are angels, who
from ends see causes, and from causes effects; from these angels those
three companies are enlightened." The angelic spirit then taking the
novitiate spirit by the hand, led him up the hill to the company which
consisted of those who explore ends, and are called wisdoms. To these
the novitiate spirit said, "Pardon me for having ascended to you: the
reason is, because from my childhood I have meditated about heaven and
hell, and lately came into this world, where I was told by some who
accompanied me, that here heaven was above my head, and hell beneath my
feet; but they did not tell me the nature and quality of either;
wherefore, becoming anxious from my thoughts being constantly employed
on the subject, I prayed to God; and instantly an angel presented
itself, and said, '_Inquire and learn what delight is, and you will
know._' I have inquired, but hitherto in vain: I request therefore that
you will teach me, if you please, what delight is." To this the wisdoms
replied, "Delight is the all of life to all in heaven and all in hell:
those in delight have the delight of good and truth, but those in hell
have the delight of what is evil and false; for all delight is of love,
and love is the _esse_ of a man's life; therefore as a man is a man
according to the quality of his love, so also is he according to the
quality of his delight. The activity of love makes the sense of delight;
its activity in heaven is with wisdom, and in hell with insanity; each
in its objects presents delight: but the heavens and the hells are in
opposite delights, because in opposite loves; the heavens 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 therefore you know what delight
is, you will know the nature and quality of heaven and hell. But inquire
and learn further what delight is from those who investigate causes, and
are called intelligences: they are to the right from hence." He
departed, and came to them, and told them the reason of his coming, and
requested that they would teach him what delight is? And they, rejoicing
at the question, said, "It is true that he that knows what delight is,
knows the nature and quality of heaven and hell. The will-principle, by
virtue whereof a man is a man, cannot be moved at all but by delight;
for the will-principle, considered in itself, is nothing but an affect
and effect of some love, thus of some delight; for it is somewhat
pleasing, engaging, and pleasurable, which constitutes the principle of
willing; and since the will moves the understanding to think, there does
not exist the least idea of thought but from the influent delight of the
will. The reason of this is, because the Lord by influx from himself
actuates all things of the soul and the mind with angels, spirits, and
men; which he does by an influx of love and wisdom; and this influx is
the essential activity from which comes all delight, which in its origin
is called blessed, satisfactory, and happy, and in its derivation is
called delightful, pleasant, and pleasurable, and in a universal sense,
GOOD. But the spirits of hell invert all things with themselves; thus
they turn good into evil, and the true into the false, their delights
continually remaining: for without the continuance of delight, they
would have neither will nor sensation, thus no life. From these
considerations may be seen the nature and origin of the delight of hell,
and also the nature and origin of the delight of heaven." Having heard
this, he was conducted to the third company, consisting of those who
scrutinize effects, and are called knowledges. These said, "Descend to
the inferior earth, and ascend to the superior earth: in the latter you
will perceive and be made sensible of the delights of the angels of
heaven, and in the former of the delights of the spirits of hell." But
lo! at that instant, at a distance from them, the ground cleft asunder,
and through the cleft there ascended three devils, who appeared on fire
from the delight of their love; and as those who accompanied the
novitiate spirit perceived that the three ascended out of hell by
_proviso_, they said to them, "Do not come nearer; but from the place
where you are, give some account of your delights." Whereupon they said,
"Know, then, that every one, whether he be good or evil, is in his own
delight; the good in the delight of his good, and the evil in the
delight of his evil." They were then asked, "What is your delight?" They
said. "The delight of whoring, stealing, defrauding, and blaspheming."
Again they were asked, "What is the quality of those delights?" They
said, "To the senses of others they are like the stinks arising from
dunghills, the stenches from dead bodies, and the scents from stale
urine." And it was asked them, "Are those things delightful to you?"
They said, "Most delightful." And reply was made, "Then you are like
unclean beasts which wallow in such things." To which they answered, "If
we are, we are: but such things are the delights of our nostrils." And
on being asked, "What further account can you give?" they said, "Every
one is allowed to be in his delight, even the most unclean, as it is
called, provided he does not infest good spirits and angels; but since,
from our delight, we cannot do otherwise than infest them, therefore we
are cast together into workhouses, where we suffer direfully. The
witholding and keeping back our delights in those houses is what is
called hell-torments: it is also interior pain." It was then asked them,
"Why have you infested the good?" They replied, that they could not do
otherwise: "It is," said they, "as if we were seized with rage when we
see any angel, and are made sensible of the divine sphere about him." It
was then said to them, "Herein also you are like wild beasts." And
presently, when they saw the novitiate spirit with the angel, they were
overpowered with rage, which appeared like the fire of hatred;
wherefore, in order to prevent their doing mischief, they were sent back
to hell. After these things, appeared the angels who from ends see
causes, and by causes effects, who were in the heaven above those three
companies. They were seen in a bright cloud, which rolling itself
downwards by spiral flexures, brought with it a circular garland of
flowers, and placed it on the head of the novitiate spirit; and
instantly a voice said to him from thence, "This wreath is given you
because from your childhood you have meditated on heaven and hell."
* * * * *
ON CONCUBINAGE.
462. In the preceding chapter, in treating on fornication, we treated
also on keeping a mistress; by which was understood the connection of an
unmarried man with a woman under stipulated conditions: but by
concubinage we here mean the connection of a married man with a woman in
like manner under stipulated conditions. Those who do not distinguish
genera, use the two terms promiscuously, as if they had one meaning, and
thence one signification: but as they are two genera, and the term
keeping a mistress is suitable to the former, because a kept mistress is
a courtezan, and the term concubinage to the latter, because a concubine
is a substituted partner of the bed, therefore for the sake of
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