27. That there are marriages in heaven cannot be admitted as an article
of faith by those who imagine that a man after death is a soul or
spirit, and who conceive of a soul or spirit as of a rarefied ether or
vapor; who imagine also, that a man will not live as a man till after
the day of the last judgment; and in general who know nothing respecting
the spiritual world, in which angels and spirits dwell, consequently in
which there are heavens and hells: and as that world has been heretofore
unknown, and mankind have been in total ignorance that the angels of
heaven are men, in a perfect form, and in like manner infernal spirits,
but in an imperfect form, therefore it was impossible for anything to be
revealed concerning marriages in that world; for if it had it would have
been objected, "How can a soul be joined with a soul, or a vapor with a
vapor, as one married partner with another here on earth?" not to
mention other similar objections, which, the instant they were made,
would take away and dissipate all faith respecting marriages in another
life. But now, since several particulars have been revealed concerning
that world, and a description has also been given of its nature and
quality, in the treatise on HEAVEN AND HELL, and also in the APOCALYPSE
REVEALED, the assertion, that marriages take place in that world, may be
so far confirmed as even to convince the reason by the following
propositions: I. _A man (homo) lives a man after death._ II. _In this
case a male is a male, and a female a female._ III. _Every one's
peculiar love remains with him after death._ IV. _The love of the sex
especially remains; and with those who go to heaven, which is the case
with all who become spiritual here on earth, conjugial love remains._ V.
_These things fully confirmed by ocular demonstration._ VI.
_Consequently that there are marriages in the heavens._ VII. _Spiritual
nuptials are to be understood by the Lord's words, where he says, that
after the resurrection they are not given in marriage._ We will now give
an explanation of these propositions in their order.
28. I. A MAN LIVES A MAN AFTER DEATH. That a man lives a man after death
has been heretofore unknown in the world, for the reasons just now
mentioned; and, what is surprising, it has been unknown even in the
Christian world, where they have the Word, and illustration thence
concerning eternal life, and where the Lord himself teaches, _That all
the dead rise again; and that God is not the God of the dead but of the
living_, Matt. xxii. 31, 32. Luke xx. 37, 38. Moreover, a man, as to the
affections and thoughts of his mind, is in the midst of angels and
spirits, and is so consociated with them that were he to be separated
from them he would instantly die. It is still more surprising that this
is unknown, when yet every man that has departed this life since the
beginning of creation, after his decease has come and does still come to
his own, or, as it is said in the Word, has been gathered and is
gathered to his own: besides every one has a common perception, which is
the same thing as the influx of heaven into the interiors of his mind,
by virtue of which he inwardly perceives truths, and as it were sees
them, and especially this truth, that he lives a man after death; a
happy man if he has lived well, and an unhappy one if he has lived ill.
For who does not think thus, while he elevates his mind in any degree
above the body, and above the thought which is nearest to the senses; as
is the case when he is interiorly engaged in divine worship, and when he
lies on his death-bed expecting his dissolution; also when he hears of
those who are deceased, and their lot? I have related a thousand
particulars respecting departed spirits, informing certain persons that
are now alive concerning the state of their deceased brethren, their
married partners, and their friends. I have written also concerning the
state of the English, the Dutch, the Papists, the Jews, the Gentiles,
and likewise concerning the state of Luther, Calvin, and Melancthon; and
hitherto I never heard any one object, "How can such be their lot, when
they are not yet risen from their tombs, the last judgement not being
yet accomplished? Are they not in the meantime mere vaporous and
unsubstantial souls residing, in some place of confinement (_in quodam
pu seu ubi_)?" Such objections I have never yet heard from any quarter;
whence I have been led to conclude, that every one perceives in himself
that he lives a man after death. Who that has loved his married partner
and his children when they are dying or are dead, will not say within
himself (if his thought be elevated above the sensual principles of the
body) that they are in the hand of God, and that he shall see them again
after his own death, and again be joined with them in a life of love and
joy?
29. Who, that is willing, cannot see from reason, that a man after death
is not a mere vapor, of which no idea can be formed but as of a breath
of wind, or of air and ether, and that such vapor constitutes or
contains in it the human soul, which desires and expects conjunction
with its body, in order that it may enjoy the bodily senses and their
delights, as previously in the world? We cannot see, that if this were
the case with a man after death, his state would be more deplorable than
that of fishes, birds, and terrestrial animals, whose souls are not
alive, and consequently are not in such anxiety of desire and
expectation? Supposing a man after death to be such a vapor, and thus a
breath of wind, he would either fly about in the universe, or according
to certain traditions, would be reserved in a place of confinement, or
in the _limbo_ of the ancient fathers, until the last judgement. Who
cannot hence from reason conclude, that those who have lived since the
beginning of creation, which is computed to be about six thousand years
ago, must be still in a similar anxious state, and progressively more
anxious, because all expectation arising from desire produces anxiety,
and being continued from time to time increases it; consequently, that
they must still be either floating about in the universe, or be kept
shut up in confinement, and thereby in extreme misery; and that must be
the case with Adam and his wife, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
with all who have lived since that time? All this being supposed true,
it must needs follow, that nothing would be more deplorable than to be
born a man. But the reverse of this is provided by the Lord, who is
Jehovah from eternity and the Creator of the universe; for the state of
the man that conjoins himself with him by a life according to his
precepts, becomes more blessed and happy after death than before it in
the world; and it is more blessed and happy from this circumstance, that
the man then is spiritual, and a spiritual man is sensible of and
perceives spiritual delight, which is a thousand times superior to
natural delight.
30. That angels and spirits are men, may plainly appear from those seen
by Abraham, Gideon, Daniel, and the prophets, and especially by John
when he wrote the Revelation, and also by the women in the Lord's
sepulchre, yea, from the Lord himself as seen by the disciples after his
resurrection. The reason of their being seen was, because the eyes of
the spirits of those who saw them were opened; and when the eyes of the
spirit are opened, angels appear in their proper form, which is the
human; but when the eyes of the spirit are closed, that is, when they
are veiled by the vision of the bodily eyes, which derive all their
impressions from the material world, then they do not appear.
31. It is however to be observed, that a man after death is not a
natural, but a spiritual man; nevertheless he still appears in all
respects like himself; and so much so, that he knows not but, that he is
still in the natural world: for he has a similar body, countenance,
speech, and senses; for he has a similar affection and thought, or will
and understanding. He is indeed actually not similar, because he is a
spiritual, and consequently an interior man; but the difference does not
appear to him, because he cannot compare his spiritual state with his
former natural state, having put off the latter, and being in the
former; therefore I have often heard such persons say, that they know
not but that they are in the former world, with this difference,
however, that they no longer see those whom they had left in that world;
but that they see those who had departed out of it, or were deceased.
The reason why they now see the latter and not the former, is, because
they are no longer natural men, but spiritual or substantial; and a
spiritual or substantial man sees a spiritual or substantial man, as a
natural or material man sees a natural or material man, but not _vice
versa_, on account of the difference between what is substantial and
what is material, which is like the difference between what is prior and
what is posterior; and what is prior, being in itself purer, cannot
appear to what is posterior, which in itself is grosser; nor can what is
posterior, being grosser, appear to what is prior, which in itself is
purer; consequently an angel cannot appear to a man of this world, nor a
man of this world to an angel. The reason why a man after death is a
spiritual or substantial man, is, because this spiritual or substantial
man lay inwardly concealed in the natural or material man; which natural
or material man was to it as a covering, or as a skin about to be cast
off; and when the covering or skin is cast off, the spiritual or
substantial man comes forth, a purer, interior, and more perfect man.
That the spiritual man is still a perfect man, notwithstanding his being
invisible to the natural man, is evident from the Lord's being seen by
the apostles after his resurrection, when he appeared, and presently he
did not appear; and yet he was a man like to himself both when seen and
when not seen: it is also said, that when they saw him, their eyes were
opened.
32. II. IN THIS CASE A MALE IS A MALE, AND A FEMALE A FEMALE. Since a
man (_homo_) lives a man after death, and man is male and female, and
there is such a distinction between the male principle and the female
principle, that the one cannot be changed into the other, it follows,
that after death the male lives a male, and the female a female, each
being a spiritual man. It is said that the male principle cannot be
changed into the female principle, nor the female into the male, and
that therefore after death the male is a male, and the female a female;
but as it is not known in what the masculine principle essentially
consists, and in what the feminine, it may be expedient briefly to
explain it. The essential distinction between the two is this: in the
masculine principle, love is inmost, and its covering is wisdom; or,
what is the same, the masculine principle is love covered (or veiled) by
wisdom; whereas in the feminine principle, the wisdom of the male is
inmost, and its covering is love thence derived; but this latter love is
feminine, and is given by the Lord to the wife through the wisdom of the
husband; whereas the former love is masculine, which is the love of
growing wise, and is given by the Lord to the husband according to the
reception of wisdom. It is from this circumstance, that the male is the
wisdom of love, and the female is the love of that wisdom; therefore
from creation there is implanted in each a love of conjunction so as to
become a one; but on this subject more will be said in the following
pages. That the female principle is derived from the male, or that the
woman was taken out of the man, is evident from these words in Genesis:
_Jehovah God took out one of the man's ribs, and closed up the flesh in
the place thereof; and he builded the rib, which he had taken out of the
man, into a woman; and he brought her to the man; and the man said, This
is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; hence she shall be called
Eve, because she was taken out of man_, chap. ii. 21-23: the
signification of a rib and of flesh will be shewn elsewhere.
33. From this primitive formation it follows, that by birth the
character of the male is intellectual, and that the female character
partakes more of the will principle; or, what amounts to the same, that
the male is born into the affection of knowing, understanding, and
growing wise, and the female into the love of conjoining herself with
that affection in the male. And as the interiors form the exteriors to
their own likeness, and the masculine form is the form of intellect, and
the feminine is the form of the love of that intellect, therefore the
male and the female differ as to the features of the face, the tone of
the voice, and the form of the body; the male having harder features, a
harsher tone of voice, a stronger body, and also a bearded chin, and in
general a form less beautiful than that of the female; they differ also
in their gestures and manners; in a word, they are not exactly similar
in a single respect; but still, in every particular of each, there is a
tendency to conjunction; yea, the male principle in the male, is male in
every part of his body, even the most minute, and also in every idea of
his thought, and every spark of his affection; the same is true of the
female principle in the female; and since of consequence the one cannot
be changed into the other, it follows, that after death a male is a
male, and a female a female.
34. III. EVERY ONE'S PECULIAR LOVE REMAINS WITH HIM AFTER DEATH. Man
knows that there is such a thing as love; but he does not know what love
is. He knows that there is such a thing from common discourse; as when
it is said, that such a one loves me, that a king loves his subjects,
and subjects love their king; that a husband loves his wife, and a
mother her children, and _vice versa_; also when it is said, that any
one loves his country, his fellow citizens, and his neighbour; in like
manner of things abstracted from persons; as when it is said that a man
loves this or that. But although the term love is thus universally
applied in conversation, still there is scarcely any one that knows what
love is: even while meditating on the subject, as he is not then able to
form any distinct idea concerning it, and thus not to fix it as present
in the light of the understanding, because of its having relation not to
light but to heat, he either denies its reality, or he calls it merely
an influent effect arising from the sight, the hearing, and the
conversation, and thus accounts for the motions to which it gives birth;
not being at all aware, that love is his very life, not only the common
life of his whole body and of all his thoughts, but also the life of all
their particulars. A wise man may perceive this from the consideration,
that if the affection of love be removed, he is incapable both of
thinking and acting; for in proportion as that affection grows cold, do
not thought, speech, and action grow cold also? and in proportion as
that affection grows warm, do not they also grow warm in the same
degree? Love therefore is the heat of the life of man (_hominis_), or
his vital heat. The heat of the blood, and also its redness, are from
this source alone. The fire of the angelic sun, which is pure love,
produces this effect.
35. That every one has his own peculiar love, or a love distinct from
that of another; that is, that no two men have exactly the same love,
may appear from the infinite variety of human countenances, the
countenance being a type of the love; for it is well known that the
countenance is changed and varied according to the affection of love; a
man's desires also, which are of love, and likewise his joys and
sorrows, are manifested in the countenance. From this consideration it
is evident, that every man is his own peculiar love; yea, that he is the
form of his love. It is however to be observed, that the interior man,
which is the same with his spirit which lives after death, is the form
of his love, and not so the exterior man which lives in this world,
because the latter has learnt from infancy to conceal the desires of his
love; yea, to make a pretence and show of desires which are different
from his own.
36. The reason why every one's peculiar love remains with him after
death, is, because, as was said just above, n. 34, love is a man's
(_hominis_) life; and hence it is the man himself. A man also is his own
peculiar thought, thus his own peculiar intelligence and wisdom; but
these make a one with his love; for a man thinks from this love and
according to it; yea, if he be in freedom, he speaks and acts in like
manner; from which it may appear, that love is the _esse_ or essence of
a man's life, and that thought is the _existere_ or existence of his
life thence derived; therefore speech and action, which are said to flow
from the thought, do not flow from the thought, but from the love
through the thought. From much experience I have learned that a man
after death is not his own peculiar thought, but that he is his own
peculiar affection and derivative thought; or that he is his own
peculiar love and derivative intelligence; also that a man after death
puts off everything which does not agree with his love; yea, that he
successively puts on the countenance, the tone of voice, the speech, the
gestures, and the manners of the love proper to his life: hence it is,
that the whole heaven is arranged in order according to all the
varieties of the affections of the love of good, and the whole hell
according to all the affections of the love of evil.
37. IV. THE LOVE OF THE SEX ESPECIALLY REMAINS; AND WITH THOSE WHO GO TO
HEAVEN, WHICH IS THE CASE WITH ALL WHO BECOME SPIRITUAL HERE ON EARTH,
CONJUGIAL LOVE REMAINS. The reason why the love of the sex remains with
man (_homo_) after death, is, because after death a male is a male and a
female a female; and the male principle in the male is male (or
masculine) in the whole and in every part thereof; and so is the female
principle in the female; and there is a tendency to conjunction in all
their parts, even the most singular; and as this conjunctive tendency
was implanted from creation, and thence perpetually influences, it
follows, that the one desires and seeks conjunction with the other.
Love, considered itself, is a desire and consequent tendency to
conjunction; and conjugial love to conjunction into a one; for the
male-man and the female-man were so created, that from two they may
become as it were one man, or one flesh; and when they become a one,
then, taken together they are a man (_homo_) in his fulness; but without
such conjunction, they are two, and each is a divided or half-man. Now
as the above conjunctive tendency lies concealed in the inmost of every
part of the male, and of every part of the female, and the same is true
of the faculty and desire to be conjoined together into a one, it
follows, that the mutual and reciprocal love of the sex remains with men
(_homines_) after death.
38. We speak distinctively of the love of the sex and of conjugial love,
because the one differs from the other. The love of the sex exists with
the natural man; conjugial love with the spiritual man. The natural man
loves and desires only external conjunctions, and the bodily pleasures
thence derived; whereas the spiritual man loves and desires internal
conjunctions and the spiritual satisfactions thence derived; and these
satisfactions he perceives are granted with one wife, with whom he can
perpetually be more and more joined together into a one: and the more he
enters into such conjunction the more he perceives his satisfactions
ascending in a similar degree, and enduring to eternity; but respecting
anything like this the natural man has no idea. This then is the reason
why it is said, that after death conjugial love remains with those who
go to heaven, which is the case with all those who become spiritual here
on earth.
39. V. THESE THINGS FULLY CONFIRMED BY OCULAR DEMONSTRATION. That a man
(_homo_) lives as a man after death, and that in this case a male is a
male, and a female a female; and that every one's peculiar love remains
with him after death, especially the love of the sex and conjugial love,
are positions which I have wished hitherto to confirm by such arguments
as respect the understanding, and are called rational; but since man
(_homo_) from his infancy, in consequence of what has been taught him by
his parents and masters, and afterwards by the learned and the clergy,
has been induced to believe, that he shall not live a man after death
until the day of the last judgement, which has now been expected for six
thousand years; and several have regarded this article of faith as one
which ought to be believed, but not intellectually conceived, it was
therefore necessary that the above positions should be confirmed also by
ocular proofs; otherwise a man who believes only the evidence of his
senses, in consequence of the faith previously implanted, would object
thus: "If men lived men after death, I should certainly see and hear
them: who has ever descended from heaven, or ascended from hell, and
given such information?" In reply to such objections it is to be
observed, that it never was possible, nor can it ever be, that any angel
of heaven should descend, or any spirit of hell ascend, and speak with
any man, except with those who have the interiors of the mind or spirit
opened by the Lord; and this opening of the interiors cannot be fully
effected except with those who have been prepared by the Lord to receive
the things which are of spiritual wisdom: on which accounts it has
pleased the Lord thus to prepare me, that the state of heaven and hell,
and of the life of men after death, might not remain unknown, and be
laid asleep in ignorance, and at length buried in denial. Nevertheless,
ocular proofs on the subjects above mentioned, by reason of their
copiousness, cannot here be adduced; but they have been already adduced
in the treatise on HEAVEN and HELL, and in the CONTINUATION RESPECTING
THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, and afterwards in the APOCALYPSE REVEALED; but
especially, in regard to the present subject of marriages, in the
MEMORABLE RELATIONS which are annexed to the several paragraphs or
chapters of this work.
40. VI. CONSEQUENTLY THERE ARE MARRIAGES IN HEAVEN. This position having
been confirmed by reason, and at the same time by experience, needs no
further demonstration.
41. VII. SPIRITUAL NUPTIALS ARE TO BE UNDERSTOOD BY THE LORD'S WORDS,
"AFTER THE RESURRECTION THEY ARE NOT GIVEN IN MARRIAGE." In the
Evangelists are these words, _Certain of the Sadducees, who say that
there is no resurrection, asked Jesus, saying, Master, Moses wrote, If a
man die, having no children, his brother shall take his wife, and raise
up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren and the
first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and having no issue, left
his wife unto his brother; likewise the second also, and the third unto
the seventh; last of all the woman died also; therefore in the
resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? But Jesus answering,
said unto them, The sons of this generation marry, and are given in
marriage; but those who shall be accounted worthy to attain to another
generation, and the resurrection from the dead, shall neither marry nor
be given in marriage, neither can they die any more; for they are like
unto the angels, and are the sons of God, being sons of the
resurrection. But that the dead rise again, even Moses shewed at the
bush, when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob; for he is not the God of the dead, but of the
living; for all live unto him_, Luke xx. 27-38, Matt. xxii. 22-32; Mark
xii. 18-27. By these words the Lord taught two things; first, that a man
(_homo_) rises again after death; and secondly, that in heaven they are
not given in marriage. That a man rises again after death, he taught by
these words, _God is not the God of the dead, but of the living_, and
when he said that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are alive: he taught the
same also in the parable concerning the rich man in hell, and Lazarus in
heaven, Luke xvi. 22-31. Secondly, that in heaven they are not given in
marriage, he taught by these words, "_Those who shall be accounted
worthy to attain to another generation, neither marry nor are given in
marriage_." That none other than spiritual nuptials are here meant, is
very evident from the words which immediately follow--"_neither can they
die any more; because they are like unto the angels, and are the sons of
God, being sons of the resurrection_." Spiritual nuptials mean
conjunction with the Lord, which is effected on earth; and when it is
effected on earth, it is also effected in the heavens; therefore in the
heavens there is no repetition of nuptials, nor are they again given in
marriage: this is also meant by these words, "_The sons of this
generation marry and are given in marriage; but those who are accounted
worthy to attain to another generation, neither marry nor are given in
marriage_". The latter are also called by the Lord "_sons of nuptials_"
Matt, ix. 15; Mark ii. 19; and in this place, _angels, sons of God, and
sons of the resurrection_. That to celebrate nuptials, signifies to be
joined with the Lord, and that to enter into nuptials is to be received
into heaven by the Lord, is manifest from the following passages: _The
kingdom of heaven is like unto a man, a king, who made a marriage
(nuptials) his son, and sent out servants and invited to the marriage_.
Matt. xxii. 2-14. _The kingdom of heaven is like unto ten virgins, who
went forth to meet the bridegroom: of whom five being prepared entered
into the marriage (nuptials)_, Matt. xxv. 1, and the following verses.
That the Lord here meant himself, is evident from verse 13, where it is
said, _Watch ye; because ye know not the day and hour in which the Son
of Man will come_: also from the Revelation, _The time of the marriage
of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready; blessed are
those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb_, xix. 7, 9.
That there is a spiritual meaning in everything which the Lord spake,
has been fully shewn in the DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE
SACRED SCRIPTURE, published at Amsterdam in the year 1763.
* * * * *
42. To the above I shall add two MEMORABLE RELATIONS RESPECTING THE
SPIRITUAL WORLD. The first is as follows: One morning I was looking
upwards into heaven and saw over me three expanses one above another; I
saw that the first expanse, which was nearest, opened, and presently the
second which was above it, and lastly the third which was highest; and
by virtue of illustration thence, I perceived, that above the first
expanse were the angels who compose the first or lowest heaven; above
the second expanse were the angels who compose the second or middle
heaven; and above the third expanse were the angels who compose the
third or highest heaven. I wondered at first what all this meant: and
presently I heard from heaven a voice as of a trumpet, saying, "We have
perceived, and now see, that you are meditating on CONJUGIAL LOVE; and
we are aware that no one on earth as yet knows what true conjugial love
is in its origin and in its essence; and yet it is of importance that it
should be known: therefore it has pleased the Lord to open the heavens
to you in order that illustrating light and consequent perception may
flow into the interiors of your mind. With us in the heavens, especially
in the third heaven, our heavenly delights are principally derived from
conjugial love; therefore, in consequence of leave granted us, we will
send down to you a conjugial pair for your inspection and observation;"
and lo! instantly there appeared a chariot descending from the highest
or third heaven, in which I saw one angel; but as it approached I saw
therein two. The chariot at a distance glittered before my eyes like a
diamond, and to it were harnessed young horses white as snow; and those
who sat in the chariot held in their hands two turtle-doves, and called
to me, saying, "Do you wish us to come nearer to you? but in this case
take heed, lest the radiance, which is from the heaven whence we have
descended, and is of a flaming quality, penetrate too interiorly; by its
influence the superior ideas of your understanding, which are in
themselves heavenly, may indeed be illustrated; but these ideas are
ineffable in the world in which you dwell: therefore what you are about
to hear, receive rationally, that you may explain it so that it may be
understood." I replied, "I will observe your caution; come nearer:" so
they came nearer; and lo! it was a husband and his wife; who said, "We
are a conjugial pair: we have lived happy in heaven from the earliest
period, which you call the golden age, and have continued during that
time in the same bloom of youth in which you now see us." I viewed each
of them attentively, because I perceived they represented conjugial love
in its life and in its decoration; in its life in their faces, and in
its decoration in their raiment; for all the angels are affections of
love in a human form. The ruling affection itself shines forth from
their faces; and from the affection, and according to it, the kind and
quality of their raiment is derived and determined: therefore it is said
in heaven, that every one is clothed by his own affection. The husband
appeared of a middle age, between manhood and youth: from his eyes
darted forth sparkling light derived from the wisdom of love; by virtue
of which light his face was radiant from its inmost ground; and in
consequence of such radiance the surface of his skin had a kind of
refulgence, whereby his whole face was one resplendent comeliness. He
was dressed in an upper robe which reached down to his feet and
underneath it was a vesture of hyacinthine blue, girded about with a
golden band, upon which were three precious stones, two sapphires on the
sides, and a carbuncle in the middle; his stockings were of bright
shining linen, with threads of silver interwoven, and his shoes were of
velvet: such was the representative form of conjugial love with the
husband. With the wife it was this; I saw her face, and I did not see
it; I saw it as essential beauty, and I did not see it because this
beauty was inexpressible; for in her face there was a splendor of
flaming light, such as the angels in the third heaven enjoy, and this
light made my sight dim; so that I was lost in astonishment: she
observing this addressed me, saying, "What do you see?" I replied, "I
see nothing but conjugial love and the form thereof; but I see, and I do
not see." Hereupon she turned herself sideways from her husband; and
then I was enabled to view her more attentively. Her eyes were bright
and sparkling from the light of her own heaven, which light, as was
said, is of a flaming quality, which it derives from the love of wisdom;
for in that heaven wives love their husbands from their wisdom, and in
it, and husbands love their wives from that love of wisdom and in it, as
directed towards themselves; and thus they are united. This was the
origin of her beauty; which was such that it would be impossible for any
painter to imitate and exhibit it in its form, for he has no colors
bright and vivid enough to express its lustre; nor is it in the power of
his art to depict such beauty: her hair was arranged in becoming order
so as to correspond with her beauty; and in it were inserted diadems of
flowers; she had a necklace of carbuncles, from which hung a rosary of
chrysolites; and she wore pearl bracelets: her upper robe was scarlet,
and underneath it she had a purple stomacher, fastened in front with
clasps of rubies; but what surprised me was, that the colors varied
according to her aspect in regard to her husband, being sometimes more
glittering, sometimes less; if she were looking towards him, more, if
sideways, less. When I had made these observations, they again talked
with me; and when the husband was speaking, he spoke at the same time as
from his wife; and when the wife was speaking, she spoke at the same
time as from her husband; such was the union of their minds from whence
speech flows; and on this occasion I also heard the tone of voice of
conjugial love; inwardly it was simultaneous, and it proceeded from the
delights of a state of peace and innocence. At length they said, "We are
recalled; we must depart;" and instantly they again appeared to be
conveyed in a chariot as before. They went by a paved way through
flowering shrubberies, from the beds of which arose olive and
orange-trees laden with fruit: and when they approached their own
heaven, they were met by several virgins, who welcomed and introduced
them.
43. After this I saw an angel from that heaven holding in his hand a
roll of parchment, which he unfolded, saying, "I see that you are
meditating on conjugial love; in this parchment are contained arcana of
wisdom respecting that love, which have never yet been disclosed in the
world. They are now to be disclosed, because it is of importance that
they should be: those arcana abound more in our heaven than in the rest,
because we are in the marriage of love and wisdom; but I prophesy that
none will appropriate to themselves that love, but those who are
received by the Lord into the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem."
Having said this, the angel let down the unfolded parchment, which a
certain angelic spirit received from him, and laid on a table in a
certain closet, which he instantly locked, and holding out the key to
me, said, "Write."
44. THE SECOND MEMORABLE RELATION. I once saw three spirits recently
deceased, who were wandering about in the world of spirits, examining
whatever came in their way, and inquiring concerning it. They were all
amazement to find that men lived altogether as before, and that the
objects they saw were similar to those they had seen before: for they
knew that they were departed out of the former or natural world, and
that in that world they believed that they should not live as men until
after the day of the last judgement, when they should be again clothed
with the flesh and bones that had been laid in the tomb; therefore, in
order to remove all doubt of their being really and truly men, they by
turns viewed and touched themselves and others, and felt the surrounding
objects and by a thousand proofs convinced themselves that they now were
men as in the former world; besides which they saw each other in a
brighter light, and the surrounding objects in superior splendor, and
thus their vision was more perfect. At that instant two angelic spirits
happening to meet them, accosted them, saying, "Whence are you?" They
replied, "We have departed out of a world, and again we live in a world;
thus we have removed from one world to another; and this surprises us."
Hereupon the three novitiate spirits questioned the two angelic spirits
concerning heaven; and as two of the three novitiates were youths, and
there darted from their eyes as it were a sparkling fire of lust for the
sex, the angelic spirit said, "Possibly you have seen some females;" and
they replied in the affirmative; and as they made inquiry respecting
heaven, the angelic spirits gave them the following information: "In
heaven there is every variety of magnificent and splendid objects, and
such things as the eye had never seen; there are also virgins and young
men; virgins of such beauty that they may be called personifications of
beauty, and young men of such morality that they may be called
personifications of morality; moreover the beauty of the virgins and the
morality of the young men correspond to each other, as forms mutually
suited to each other." Hereupon the two novitiates asked, "Are there in
heaven human forms altogether similar to those in the natural world?"
And it was replied, "They are altogether similar; nothing is wanting in
the male, and nothing in the female; in a word, the male is a male, and
the female a female, in all the perfection of form in which they were
created: retire, if you please, and examine if you are deficient in
anything, and whether you are not a complete man as before." Again, the
novitiates said, "We have been told in the world we have left, that in
heaven they are not given in marriage, because they are angels:--is
there then the love of the sex there?" And the angelic spirits replied,
"In heaven _your_ love of the sex does not exist; but we have the
angelic love of the sex, which is chaste, and devoid all libidinous
allurement." Hereupon the novitiates observed, "If there be a love of
the sex devoid of all allurement, what in such cases is the love of the
sex?" And while they were thinking about this love they sighed, and
said, "Oh, how dry and insipid is the joy of heaven! What young man, if
this be the case, can possibly wish for heaven? Is not such love barren
and devoid of life?" To this the angelic spirits replied, with a smile,
"The angelic love of the sex, such as exists in heaven, is nevertheless
full of the inmost delights: it is the most agreeable expansion of all
the principles of the mind, and thence of all the parts of the breast,
existing inwardly in the breast, and sporting therein as the heart
sports with the lungs, giving birth thereby to respiration, tone of
voice, and speech; so that the intercourse between the sexes, or between
youths and virgins, is an intercourse of essential celestial sweets,
which are pure. All novitiates, on ascending into heaven, are examined
as to the quality of their chastity, being let into the company of
virgins, the beauties of heaven, who from their tone of voice, their
speech, their face, their eyes, their gesture, and their exhaling
sphere, perceive what is their quality in regard to the love of the sex;
and if their love be unchaste, they instantly quit them, and tell their
fellow angels that they have seen satyrs or priapuses. The new comers
also undergo a change, and in the eyes of the angels appear rough and
hairy, and with feet like calves' or leopards', and presently they are
cast down again, lest by their lust they should defile the heavenly
atmosphere." On receiving this information, the two novitiates again
said, "According to this, there is no love of the sex in heaven; for
what is a chaste love of the sex, but a love deprived of the essence of
its life? And must not all the intercourse of youths and virgins, in
such case, consist of dry insipid joys? We are not stocks and stones,
but perceptions and affections of life." To this the angelic spirits
indignantly replied, "You are altogether ignorant what a chaste love of
the sex is; because as yet you are not chaste. This love is the very
essential delight of the mind, and thence of the heart; and not at the
same time of the flesh beneath the heart. Angelic chastity, which is
common to each sex, prevents the passage of that love beyond the
enclosure of the heart; but within that and above it, the morality of a
youth is delighted with the beauty of a virgin in the delights of the
chaste love of the sex: which delights are of too interior a nature, and
too abundantly pleasant, to admit of any description in words. The
angels have this love of the sex, because they have conjugial love only;
which love cannot exist together with the unchaste love of the sex. Love
truly conjugial is chaste, and has nothing in common with unchaste love,
being confined to one of the sex, and separate from all others; for it
is a love of the spirit and thence of the body, and not a love of the
body and thence of the spirit; that is, it is not a love infesting the
spirit." On hearing this, the two young novitiates rejoiced, and said,
"There still exists in heaven a love of the sex; what else is conjugial
love?" But the angelic spirits replied, "Think more profoundly, weigh
the matter well in your minds, and you will perceive, that your love of
the sex is a love extra-conjugial, and quite different from conjugial
love; the latter being as distinct from the former, as wheat is from
chaff, or rather as the human principle is from the bestial. If you
should ask the females in heaven, 'What is love extra-conjugial?' I take
upon me to say, their reply will be, 'What do you mean? What do you say?
How can you utter a question which so wounds our ears? How can a love
that is not created be implanted in any one?' If you should then ask
them, 'What is love truly conjugial?' I know they will reply, 'It is not
the love of the sex, but the love of one of the sex; and it has no other
ground of existence than this, that when a youth sees a virgin provided
by the Lord, and a virgin sees a youth, they are each made sensible of a
conjugial principle kindling in their hearts, and perceive that each is
the other's, he hers, and she his; for love meets love and causes them
to know each other, and instantly conjoins their souls, and afterwards
their minds, and thence enters their bosoms, and after the nuptials
penetrates further, and thus becomes love in its fulness, which grows
every day into conjunction, till they are no longer two, but as it were
one.' I know also that they will be ready to affirm in the most solemn
manner, that they are not acquainted with any other love of the sex; for
they say, 'How can there be a love of the sex, unless it be tending
mutually to meet, and reciprocal, so as to seek an eternal union, which
consists in two becoming one flesh?'" To this the angelic spirits added,
"In heaven they are in total ignorance what whoredom is; nor do they
know that it exists, or that its existence is even possible. The angels
feel a chill all over the body at the idea of unchaste or
extra-conjugial love; and on the other hand, they feel a genial warmth
throughout the body arising from chaste or conjugial love. With the
males, all the nerves lose their proper tension at the sight of a
harlot, and recover it again at the sight of a wife." The three
novitiates, on hearing this, asked, "Does a similar love exist between
married partners in the heavens as in the earths?" The two angelic
spirits replied, that it was altogether similar; and as they perceived
in the novitiates an inclination to know, whether in heaven there were
similar ultimate delights, they said, that they were exactly similar,
but much more blessed, because angelic perception and sensation is much
more exquisite than human: "and what," added they, "is the life of that
love unless derived from a flow of vigor? When this vigor fails, must
not the love itself also fail and grow cold? Is not this vigor the very
measure, degree, and basis of that love? Is it not its beginning, its
support, and its fulfilment? It is a universal law, that things primary
exist, subsist, and persist from things ultimate: this is true also of
that love; therefore unless there were ultimate delights, there would be
no delights of conjugial love." The novitiates then asked, whether from
the ultimate delights of that love in heaven any offspring were
produced; and if not, to what use did those delights serve? The angelic
spirit answered, that natural offspring were not produced, but spiritual
offspring: and the novitiates said, "What are spiritual offspring?" They
replied, "Two conjugial partners by ultimate delights are more and more
united in the marriage of good and truth, which is the marriage of love
and wisdom; and love and wisdom are the offspring produced therefrom: in
heaven the husband is wisdom, and the wife is the love thereof, and both
are spiritual; therefore, no other than spiritual offspring can be there
conceived and born: hence it is that the angels, after such delights, do
not experience sadness, as some do on earth, but are cheerful; and this
in consequence of a continual influx of fresh powers succeeding the
former, which serve for their renovation, and at the same time
illustration: for all who come into heaven, return into their vernal
youth, and into the vigor of that age, and thus continue to eternity."
The three novitiates, on hearing this, said, "Is it not written in the
Word, that in heaven they are not given in marriage, because they are
angels?" To which the angelic spirits replied, "Look up into heaven and
you will receive an answer:" and they asked, "Why are we to look up into
heaven?" They said, "Because thence we receive all interpretations of
the Word. The Word is altogether spiritual and the angels being
spiritual, will teach the spiritual understanding of it." They did not
wait long before heaven was opened over their heads, and two angels
appeared in view, and said, "There are nuptials in the heavens, as on
earth; but only with those in the heavens who are in the marriage of
good and truth; nor are any other angels: therefore it is spiritual
nuptials, which relate to the marriage of good and truth, that are there
understood. These (viz. spiritual nuptials) take place on earth, but not
after departure thence, thus not in the heavens; as it is said of the
live foolish virgins, who were also invited to the nuptials, that they
could not enter, because they were not in the marriage of good and
truth; for they had no oil, but only lamps. Oil signifies good, and
lamps truth; and to be given in marriage denotes to enter heaven, where
the marriage of good and truth takes place." The three novitiates were
made glad by this intelligence; and being filled with a desire of
heaven, and with the hope of heavenly nuptials, they said, "We will
apply ourselves with all diligence to the practice of morality and a
becoming conduct of life, that we may enjoy our wishes."
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