478. None can know that there is any evil in adultery, who judge of it
only from its externals; for in these it resembles marriage. Such
external judges, when they hear of internals, and are told that
externals thence derive their good or their evil, say with themselves,
"What are internals? Who sees them? Is not this climbing above the
sphere of every one's intelligence?" Such persons are like those who
accept all pretended good as genuine voluntary good, and who decide upon
a man's wisdom from the elegance of his conversation; or who respect the
man himself from the richness of his dress and the magnificence of his
equipage, and not from his internal habit, which is that of judgement
grounded in the affection of good. This also is like judging of the
fruit of a tree, and of any other eatable thing, from the sight and
touch only, and not of its goodness from a knowledge of its flavor: such
is the conduct of all those who are unwilling to perceive any thing
respecting man's internal. Hence comes the wild infatuation of many at
this day, who see no evil in adulteries, yea, who unite marriages with
them in the same chamber, that is, who make them altogether alike; and
this only on account of their apparent resemblance in externals. That
this is the case, was shewn me by this experimental proof: on a certain
time, the angels assembled from Europe some hundreds of those who were
distinguished for their genius, their erudition, and their wisdom, and
questioned them concerning the distinction between marriage and
adultery, and in treated them to consult the rational powers of their
understandings: and after consultation, all, except ten, replied, that
the judicial law constitutes the only distinction, for the sake of some
advantage; which distinction may indeed be known, but still be
accommodated by civil prudence. They were next asked, Whether they saw
any good in marriage, and any evil in adultery? They returned for
answer, that they did not see any rational evil and good. Being
questioned whether they saw any sin in it? they said, "Where is the sin?
Is not the act alike?" At these answers the angels were amazed, and
exclaimed, Oh, the gross stupidity of the age! Who can measure its
quality and quantity? On hearing this exclamation, the hundreds of the
wise ones turned themselves, and said one among another with loud
laughter, "Is this gross stupidity? Is there any wisdom that can bring
conviction that to love another person's wife merits eternal damnation?"
But that adultery is spiritual evil, and thence moral and civil evil,
and diametrically contrary to the wisdom of reason; also that the love
of adultery is from hell and returns to hell, and the love of marriage
is from heaven and returns to heaven, has been demonstrated in the first
chapter of this part, concerning the opposition of adulterous and
conjugial love. But since all evils, like all goods, partake of latitude
and altitude, and according to latitude have their genera, and according
to altitude their degrees, therefore, in order that adulteries may be
known as to each dimension, they shall first be arranged into their
genera, and afterwards into their degrees; and this shall be done in the
following series: I. _There are three genera of adulteries,--simple,
duplicate, and triplicate._ II. _Simple adultery is that of an unmarried
man with another's wife, or of an unmarried woman with another's
husband._ III. _Duplicate adultery is that of a husband with another's
wife, or of a wife with another's husband._ IV. _Triplicate adultery is
with relations by blood._ V. _There are four degrees of adulteries,
according to which they have their predications, their charges of blame,
and after death their imputations._ VI. _Adulteries of the first degree
are adulteries of ignorance, which are committed by those who cannot as
yet, or cannot at all, consult the understanding, and thence check
them._ VII. _In such cases adulteries are mild._ VIII. _Adulteries of
the second degree are adulteries of lust, which are committed by those
who indeed are able to consult the understanding, but from accidental
causes at the moment are not able._ IX. _Adulteries committed by such
persons are imputatory, according as the understanding afterwards favors
them or not._ X. _Adulteries of the third degree are adulteries of the
reason, which are committed by those who with the understanding confirm
themselves in the persuasion that they are not evils of sin._ XI. _The
adulteries committed by such persons are grievous, and are imputed to
them according to confirmations._ XII. _Adulteries of the fourth degree
are adulteries of the will, which are committed by those who make them
lawful and pleasing, and who do not think them of importance enough, to
consult the understanding respecting them._ XIII. _The adulteries
committed by these persons are exceedingly grievous, and are imputed to
them as evils of purpose, and remain with them as guilt._ XIV.
_Adulteries of the third and fourth degrees are evils of sin, according
to the quantity and quality of understanding and will in them, whether
they are actually committed or not._ XV. _.Adulteries grounded in
purpose of the will, and adulteries grounded in confirmation of the
understanding render men natural, sensual, and corporeal._ XVI. _And
this to such a degree, that at length they reject from themselves all
things of the church and of religion._ XVII. _Nevertheless they have the
powers of human rationality like other men._ XVIII. _But they use that
rationality while they are in externals, but abuse it while in their
internals._ We proceed to an explanation of each article.
479. I. THERE ARE THREE GENERA OF ADULTERIES,--SIMPLE, DUPLICATE, AND
TRIPLICATE. The Creator of the universe has distinguished all the things
which he has created into genera, and each genus into species, and has
distinguished each species, and each distinction in like manner, and so
forth, to the end that an image of what is infinite may exist in a
perpetual variety of qualities. Thus the Creator of the universe has
distinguished goods and their truths, and in like manner evils and their
falses, after they arose. That he has distinguished all things in the
spiritual world into genera, species, and differences, and has collected
together into heaven all goods and truths, and into hell all evils and
falses, and has arranged the latter in an order diametrically opposite
to the former, may appear from what is explained in a work concerning
HEAVEN AND HELL, published in London in the year 1758. That in the
natural world he has also thus distinguished and does distinguish goods
and truths, and likewise evils and falses, appertaining to men, and
thereby men themselves, may be known from their lot after death, in that
the good enter into heaven, and the evil into hell. Now, since all
things relating to good, and all things relating to evil, are
distinguished into genera, species, and so forth, therefore marriages
are distinguished into the same, and so are their opposites, which are
adulteries.
480. II. SIMPLE ADULTERY IS THAT OF AN UNMARRIED MAN WITH ANOTHER'S
WIFE, OR AN UNMARRIED WOMAN WITH ANOTHER'S HUSBAND. By adultery here and
in the following pages we mean the adultery which is opposite to
marriage; it is opposite because it violates the covenant of life
contracted between married partners: it rends asunder their love, and
defiles it, and closes the union which was begun at the time of
betrothing, and strengthened in the beginning of marriage: for the
conjugial love of one man with one wife, after engagement and covenant,
unites their souls. Adultery does not dissolve this union, because it
cannot be dissolved; but it closes it, as he that stops up a fountain at
its source, and thence obstructs its stream, and fills the cistern with
filthy and stinking waters: in like manner conjugial love, the origin of
which is a union of souls, is daubed with mud and covered by adultery;
and when it is so daubed with mud there arises from beneath the love of
adultery; and as this love increases, it becomes fleshly, and rises in
insurrection against conjugial love, and destroys it. Hence comes the
opposition of adultery and marriage.
481. That it may be further known how gross is the stupidity of this
age, in that those who have the reputation of wisdom do not see any sin
in adultery, as was discovered by the angels (see just above, n. 478), I
will here add the following MEMORABLE RELATION. There were certain
spirits who, from a habit they had acquired in the life of the body,
infested me with peculiar cunning, and this they did by a sottish and as
it were waving influx, such as is usual with well-disposed spirits; but
I perceived that they employed craftiness and similar means, to the
intent that they might engage attention and deceive. At length I entered
into conversation with one of them who, it was told me, had while he
lived in the world been the general of an army: and as I perceived that
in the ideas of his thought there was a lascivious principle, I
conversed with him by representatives in the spiritual language which
fully expresses what is intended to be said, and even several things in
a moment. He said that, in the life of the body in the former world, he
had made no account of adulteries: but it was granted me to tell him,
that adulteries are wicked, although from the delight attending them,
and from the persuasion thence resulting, they appear to the adulterer
as not wicked but allowable; which also he might know from this
consideration, that marriages are the seminaries of the human race, and
thence also the seminaries of the heavenly kingdom, and therefore that
they ought not to be violated, but to be accounted holy; also from this
consideration, that he ought know, as being in the spiritual world, and
in a state of perception, that conjugial love descends from the Lord
through heaven, and that from that love, as a parent, is derived mutual
love, which is the main support of heaven; and further from this
consideration, that adulterers, whenever they only approach the heavenly
societies, are made sensible of their own stench, and throw themselves
headlong thence towards hell: at least he might know, that to violate
marriages is contrary to the divine laws, to the civil laws of all
kingdoms, also to the genuine light of reason, and thereby to the right
of nations, because contrary to order both divine and human; not to
mention other considerations. But he replied, that he entertained no
such thoughts in the former life: he wished to reason whether the case
was so or not; but he was told that truth does not admit of reasonings,
since they favor the delights of the flesh against those of the spirit,
the quality of which latter delights he was ignorant of; and that he
ought first to think about the things which I had told him, because they
are true; or to think from the well-known maxim, that no one should do
to another what he is unwilling another should do to him; and thus, if
any one had in such a manner violated his wife, whom he had loved, as is
the case in the beginning of every marriage, and he had then been in a
state of wrath, and had spoken from that state, whether he himself also
would not then have detested adulteries, and being a man of strong
parts, would not have confirmed himself against them more than other
men, even to condemning them to hell; and being the general of an army,
and having brave companions, whether he would not, in order to prevent
disgrace, either have put the adulterer to death, or have driven the
adulteress from his house.
482. III. DUPLICATE ADULTERY IS THAT OF A HUSBAND WITH ANOTHER'S WIFE,
OR OF A WIFE WITH ANOTHER'S HUSBAND. This adultery is called duplicate,
because it is committed by two, and on each side the marriage-covenant
is violated; wherefore also it is twofold more grievous than the former.
It was said above, n. 480, that the conjugial love of one man with one
wife, after engagement and covenant, unites their souls, and that such
union is that very love in its origin; and that this origin is closed
and stopped up by adultery, as the source and stream of a fountain. That
the souls of two unite themselves together, when love to the sex is
confined to one of the sex, which is the case when a maiden engages
herself wholly to a youth, and on the other hand a youth engages himself
wholly to a maiden, is clearly manifest from this consideration, that
the lives of both unite themselves, consequently their souls, because
souls are the first principles of life. This union of souls can only
take place in monogamical marriages, or those of one man with one wife,
but not in polygamical marriages, or those of one man with several
wives; because in the latter case the love is divided, in the former it
is united. The reason why conjugial love in its supreme abode is
spiritual, holy, and pure, is because the soul of every man from its
origin is celestial; wherefore it receives influx immediately from the
Lord, for it receives from him the marriage of love and wisdom, or of
good and truth; and this influx makes him a man, and distinguishes him
from the beasts. From this union of souls, conjugial love, which is
there in its spiritual sanctity and purity, flows down into the life of
the whole body, and fills with blessed delights, so long as its channel
remains open; which is the case with those who are made spiritual by the
Lord. That nothing but adultery closes and stops up this abode of
conjugial love, thus its origin or fountain and its channel, is evident
from the Lord's words, that it is not lawful to put away a wife and
marry another, except on account of adultery: Matt. xix. 3-9; and also
from what is said in the same passage, that he that marries her that is
put away commits adultery, verse 9. When therefore, as was said above,
that pure and holy fountain is stopped up, it is clogged about with
filthiness of sundry kinds, as a jewel with ordure, or bread with vomit;
which things are altogether opposite to the purity and sanctity of that
fountain, or of conjugial love: from which opposition comes conjugial
cold, and according to this cold is the lascivious voluptuousness of
adulterous love, which consumes itself of its own accord. The reason why
this is an evil of sin is because the holy principle is covered and
thereby its channel into the body is obstructed, and in the place
thereof a profane principle succeeds, and its channel into the body is
opened, whence a man from celestial becomes infernal.
483. To the above I will add some particulars from the spiritual world,
which are worthy to be recorded. I have been informed in that world,
that some married men are inflamed with the lust of committing whoredom
with maidens or virgins; some with those who are not maidens but
harlots; some with married women or wives; some with women of the above
description who are of noble descent; and some with such as are not of
noble descent: that this is the case, was confirmed to me by several
instances from the various kingdoms in that world. While I was
meditating concerning the variety of such lusts, I asked whether there
are any who find all their delight with the wives of others, and none
with unmarried women? Wherefore to convince me that there are some such
spirits, several were brought to me from a certain kingdom, who were
obliged to speak according to their libidinous principles. These
declared that it was, and still is their sole pleasure and delight to
commit whoredom with the wives of others; and that they look out for
such as are beautiful, and hire them for themselves at a great price
according to their wealth, and in general bargain about the price with
the wife alone. I asked, why they do not hire for themselves unmarried
women? They said, that they consider this would be cheap and worthless,
and therefore undelightful to them. I asked also, whether those wives
afterwards return to their husbands and live with them? They replied,
that they either do not return, or they return cold, having become
courtezans. Afterwards I asked them seriously, whether they ever
thought, or now think, that this is twofold adultery, because they
commit this at the time they have wives of their own, and that such
adultery deprives a man of all spiritual good? But at this several who
were present laughed, saying, "What is spiritual good?" Nevertheless I
was still urgent, and said, "What is more detestable than for a man to
mix his soul with the soul of a husband in his wife? Do you not know,
that the soul of a man is in his seed?" Hereupon they turned themselves
away and muttered, "What harm can this do her?" At length I said,
"Although you do not fear divine laws, do you not fear civil laws?" They
replied, "No, we only fear certain of the ecclesiastical order; but we
conceal this in their presence; and if we cannot conceal it, we keep
upon good terms with them." I afterwards saw the former divided into
companies, and some of the latter cast into hell.
484. IV. TRIPLICATE ADULTERY IS WITH RELATIONS BY BLOOD. This adultery
is called triplicate, because it is threefold more grievous than the two
former. The relations, or remains of the flesh, which are not to be
approached, are mentioned in Levit. xviii. 6-18. There are internal and
external reasons why these adulteries are threefold more grievous than
the two above-mentioned: the internal reasons are grounded in the
correspondence of those adulteries with the violation of spiritual
marriage, which is that of the Lord and the church, and thence of good
and truth; and the external reasons are for the sake of guards, to
prevent a man's becoming a beast. We have no leisure, however, to
proceed to the further disclosure of these reasons.
485. V. THERE ARE FOUR DEGREES OF ADULTERIES, ACCORDING TO WHICH THEY
HAVE THEIR PREDICATIONS, THEIR CHARGES OF BLAME, AND AFTER DEATH THEIR
IMPUTATIONS. These degrees are not genera, but enter into each genus,
and cause its distinctions between more and less evil or good; in the
present case, deciding whether adultery of every genus from the nature
of the circumstances and contingencies, is to be considered milder or
more grievous. That circumstances and contingencies vary every thing is
well known. Nevertheless things are considered in one way by a man from
his rational light, in another by a judge from the law, and in another
by the Lord from the state of a man's mind: wherefore we mention
predications, charges of blame, and after death imputations; for
predications are made by a man according to his rational light, charges
of blame are made by a judge according to the law, and imputations are
made by the Lord according to the state of the man's mind. That these
three differ exceedingly from each other, may be seen without
explanation: for a man, from rational conviction according to
circumstances and contingencies, may acquit a person, whom a judge, when
he sits in judgement, cannot acquit from the law: and also a judge may
acquit a person, who after death is condemned. The reason of this is,
because a judge gives sentence according to the actions done, whereas
after death every one is judged according to the intentions of the will
and thence of the understanding, and according to the confirmations of
the understanding and thence of the will. These intentions and
confirmations a judge does not see; nevertheless each judgement is just;
the one for the sake of the good of civil society, the other for the
sake of the good of heavenly society.
486. VI. ADULTERIES OF THE FIRST DEGREE ARE ADULTERIES OF IGNORANCE,
WHICH ARE COMMITTED BY THOSE WHO CANNOT AS YET, OR CANNOT AT ALL,
CONSULT THE UNDERSTANDING, AND THENCE CHECK THEM. All evils, and thus
also all adulteries, viewed in themselves, are at once of the internal
and the external man; the internal intends them, and the external does
them; such therefore as the internal man is in the deeds done by the
external, such are the deeds viewed in themselves: but since the
internal man with his intention, does not appear before man, every one
must be judged in a human court from deeds and words according to the
law in force and its provisions: the interior sense of the law is also
to be regarded by the judge. But to illustrate the case by example: if
adultery be committed by a youth, who does not as yet know that adultery
is a greater evil than fornication; if the like be committed by a very
simple man; if it be committed by a person who is deprived by disease of
the full powers of judgement; or by a person, as is sometimes the case,
who is delirious by fits, and is at the time in a state of actual
delirium; yet further, if it be committed in a fit of insane
drunkenness, and so forth, it is evident, that in such cases, the
internal man, or mind, is not present in the external, scarcely any
otherwise than in an irrational person. Adulteries in these instances
are predicated by a rational man according to the above circumstances;
nevertheless the perpetrator is charged with blame by the same rational
man as a judge, and is punished by the law; but after death those
adulteries are imputed according to the presence, quality, and faculty
of understanding in the will of the perpetrators.
487. VII. IN SUCH CASES ADULTERIES ARE MILD. This is manifest from what
was said just above, n. 486, without further confirmation; for it is
well known that the quality of every deed and in general the quality of
every thing, depends upon circumstances, and which mitigate or aggravate
it; but adulteries of this degree are mild at the first times of their
commission; and also remain mild so far as the offending party of either
sex, in the future course of life, abstains from them for these
reasons;--because they are evils against God, or against the neighbour,
or against the goods of the state, and because, in consequence of their
being such evils, they are evils against reason; but on the other hand,
if they are not abstained from for one of the abovementioned reasons,
they are reckoned amongst grievous adulteries; thus it is according to
the divine law, Ezek. xviii, 21, 22, 24, and in other places: but they
cannot, from the above circumstances, be pronounced either blameless or
culpable, or be predicated and judged as mild or grievous, because they
do not appear before man, neither are they within the province of his
judgement; wherefore it is meant, that after death they are so accounted
or imputed.
488. VIII. ADULTERIES OF THE SECOND DEGREE ARE ADULTERIES OF LUST, WHICH
ARE COMMITTED BY THOSE WHO INDEED ARE ABLE TO CONSULT THE UNDERSTANDING,
BUT FROM ACCIDENTAL CAUSES AT THE MOMENT ARE NOT ABLE. There are two
things which, in the beginning, with every man who from natural is made
spiritual, are at strife together, which are commonly called the spirit
and the flesh; and since the love of marriage is of the spirit, and the
love of adultery is of the flesh, in such case there is also a combat
between those loves. If the love of marriage conquers, it gains dominion
over and subjugates the love of adultery, which is effected by its
removal; but if it happens that the lust of the flesh is excited to a
heat greater than what the spirit can control from reason, it follows
that the state is inverted, and the heat of lust infuses allurements
into the spirit, to such a degree, that it is no longer master of its
reason, and thence of itself: this is meant by adulteries of the second
degree, which are committed by those who indeed are able to consult the
understanding, but by reason of accidental causes at the moment are not
able. But the matter may be illustrated by particular cases; as in case
a meretricious wife by her craftiness captivates a man's mind
(_animum_), enticing him into her chamber, and inflaming his passions to
such a degree as to leave him no longer master of his judgement; and
especially if, at the same time, she also threatens to expose him if he
does not consent: in like manner, in case any meretricious wife is
skilled in deceitful allurements, or by powerful stimulants inflames the
man to such a degree, that the raging lust of the flesh deprives the
understanding of the free use of reason: in like manner, in case a man,
by powerful enticements, so far works upon another's wife, as to leave
her no longer mistress of herself, by reason of the fire kindled in her
will; besides other like cases. That these and similar accidental
circumstances lessen the grievousness of adultery, and give a milder
turn to the predications of the blame thereof in favor of the party
seduced, is agreeable to the dictates and conclusions of reason. The
imputation of this degree of adultery comes next to be treated of.
489. IX. ADULTERIES COMMITTED BY SUCH PERSONS ARE IMPUTATORY, ACCORDING
AS THE UNDERSTANDING AFTERWARDS FAVORS THEM OR NOT. So far as the
understanding favors evils, so far a man appropriates them to himself
and makes them his own. Favor implies consent; and consent induces in
the mind a state of the love of them: the case is the same with
adulteries, which in the beginning were committed without the consent of
the understanding, and are favored: the contrary comes to pass if they
are not favored. The reason of this is, because evils or adulteries,
which are committed in the blindness of the understanding, are committed
from the concupiscence of the body; and such evils or adulteries have a
near resemblance to the instincts of beasts: with man (_homo_) indeed
the understanding is present, while they are committing, but in a
passive or dead potency and not in active and living potency. From these
considerations it follows of course, that such things are not imputed,
except so far as they are afterwards favored or not. By imputation we
here mean accusation after death, and hence judication, which takes
place according to the state of a man's spirit: but we do not mean
inculpation by a man before a judge; for this does not take place
according to the state of a man's spirit, but of his body in the deed;
and unless there was a difference herein, those would be acquitted after
death who are acquitted in the world, and those would be condemned who
are condemned in the world; and thus the latter would be without any
hope of salvation.
490. X. ADULTERIES OF THE THIRD DEGREE ARE ADULTERIES OF THE REASON,
WHICH ARE COMMITTED BY THOSE WHO WITH THE UNDERSTANDING CONFIRM
THEMSELVES IN THE PERSUASION THAT THEY ARE NOT EVILS OF SIN. Every man
knows that there exist such principles as the will and the
understanding; for in his common speaking he says, "This I will, and
this I understand;" but still he does not distinguish them, but makes
the one the same as the other; because he only reflects upon the things
which belong to the thought grounded in the understanding, and not upon
those which belong to the love grounded in the will; for the latter do
not appear in light as the former. Nevertheless, he that does not
distinguish between the will and the understanding, cannot distinguish
between evils and goods, and consequently he must remain in entire
ignorance concerning the blame of sin. But who does not know that good
and truth are two distinct principles, like love and wisdom? and who
cannot hence conclude, while he is in rational illumination, that there
are two faculties in man, which distinctly receive and appropriate to
themselves those principles, and that the one is the will and the other
the understanding, by reason that what the will receives and reproduces
is called good, and what the understanding receives is called truth; for
what the will loves and does, is called truth, and what the
understanding perceives and thinks, is called truth? Now as the marriage
of good and truth was treated of in the first part of this work, and in
the same place several considerations were adduced concerning the will
and the understanding, and the various attributes and predicates of
each, which, as I imagine, are also perceived by those who had not
thought at all distinctly concerning the understanding and the will,
(for human reason is such, that it understands truths from the light
thereof, although it has not heretofore distinguished them); therefore,
in order that the distinctions of the understanding and the will may be
more clearly perceived, I will here mention some particulars on the
subject, that it may be known what is the quality of adulteries of the
reason and the understanding, and afterwards what is the quality of
adulteries of the will. The following points may serve to illustrate the
subject: 1. That the will of itself does nothing; but whatever it does,
it does by the understanding. 2. On the other hand also, that the
understanding alone of itself does nothing; but whatever it does, it
does from the will. 3. That the will flows into the understanding but
not the understanding into the will; yet that the understanding teaches
what is good and evil, and consults with the will, that out of those two
principles it may choose and do what is pleasing to it. 4. That after
this there is effected a twofold conjunction; one, in which the will
acts from within, and the understanding from without; the other in which
the understanding acts from within, and the will from without: thus are
distinguished the adulteries of the reason, which are here treated of,
from the adulteries of the will, which are next to be treated of. They
are distinguished, because one is more grievous than the other; for the
adultery of the reason is less grievous than that of the will; because
in adultery of the reason, the understanding acts from within, and the
will from without; whereas in adultery of the will, the will acts from
within, and the understanding from without; and the will is the man
himself, and the understanding is the man as grounded in the will; and
that which acts within has dominion over that which acts without.
491. XI. THE ADULTERIES COMMITTED BY SUCH PERSONS ARE GRIEVOUS, AND ARE
IMPUTED TO THEM ACCORDING TO CONFIRMATIONS. It is the understanding
alone that confirms, and when it confirms, it engages the will to its
party, and sets it about itself, and thus compels it to compliance.
Confirmations are affected by reasonings, which the mind seizes for its
use, deriving them either from its superior region or from its inferior;
if from the superior region, which communicates with heaven, it confirms
marriages and condemns adulteries; but if from the inferior region,
which communicates with the world, it confirms adulteries and makes
light of marriages. Every one can confirm evil just as well as good; in
like manner what is false and what is true; and the confirmation of evil
is perceived with more delight than the confirmation of good, and the
confirmation of what is false appears with greater lucidity than the
confirmation of what is true. The reason of this is, because the
confirmation of what is evil and false derives its reasonings from the
delights, the pleasures, the appearances, and the fallacies of the
bodily senses; whereas the confirmation of what is good and true derives
its reasons from the region above the sensual principles of the body.
Now, since evils and falses can be confirmed just as well as goods and
truths, and since the confirming understanding draws the will to its
party, and the will together with the understanding forms the mind, it
follows that the form of the human mind is according to confirmations,
being turned to heaven if its confirmations are in favor of marriage,
but to hell if they are in favor of adulteries; and such as the form of
a man's mind is such is his spirit; consequently such is the man. From
these considerations then it is evident, that adulteries of this degree
after death are imputed according to confirmations.
492. XII. THE ADULTERIES OF THE FOURTH DEGREE ARE ADULTERIES OF THE WILL
WHICH ARE COMMITTED BY THOSE WHO MAKE THEM LAWFUL AND PLEASING, AND WHO
DO NOT THINK THEM OF IMPORTANCE ENOUGH TO CONSULT THE UNDERSTANDING
RESPECTING THEM. These adulteries are distinguished from the foregoing
from their origins. The origin of these adulteries is from the depraved
will connate to man, or from hereditary evil, which a man blindly obeys
after he is capable of exercising his own judgement, not at all
considering whether they are evils or not; wherefore it is said, that he
does not think them of importance enough to consult the understanding
respecting them: but the origin of the adulteries which are called
adulteries of reason, is from a perverse understanding; and these
adulteries are committed by those who confirm themselves in the
persuasion that they are not evils of sin. With the latter adulterers,
the understanding is the principal agent; with the former the will. The
distinctions in these two cases do not appear to any man in the natural
world; but they appear plainly to the angels in the spiritual world. In
the latter world all are in general distinguished according to the evils
which originate in the will and in the understanding, and which are
accepted and appropriated; they are also separated in hell according to
those evils: those who are in evil from the understanding, dwell there
in front, and are called satans; but those who are in evil from the
will, dwell at the back, and are called devils. It is on account of this
universal distinction that mention is made in the Word of satan and the
devil. With those wicked ones, and also those adulterers, who are called
satans, the understanding is the principal agent; but with those who are
called devils, the will is the principal agent. It is not however
possible to explain these distinctions, so as to render them visible to
the understanding, unless the distinctions of the will and the
understanding be first known; and also unless a description be given of
the formation of the mind from the will by the understanding, and of its
formation from the understanding by the will. The knowledge of these
subjects is necessary, before the distinctions above-mentioned can be
seen by reason; but to express this knowledge on paper would require a
volume.
493. XIII. THE ADULTERIES COMMITTED BY THESE PERSONS ARE EXCEEDINGLY
GRIEVOUS, AND ARE IMPUTED TO THEM AS EVILS OF PURPOSE, AND REMAIN IN
THEM AS GUILT. The reason why they are exceedingly grievous, and more
grievous than the foregoing, is, because in them the will is the
principal agent, whereas in the foregoing the understanding is the
principal agent, and a man's life essentially is his will, and formally
is his understanding: the reason of this is, because the will acts in
unity with the love, and love is the essence of a man's life, and forms
itself in the understanding by such things as are in agreement with it:
wherefore the understanding viewed in itself is nothing but a form of
the will; and since love is of the will, and wisdom of the
understanding, therefore wisdom is nothing but a form of love; in like
manner truth is nothing but a form of good. That which flows from the
very essence of a man's life, thus which flows from his will or his
love, is principally called purpose; but that which flows from the form
of his life, thus from the understanding and its thought is called
intention. Guilt also is principally predicated of the will: hence comes
the common observation, that everyone has the guilt of evil from
inheritance, but that the evil is from the man. Hence these adulteries
of the fourth degree are imputed as evils of purpose, and remain in as
guilt.
494. XIV. ADULTERIES OF THE THIRD AND FOURTH DEGREES ARE EVILS OF SIN,
ACCORDING TO THE QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF UNDERSTANDING AND WILL IN THEM,
WHETHER THEY ARE ACTUALLY COMMITTED OR NOT. That adulteries of the
reason or the understanding, which are of the third degree, and
adulteries of the will, which are of the fourth, are grievous,
consequently evils of sin, according to the quality of the understanding
and of the will in them, may be seen from the comment above concerning
them, n. 490-493. The reason of this is, because a man (_homo_) is a man
by virtue of the will and the understanding; for from these two
principles exist not only all the things which are done in the mind, but
also all those which are done in the body. Who does not know, that the
body does not act of itself, but the will by the body? also that the
mouth does not speak of itself, but the thought by the mouth? Wherefore
if the will were to be taken away, action would instantly be at a stand,
and if thought were to be taken away, the speech of the mouth would
instantly cease. Hence it is clearly manifest, that adulteries which are
actually committed, are grievous according to the quantity and quality
of the understanding of the will in them. That they are in like manner
grievous, if the same are not actually committed, appears from the
Lord's words: _It was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit
adultery; but I say unto you, that if any one hath looked at another's
woman, to lust after her, he hath already committed adultery with her in
heart_; Matt. v. 27, 28: to commit adultery in the heart is to commit it
in the will. There are many reasons which operate to prevent an
adulterer's being an adulterer in act, while he is still so in will and
understanding: for there are some who abstain from adulteries as to act
through fear of the civil law and its penalties; through fear of the
loss of reputation and thence of honor; through fear of disease thence
arising; through fear of quarrels at home on the part of a wife, and the
consequent loss of tranquillity; through fear of revenge on the part of
the husband and the next of kin; thus also through fear of being beaten
by the servants; through poverty or avarice; through imbecility arising
from disease, from abuse, from age, or from impotence, and consequent
shame: if any one restrains himself from actual adulteries, under the
influence of these and like reasons, and yet favors them in his will and
understanding, he is still an adulterer: for he believes nevertheless
that they are not sins, and he does not make them unlawful before God in
his spirit; and thus he commits them in spirit, although not in body
before the world; wherefore after death, when he becomes a spirit, he
speaks openly in favor of them.
495. XV. ADULTERIES GROUNDED IN PURPOSE OF THE WILL, AND ADULTERIES
GROUNDED IN CONFIRMATION OF THE UNDERSTANDING, RENDER MEN NATURAL,
SENSUAL, AND CORPOREAL. A man (_homo_) is a man, and is distinguished
from the beasts, by this circumstance, that his mind is distinguished
into three regions, as many as the heavens are distinguished into: and
that he is capable of being elevated out of the lowest region into the
next above it, and also from this into the highest, and thus of becoming
an angel of one heaven, and even of the third: for this end, there has
been given to man a faculty of elevating the understanding thitherto;
but if the love of his will is not elevated at the same time, he does
not become spiritual, but remains natural: nevertheless he retains the
faculty of elevating the understanding. The reason why he retains this
faculty is, that he may be reformed; for he is reformed by the
understanding: and this is effected by the knowledges of good and truth,
and by a rational intuition grounded therein, if he views those
knowledges rationally, and lives according to them, then the love of the
will is elevated at the same time, and in that degree the human
principle is perfected, and the man becomes more and more a man. It is
otherwise if he does not live according to the knowledges of good and
truth: in this case the love of his will remains natural, and his
understanding by turns becomes spiritual: for it raises itself upwards
alternately, like an eagle, and looks down upon what is of its love
beneath; and when it sees this, it flies down to it, and conjoins itself
with it: if therefore it loves the concupiscences of the flesh, it lets
itself down to these from its height, and in conjunction with them,
derives delight to itself from their delights; and again in quest of
reputation, that it may be believed wise, it lifts itself on high, and
thus rises and sinks by turns, as was just now observed. The reason why
adulterers of the third and fourth degree, who are such as from purpose
of the will and continuation of the understanding have made themselves
adulterers, are absolutely natural, and progressively become sensual and
corporeal, is, because they have immersed the love of their will, and
together with it their understanding, in the impurities of adulterous
love, and are delighted therewith, as unclean birds and beasts are with
stinking and dunghill filth as with dainties and delicacies: for the
effluvia arising from their flesh fill the recesses of the mind with
their dregs, and cause that the will, perceives nothing more dainty and
desirable. It is these who after death become corporeal spirits, and
from whom flow the unclean things of hell and the church, spoken of
above n. 430, 431.
496. There are three degrees of the natural man; in the first degree are
those who love only the world, placing their heart on wealth; these are
properly meant by the natural: in the second degree are those who love
only the delights of the senses, placing their heart on every kind of
luxury and pleasure; these are properly meant by the sensual: in the
third degree are those who love only themselves, placing their heart on
the quest of honor; these are properly meant by the corporeal, because
they immerse all things of the will, and consequently of the
understanding, in the body, and look backward at themselves from others,
and love only what belongs to themselves: but the sensual immerse all
things of the will and consequently of the understanding in the
allurements and fallacies of the senses, indulging in these alone;
whereas the natural pour forth into the world all things of the will and
understanding, covetously and fraudulently acquiring wealth, and
regarding no other use therein and thence but that of possession. The
above-mentioned adulteries change men in these degenerate degrees, one
into this, another into that, each according to his favorite taste for
what is pleasurable, in which taste his peculiar genius is grounded.
497. XVI. AND THIS TO SUCH A DEGREE THAT AT LENGTH THEY REJECT FROM
THEMSELVES ALL THINGS OF THE CHURCH AND OF RELIGION. The reason why
determined and continued adulterers reject from themselves all things of
the church and religion is, because the love of marriage and the love of
adultery are opposite, n. 425, and the love of marriage acts in unity
with the church and religion; see n. 130, and throughout the former
part; hence the love of adultery, as being opposite, acts in unity with
those things which are contrary to the church. A further reason why
those adulterers reject from themselves all things of the church and of
religion, is, because the love of marriage and the love of adultery are
opposite, as the marriage of good and truth is opposite to the
connection of evil and the false: see n. 427, 428; and the marriage of
good and truth constitutes the church, whereas the connection of evil
and the false constitutes the anti-church. A further reason why those
adulterers reject from themselves all things of the church and of
religion, is because the love of marriage and the love of adultery are
as opposite as heaven and hell, n. 429; and in heaven there is the love
of all things of the church, whereas in hell there is hatred against
them. A further reason why those adulterers reject from themselves all
things of the church and of religion, is, because, their delights
commence from the flesh, and are of the flesh also in the spirit, n.
440, 441; and the flesh is contrary to the spirit, that is, contrary to
the spiritual things of the church: hence also the delights of
adulterous love are called the pleasures of insanity. If you desire
demonstration in this case, go, I pray, to those whom you know to be
such adulterers, and ask them privately, what they think concerning God,
the church, and eternal life, and you will hear. The genuine reason is,
because as conjugial love opens the interiors of the mind; and thereby
elevates them above the sensual principles of the body, even into the
light and heat of heaven, so, on the other hand, the love of adultery
closes the interiors of the mind, and thrusts down the mind itself, as
to its will, into the body, even into all things which its flesh lusts
after; and the deeper it is so thrust down, the further it is removed
and set at a distance from heaven.
498. XVII. NEVERTHELESS THEY HAVE THE POWERS OF HUMAN RATIONALITY LIKE
OTHER MEN. That the natural man, the sensual, and the corporeal, is
equally rational, in regard to understanding, as the spiritual man, has
been proved to me from satans and devils arising by leave out of hell,
and conversing with angelic spirits in the world of spirits; concerning
whom, see the MEMORABLE RELATIONS throughout; but as the love of the
will makes the man, and this love draws the understanding into consent,
therefore such are not rational except in a state removed from the love
of the will; when they return again into this love, they are more
dreadfully insane than wild beasts. But a man, without the faculty of
elevating the understanding above the love of the will, would not be a
man but a beast; for a beast does not enjoy that faculty; consequently
neither would he be able to choose any thing, and from choice to do what
is good and expedient, and thus he would not be in a capacity to be
reformed, and to be led to heaven, and to live for ever. Hence it is,
that determined and confirmed adulterers, although they are merely
natural, sensual, and corporeal, still enjoy, like other men, the powers
of understanding or rationality: but when they are in the lust of
adultery, and think and speak from that lust concerning it, they do not
enjoy that rationality; because then the flesh acts on the spirit, and
not the spirit on the flesh. It is however to be observed, that these at
length after death become stupid; not that the faculty of growing wise
is taken away from them, but that they are unwilling to grow wise,
because wisdom is undelightful to them.
499. XVIII. BUT THEY USE THAT RATIONALITY WHILE THEY ARE IN EXTERNALS,
BUT ABUSE IT WHILE THEY ARE IN INTERNALS. They are in externals when
they converse abroad and in company, but in their internals when at home
or with themselves. If you wish, make the experiment; bring some person
of this character, as, for example, one of the order called Jesuits, and
cause him to speak in company, or to teach in a temple, concerning God,
the holy things of the church, and heaven and hell, and you will hear
him a more rational zealot than any other; perhaps also he will force
you to sighs and tears for your salvation; but take him into your house,
praise him excessively, call him the father of wisdom, and make yourself
his friend, until he opens his heart, and you will hear what he will
then preach concerning God, the holy things of the church, and heaven
and hell,--that they are mere fancies and delusions, and thus bonds
invented for souls, whereby great and small, rich and poor, may be
caught and bound, and kept under the yoke of their dominion. Let these
observations suffice for illustration of what is meant by natural men,
even to corporeal, enjoying the powers of human rationality like others,
and using it when they are in externals, but abusing it when in their
internals. The conclusion to be hence deduced is, that no one is to be
judged of from the wisdom of his conversation, but of his life in union
therewith.
* * * * *
500. To the above I will add the following MEMORABLE RELATION. On a
certain time in the spiritual world I heard a great tumult: there were
some thousands of people gathered together, who cried out, LET THEM BE
PUNISHED, LET THEM BE PUNISHED: I went nearer, and asked what the cry
meant? A person that was separate from the crowd, said to me, "They are
enraged against three priests, who go about and preach every where
against adulterers, saying, that adulterers have no acknowledgement of
God, and that heaven is closed to them and hell open; and that in hell
they are filthy devils, because they appear there at a distance like
swine wallowing in mire, and that the angels of heaven abominate them."
I inquired, "Where are the priests? and why is there such a vociferation
on that account?" He replied, "The three priests are in the midst of
them, guarded by attendants; and those who are gathered together are of
those who believe adulteries not to be sins, and who say, that
adulterers have an acknowledgement of God equally with those who keep to
their wives. They are all of them from the Christian world; and the
angels have been to see how many there were there who believe adulteries
to be sins; and out of a thousand they did not find a hundred." He then
told me that the nine hundred say concerning adulteries, "Who does not
know that the delight of adultery is superior to the delight of
marriage; that adulterers are in continual heat, and thence in alacrity,
industry, and active life, superior to those who live with only one
woman; and that on the other hand, love with a married partner grows
cold, and sometimes to such a degree, that at length scarce a single
expression or act of fellowship with her is alive; that it is otherwise
with harlots; that the mortification of life with a wife, arising from
defect of ability, is recruited and vivified by adulteries; and is not
that which recruits and vivifies of more consequence than that which
mortifies? What is marriage but allowed adultery? Who knows any
distinction between them? Can love be forced? and yet love with a wife
is forced by a covenant and laws. Is not love with a married partner the
love of the sex, which is so universal that it exists even among birds
and beasts? What is conjugial love but the love of the sex? and the love
of the sex is free with every woman. The reason why civil laws are
against adulteries is, because lawgivers have believed that to prohibit
adultery was connected with the public good; and yet lawgivers and
judges sometimes commit adultery, and say among themselves, 'Let him
that is without sin cast the first stone.' Who does not know that the
simple and religious alone believe adulteries to be sins, and that the
intelligent think otherwise, who like us view them by the light of
nature? Are not adulteries as prolific as marriages? Are not
illegitimate children as alert and qualified for the discharge of
offices and employments as the legitimate? Moreover families, otherwise
barren, are provided with offspring; and is not this an advantage and
not a loss? What harm can come to a wife from admitting several rivals?
And what harm can come to a man? To say that it brings disgrace upon a
man, is a frivolous idea grounded in mere fancy. The reason why adultery
is against the laws and statutes of the church, is owing to the
ecclesiastic order for the sake of power; but what have theological and
spiritual things to do with a delight merely corporeal and carnal? Are
not there instances of adulterous presbyters and monks? and are they
incapable on that account of acknowledging and worshipping God? Why
therefore do those three priests preach that adulterers have no
acknowledgement of God? We cannot endure such blasphemies; wherefore let
them be judged and punished." Afterwards I saw that they called judges,
whom they requested to pass sentence of punishment upon them: but the
judges said, "This is no part of our jurisdiction; for the point in
question is concerning the acknowledgement of God, and concerning sin,
and thus concerning salvation and damnation; and sentence in these cases
must come from heaven: but we will suggest a method to you, whereby you
may know whether these three priests have preached truths. There are
three places which we judges know, where such points are examined and
revealed in a singular manner: One place is, where a way into heaven is
open to all; but when they come into heaven, they themselves perceive
their own quality as to the acknowledgement of God: the second is, where
also a way is open into heaven; but no one can enter into that way
unless he has heaven in himself: and the third is where there is a way
to hell; and those who love infernal things enter that way of their own
accord, because from delight. We judges charge all to go to those places
who require judgement from us concerning heaven and hell." On hearing
this, those who were gathered together, said, "Let us go to those
places;" and while they were going to the first, where a way into heaven
is open to all, it suddenly became dark; wherefore some of them lighted
torches and carried them before. The judges who were with them said,
"This happens to all who go to the first place; as they approach, the
fire of the torches becomes more dim, and is extinguished in that place
by the light of heaven flowing in, which is a sign that they are there;
the reason of this is, because at first heaven is closed to them, and
afterwards is opened." They then came to that place, and when the
torches were extinguished of themselves, they saw a way tending
obliquely upwards into heaven: this those entered who were enraged
against the priests; among the first, these who were determined
adulterers, after them those who were confirmed adulterers; and as they
ascended, the first cried out, "Follow;" and those who followed cried
out, "Make haste;" and they pressed forward. After near an hour, when
they were all within in the heavenly society, there appeared a gulph
between them and the angels; and the light of heaven above the gulph
flowing into their eyes, opened the interiors of their minds, whereby
they were bound to speak as they interiorly thought; and then they were
asked by the angels, whether they acknowledged that God is? The first,
who were determined adulterers, replied, "What is God?" And they looked
at each other, and said, "Which of you has seen him?" The second, who
were confirmed adulterers, said, "Are not all things of nature? What is
there above nature but the sun?" And instantly the angels said to them,
"Depart from us; now you yourselves perceive that you have no
acknowledgement of God: when you descend, the interiors of your mind
will be closed and its exteriors opened, and then you can speak against
the interiors, and say that God is. Be assured that as soon as a man
actually becomes an adulterer, heaven is closed to him; and when heaven
is closed, God is not acknowledged. Hear the reason; every filthy
principle of hell is from adulterers, and it stinks in heaven like
putrid mire of the streets." On hearing these things they turned
themselves and descended by three ways; and when they were below, the
first and second groups conversing together said, "The priests have
conquered there; but we know that we can speak of God equally with them:
and when we say that he is, do we not acknowledge him? The interiors and
exteriors of the mind, of which the angels told us, are devised
fictions. But let us go to the second place pointed out by the judges,
where a way is open into heaven to those who have heaven in themselves,
thus to those who are about to come into heaven." When they were come
thither, a voice proceeded from that heaven, saying, "Shut the gates;
there are adulterers at hand." Then suddenly the gates were shut, and
the keepers with sticks in their hands drove them away; and they
delivered the three priests, against whom they had been tumultuous, from
the hands of their keepers, and introduced them into heaven: and
instantly, when the gates were open for the priests, there issued from
heaven upon the rebels the delightful principle of marriage, which, from
its being chaste and pure, almost deprived them of animation; wherefore,
for fear of fainting away through suffocation, they hastened to the
third place, concerning which the judges said, that thence there was a
way to hell; and instantly there issued from thence the delight of
adultery, whereby those who were either determined or confirmed
adulterers, were so vivified, that they descended as it were dancing,
and there like swine immersed themselves in filth.
* * * * *