513. The lust of seducing innocencies is neither the lust of
defloration, nor the lust of violation, but is peculiar and singular by
itself; it prevails more especially with the deceitful. The women, who
appear to them as innocencies, are such as regard the evil of adultery
as an enormous sin, and who therefore highly prize chastity, and at the
same time piety: these women are the objects which set them on fire. In
Roman Catholic countries there are maidens devoted to the monastic life;
and because they believe these maidens to be pious innocencies above the
rest of their sex, they view them as the dainties and delicacies of
their lust. With a view of seducing either the latter or the former
because they are deceitful, they first devise arts, and next, when they
have well digested them, without receiving any check from shame, they
practise them as from nature. These arts are principally pretences of
innocence, love, chastity, and piety; by these and other cunning
stratagems, they enter into the interior friendship of such women, and
thence into their love, which they change from spiritual into natural by
various persuasions and at the same time by insinuations, and afterwards
into corporeal-carnal by irritations, and then they take possession of
them at pleasure; and when they have attained this end, they rejoice in
heart, and make a mock of those whom they have violated.
514. The lot of these seducers after death is sad, since such seduction
is not only impiety, but also malignity. After they have passed through
their first period in the spiritual world, which is in externals,
wherein they excel many others in the elegance of their manners and the
courteousness of their speech, they are reduced to another period of
their life, which is in internals, wherein their lust is set at liberty,
and commences its sport; and then they are first conveyed to women who
had made vows of chastity, and with these they are examined as to the
quality of their malignant concupiscence, to the intent that they may
not be judged except on conviction: when they are made sensible of the
chastity of those women, their deceit begins to act, and to attempt its
crafty arts; but as this is to no purpose, they depart from them. They
are afterwards introduced to women of genuine innocence; and when they
attempt to deceive these in like manner, by virtue of a power given to
those women, they are heavily fined; for they occasion in their hands
and feet a grievous numbness; likewise in their necks, and at length
make them feel as it were a swoon; and when they have inflicted this
punishment, they run away and escape from the sufferers. After this
there is a way opened to them to a certain company of courtezans, who
have been versed in the art of cunningly feigning innocence: and these
first expose them to laughter among themselves, and at length after
various engagements suffer themselves to be violated. After some such
scenes, a third period takes place, which is that of judgement; and in
this case, being convicted, they sink down, and are gathered to their
like in the hell which is in the northern quarter, and there they appear
at a distance like weasels; but if they have allured by deceit, they are
conveyed down from this hell to that of the deceitful, which is in the
western quarter at a depth to the back; in this hell they appear at a
distance like serpents of various kinds; and the most deceitful like
vipers: but in the hell into which I was permitted to look, they
appeared to me as if they were ghastly pale, with faces of chalk: and as
they are mere concupiscences, they do not like to speak: and if they do
speak, they only mutter and stammer various things, which are understood
by none but their companions who are near them; but presently, as they
sit or stand, they make themselves unseen, and fly about in the cavern
like phantoms; for on this occasion they are in phantasy, and phantasy
appears to fly: after flying they rest themselves, and then, what is
wonderful, one does not know another; the cause of this is, because they
are principled in deceit, and deceit does not believe another, and
thereby withdraws itself. When they are made sensible of any thing
proceeding from conjugial love, they fly away into hiding places and
conceal themselves. They are also void of all love of the sex, and are
real impotencies, and are called infernal genii.
* * * * *
ON THE CORRESPONDENCE OF ADULTERIES WITH THE VIOLATION OF SPIRITUAL
MARRIAGE.
515. I should here say something, in the way of preface, concerning
correspondence; but the subject does not properly belong to the present
work. The nature and meaning of correspondence may be seen in a brief
summary above, n. 76, and n. 342; and fully in the APOCALYPSE REVEALED,
from beginning to end, that it is between the natural sense of the Word
and the spiritual sense. That in the Word there is a natural and a
spiritual sense, and a correspondence between them, has been
demonstrated in the DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED
SCRIPTURE, and especially, n. 5-26.
516. The spiritual marriage means the marriage of the Lord and the
church, spoken of above, n. 116-131; and hence also the marriage of good
and truth, likewise spoken of above, n. 83-102; and as this marriage of
the Lord and the church, and the consequent marriage of good and truth,
is in everything of the Word, it is the violation of this which is here
meant by the violation of the spiritual marriage; for the church is from
the Word, and the Word is the Lord: the Lord is the Word, because he is
divine good and divine truth therein. That the Word is that marriage,
may be seen fully confirmed in the DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, n. 80-90.
517. Since therefore the violation of the spiritual marriage is the
violation of the Word, it is evident that this violation is the
adulteration of good and the falsification of truth, for the spiritual
marriage is the marriage of good and truth; whence it follows, that when
the good of the Word is adulterated, and its truth falsified, the above
marriage is violated. How this violation is effected, and by whom, is in
some measure evident from what follows.
518. Above, in treating of the marriage of the Lord and the church, n.
116, and the following numbers, and in treating of the marriage of good
and truth, n. 83, and the following numbers, it was shewn, that that
marriage corresponds to marriages in the world: hence it follows, that
the violation of that marriage corresponds to whoredoms and adulteries.
That this is the case, is very manifest from the Word itself, in that
whoredoms and adulteries there signify the falsifications of truth and
the adulterations of good, as may be plainly seen from numerous passages
adduced out of the Word in the APOCALYPSE REVEALED, n. 134.
519. The Word is violated by those in the Christian church who
adulterate its goods and truths; and those do this who separate truth
from good and good from truth; also, who assume and confirm appearances
of truth and fallacies for genuine truths; and likewise, who know truths
of doctrine derived from the Word, and live evil lives, not to mention
other like cases. These violations of the Word and the church correspond
to the prohibited degrees, mentioned in Levit, chap. xviii.
520. As the natural principle and the spiritual appertaining to every
man (_homo_), cohere as soul and body, (for a man without the spiritual
principle which flows into and vivifies his natural principle, is not a
man), it hence follows, that whoever is in spiritual marriage is also in
happy natural marriage; and on the contrary, that whoever is in
spiritual adultery is also in natural adultery, and whoever is in
natural adultery is also in spiritual adultery. Now since all who are in
hell are in the nuptial connection of evil and the false, and this is
essential spiritual adultery; and all who are in heaven are in the
marriage of good and truth, and this is essential marriage; therefore
hell in the total is called adultery, and heaven in the total is called
marriage.
* * * * *
521. To the above shall be added this MEMORABLE RELATION. My sight being
opened, I saw a shady forest, and therein a crowd of satyrs: the satyrs
as to their breasts were rough and hairy, and as to their feet some were
like calves, some like panthers, and some like wolves, and they had
beasts' claws instead of toes. These were running to and fro like wild
beasts, crying out, "Where are the women?" and instantly I saw some
harlots who were expecting them, and who in various ways were monstrous.
The satyrs ran towards them, and laid hold of them, dragging them into a
cavern, which was in the midst of the forest deep beneath the earth; and
upon the ground round about the cavern lay a great serpent in spiral
foldings, breathing poison into the cavern: in the branches of the
forest above the serpent dismal birds of night croaked and screeched.
But the satyrs and harlots did not see these things, because they were
the correspondences of their lasciviousnesses, and therefore their usual
appearances at a distance. Afterwards they came out of the cavern, and
entered a certain low cottage, which was a brothel; and then being
separated from the harlots they talked together, and I listened; for
conversation in the spiritual world may be heard by a distant person as
if he was present, the extent of space in that world being only an
appearance. They talked about marriages, nature, and religion. Those who
as to the feet appeared like calves, spoke concerning MARRIAGES, and
said, "What are marriages but licit adulteries? and what is sweeter than
adulterous hypocrisies, and the making fools of husbands?" At this the
rest clapped their hands with a loud laugh. The satyrs who as to the
feet appeared as panthers, spoke concerning NATURE, and said, "What is
there but nature? What distinction is there between a man and a beast,
except that a man can speak articulately and a beast sonorously? Does
not each derive life from heat, and understanding from light, by the
operation of nature?" Hereupon the rest exclaimed, "Admirable! you speak
from judgement." Those who as to the feet appeared like wolves, spoke
concerning RELIGION, saying, "What is God or a divine principle, but the
inmost principles of nature in action? What is religion but a device to
catch and bind the vulgar?" Hereupon the rest vociferated, "Bravo!"
After a few minutes they rushed forth, and in so doing they saw me at a
distance looking attentively at them. Being provoked at this, they ran
out from the forest, and with a threatening countenance directed their
course hastily towards me, and said, "What are you doing here, listening
to our whispers?" I replied, "Why should I not? what is to hinder me?
you were only talking together:" and I related what I had heard from
them. Hereupon their minds (_animi_) were appeased, which was through
fear lest their sentiments should be divulged; and then they began to
speak modestly and to act bashfully; from which circumstance I knew that
they were not of mean descent but of honorable birth; and then I told
them, how I saw them in the forest as satyrs, twenty as calf-satyrs, six
as panther-satyrs, and four as wolf-satyrs; they were thirty in number.
They were surprised at this, because they saw themselves there as men,
and nothing else, in like manner as they saw themselves here with me. I
then taught them, that the reason of their so appearing was from their
adulterous lust, and that this satyr-like form was a form of dissolute
adultery, and not a form of a person. This happened, I said, because
every evil concupiscence presents a likeness of itself in some form,
which is not perceived by those who are in the concupiscence, but by
those who are at a distance: I also said, "To convince you of it, send
some from among you into that forest, and do you remain here, and look
at them." They did so, and sent away two; and viewing them from near the
above brothel-cottage, they saw them altogether as satyrs; and when they
returned, they saluted those satyrs, and said, "Oh what ridiculous
figures!" While they were laughing, I jested a good deal with them, and
told them that I had also seen adulterers as hogs; and then I
recollected the fable of Ulysses and the Circe, how she sprinkled the
companions and servants of Ulysses with poisonous herbs, and touched
them with a magic wand, and turned them into hogs,--perhaps into
adulterers, because she could not by any art turn any one into a hog.
After they had made themselves exceedingly merry on this and other like
subjects, I asked them whether they then knew to what kingdoms in the
world they had belonged? They said, they had belonged to various
kingdoms, and they named Italy, Poland, Germany, England, Sweden; and I
enquired, whether they had seen any one from Holland of their party? And
they said, Not one. After this I gave the conversation a serious turn,
and asked them, whether they had ever thought that adultery is sin? They
replied, "What is sin? we do not know what it means." I then inquired,
whether they ever remembered that adultery was contrary to the sixth
commandment of the Decalogue. [Footnote: According to the division of
the commandments adopted by the Church of England, it is the _seventh_
that is here referred to.] They replied, "What is the Decalogue? Is not
it the catechism? What have we men to do with that childish pamphlet?" I
asked them, whether they had ever thought at all about hell. They
replied, "Who ever came up thence to give us information?" I asked,
whether they had ever thought at all in the world about a life after
death. They said, "Just as much as about the future life of beasts, and
at times as about phantoms, which exhale from dead bodies and float
about." I further asked them, whether they had heard any thing from the
priests on any of these subjects. They replied, that they had attended
only to the sound of their voices, and not to the matter; and what is
it? Being astonished at these answers, I said to them, "Turn your faces,
and direct your eyes to the midst of the forest, where the cavern is in
which you have been;" and they turned themselves, and saw that great
serpent around the cavern in spiral foldings, breathing poison, and also
the doleful birds in the branches over the serpents. I then asked them,
"What do you see?" But being much terrified, they did not answer; and I
said, "Do you see the dreadful sight? Know then that this is a
representative of adultery in the baseness of its lust." Suddenly at
that instant an angel presented himself, who was a priest, and opened
the hell in the western quarter into which such spirits are at length
collected; and he said, "Look thither:" and they saw that firy lake, and
knew there some of their friends in the world, who invited them to
themselves. Having seen and heard these things, they turned themselves
away, and rushed out of my sight, and retired from the forest; but I
observed their steps, that they only pretended to retire, and that by
winding ways they returned into the forest.
522. After this I returned home, and the next day, from a recollection
of these sad scenes, I looked to the same forest, and saw that it had
disappeared, and in its place there was a sandy plain, and in the midst
thereof a lake, in which were some red serpents. But some weeks after
when I was looking thither again, I saw on its right side some fallow
land, and upon it some husbandmen; and again, after some weeks I saw
springing out of that fallow land some tilled land surrounded with
shrubs; and I then heard a voice from heaven, "Enter into your chamber,
and shut the door, and apply to the work begun on the Apocalypse, and
finish it within two years."
* * * * *