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.
ON THE LUST OF DEFLORATION.
501. The lusts treated of in the four following chapters, are not only lusts of adultery, but are more grievous than those since they exist only from adulteries, being taken to after adulteries are become loathsome; as the lust of defloration, which is first treated of, and which cannot previously exist with any one; in like manner the lust of varieties, the lust of violation, and the lust of seducing innocencies, which are afterwards treated of. They are called lusts, because according to the quantity and quality of the lust for those things, such and so great is their appropriation. In reference specifically to the lust of defloration, its infamous villany shall be made manifest from the following considerations: I. The state of a maiden or undeflowered woman before and after marriage. II. Virginity is the crown of chastity, and the certificate of conjugial love. III. Defloration, without a view to marriage as an end, is the villany of a robber. IV. The lot of those who have confirmed themselves in the persuasion that the lust of defloration is not an evil of sin, after death is grievous. We proceed to explain them.