152.* On hearing this relation, all those who were sitting at the tables exclaimed, "Alas! what times are come on the earth! What changes has wisdom undergone? How is she transformed into a false and infatuated ingenuity! The sun is set, and in his station beneath the earth is in direct opposition to his meridian altitude. From the case here adduced respecting such as have been left and found in forests, who cannot see that an uninstructed man is such as here represented? For is not the nature of his life determined by the nature of the instruction he receives? Is he not born in a state of greater ignorance than the beasts? Must he not learn to walk and to speak? Supposing he never learnt to walk, would he ever stand upright? And if he never learnt to speak, would he ever be able to express his thoughts? Is not every man such as instruction makes him,—insane from false principles, or wise from truths? and is not he that is insane from false principles, entirely possessed with an imagination that he is wiser than he that is wise from truths? Are there not instances of men who are so wild and foolish, that they are no more like men than those who have been found in forests? Is not this the case with such as have been deprived of memory? From all these considerations we conclude, that a man without instruction is neither a man nor a beast; but that he is a form, which is capable of receiving in itself that which constitutes a man; and thus that he is not born a man, but that he is made a man; and that a man is born such a form as to be an organ receptive of life from God, to the end that he may be a subject into which God may introduce all good, and, by union with himself, may make him eternally blessed. We have perceived from your conversation, that wisdom at this day is so far extinguished or infatuated, that nothing at all is known concerning the relative state of the life of men and of beasts; and hence it is that the state of the life of man after death is not known: but those who are capable of knowing this, and yet are not willing, and in consequence deny it, as many Christians do, may fitly be compared to such as are found in forests: not that they are rendered so stupid from a want of instruction, but that they have rendered themselves so by the fallacies of the senses, which are the darkness of truths."
153.* At that instant a certain person standing in the middle of the Palladium, and holding in his hand a palm, said, "Explain, I pray, this arcanum, How a man, created a form of God, could be changed into a form of the devil. I know that the angels of heaven are forms of God and that the angels of hell are forms of the devil, and that the two forms are opposite to each other, the latter being insanities, the former wisdoms. Tell me, therefore, how a man, created a form of God, could pass from day into such night, as to be capable of denying God and life eternal." To this the several teachers replied in order; first the Pythagoreans, next the Socratics, and afterwards the rest: but among them there was a certain Platonist, who spoke last; and his opinion prevailed, which was to this effect; That the men of the saturnine or golden age knew and acknowledged that they were forms receptive of life from God; and that on this account wisdom was inscribed on their souls and hearts, and hence they saw truth from the light of truth, and by truths perceived good from the delight of the love thereof: but as mankind in the following ages receded from the acknowledgement that all the truth of wisdom and the consequent good of love belonging to them, continually flowed in from God, they ceased to be habitations of God; and then also discourse with God, and consociation with angels ceased: for the interiors of their minds were bent from their direction, which had been elevated upwards to God from God, into a direction more and more oblique, outwardly into the world, and thereby to God from God through the world, and at length inverted into an opposite direction, which is downwards to self; and as God cannot be looked at by a man interiorly inverted, and thereby averted, men separated themselves from God, and were made forms of hell or devils. From these considerations it follows, that in the first ages they acknowledged in heart and soul, that all the good of love and the consequent true wisdom, were derived to them from God, and also that they were God's in them: and thus that they were mere recipients of life from God, and hence were called images of God, sons of God, and born of God: but that in succeeding ages they did not acknowledge this in heart and soul, but by a certain persuasive faith, next by an historical faith, and lastly only with the mouth; and this last kind of acknowledgement is no acknowledgement at all; yea, it is in fact a denial at heart. From these considerations it may be seen what is the quality of the wisdom which prevails at this day on the earth among Christians, while they do not know the distinction between a man and a beast, notwithstanding their being in possession of a written revelation, whereby they may be inspired by God: and hence many believe, that in case a man lives after death, a beast must live also; or because a beast is not to live after death, neither will a man. Is not our spiritual light, which enlightens the sight of the mind, become thick darkness with them? and is not their natural light, which only enlightens the bodily sight, become brightness to them?
154.* After this they all turned towards the two strangers, and thanked them for their visit, and for the relation they had given, and entreated them to go and communicate to their brethren what they had heard. The strangers replied that they would endeavor to confirm their brethren in this truth, that so far as they ascribe all the good of charity and the truth of faith to the Lord, and not to themselves, so far they are men, and so far they become angels of heaven.
155.* THE SECOND MEMORABLE RELATION. One morning I was awoke by some delightful singing which I heard at a height above me, and in consequence, during the first watch, which is internal, pacific, and sweet, more than the succeeding part of the day, I was in a capacity of being kept for some time in the spirit as it were out of the body, and of attending carefully to the affection which was sung. The singing of heaven is an affection of the mind, sent forth through the mouth as a tune: for the tone of the voice in speaking, separate from the discourse of the speaking, and grounded in the affection of love, is what gives life to the speech. In that state I perceived that it was the affection of the delights of conjugial love, which was made musical by wives in heaven: that this was the case, I observed from the sound of the song, in which those delights were varied in a wonderful manner. After this I arose, and looked into the spiritual world; and lo! in the east, beneath the sun, there appeared as it were a GOLDEN SHOWER. It was the morning dew descending in great abundance, which, catching the sun's rays, exhibited to my eyes the appearance of a golden shower. In consequence of this I became fully awake, and went forth in the spirit, and asked an angel who then happened to meet me, whether he saw a golden shower descending from the sun? He replied, that he saw one whenever he was meditating on conjugial love; and at the same time turning his eyes towards the sun, he added, "That shower falls over a hall, in which are three husbands with their wives, who dwell in the midst of an eastern paradise. Such a shower is seen falling from the sun over that hall, because with those husbands and wives there resides wisdom respecting conjugial love and its delights; with the husbands respecting conjugial love, and with the wives respecting its delights. But I perceive that you are engaged in meditating on the delights of conjugial love: I will therefore conduct you there, and introduce you to them." He led me through paradisiacal scenery to houses built of olive wood, having two cedar columns before the gate, and introduced me to the husbands, and asked their permission for me to converse with them in the presence of the wives. They consented, and called their wives. These looked into my eyes most shrewdly; upon which I asked them, "Why do you do so?" They said, "We can thereby discover exquisitely what is your inclination and consequent affection, and your thought grounded in affection, respecting the love of the sex; and we see that you are meditating intensely, but still chastely, concerning it." And they added, "What do you wish us to tell you on the subject?" I replied, "Tell me, I pray, something respecting the delights of conjugial love." The husbands assented, saying, "If you are so disposed, give them some information in regard to those delights: their ears are chaste." They asked me, "Who taught you to question us respecting the delights of that love? Why did you not question our husbands?" I replied, "This angel, who accompanies me, informed me, that wives are the recipients and sensories of those delights, because they are born loves; and all delights are of love." To this they replied with a smile, "Be prudent, and declare nothing of this sort except ambiguously; because it is a wisdom deeply seated in the hearts of our sex, and is not discovered to any husband, unless he be principled in love truly conjugial. There are several reasons for this, which we keep entirely to ourselves." Then the husbands said, "Our wives know all the states of our minds, none of which are hid from them: they see, perceive, and are sensible of whatever proceeds from our will. We, on the other hand, know nothing of what passes with our wives. This faculty is given to wives, because they are most tender loves, and as it were burning zeals for the preservation of friendship and conjugial confidence, and thereby of all the happiness of life, which they carefully attend to, both in regard to their husbands and themselves, by virtue of a wisdom implanted in their love, which is so full of prudence, that they are unwilling to say, and consequently cannot say, that they love, but that they are loved." I asked the wives, "Why are you unwilling, and consequently cannot say so?" They replied, "If the least hint of the kind were to escape from the mouth of a wife, the husband would be seized with coolness, which would entirely separate him from all communication with his wife, so that he could not even bear to look upon her; but this is the case only with those husbands who do not hold marriages to be holy, and therefore do not love their wives from spiritual love: it is otherwise with those who do. In the minds of the latter this love is spiritual, and by derivation thence in the body is natural. We in this hall are principled in the latter love by derivation from the former; therefore we trust our husbands with our secrets respecting our delights of conjugial love." Then I courteously asked them to disclose to me some of those secrets: they then looked towards a window on the southern quarter, and lo! there appeared a white dove, whose wings shone as if they were of silver, and its head was crested with a crown as of gold: it stood upon a bough, from which there went forth an olive; and while it was in the attempt to spread out its wings, the wives said, "We will communicate something: the appearing of that dove is a token that we may. Every man (vir)" they continued, "has five senses, seeing, hearing, smelling, taste, and touch; but we have likewise a sixth, which is the sense of all the delights of the conjugial love of the husband; and this sense we have in the palms of our hands, while we touch the breasts, arms, hands, or cheeks, of our husbands, especially their breasts; and also while we are touched by them. All the gladness and pleasantness of the thoughts of their minds (mentium), all the joys and delights of their minds (animarum) and all the festive and cheerful principles of their bosoms, pass from them to us, and become perceptible, sensible, and tangible: we discern them as exquisitely and distinctly as the ear does the tune of a song, and the tongue the taste of dainties; in a word, the spiritual delights of our husbands put on with us a kind of natural embodiment; therefore they call us the sensory organs of chaste conjugial love, and thence its delights. But this sixth sense of ours exists, subsists, persists, and is exalted in the degree in which our husbands love us from wisdom and judgement, and in which we in our turn love them from the same principles in them. This sense in our sex is called in the heavens the sport of wisdom with its love, and of love with its wisdom." From this information I became desirous of asking further questions concerning the variety of their delights. They said, "It is infinite; but we are unwilling and therefore unable to say more; for the dove at our window, with the olive branch under his feet, is flown away." I waited for its return, but in vain. In the meantime I asked the husbands, "Have you a like sense of conjugial love?" They replied, "We have a like sense in general, but not in particular. We enjoy a general blessedness, delight, and pleasantness, arising from the particulars of our wives; and this general principle, which we derive from them, is serenely peaceful." As they said this, lo! through the window there appeared a swan standing on a branch of a fig-tree, which spread out his wings and flew away. On seeing this, the husbands said, "This is a sign for us to be silent respecting conjugial love: come again some other time, and perhaps you may hear more." They then withdrew, and we took our leave.
ON THE CONJUNCTION OF SOULS AND MINDS BY MARRIAGE, WHICH IS MEANT BY THE LORD'S WORDS,--THEY ARE NO LONGER TWO, BUT ONE FLESH.