335. II. THUS CELESTIAL BLESSEDNESS, SPIRITUAL SATISFACTIONS, AND NATURAL DELIGHTS, WHICH FROM THE BEGINNING WERE PROVIDED FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN LOVE TRULY CONJUGIAL, CAN ONLY EXIST WITH ONE WIFE. They are called celestial blessednesses, spiritual satisfactions, and natural delights, because the human mind is distinguished into three regions, of which the highest is called celestial, the second spiritual, and the third natural; and those three regions, with such as are principled in love truly conjugial, are open, and influx follows in order according to the openings. And as the pleasantnesses of that love are most eminent in the highest regions, they are perceived as blessednesses, and as in the middle region they are less eminent, they are perceived as satisfactions, and lastly, in the lowest region, as delights: that there are such blessednesses, satisfactions, and delights, and that they are perceived and felt, appears from the MEMORABLE RELATIONS in which they are described. The reason why all those happinesses were from the beginning provided for those who are principled in love truly conjugial, is, because there is an infinity of all blessednesses in the Lord, and he is divine love; and it is the essence of love to desire to communicate all its goods to another whom it loves; therefore together with man he created that love, and inserted in it the faculty of receiving and perceiving those blessednesses. Who is of so dull and doting an apprehension as not to be able to see, that there is some particular love into which the Lord has collected all possible blessings, satisfactions, and delights?
336. III. ALL THOSE THINGS CAN ONLY EXIST FROM THE LORD ALONE; AND THEY DO NOT EXIST WITH ANY BUT THOSE WHO COME TO HIM ALONE, AND LIVE ACCORDING TO HIS COMMANDMENTS. This has been proved above in many places; to which proofs it may be expedient to add, that all those blessings, satisfactions, and delights can only be given by the Lord, and therefore no other is to be approached. What other can be approached, when by him all things were made which are made, John i. 3; when he is the God of heaven and earth, Matt, xxviii. 18: when no appearance of God the father was ever seen, or his voice heard, except through him, John i. 18; chap. v. 37; chap. xiv. 6-11? From these and very many other passages in the Word, it is evident that the marriage of love and wisdom, or of good and truth, from which alone all marriages derive their origin, proceeds from him alone. Hence it follows, that the above love with its felicities exists with none but those who come to him; and the reason why it exists with those who live according to his commandments, is, because he is conjoined with them by love, John xiv. 21-24.
337. IV. CONSEQUENTLY, LOVE TRULY CONJUGIAL WITH ITS FELICITIES CAN ONLY EXIST WITH THOSE WHO ARE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. The reason why conjugial love, such as was described in its proper chapter, n. [57-73], and in the following chapters, thus such as it is in its essence, exists only with those who are of the Christian church, is, because that love is from the Lord alone, and the Lord is not so known elsewhere as that he can be approached as God; also because that love is according to the state of the church with every one, n. [130], and the genuine state of the church is from no other source than from the Lord, and thus is with none but those who receive it from him. That these two principles are the beginnings, introductions, and establishments of that love, has been already confirmed by such abundance of evident and conclusive reasons, that it is altogether needless to say any thing more on the subject. The reason why conjugial love is nevertheless rare in the Christian world, n. [58-59], is, because few in that world approach the Lord, and among those there are some who indeed believe the church, but do not live accordingly; besides other circumstances which are unfolded in the APOCALYPSE REVEALED, where the present state of the Christian church is fully described. But nevertheless it is an established truth, that love truly conjugial can only exist with those who are of the Christian church; therefore also from this ground polygamy is in that church altogether rejected and condemned: that this also is of the divine providence of the Lord, appears very manifest to those who think justly concerning providence.
338. V. THEREFORE A CHRISTIAN IS NOT ALLOWED TO MARRY MORE THAN ONE WIFE. This follows as a conclusion from the confirmation of the preceding articles; to which this is to be added, that the genuine conjugial principle is more deeply inserted into the minds of Christians, than of the Gentiles who have embraced polygamy; and that hence the minds of Christians are more susceptible of that love than the minds of polygamists; for that conjugial principle is inserted in the interiors of the minds of Christians, because they acknowledge the Lord and his divine principle, and in the exteriors of their minds by civil laws.
339. VI. IF A CHRISTIAN MARRIES SEVERAL WIVES, HE COMMITS NOT ONLY NATURAL BUT ALSO SPIRITUAL ADULTERY. That a Christian who marries several wives, commits natural adultery, is agreeable to the Lord's words, "That it is not lawful to put away a wife, because from the beginning they were created to be one flesh; and that he who putteth away a wife without just cause, and marrieth another, committeth adultery." Matt. xix. 3-12; thus still more does he commit adultery who does not put away his wife, but, while retaining her, connects himself with another. This law enacted by the Lord respecting marriages, has its internal ground in spiritual marriage; for whatever the Lord spoke was in itself spiritual; which is meant by this declaration, "The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life," John vi. 63. The spiritual (sense) contained therein is this, that by polygamical marriage in the Christian world, the marriage of the Lord and the Church is profaned; in like manner the marriage of good and truth; and still more the Word, and with the Word the church; and the profanation of those things is spiritual adultery. That the profanation of the good and truth of the church derived from the Word corresponds to adultery, and hence is spiritual adultery; and that the falsification of good and truth has alike correspondence, but in a less degree, may be seen confirmed in the APOCALYPSE REVEALED, n. 134. The reason why by polygamical marriages among Christians the marriage of the Lord and the church is profaned, is, because there is a correspondence between that divine marriage and the marriages of Christians; concerning which, see above, n. [83-102]; which correspondence entirely perishes, if one wife is joined to another; and when it perishes, the married man is no longer a Christian. The reason why by polygamical marriages among Christians the marriage of good and truth is profaned, is because from this spiritual marriage are derived marriages in the world; and the marriages of Christians differ from those of other nations in this respect, that as good loves truth, and truth good, and are a one, so it is with a wife and a husband; therefore if a Christian should join one wife to another, he would rend asunder in himself that spiritual marriage; consequently he would profane the origin of his marriage, and would thereby commit spiritual adultery. That marriages in the world are derived from the marriage of good and truth, may be seen above, n. [116-131]. The reason why a Christian by polygamical marriage would profane the Word and the church, is, because the Word considered in itself is the marriage of good and truth, and the church in like manner, so far as this is derived from the Word; see above, n. [128-131]. Now since a Christian is acquainted with the Lord, possesses the Word, and has also the church from the Lord by the Word, it is evident that he, much more than one who is not a Christian, has the faculty of being capable of being regenerated, and thereby of becoming spiritual, and also of attaining to love truly conjugial; for these things are connected together. Since those Christians who marry several wives, commit not only natural but also at the same time spiritual adultery, it follows that the condemnation of Christian polygamists after death is more grievous than that of those who commit only natural adultery. Upon inquiring into their state after death, I received for answer, that heaven is altogether closed in respect to them; that they appear in hell as lying in warm water in the recess of a bath, and that they thus appear at a distance, although they are standing on their feet, and walking, which is in consequence of their intestine frenzy; and that some of them are thrown into whirlpools in the borders of the worlds.