The meeting of young partners in heaven is thus charmingly described:—“The divine providence of the Lord extends to everything, even to the minutest particulars concerning marriages, because all the delights of heaven spring from the delights of conjugial love, as sweet waters from the fountain head. On this account it is provided that conjugial pairs be born, and these pairs are continually educated to their several marriages under the Lord’s auspices, neither the boy nor the girl knowing anything of the matter; and after a stated time, when both of them become marriageable, they meet in some place as by chance, and see each other, and in this case they instantly know, as by a kind of instinct, that they are pairs; and by a kind of inward dictate, think within themselves—the youth that she is mine, and the virgin that he is mine; and when this thought has existed some time in the mind of each, they accost each other from a deliberate purpose, and betroth themselves. It is said as by chance, by instinct, and by dictate, and the meaning is by Divine Providence: since, while the Divine Providence is unknown, it has such an appearance; for the Lord opens internal similitudes, that they may see each other.”
We are now led by Swedenborg, and introduced to a knowledge of the nature of conjugial love, and shown in what consists its essential blessedness. He shows that this love originates in the marriage of goodness and truth. Every one who has experienced anything of regeneration, knows that there is no bliss so intense, no joy so extatic, as that arising from well-doing, and submission to the will of the Lord. When right is done because it is right, when truth in the understanding is carried into action, then good is inseminated in the will by the Lord, and conjoining itself to truth in the understanding, the soul overflows with the sweetest peace, and the most interior delight. The conjunction of goodness and truth is the heavenly marriage, to which the Lord compares the kingdom of heaven; and He says that it is not here, nor there, but within us. Under the symbols of marriage and love, the regeneration of the soul is continually described in the Word; and the meeting of Jacob and Rachel at the well, when “Jacob kissed Rachel,” and for very joy, “lifted up his voice and wept,” beautifully typifies the meeting of goodness and truth, and the gladness resulting from their approaching union.
It was said that in man the understanding predominates, and in woman the will. In the mind of each, then, it is evident, there never can be a perfect marriage, seeing that individual minds are in themselves imperfect, the balance of the will and intellect being in no case equal. The mental perfection or wholeness of man then necessitates marriage. Truth loves good, and good loves truth; and so the will and the understanding ever long for conjunction. It is plain, then, that in man there must always be an unsatisfied desire, if he remain by himself; and so, also, to even a greater degree, with the woman. This insatiable desire for conjunction of soul, can not well appear in its strength in this life for many reasons; nor can it receive here its full satisfaction, as it will in eternity.
True conjugial love can exist only between two; and in polygamists and adulterers it is utterly destroyed. Again, it can only exist with the regenerate, with those who love the Lord and their neighbor, and delight in keeping the divine commandments. In proportion as married partners so live, they become more and more closely and interiorly conjoined; and their minds flowing into one, their peace, joy, and bliss are ineffably increased. With the wicked there is no conjugial love. Their life, being internally evil, conceals the deepest hatred; and the apparent affection which they may display in the world, arises either from sensual love, or worldly expediency. Be it well noted by all, that marriage can yield real happiness only to the religious—to those who love God and honor His laws.
It is impossible for us to give, even by way of catalogue, a view of the details into which the treatise on Conjugial Love enters. It is so richly studded with great principles, that no condensation is possible. It is thus with all of Swedenborg’s books; so that an exhaustive review is impossible. He never treats his readers to long moralizings that can be condensed into one paragraph; but all his writings are crowded with thought, so that one is prompted not to condensation, but to expansion. This excuse, which we have had to present on previous occasions, must form our apology for the following extracts, selected as illustrations of some of the leading truths in this treatise.
The Delights of Conjugial Love.—“As conjugial love is the foundation love of all good loves, and as it is inscribed on all the parts and principles of man, even to the most particular, it follows that its delights exceed the delights of all other loves, and also that it gives delight to the other loves, according to its presence and conjunction with them; for it expands the inmost principles of the mind, and at the same time the inmost principles of the body, as the most delightful current of its fountain flows through and opens them. The reason why all delights, from first to last, are collated into this love, is on account of the superior excellence of its use, which is the propagation of the human race, and thence of the angelic heaven; and as this use was the chief end of creation, it follows that all the beatitudes, satisfactions, delights, pleasantnesses, and pleasures, which the Lord the Creator could possibly confer upon man, are collated into this love.”—n. 68.
Love truly Conjugial is essential Chastity.—“The reasons are, 1. Because it is from the Lord, and corresponds to the marriage of the Lord and the church. 2. Because it descends from the marriage of good and truth. 3. Because it is spiritual, in proportion as the church exists with man. 4. Because it is the foundation love, and head of all celestial and spiritual loves. 5. Because it is the orderly seminary of the human race, and thereby of the angelic heaven. 6. Because on this account it also exists with the angels of heaven, and gives birth with them to spiritual offspring, which are love and wisdom. 7. And because its uses are thus more excellent than the other uses of creation. From these considerations, it follows that love truly conjugial, viewed from its origin and its essence, is pure and holy, so that it may be called purity and holiness, consequently, essential chastity.”—n. 143.
Conjugial Love in Ancient Times.—“I have been informed by the angels, that those who lived in the most ancient times, live at this day in the heavens, in separate houses, families, and nations, as they lived on earth, and that scarce any one of a house is wanting; and that the reason is, because they were principled in love truly conjugial; and that hence their children inherited inclinations to the conjugial principles of good and truth, and were easily initiated into it more and more interiorly by education received from their parents, and afterwards as from themselves, when they became capable of judging for themselves, were introduced into it by the Lord.”—n. 205.
Marriage elevates Humanity to its Highest Form.—“The most perfect and noble human form results from the conjunction of two forms, by marriage, so as to become one form; thus from two fleshes becoming one flesh according to creation. In such a case the man’s mind is elevated into superior light, and the wife’s into superior heat.”—n. 201.
The Children of Good Parents.—“Children born of parents who are principled in love truly conjugial, derive from their parents the conjugial principle of good and truth, by virtue whereof they have an inclination and faculty, if sons, to perceive the things appertaining to wisdom, and if daughters, to love those things which wisdom teaches. Hence a superior suitableness and facility to grow wise, is inherited by those who are born from such a marriage, and also to imbibe the things relating to the church and heaven.”—n. 202-4.