The capacity of women to perform the duties of men, and men those of women, is thus spoken of.
“The wife can not enter into the duties proper to the man, nor on the other hand the man into the duties proper to the wife, because they differ like wisdom and the love thereof, or like understanding and the will thereof. In the duties proper to the man, the primary agent is the understanding, thought, and wisdom; whereas in the duties proper to the wife, the primary agent is will, affection, and love; and the wife from the latter principles performs her duties, and the man from the former performs his; wherefore their duties, from the nature of them, are diverse, but still conjunctive in a successive series. It is believed by many that women can perform the duties of men, if they were initiated therein like boys, at an early age. They may indeed be initiated into the exercise of such duties, but not into the judgment, on which the rectitude interiorly depends; wherefore those women who have been initiated into the duties of men, are bound, in matters of judgment, to consult men, and then, if they are left to their own disposal, they select from the counsels of men what favors their own particular love. It is also supposed by some, that women are equally capable with men of elevating the intellectual vision, and into the same sphere of life, and of viewing things in the same altitude; and they have been led into this opinion by the writings of certain learned authoresses; but these writings, when examined in the spiritual world, in the presence of the authoresses, were found to be the productions, not of judgment and wisdom, but of ingenuity and wit; and what proceeds from these two latter principles, on account of the elegance and neatness of style in which it is written, has the appearance of sublimity and erudition; yet only in the eyes of those who call all ingenuity by the name of wisdom. In like manner, men can not enter into the duties of women, and perform them aright, because they are not in the affections of women, which are altogether distinct from the affections of men. As the affections and perceptions of the male and female sex are thus distinct by creation, and consequently by nature, therefore, among the statutes given to the sons of Israel, this was also ordained: ‘A woman shall not put on the garment of a man, neither shall a man put on the garment of a woman; because this is an abomination.’ Deut. xxii. 5. The reason is, because all in the spiritual world are clothed according to their affections; and the affections of the woman and the man can not be united, except as subsisting between two, and in no case as subsisting in one.”—n. 175.
The latter portion of the treatise on Conjugial Love is devoted to the melancholy subject of the disorders of the married life, to coldnesses and quarrels, separations and divorces; and finally to adulteries, fornications, and all the abuses of the sexual relations. Of this it would be out of place to speak here, except to remark, that it follows, as a consequence of the fact that conjugial love makes man’s highest bliss and purest heaven, that its violations and abuses must needs lead to the bitterest misery and deepest hell. This portion of the treatise has subjected Swedenborg to some gross calumny, which, if sincere, could only have arisen from a very superficial acquaintance with the principles of its author. And yet it is hardly possible for a man to write on such subjects, without provoking the censure of the sickly virtuous and the hypocritically pure. Religious people too generally treat the dire sexual evils which infest and corrupt society with silence and aversion; passing them by as the priest and the Levite did the wounded traveler. When the spirit of Jesus more fully actuates the church, and the love of the neighbor prompts to heal the world’s evils by all efficient means, then, we have no doubt, Swedenborg on Scortatory Love will be taken into council.
We have used the term “conjugial,” after Swedenborg, who generally uses the Latin adjective conjugialis, in preference to conjugalis, perhaps because softer in sound.
Interspersed between the various chapters of the treatise, are memorable relations of scenes which the author beheld in the spiritual world, and conversations which he had with spirits and angels on the subject of conjugial love. Many of these possess the most fascinating interest, and convey at the same time the most profound and beautiful truths. One interview which he had with two angels of the third heaven is so beautiful that we present it at length.
“One morning I was looking upwards into heaven, and I saw over me three expanses, one above another. I wondered at first what all this meant; and presently there was heard from heaven a voice as of a trumpet, saying, ‘We have perceived, and now see, that thou art meditating concerning conjugial love. We are aware that no one on earth at present knows what true conjugial love is in its origin and essence. Yet it is of importance that it should be known. With us in the heavens, especially in the third heaven, our heavenly delights are principally derived from conjugial love; wherefore in consequence of leave granted us, we will send down to thee a conjugial pair for thy inspection and observation:’ and lo! instantly there appeared a chariot descending from the third or highest heaven; in which there was seen one angel; but as it approached there were seen therein two. The chariot, at a distance, glittered before my eyes like a diamond, and to it were harnessed young horses white as snow; and those who sat in the chariot held in their hands two turtle doves.... When they came nearer, lo! it was a husband and his wife; and they said, ‘We are a conjugial pair; we have lived blessed in heaven from the first age of the world, which is called by you the golden age, and during that time in the same perpetual flower of youth in which thou seest us at this day. I viewed each attentively, because I perceived that they represented conjugial love in its life and its adorning; in its life in their faces, and in its adorning in their raiment.... The husband appeared of a middle age between manhood and youth; from his eyes darted forth sparkling light derived from the wisdom of love; by virtue of which light his face was radiant from its inmost ground; and in consequence of such radiance, the skin had a kind of refulgence in the outermost surface, whereby his whole face was one resplendent comeliness. He was dressed in an upper robe which reached down to his feet, and underneath it was a vesture of hyacinthine blue, girded about with a golden girdle, upon which were three precious stones, two sapphires on the sides, and a carbuncle in the middle; his stockings were of bright shining linen, with threads of silver interwoven; and his shoes were of velvet: such was the representative form of conjugial love with the husband. But with the wife it was this; her face was seen by me, and it was not seen; it was seen as essential beauty, and it was not seen because this beauty was inexpressible; for in her face there was a splendor of flaming light, such as the angels of the third heaven enjoy, and this light made my sight dim; so that I was lost in astonishment: she, observing this, addressed me, saying, ‘What dost thou see?’ I replied, ‘I see nothing but conjugial love and the form thereof; but I see, and I do not see.’ Hereupon she turned herself obliquely from her husband; and then I was enabled to view her attentively. Her eyes were bright and sparkling from the light of her own heaven, which light, as was said, is of a flaming quality, which it derives from the love of wisdom; for in that heaven wives love their husbands from their wisdom and in their wisdom: and husbands love their wives from that love of wisdom and in it, as directed towards themselves; and thus they are united. This was the origin of her beauty; which was such that it would be impossible for any painter to imitate and exhibit it in its form, for he has no colors bright and vivid enough to express its lustre; nor is it in the power of his art to depict such beauty. Her hair was adjusted in becoming order so as to correspond with her beauty; and in it were inserted diadems of flowers: she had a necklace of carbuncles, from which hung a rosary of chrysolites; and she had bracelets of pearl: her upper robe was scarlet, and underneath it was a stomacher of purple, fastened in front with clasps of rubies. But what surprised me was, that the colors varied according to her aspect in regard to her husband, and also according thereto were sometimes more glittering, and sometimes less; in mutual aspect more, and in oblique aspect less. When I had made these observations, they again discoursed with me; and when the husband spoke, he spoke at the same time as from his wife; and when the wife spoke, she spoke at the same time as from her husband; such was the union of their minds from whence speech flows; and on this occasion I also heard the sound or tone of voice of conjugial love; inwardly it was simultaneous, and it likewise proceeded from the delights of a state of innocence and peace. At length they said, ‘We are recalled; we must depart:’ and instantly they appeared again conveyed in a chariot as before. The way by which they were conveyed was a paved way through flowering shrubberies, from the beds of which rose olive and orange trees laden with fruit. When they approached their own heaven they were met by several virgins, who welcomed and introduced them.”
CHAPTER XXIII.
Attacked by Dr. Ekebom—Visits France—Letter to Hartley, and Hartley’s Opinion of Swedenborg.
In the spring of 1769, Swedenborg published at Amsterdam, A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church, “in which work,” he says, writing to Dr. Beyer, “are fully shown the errors of the existing doctrines of justification by faith alone, and of the imputation of the righteousness or merits of Jesus Christ.” He sent the little book to all the clergy throughout Holland, and to the most eminent in Germany; but, on second thought, sent only one copy to Sweden, to Dr. Beyer, requesting him to keep it to himself, for true divinity in Sweden was in a wintry state.