Extracts from the works of Emanuel Swedenborg

1. Love and Marriage
ON EARTH AND IN HEAVEN
EXTRACTS FROM SWEDENBORG
'The conjnnction oftwo mind.r into one is spirit11t1/ marriage'

3. First Edition . . 1932
Reprinted l 938
RevisedandReprinted . . 1964

4. Love and Marriage
ON EARTH AND IN HEAVEN
Extractsfrom the Writings of
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
THE SWEDENBORG SOCIETY
20/21 Bloomsbury Way, London, W.C.1
1964

5. References to the works from which the
extracts are taken are as follows:
C.L. Co1!J·u1,ial Love.
A.C. Arcana Calestia.
H.H. Heaven and Hell.
S.D. Spiritual Diary.
A.E. Apocalypse Explained.
Throughout this booklet conjugialis is trans-
lated 'conjugial' in preference to 'marriage',
on account of the new spiritual concept
introduced by Swedenborg. In the first
translation of De Amore Conjugiali, Rev. J.
Clowes introduced this translation of con-
jugialis, but in this he is not followed by
some translators of Swedenborg.
Printed by Eyre and Spo//iswoode Limited
at the Grosvenor Press, Portsmouth

6. FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION
In this new edition a few additions and modifications
have been made to the original compilation. The word·
ing has been brought into accord where necessary with
the Society's latest translations. The sections on 'Betro-
thal' and 'Adultery' are new. The latter has been
introduced for the reason that the subject is now so
freely and openly discussed in the world with what
seems so little understanding or acknowledgment of the
spiritual standards that should guide human behaviour.
The necessity for instruction and guidance on all
aspects of the subject of this booklet remains at least as
pressing in these days as when the first edition appeared
over thirty years ago. The instruction given herein wlll
appeal to all who humbly seek to be taught what true
marriage means and how to ensure its achievement on
earth and in heaven. A.A.D.
3

7. FOREWORD TO THE FIRST EDITION
There is perhaps no subject on which instruction and
guidance are more difficult to give, and at the same time
more urgently necessary to be given, than the one here
dealt with.
Marriage, in its ideal aspect, is well described as 'the
jewel of human life'. It is the true 'holy of holies'; the
sanctqary ofall Divine things; the 'seminary of Heaven'.
The purest joys, the most perfect happiness, of which
the human heart is capable, are provided and preserved
in it.
Yet there is nothing that seems to lend itself more
readily to profanation, or that can be made more pro-
ductive of utter misery.
The extracts presented in the pages that follow are
taken from the writings of one of the most remarkable
men of his age, or indeed of any age; one of the most
learned and also most enlightened; a man of celestial
genius and 'seraphic mould'; uniquely qualified by the
purity of his life and the exaltation of his spirit to speak
of heavenly things, and to give the kind of guidance
that is required.
To this end he claims to have been admitted in spirit
into the sphere of Heaven itself, and into the company of
4

8. angels. And in this connection he calls himself, with a
rare and high humility, the Servant of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
They who are willing to approach what he has written
in teachable mood, and, from a recognition of the
inherent sacredness of the theme, prepared to put the
shoes of merely sensuous thought from off the feet in
doing so, will not be Hkely to challenge the claim.
H.G.D.

10. WHAT MARRIAGE IS
A married pair who love each other are interiorly
united, and the essential of a marriage is the union of
dispositions and minds. Such as their essential disposi-
tions or minds are, such is their union and such their
love for each other. (H.H. 375.)
It is internal conjunction, or conjunction of souls,
which makes marriage. (C.L. 49.)
Conjugial love is such that the love existing mutually
between the partners is so intense that they desire to be
one, and each to impart to the other whatever is his own.
(S.D. 4192.)
He who does not live in the love of faith cannot live
in the true love ofmarriage and although he may seem to
himself to do so, yet it is nothing else than a certain
kind of adultery or lewdness. (S.D. 4076.)
The conjunction of two minds into one is the spiritual
marriage from which descends conjugial love. For when
two minds are conjoined so as to be one mind, there is
love between them, and ·this love which is the love of
7

11. spiritual marriage, when it descends into the body,
becomes the love of natural marriage. (A.E. 983.)
Conjugial love viewed in itself is a state of innocence.
(H.H. 382.)
Innocence consists in being led by the Lord and not
by self. (H.H. 280.)
RELIGION THE BASIS OF TRUE
MARRIAGE
Where there is no religion there is no conjugial love.
With those who reject the holy things of the Church,
there is no good love.
With everyone, conjugial love is according to the state
of the Church with him. (C.L. 239-40.)
With the chaste, being those who think about marriage
from religion, the marriage of the spirit precedes, and
that of the body follows.
Wholly different is it with the unchaste, being those
who do not think of marriage and the holiness thereof
from religion. With them there is a marriage of the body
and none of the spirit. (C.L. 304.)
ALL ANGELS ARE FROM THE HUMAN
RACE
Man has been created that he may come into heaven
and become an angel (H.H. 57.)
8

12. Each angel is in a complete human form. (H.H. 73.)
In the entire heaven there is not a single angel who
was created such in the beginning, nor in hell any devil
who was created an angel of light and cast down. But all,
both in heaven and in hell, are from the human race.
(H.H. 311.)
ANGELS OF BOTH SEXES
As heaven is from the human race, and consequently
the angels there are of both sexes, and from creation
woman is for man and man is for woman, thus the one
belongs to the other, and this love is innate in both, it
follows that there are marriages in heaven as well as on
the earth.
Marriage in heaven is a conjunction of two into one
mind. In heaven a married pair is spoken of, not as two,
but as one angel.
The conjunction of minds which makes marriage and
produces conjugial love in heaven is that one wishes
what is his own to be the other's, and this reciprocally.
(H.H. 366-69.)
INCLINATION TO MARRIAGE
IMPLANTED FROM CREATION
From creation there was implanted in man and woman
an inclination to conjunction as into one, and also the
faculty thereof, and these are in man and woman still.
(C.L. 156.)
9

13. Since this was implanted in them from creation and
thence is within them perpetually, it follows that the one
desires and yearns for conjunction with the other.
Regarded in itself, love is nothing but a desire and thence
a striving for conjunction, and conjugial love, for
conjunction into one. For the male human and the female
human were so created that from two they may become
as one man or one flesh; and when they become one,
then, taken together, they are man in his fulness. With-
out this conjunction they are two, and each, as it were,
is a divided or half-man. (C.L. 37.)
CONJUGIAL PARTNERS ARE
PROVIDED BY THE LORD
It is provided that conjugial pairs be born and that,
under the Lord's auspices, they be continually educated
for their marriage, neither the boy nor the girl knowing
it. Then when the due time has passed, she, now a
marriageable maid, and he, now a young man ripe for
marriage, meet somewhere as if by fate, sec each other
and at once know as by a kind of instinct that they are
mates; and within themselves as though from some
dictate, they think, the young man, She is mine, and the
maid, He is mine. Then after this thought has been
seated for some time in the mind of each they deliberate-
ly speak to each other and betroth themselves. It is
said, as if lry fate, instinct and dictate, though what is
meant is by Divine Providence, because when Divine
Providence is unknown, it so appears. (C.L. 229.)
IO

14. BETROTHAL, OR ENGAGEMENT
After the declaration of consent, pledges are to be
given, that is, gifts, which are tokens of mutual consent.
Because love is in them, those favours are dearer and
more precious than all other gifts. It is as though their
hearts were in them. (C.L. 300.)
The consent is to be strengthened and confirmed by
formal betrothal. (C.L. 3or.)
By betrothal, each is prepared for conjugial love; the
mind of the one is conjoined to the mind of the other,
so that a marriage of the spirit may take place before
that of the body. (C.L. 302-3.)
During the time of betrothal, it is not allowable to be
conjoined corporeally; for thus the order which is inscrib-
ed on conjugial love perishes.
In human minds there are three regions, the highest of
which is called celestial, the middle spiritual, and the
lowest natural. It is into this lowest region that man is
born. He ascends into his higher region, the spiritual,
by a life according to the truths of religion, and into the
highest by the marriage of love and wisdom.
Conjugial love if it is to become chaste, must be
elevated from the lowest region into the highest that
from what is chaste it may then be let down through the
middle and lowe~t regions into the body. When this is
done, this lowest region is purified of its unchastities by
the descent of what is chaste, and then the ultimate of
II

15. that love also becomes chaste. Ifthen the successive order
of this love be precipitated by corporeal conjunctions
before their due time, it follows that the man acts from
the lowest region, which is unchaste from birth. From
this region coldness in marriage, and neglect of the
married partner together with coldness, has its beginning
and origin. (C.L. 305 .)
TRULY CONJUGIAL LOVE
Truly conjugial love is not love of the sex but love of
one of the sex. This exists only when a young man sees
the virgin provided by the Lord, and the virgin the
young man and both feel the conjugial to be enkindled
in their hearts, and perceive, he that she is his, and she
that he is hers; for when love meets love, it meets
itself, and causes it to recognize itself and at once c0n-
joins their souls and then their minds and from there it
enters into their bosoms, and after the nuptials still
further and so becomes plenary love; and from day to
day this grows into conjunction until they are no more
two but as though one. (C.L. 44.)
Truly conjugial love is a chaste love and has nothing
in common with unchaste love. It is with one only ofthe
sex, all others being removed; for it is a love of the
spirit and thence of the body, and not of the body and
thence of the spirit, that is, not a love that infests the
spirit. (C.L. 44.)
12

16. Apart from the Lord's love towards all and each of
His creatures, and His manifest influx into the inner and
inmost of human minds, there never could exist, any
conjugial love. (S.D. 1683.)
Truly conjugial love is the union of two minds, which
is a spiritual union; and all spiritual union comes down
from heaven. It is for this reason that true conjugial love
is from heaven and that its primary being (esse) is frotn
the marriage of good and truth there. The marriage of
good and truth in heaven is from the Lord; therefore the
Lord in the Word is called the bridegroom and husband,
and heaven and the Church are called the bride and
wife; for this reason also heaven is compared to a mar-
riage. (A.C. 10168.)
UNION BETWEEN TWO ONLY
A true marriage is that of one man with one wife;
such marriage is representative of the heavenly marriage
and therefore heavenly happiness can be in it, but never
in a marriage of one man with several wives. (A.C. 865.)
Genuine conjugial love cannot possibly exist except
between two married partners; that is, in the marriage of
one husband and one wife, and in nowise between more;
for the reason that conjugial love is mutual and recip-
rocal, and the life of one is that of the other reciprocally,
so as to form as it were a one. Such a union may exist
between two, but not with more, as more would divide
the love asunder. (A.C. 2740.)
13

17. Marriage with more than one is like an understanding
divided among several wills; or it is like a man attached
not to one but to several churches, since his faith is so
distracted thereby as to come to naught. (H.H. 379.)
THE HOLINESS OF MARRIAGE ON
EARTH IN THE SIGHT OF THE ANGELS
Marriages on the earth are most holy in the sight of
the angels of heaven because they are seminaries of the
human race, and also of the angels of heaven, also be-
cause these marriages are from a spiritual origin, namely,
from the marriage of good and truth, and because the
Lord's Divine flows especially into that love. (H.H. 384.)
MARRIAGES IN HEAVEN
Spiritual nuptials are meant by the Lord's words that
'after the resurrection they are not given in marriage'.
There are two things which the Lord taught by these
words. First that man rises again after death; and second,
that in heaven they are not given in marriage.
That no other than spiritual nuptials are meant is very
evident from the words which immediately follow;
'they cannot die any more because they are like unto
angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrec-
tion'. By spiritual nuptials is meant conjunction with the
Lord. This is effected on earth, and when effected on
earth, it is effected in heaven also. Therefore in the
heavens, they are not again married and given in
marriage.
14

18. This is also meant by the words 'The sons of this
age marry and are given in marriage, but they which are
accounted worthy to attain to another age neither
marry nor are given in marriage'.
Marrying means being conjoin.ed with the Lord.
(C.L. 41.)
There are nuptials in heaven as on earth; but for
none save those who are in the marriage of good and
truth, nor are there any other angels. Thus it is spiritual
nuptials that are there meant, being the nuptials of the
marriage of good and truth. These nuptials take place
on earth, not after death, thus not in the heavens. There-
fore it is said of the five foolish virgins who also were
invited to the wedding, that they could not enter
because there was in them no marriage of good and
truth, for they had no oil but only lamps; by oil being
meant good and by lamps truth, and to be given in
marriage is to enter into heaven where the marriage of
good and truth is. (C.L. 44.)
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
MARRIAGES IN BEAVEN AND ON
E ARTH
Marriages in heaven differ from marriages on the
earth in that the procreation of offspring is another
purpose of marriages on the earth, but not of marriages
in heaven, since in heaven the procreation of good and
truth takes the place of the procreation of offspring.
(H.H. 382.)
15

19. THE SPHERE OF MARRIAGE
IS FROM THE LORD
Love and wisdom, or what is the same thing, good
and truth continually proceed from the Lord. These
two continually proceed from the Lord in marriage
because they are Himself and from Him are all things.
Moreover, what proceeds from Him fills the universe,
for without Him nothing which exists would subsist.
(C.L. 222.)
Subsistence is perpetual existence; or, what is the
same, production is continual creation. (A.C. 3648.)
There are many spheres which proceed from the
Lord, such as the sphere of the preservation of the
created universe, the sphere of the protection of good
and truth against evil and falsity, the sphere of reforma-
tion and regeneration, of innocence and peace, of
mercy and grace, besides many others. But of all these
the universal sphere is the conjugial; for this i.s also the
sphere of propagation and is thus the supereminent
sphere of the preservation of the created universe by
successive generations. That this conjugial sphere fills
the universe and pervades it from first things to last is
evident from the fact that there are marriages in the
heavens, the most perfect being in the third or highest
heaven; and that on earth besides being with men, this
conjugial sphere is in all subjects ofthe animal kingdom,
even to worms, and in all subjects of the vegetable
16

20. kingdom from olive and palm trees even to the smallest
grasses. (C.L. zzz..)
There is no conjugial love with the male sex but it is
with the female sex alone and from this sex is transferred
into the male sex. (C.L. z.z.3.)
It is from the transfer of this sphere from the female
sex into the male that the mind is enkindled even at the
mere thought of sex; consequently thence also comes
propagative formation and thus excitation. (C.L. z.z.3.)
FEW ARE IN GENUINE
CONJUGIAL LOVE
Few at this day know what genuine conjugial love is
and whence it originates, for the reason that few are in
that love. Almost every one believes that it is innate,
and thus flows from a certain 'natural instinct', as it
is called; and this the more especially as the conjugial
principle exists even among animals. When yet the
difference between conjugial love with men and the
conjugial tendency with animals is like the difference
between the state of a man and that of a brute beast.
(A.C. z.7z.7.)
Conjugial love derives its origm from the Divine
marriage of good and truth and thus from the Lord
Himself.
Heaven, by virtue of the union of good and truth
17

21. which flows in from the Lord, is compared to a marriage
and is called a marriage.
A union of minds, by virtue of good united with
truth from the Lord, is conjugial love itself. (A.C. 2728.)
ADULTERY
As the ongm of conjugial love is the marriage of
good and truth, which marriage in its essence is heaven,
it is manifest that the origin of the love of adultery
is the marriage of evil and falsity which in its essence is
hell. The reason why heaven is marriage is, because all
who are in the heavens are in the marriage of good and
truth; and the reason why hell is adultery is, because
all who are in the hells are in the marriage of evil and
falsity: hence it follows that marriage and adultery
are as opposite to each other as heaven and hell.
(A.E. 983.)
Because adultery is hell with man, and marriage is
heaven with him, it follows that in proportion as man
loves adultery, in the same proportion he removes him-
self from heaven, consequently that adulteries shut
heaven and open hell; this they do in proportion as they
are believed to be lawful and are perceived as delightful
above marriages; wherefore the man who confirms
adulteries with himself and commits them from leave
and consent of his will, and is averse from marriages,
shuts heaven against himself, until at length he does
not believe anything of the church or of the Word, and
18

22. becomes altogether a sensual man, and after death an
infernal spirit. (A.E. 982.)
In the heavens, the beauty of the angels is according
to the quality of the conjugial love with them, and in
the hells the deformity of the spirits there is according
to the love of adultery with them. (A.E. 986.)
THE NATURAL MAN
AND THE SPIRITUAL MAN
The natural man loves and desires only external
conjunctions and from these, the pleasures of the body;
but the spiritual man loves and desires internal con-
junction and from this the happiness of the spirit.
Moreover he perceives that this happiness is possible
[only] with one wife with whom he can be perpetually
more and more conjoined into a one. And the more he is
thus conjoined, the more he perceives his happiness
ascending in like degree and remaining constant to
eternity; but of this the natural man has no thought.
Hence it is said that conjugial love remains after death
with those who come into heaven, being those who be-
come spiritual on earth. (C.L. 38.)
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER DEATH?
It is among the wishes and desires of married partners
to know whether the conjugial covenant entered into
in the world will continue after death and be enduring,
for men who have loved their wives, and wives who have
loved their husbands desire to know whether it is well
19

23. with them after their death and whether they will
meet again. (C.L. 45 .)
The delight of truly conjugial love not only endures
to old age in the world but after death becomes the
delight of heaven and is there filled with an interior
delight that grows more and more perfect to eternity.
(H.H. 379.)
Those who have lived in truly conjugial love are not
separated by the death of one since the spirit of the
deceased partner dwells continually with the one not
yet deceased, and this until the death of the latter when
they meet again and reunite and love each other more
tenderly than before because in the spiritual world.
Hence those who have lived in truly conjugial love do
not wish to marry again. If, after the death of the part-
ner, they contract something like marriage, it is done
from reasons apart from conjugial love, and these reasons
are all external, such as : If there are small children in
the house and provision must be made for the care of
them; if the house is large and provided with servants
of both sexes; if forensic occupations withdraw the
mind from family affairs. in the home; if mutual aid
and services are necessities; and other like reasons.
(C.L. 32i.)
There are two states through which a man passes
after death, an external and an internal. He comes first
2.0

24. into his external state and afterwards into his internal.
If both married partners have died, then, while in the
external state, the one meets and recognizes the other
and if they have lived together in the world, they again
consociate and for some time live together. When in
this state, neither of them knows the inclination of the
one to the other, this being concealed in their internals;
but afterwards, when they come into their internal
state, the inclination manifests itself. Ifthis is concordant
and sympathetic, they continue their conjugial life,
but if discordant and antipathetic they dissolve it.
If a man has had several wives, .he conjoins himself
with them in turn, while in the external state; but when
he enters the internal state, in which he perceives the
nature of the inclinations of his love, he either takes
one or leaves them all. For in the spiritual world as in
the natural, no Christian is allowed to take more than
one wife because this infests and profanes religion. The
like happens with a woman who has had several hus-
bands. (C.L. 48a.)
The reason why separations take place after death is
because conjunctions made on earth are seldom made
from any internal perception of love being for the
most part from an external perception which holds the
internal in hiding.
External perception of love derives its cause and
origin from such things as pertain to love of the world
and the body. To love of the world pertain especially
21

25. wealth and possessions, and to love of the body,
dignities and honour. Besides these, there are also
various allurements which entice, such as beauty and a
simulated propriety of behaviour; sometimes even
unchastity.
Moreover, marriages arecontracted within the district,
city or village of one's birth or abode, where there is
no choice save one that is restricted and limited to the
families of one's acquaintance, and among these, to
those in the same station of life as oneself. Hence it is
that, for themost part, marriages entered intointhe world
are external and not at the same time internal, when
yet it is internal conjunction, or conjunction of souls,
which makes marriage. This conjunction, however,
is not perceptible until man puts off his external and
puts on his internal, which takes place after death.
Hence it is that there is then separation and after-
wards new conjunction with those who are similar and
homogeneous - unless these had been provided on
earth, as is the case with those who from youth have
loved, chosen and asked of the Lord a legitimate and
lovely partnership with one, and who spurn and reject
wandering lusts as an offence to their nostrils. (C.L. 49.)
THE FUNDAMENTAL LOVE
Conjugial love, regarded in its essence, is the funda-
mental love of all the loves of heaven and the Church,
because its origin is from the marriage of good and
truth and from this marriage proceed all the loves which
22

26. make heaven and the Church with man. (C.L 65.)
All delights from their first to their last are gathered
into this love, because of the excellence of its use above
all other uses. Its use is the propagation of the human
race, and thence of the angelic heavens; and because
this use was the end of ends of creation, it follows that
all the states of blessedness, happiness, delight, pleasant-
ness, and pleasure which, by the Lord the Creator,
could ever be conferred on man, are gathered into this,
his love.
That delights follow use and are present with man
according to the love thereof, is manifest from the
delights of the five senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste
and touch. Each of these has its own delights with
variations according to their specific uses. What
then should not be the delights of the sense of conjugial
love, whose use is the complex of all other uses! (C.L.
68.)
Truly conjugial love is from the Lord ... No others
can be in it save those who approach Him directly and
from Him live the life of the Church. Such men shun
extra-conjugial loves as injuries to the soul and as the
stagnant pools of hell; and so far as partners shun such
conjunctions even as to the lusts of the will and the
intentions therefrom, so that love is purified with them
and successively becomes more spiritual, first during
their life on earth and afterwards in heaven. (C.L. 7i.)
23

27. A COVENANT FOR LIFE
Matrimonies in the world ought to continue to the
end of life.
Conjugial love, where it is not genuine, should yet
be affected, that is, should seem as if it were genuine.
Since the covenant for marriage is a covenant for life it
follows that appearances of love and friendship between
the partners are necessities.
That matrimonies once contracted must continue to
the end of life in the world, is from Divine Law; and
being from this, it is also from rational law and hence
from civil law. (C.L. 276.)
Divorces are from adulteries inasmuch as these are
directly opposed to marriages. (C.L. 234.)
MEN AND ANGELS
Men are enveloped with a gross body, and this dulls
and absorbs the sensation that two partners are a
united man and as one flesh.
Such is not the case with angels of heaven, inasmuch
as they are in spiritual and celestial conjugial love and
are not enveloped in so gross a body. (C.L. 178.)
PROGRESSIVE CONJUNCTION
From the first days of marriage this conjunction is
effected successively and with those who are in truly
conjugial love, more and more deeply to eternity.
(C.L. 162.)

28. With those who are in truly conjugial love, the happi-
ness of dwelling together increases, but with those who
are not in conjugial love it decreases. This is because
they love each other mutually with every sense. The
wife sees nothing more lovable than the man, and the
man nothing more lovable than the wife. (C.L. i.13.)
THE FRIENDSHIP OF MARRIAGE
With those who are in truly conjugial love, the con-
junction of minds and therewith friendship increases.
This is because friendship is as the face of that love
and also its garment. The love preceding friendship is
similar to love of the sex, and after the vows, this love
grows feeble; but when conjoined with friendship, the
love remains and is also made stable. (C.L. i.14.)
DISTINCTION BETWEEN LOVE OF THE
SEX AND CONJUGIAL LOVE
Since the love of the sex is one thing, and conjugial
love another, therefore both are named. Love of the
sex is a love towards many and with many of the sex.
Love towards many and with many is a natural love,
for man has it in common with beasts and birds, and
these are natural. But conjugial love is a spiritual love
and peculiar and proper to men; because men were
created and are therefore born to become spiritual.
Therefore so far as man becomes spiritual he puts off
the love of the sex, and puts on conjugial love.
In the beginning of marriage love of the sex appears
2.5

29. as if conjoined with conjugial love; but in the progress
of marriage they are separated, and then with those
who are spiritual love of the sex is expelled and con-
jugial love insinuated. With those who are natural the
opposite is the case. (C.L. 48.)
NO MARRIAGES BETWEEN THOSE OF
DIFFERENT RELIGIONS
Those who have been born within the Church, and
from infancy have imbibed the principles of truth of
the Church, ought not to enter into marriages with
those who are out of the Church and have thus been
imbued with such things as are not of the Church.
The reason is that there is no conjunction between
them in the spiritual world. For every one there is
associated according to good and thence truth; and
since there is no conjunction between such in the
spiritual world neither ought there to be any on earth.
For marriages regarded in themselves are conjunc-
tions of dispositions and minds, the spiritual life of
which is from the truths and goods of faith and charity.
On this account marriages on earth between those who
are of different religions are in Heaven accounted as
heinous; and more between those who are of the Church
than with those who are out of the Church.
This also was the reason why the Jewish and Israelitish
nations were forbidden to contract matrimony with the
Gentiles.
This is still more plainly evident from the origin of
16

30. conjugial love, which is the marriage of good and truth.
When conjugial love descends thence it constitutes
Heaven itself in man. This is destroyed when two
married partners are of dissimilar hearts from dissimilar
faiths. (A.C. 8998.)
There cannot be conjugial love between two persons
of different religions, because the truth of one does not
agree with the good of the other; and two unlike and
discordant kinds of good and truth cannot make one
mind out of two. (H.H. 378.)
THE CONJUGIAL
The conjugial ofone man with one wife is the precious
jewel of human life and the repository of the Christian
religion.
It is the precious jewel of human life because the
nature of man's life is such as is the conjugial love with
him. This makes the inmost of his life, being the life of
wisdom cohabiting with love and of love cohabiting
with its wisdom. Hence it is the life of the delights of
both.
This love is the repository of the Christian religion
because that religion makes one with the love and
cohabits with it. For this love is from the Lord alone
and hence it is with those who are of the Christian
religion. (C.L. 457-8.)
That truly conjugial love is from the Lord is testified
to by all the angels ofheaven. (C.L. 131.)
2.7

31. Conjugial love is the fundamental of all loves; it also
excels the rest in use and consequently in delight.
For marriages are the seminaries of the whole human
race and also of the Lord's heavenly kingdom; for
heaven is from the human race. (A.C. 505 3.)
The mind of man is elevated (by conjugial love) into
superior light, and the mind of the wife into superior
heat; and then they bud and blossom and bear fruit as do
trees in the time of spring. (C.L. 201.)
Conjugial love is the fundamental love of all celestial
and spiritual loves, and thence of all natural loves; and
into it are gathered up all joys and gladness from first
to last. (C.L. 457.)
Conjugial love opens the interiors of the mind and
thus elevates them above the sensual things of the body
even into the light and heat of heaven. (C.L. 497.)
LOVE OF CHILDREN
The sphere of the love of infants is a sphere of
protection and support of those who cannot support
themselves. (C.L. 391.)
With spiritual partners the love of infants is the same
in appearance as the love ofinfants with natural partners,
but it is more internal and hence more tender, inasmuch
as it exists from the innocence with themselves, and
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32. from a closer perception thereof. The spiritual love their
children for the spiritual intelligence and moral life
of those children, thus for their fear of God and their
piety of life, and at the same time for their devotion
and application to uses serviceable to society; thus for
their virtues and their upright conduct. It is mainly from
their love of these that they provide for their needs and
supply them.
With natural fathers and mothers, the love of infants
is indeed also from innocence, but this is wrapped
around their own self-love. They continue to love them,
but not from the presence with them of any fear of God
and actual piety of life, nor of any rational and moral
intelligence. They pay little, and indeed scarcely any
attention to their virtues and good conduct, seeing only
the external things which they themselves favour. To
these they adjoin, attach and cement their affections;
thus shutting their eyes to the faults of their children,
excusing and favouring them.
The reason is because with them the love of their
progeny is the love of themselves. (C.L. 405.)
NO CHILDREN BORN IN HEAVEN
Marriages in heaven differ from marriages on the
earth in that the procreation of offspring is another
purpose of marriages on the earth, but not of marriages
in heaven, since in heaven the procreation of good and
truth takes the place of procreation of offspring.
(H.H. 382.)

33. Regarded in themselves, spiritual things relate to
love and wisdom. It is these, therefore, that are born of
their marriages. It is said that they are born, because
conjugial love perfects an angel so uniting him with
his consort that he becomes more and more a man;
for two partners in heaven are not two but one angel.
Therefore by conjugial unition they fill themselves
with the human which consists in willing to become
wise and in loving that which pertains to wisdom.
(C.L. 5z.)
LOVE OF RULING DESTROYS
MARRIAGE
The love of dominion of one over the other entirely
takes away conjugial love and its heavenly delight
for conjugial love and its delight consists in the will of
one being that of the other and this mutually and
reciprocally. This is destroyed by love of dominion in
marriage, since he who domineers wishes his will alone
to be in the other and nothing of the other's will to be
reciprocally in himself.
When one wills or loves what the other wills or loves
each has freedom. (H.H. 380.)
In marriage the desire of ruling destroys true love,
for it takes away its freedom and also its joy. The delight
of ruling gives rise to disagreements, sets minds at
enmity and causes evils to take root. (A.C. 10173.)
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34. NO INFERENCE TO BE DRAWN
There are marriages in which there is no appearance
of conjugial love and yet it is there, and there are
marriages in which there is an appearance of conjugial
love and yet it is not there.
Conclusion as to whether a man has or has not
conjugial love must not be made from the appearance
of marriage. Therefore, Judge not, thatye be not condemned
(Matt. vii, I). (C.L. 53i.)
FOR THE UNMARRIED
For those who desire truly conjugial love the Lord
provides similitudes, and if not given on earth, He
provides them in the heavens. (C.L. 229.)