CL 116. That here the marriage of the Lord and the Church and the correspondence thereof is also treated of, is because, in the absence of knowledge and understanding concerning it, hardly anyone can know that in its origin, conjugial love is holy, spiritual, and celestial, and that it is from the Lord. Some in the Church do indeed say that marriages have relation to the marriage of the Lord with the Church, but the nature of that relation is not known. In order, therefore, that the subject may be so presented as to be seen in some light of the understanding it is necessary to treat in detail of that holy marriage which is with and in those who are of the Lord's Church. Moreover, it is these and no others who have love truly conjugial. For the elucidation of this arcanum, the present chapter will be distributed under the following articles:

1. That in the Word, the Lord is called Bridegroom and Husband, and the Church Bride and Wife; and that the conjunction of the Lord with the Church, and the reciprocal conjunction of the Church with the Lord, is called Marriage.

2. Also that the Lord is called Father, and the Church Mother.

3. That the offspring from the Lord as Husband and Father and the Church as Wife and Mother are all spiritual, and in the spiritual serve of the word are meant by sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, and by other names belonging to generation.

4. That the spiritual offspring which are born from the marriage of the Lord with the Church are truths, from which are understanding, perception, and all thought; and goods, from which are love, charity, and every affection.

5. That from the marriage of good and truth which proceeds and flows in from the Lord, man receives truth, and to this the Lord conjoins good; and that thus the Church is formed by the Lord with man.

6. That the husband does not represent the Lord, and the wife the Church, because both together, the husband and his wife, make the Church.

7. Therefore, that in the marriages of angels in the heavens and of men on earth, there is not a correspondence of the husband with the Lord and of the wife with the Church.

8. But that there is a correspondence with conjugial love, semination, prolification, the love of infants, and similar things which are in marriages and from them.

9. That the Word is the medium of conjunction because it is from the Lord and thus is the Lord.

10. That the Church is from the Lord and is with those who approach Him and live according to His commandments.

11. That conjugial love is according to the state of the Church because according to the state of wisdom with man.

12. And because the Church is from the Lord, that conjugial love also is from Him.

The explanation of the above now follows:

CL 117. I. That in the Word, the Lord is called Bridegroom and Husband, and the Church Bride and Wife; and that the conjunction of the Lord with the Church, and the reciprocal conjunction of the Church with the Lord, is called Marriage. That in the Word, the Lord is called Bridegroom and Husband, and the Church Bride and Wife, may be seen from the following passages:

these words were spoken by John the Baptist concerning the Lord.

That by the New Jerusalem is meant the Lord's New Church may be seen in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED (AR n. 880, 881). The angel said to John:

By the Bridegroom whom the five virgins who were ready went forth to meet, and with whom they entered into the wedding (Matt. 25:6-10), is meant the Lord (Matt. 25:13) where it is said: "Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour wherein the SON OF MAN cometh." Besides many passages in the Prophets.

CL 118. II. Also that the Lord is called Father, and the Church Mother. That the Lord is called Father is seen from these passages:

That the Lord and His Father are one as soul and body are one; that God the Father descended from heaven and assumed the Human to redeem and save men; and that His Human is what is called the Son sent into the world, is fully shown in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED.

CL 119. That the Church is called Mother is evident from the following passages:

The above passages are said of the Jewish church.

By the disciples of the Lord is meant the Church.

By this is meant that the Lord did not acknowledge Mary as mother, but the Church; for which reason He called her woman and the mother of the disciple. He called her the mother of this disciple, that is, of John, because John represented the Church as to the goods of charity, these being the Church in very fact; therefore it is said that he took her unto his own. That Peter represented truth and faith, James charity, and John the works of charity, may be seen in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED (AR n. 5, 6, 790, 798, 879); and that the twelve disciples together represented the Church as to all things thereof, in (AR n. 233, 790, 903, 915).

CL 120. III. That the offspring from the Lord as Husband and Father and the Church as Wife and Mother are all spiritual, and in the spiritual sense of the word are meant by sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, and by other names belonging to generation. That no other offspring are born of the Lord by the Church needs no demonstration because reason sees it without demonstration; for it is the Lord from whom every good and truth proceeds, and it is the Church which receives them and brings them into effect; and all the spiritual things of heaven and the Church have reference to good and truth. Hence it is, that in the word in its spiritual sense, by sons and daughters are meant truths and goods--by sons, truths conceived in the spiritual man and born in the natural, and by daughters, goods in like manner. Therefore, in the word they who are regenerated by the Lord are called sons of God, sons of the kingdom, born of Him, and the Lord called His disciples sons. Nothing else is signified by the male child which the woman brought forth and which was caught up to God (Rev. 12:5); see (AR n. 543). Because by daughters are signified the goods of the Church, therefore, the daughter of Zion, of Jerusalem, of Israel, and of Judah is so often mentioned in the word, and by her is signified no other daughter than the affection of good which is of the Church; see (AR n. 612). Moreover, the Lord calls those who are of His Church, brothers and sisters (Matt. 12:49; 25:40; 28:10; Mark 3:35; Luke 8:21).

CL 121. IV. That the spiritual offspring which are born from the marriage of the Lord with the Church are truths, from which are understanding, perception, and all thought; and goods, from which are love, charity, and every affection. That truths and goods are the spiritual offspring born of the Lord by the Church is

(1) because the Lord is good itself and truth itself, and in Him these are not two but one, and

(2) because nothing else can proceed from the Lord but what is in Him and is Himself.

That the marriage of good and truth proceeds from the Lord and flows in with men and is received according to the state of the mind and life of those who are of the Church, has been shown in the preceding chapter on The Marriage of Good and Truth. That by truths, man has understanding, perception, and all thought, and by goods, love, charity, and every affection, is because all things of man have reference to truth and good, and there are two things in him which make him, namely, will and understanding, the will being the receptacle of good and the understanding the receptacle of truth. That the things proper to the will are love, charity, and affection, and those proper to the understanding are perception and thought, needs no light from demonstration, for in the statement is light from the understanding itself.

CL 122. V. That from the marriage of good and truth which proceeds and flows in from the Lord, man receives truth, and to this the Lord conjoins good; and that thus the Church is formed by the Lord with man. That from the good and truth which proceed as one from the Lord, man receives truth, is because he receives it as his own, and appropriates it to himself as his own; for he thinks it as if of himself, and speaks from it in like manner. This is the case because truth is in the light of the understanding, therefore he sees it; and when one sees anything in himself or in his own mind, he knows not whence it is, for he does not see its influx as he sees the things which come into the sight of his eye; therefore he supposes it to be in himself. That it so appears is granted man by the Lord, that he may be a man and that he may have a reciprocal of conjunction. Add to this, that man is born a faculty of knowing, understanding, and being wise, and this faculty receives the truths whereby he has knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. And because the female was created by means of the truth of the male and after marriage, is formed more and more into the love thereof, it follows that she also receives her husband's truth into herself and conjoins it with her good.

CL 123. That to the truths which man receives, the Lord adjoins and conjoins good, is because man cannot take good as of himself, since it is not seen by him, and this because it is not a matter of light but of heat, and heat is felt not seen. Wherefore, when man sees a truth in his thought, he rarely reflects upon the good which flows into it from the love of the will and gives it life. Nor does the wife reflect upon the good with herself, but upon the inclination of her husband towards her, which is according to the ascent of his understanding to wisdom. The good which is with her from the Lord, she applies without the husband knowing anything of the application. From this, the truth is now manifest that man receives truth from the Lord, and that the Lord adjoins good to that truth according to the man's application of the truth to use, thus according as he wills to think wisely and thence to live wisely.

CL 124. That the Church is thus formed with man by the Lord is because then he is in conjunction with the Lord, being in good from Him and in truth as if from himself. Thus man is in the Lord and the Lord in him, according to His words (John 15:4, 5). It is the same if for good we say charity, and for truth, faith; for good pertains to charity, and truth to faith.

CL 125. VI. That the husband does not represent the Lord, and the wife the Church, because both together, the husband and his wife, make the Church. It is a common saying in the Church that, as the Lord is the head of the Church, so the husband is the head of the wife; from which it would follow that the husband represents the Lord and the wife the Church. But the Lord is the head of the Church, and man, man and woman, and still more husband and wife together, are the Church. With these, the Church is first implanted in the man and through the man in his wife; for the man receives its truth in his understanding, and the wife receives it from the man. If the reverse is the case, it is not according to order. Sometimes, however, it is the case, but with men who are not lovers of wisdom and therefore are not of the Church; also with those who depend as slaves on the bidding of their wives. But of this matter, something may be seen in the Preliminaries, (n. 21).

CL 126. VII. Therefore, that in the marriages of angels in the heavens and of men on earth, there is not a correspondence of the husband with the Lord and of the wife with the Church. This follows from what has just been said; to which, however, it must be added that it appears as though truth were the primary thing of the Church because it is its first in time. It is from this appearance that prelates of the Church have given the palm to faith which pertains to truth, rather than to charity which pertains to good. In like manner, the learned have given the palm to thought which pertains to the understanding, rather than to affection which pertains to the will. Therefore, as regards any knowledge of what they are, the good of charity and the affection of the will lie hidden away as though in a tomb, and by some, earth is thrown over them as over the dead, lest they rise again. That, nevertheless, the good of charity is the primary thing of the Church can be seen with open eyes by all who have not closed the way from heaven into their understanding by confirmations in favour of faith, that it alone makes the Church, and in favour of thought, that it alone makes the man. Now because, with man, the good of charity is from the Lord, and the truth of faith is as if from himself, and these two make that conjunction of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord which is meant by the Lord's words that He is in them and they in him (John 15:4, 5), it is plain that this conjunction is the Church.

CL 127. VIII. But that there is a correspondence with conjugial love, semination, prolification, the love of infants, and similar things which are in marriages and from them. But these matters are too arcane to admit of entering into the understanding with any light unless a knowledge of correspondence has preceded. Wherefore, unless this knowledge is disclosed and is present in the understanding, the matters belonging to the present article, howsoever explained, are apprehended in vain. As to what correspondence is, and that there is a correspondence of natural things with spiritual, this has been abundantly shown in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED, also in THE ARCANA COELESTIA, and specifically in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURES, also in detail in a Memorable Relation respecting it, which is to follow later (n. 326). Until knowledge concerning it has been acquired, it is only before an understanding which is in shade, that the following few statements will be set forth, namely: That conjugial love corresponds to the affection of genuine truth and to the chastity, purity, and holiness thereof; that semination corresponds to the potency of truth; that prolification corresponds to the propagation of truth; and that the love of infants corresponds to the protecting of truth and good. Now because truth in man appears as his own, and good is adjoined to it by the Lord, it is evident that these correspondences are correspondences of the natural man with the spiritual or internal man. But some light will be thrown on these subjects in the Memorable Relations which follow.

CL 128. IX. That the Word is the medium of conjunction because it is from the Lord and thus is the Lord. That the Word is the medium of the conjunction of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord, is because in its essence, it is Divine Truth united to Divine Good, and Divine Good united to Divine Truth. That this unition exists in each and every thing of the Word in its celestial and spiritual sense, may be seen in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED, (AR n. 373, 483, 689, 881). From this it follows that the word is the perfect marriage of good and truth; and because it is from the Lord, and what is from Him is also Himself, it follows that when man reads the word and draws truths therefrom, the Lord adjoins good; for man does not see the goods which affect him, because he reads the word from his understanding, and the understanding draws from it nothing but what pertains to itself, namely, truths. That to these, good is adjoined by the Lord, this, the understanding sensates from the delight which flows in when it is enlightened. But this is not interiorly the case save with those who read the word with the end of becoming wise; and those have the end of becoming wise who wish to learn genuine truth there, and by means thereof to form the Church with themselves. Those who read it only for the glory of erudition, and those who read it from an opinion that the mere reading or hearing of it inspires faith and conduces to salvation, do not receive any good from the Lord; for with the latter, the end is to save themselves by the mere words there, wherein is nothing of truth; and with the former, the end is to become eminent for erudition, and with this end is conjoined, not any spiritual good but the natural delight which comes from worldly glory. Because the word is the medium of conjunction, it is therefore called a Covenant, Old and New, and a covenant signifies conjunction.

CL 129. X. That the Church is from the Lord and is with those who approach Him and live according to His commandments. It is not denied at this day that the Church is the Lord's, and, being the Lord's, that it is from the Lord. That it is with those who approach Him, is because in the Christian world His Church is from the Word, and the Word is from Him, being from Him in such wise that it is Himself. In the Word is Divine Truth united with Divine Good, and this also is the Lord. Nothing else is meant by the Word which was with God and which was God, from which men have life and light, and which was made flesh (John 1:1-14). Furthermore, that the Church is with those who approach Him, is because it is with those who believe in Him; and the belief that He is God, the Saviour and Redeemer, Jehovah our Justice, the Door by which to enter into the sheepfold--that is, into the Church--the Way the Truth and the Life, that no one comes to the Father but by Him, that the Father and He are one, and much else which He Himself teaches, this belief, I say, is possible to no one except from Him. That it is not possible unless He is approached, is because He is the God of heaven and earth, as He also teaches. Who else is to be approached? and who else can be approached? That He is with those who live according to His commandments, is because with others there is no conjunction; for He says:

Love is conjunction; and conjunction with the Lord is the Church.

CL 130. XI. That conjugial love is according to the state of the Church because according to the state of wisdom with man. That conjugial love is according to the state of wisdom with man has often been said before and will often be said hereafter. Here, therefore, light shall be given as to what wisdom is, and that it makes one with the Church.

With man there is science, intelligence, and wisdom. Science pertains to cognitions, intelligence to reason, and wisdom to life. Considered in its fullness, wisdom pertains simultaneously to cognitions, reason, and life. Cognitions precede, reason is formed by means of them, and wisdom by means of both--and this when a man lives rationally according to the truths which are his cognitions. Wisdom, therefore, pertains to reason and at the same time to life. It is becoming wisdom when it is the wisdom of reason and thence of life; and it is wisdom when it has become the wisdom of life and thence of reason. The most ancient people in this world recognized no other wisdom than wisdom of life. This was the wisdom of those who of old were called SOPHI. The ancients who succeeded the most ancient recognized the wisdom of reason as wisdom, and they were called PHILOSOPHERS. But at this day many call even science wisdom; for learned doctors are called wise, and also the erudite and mere knowers. Thus has wisdom fallen from its mountain peak to its valley.

[2] Something shall also be said as to what wisdom is in its origin and progress, and thence in its full state. With man, things which pertain to the Church and are called spiritual, reside in his inmosts; those which pertain to the commonwealth and are called civil, occupy a place below them; and those which pertain to science, experience, and skill, and are called natural, make the seat on which they rest. That those which pertain to the Church and are called spiritual, have their abode in man's inmosts is because they conjoin themselves with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; for with man, it is these alone that enter in from the Lord through heaven. That those which pertain to the commonwealth and are called civil, occupy a place below the spiritual, is because they conjoin themselves with the world; for they are things of the world, being the statutes, laws, and regulations which bind men, to the end that from them may be formed a stable and well-knit society and state. That those which pertain to science, experience, and skill, and are called natural, make their seat, is because they closely conjoin themselves with the five senses of the body, and these are the ultimates on which interior things belonging to the mind, and inmost things belonging to the soul, are seated, as it were.

[3] Now because those which pertain to the Church and are called spiritual reside in inmosts, and those which reside in inmosts make the head, while those which follow under them and are called civil make the body, and ultimate things which are called natural make the feet, it is evident, that when these three follow in their order, man is a perfect man; for then they flow in, in the same way that the things of the head flow into the body and through the body into the feet. So spiritual things flow into civil things and through these into natural. Now because spiritual things are in the light of heaven, it is evident that by their light they enlighten the things which follow in order, and by their heat which is love they animate them; and that when this is the case, the man has wisdom.

[4] Since wisdom pertains to life and thence to reason, as said above, the question arises, What is wisdom of life? In a comprehensive summary it is this: To shun evils because they are hurtful to the soul, hurtful to the commonwealth, and hurtful to the body; and to do goods because they are beneficial to the soul, the commonwealth and the body. This is the wisdom that is meant by the wisdom with which conjugial love binds itself; for it binds itself by shunning the evil of adultery as the pest of the soul, the commonwealth, and the body. And since this wisdom springs from the spiritual things which pertain to the Church, it follows that conjugial love is according to the state of the Church with man because according to the state of wisdom. By this, the same thing is meant as that which has been frequently said in the preceding pages, namely, that so far as a man becomes spiritual, so far he is in love truly conjugial, it being by means of the spiritual things of the Church that man becomes spiritual. More respecting the wisdom with which conjugial love conjoins itself may be seen in (n. 163-165) below.

CL 131. XII. And because the Church is from the Lord, that conjugial love also is from Him. As this follows from what has been said above, I refrain from further confirmation. Moreover, that love truly conjugial is from the Lord is testified to by all the angels of heaven; and also that that love is according to the state of wisdom with them, and the state of wisdom according to the state of the Church. That such is the testimony borne by the angels of heaven is plain from the Memorable Relations following the chapters, being Relations of things seen and heard in the spiritual world.

CL 132. To the above, I will add two Memorable Relations. First this:

I once conversed with two angels, one from the eastern heaven, the other from the southern heaven. When they perceived that I was meditating on the arcana of wisdom concerning conjugial love, they said, "Do you know anything about the sports of wisdom in our world?" When I answered, "Not as yet," they said: "There are many. Those who love truths from spiritual affection, that is, who love truths because they are truths and because they are the means to wisdom, come together at a given signal to discuss matters requiring a deeper understanding, and to form conclusions." They then took me by the hand, saying, "Follow us and you shall see and hear. Today the signal has been given for a meeting."

I was led across a plain to a hill; and lo, at the foot of the hill an avenue of palm trees stretching all the way to the summit. We entered it and ascended; and on the top or crown of the hill was seen a grove, the trees of which, growing on an elevated piece of ground, formed a kind of theatre. Within this theatre was a level space paved with small stones of various colours, around which, arranged in the form of a square, were chairs of state on which sat the lovers of wisdom. In the centre of the theatre was a table whereon lay a paper sealed with a seal.

[2] The men who were sitting on the chairs invited us to seats still vacant; but I answered them, "I have been led hither by two angels to see and hear, not to sit down." The two angels then went to the table in the centre of the level area, and in the presence of those who were seated they broke the seal of the paper and read the arcana of wisdom inscribed thereon which they were now to discuss and unfold. They had been written and let down upon the table by angels of the third heaven.

There were three arcana: FIRST, What is the image of God and what the likeness of God into which man was created? SECOND, Why is man not born into the science of any love, when yet beasts and birds, the noble as well as the ignoble, are born into the sciences of all their loves? THIRD, What is signified by the tree of life, what by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and what by the eating of them? Underneath was written: "Combine these three into one statement, write it on a fresh sheet of paper, and place the paper on the table and we shall see. If the statement appears well balanced and just, there shall be given to each of you a reward of wisdom." After reading this, the two angels withdrew and were taken up into their heavens.

[3] Those who were sitting on the chairs then began to discuss and unfold the arcana proposed to them. They spoke in order, first those who sat at the north, then those at the west, after them those at the south, and finally those at the east. They took up the first subject of discussion, namely, WHAT IS THE IMAGE OF GOD AND WHAT THE LIKENESS OF GOD INTO WHICH MAN WAS CREATED? To begin with, the following from the Book of Genesis was then read out in the presence of all:

Those who sat at the north spoke first, saying, "The image of God and the likeness of God are the two lives breathed into man by God, being the life of his will and the life of his understanding; for we read that Jehovah God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of lives; and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7). Into his nostrils means into the perception that within him was the will of good and the understanding of truth and thus the breath of lives; and because life was breathed into him by God, the image and likeness of God signify the integrity that was in him from wisdom and love, and from righteousness and judgment." Those who sat at the west favoured these views, but they added the following, "This state of integrity breathed into Adam by God is being continually breathed into every man after him; but it is in man as a receptacle, and man is an image and likeness of God according as he is a receptacle."

[4] The third in order, being those who sat at the south, then said: "The image of God and the likeness of God are two distinct things, but in man they are united from creation; and we see, as from interior light, that the image of God may be destroyed by man but not the likeness of God. This is seen as through a lattice, from the fact that Adam retained the likeness of God after he had lost the image of God; for after the curse it is said:

and later he is called the likeness of God and is not called the image of God (Gen. 5:1). But let us leave it to our associates who sit at the east, and thus are in superior light, to say what the image of God properly is, and what the likeness of God."

[5] Then, after a period of silence, those sitting at the east rose from their seats and looked up to the Lord. Resuming their seats, they then said: "An image of God is a receptacle of God; and because God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, the image of God in man is the receptacle in him of love and wisdom from God. But the likeness of God is the perfect likeness and full appearance as though the love and wisdom were in the man and so were his own; for man feels no other than that he loves from himself and is wise from himself, or that it is from himself that he wills good and understands truth, when yet it is not in the least from himself but from God. God alone loves from Himself and is wise from Himself because God is Love itself and Wisdom itself. The likeness or appearance that love and wisdom or good and truth are in man as his own, makes man a man and able to be conjoined to God and so to live to eternity. Hence it follows that man is man from the fact that he can will good and understand truth altogether as if from himself, and yet can know and believe that it is from God; for, according as man knows and believes this, God puts His image in him; not so if he believed that it is from himself and not from God."

[6] Having said this, a zeal from the love of truth came over them, and from this they spoke as follows: "How can man receive anything of love and wisdom and retain and reproduce it, unless he feel it as his own? And how can there be conjunction with God through love and wisdom unless there be given man some reciprocal of conjunction? Without a reciprocal, there can be no conjunction; and the reciprocal of conjunction is this: Man loves God, and is wise in the things which are of God, as if from himself, and yet believes that it is from God. Moreover, how can man live to eternity unless he is conjoined with the eternal God? Consequently, how can man be man without this likeness of God within him?"

[7] On hearing these words, all expressed their approval. They then said: "Let the conclusion from this discussion be as follows: Man is a receptacle of God, and a receptacle of God is an image of God; and as God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, it is of these that man is a receptacle; and the receptacle becomes an image of God according as it receives. Man is a likeness of God from the fact that he feels in himself that the things which are from God are in him as his own; but from this likeness he is an image of God only so far as he acknowledges that the love and wisdom or the good and truth in him are not his own and thus are not from himself, but are solely in God and thus from God."

CL 133. After this they took up the second subject of discussion: WHY IS MAN NOT BORN INTO THE SCIENCE OF ANY LOVE, WHEN YET BEASTS AND BIRDS, BOTH THE NOBLE AND THE IGNOBLE, ARE BORN INTO THE SCIENCES OF ALL THEIR LOVES? First they confirmed the truth of the proposition by various considerations, as, with respect to man, that he is born into no knowledge, not even into the knowledge of conjugial love. And making inquiry, they heard from investigators that an infant cannot apply itself to the mother's breast from any connate knowledge but must be applied to it by the mother or nurse; that it knows only how to suck, and that it has acquired this from continual suction in the womb; that later, it does not know how to walk; nor how to articulate sound into any human word, nay, nor even how to express by sound the affections of its love, as do beasts; and further, that it does not know any food suitable to itself as do all beasts, but seizes upon whatever is before it, clean or unclean, and puts it into its mouth. The investigators said, that without instruction man does not know even the distinction of sex, and knows absolutely nothing of the modes of loving the sex; and that even maidens and young men, though educated in various sciences, are ignorant of these modes unless they have learned them from others. In a word, that man is born corporeal like a worm, and remains corporeal unless he learns from others how to know, to understand, and to become wise.

[2] They then confirmed the statement that beasts, noble and ignoble, such as animals of the earth, birds of the air, reptiles, fishes, grubs which are called insects, are born into all the sciences of their life's loves, thus into all that pertain to nourishment, into all that pertain to habitation, into all that pertain to love of the sex and procreation, and into all that pertain to the rearing of their young. This they confirmed by the marvels which they recalled to memory from what they had seen, heard, and read in the natural world--so they called our world in which they had formerly lived--where the beasts are not representative but real.

The truth of the proposition being thus established, they then directed their minds to investigate and discover the ends and causes whereby they might unfold and disclose this arcanum. They all said that such things must needs come from Divine Wisdom, to the end that man may be man and beast beast; thus that man's imperfection at birth becomes his perfection, and the beast's perfection at birth is its imperfection.

CL 134. Then first, those on the NORTH began to express their mind. They said: "Man is born without knowledges that he may be able to receive knowledges. Were he born into knowledges, he could receive none but those into which he was born, and then he could not himself appropriate any." This they illustrated by the following comparison: "A man just born is like ground wherein no seeds have been planted but which yet can receive all kinds of seed and bring them forth and make them fruitful; but a beast is like ground already sown, and which, being filled with grasses and herbs, will not receive other seeds than those which have been sown; and if it did, it would choke them. Hence it is that man's growth to maturity extends through many years, and during these years he can be cultivated like ground and can bring forth, as it were, grains and flowers and trees of every kind; while a beast's growth extends through but few years, and during these years no other knowledge can be cultivated than that which was connate."

[2] Those at the WEST spoke next. They said: "Man is not born with knowledge like a beast, but is born an ability and an inclination--an ability to learn and an inclination to love. And he is born an ability, not merely to learn but also to understand and be wise. He is also born a most perfect inclination to love, not only things which are of self and the world, but also those which are of God and of heaven. Consequently, from his parents man is born an organ which at first lives in the external senses alone and in none that are internal; and this, that he may successively become a man, first natural, then rational, and finally spiritual. This he would not become were he born into knowledges and loves like the beasts; for connate knowledges and affections limit that progress, but connate ability and inclination limit nothing. Therefore man can be perfected in science, intelligence, and wisdom to eternity."

[3] Those on the SOUTH then took up the subject and expressed their opinion, saying: "Man cannot possibly acquire any knowledge from himself but must acquire it from others; and being unable to acquire any knowledge from himself, he is also unable to acquire any love, for where there is no knowledge, there is no love. Knowledge and love are inseparable companions and can no more be separated than can will and understanding or affection and thought, yea, no more than essence and form. Therefore, as man acquires knowledge from others, love adjoins itself thereto as its companion. The universal love which adjoins itself is the love of knowing, of understanding, and of being wise. This love, man alone has, and no beast; and it flows in from God.

[4] We agree with our companions on the west, that man is not born into any love and thence not into any knowledge, but that he is born only into an inclination to love and thence into an ability to receive knowledge, not from himself but from others, that is, through others. It is said through others because neither have they received any knowledge from themselves but from God. We agree also with our companions on the north, that when first born, man is like ground wherein no seeds have been planted but in which may be planted all kinds of seed, noble as well as ignoble. To this we add, that beasts are born into natural loves and thence into the sciences corresponding thereto. Yet, from these sciences, they do not learn anything, do not think, understand and become wise, but by their means they are carried along by their loves, almost like blind men led through the streets by dogs. As to understanding, they are blind, or rather are like somnambulists who, with their understanding asleep, do what they do from blind science."

[5] Lastly spoke those on the EAST. They said: "We assent to what our brothers have said, that man knows nothing from himself but from others and through others, and this to the end that he may learn and acknowledge that all that he knows, understands, and is wise in, is from God; also that in no other way can man be conceived, born, and brought forth by the Lord and become His image and likeness. For he becomes an image of the Lord by acknowledging and believing that he has received and does receive every good of love and charity, and every truth of wisdom and faith from the Lord, and not the least thing thereof from himself; and he becomes a likeness of the Lord by sensating them in himself as if they were from himself. He has this sensation because he is not born into knowledges but receives them, and what he receives appears to him as if it were from himself. Moreover, it is granted man by the Lord so to sensate, in order that he may be a man and not a beast; for it is by the fact that he wills, thinks, loves, knows, understands, and is wise, as if from himself, that man receives knowledges and exalts them into intelligence and by their uses into wisdom. In this way the Lord conjoins man to Himself and man conjoins himself to the Lord. All this would not be possible had it not been provided by the Lord that man should be born in total ignorance."

[6] After this speech, it was the desire of all that some conclusion be formed from the discussion, and the following was formed: "Man is born into no knowledge, that he may come into all knowledge and may advance into intelligence and by means of intelligence into wisdom. And he is born into no love, that by applications of knowledges from intelligence, he may come into all love, and by love towards the neighbour, into love to the Lord, and so may be conjoined to the Lord, and by this conjunction become a man and live to eternity."

CL 135. They then took the paper and read the third subject of discussion, which was, WHAT IS SIGNIFIED BY THE TREE OF LIFE, WHAT BY THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, AND WHAT BY THE EATING OF THEM? Because this was an arcanum requiring a more profound understanding, they all requested that those who were at the east would unfold it; for those who are at the east are in flamy light, that is, in the wisdom of love, which wisdom is meant by the garden in Eden wherein those two trees were placed. The men at the east then answered, "We will speak; but because man cannot acquire anything whatever from himself but receives all from the Lord, we will speak from Him, but still from ourselves as if of ourselves."

They then said: "A tree signifies man, and its fruit signifies the good of life. By the tree of life, therefore, is meant man living from God, or God living in man. And because love and wisdom, and charity and faith, or good and truth, make the life of God in man, it is these that are signified by the tree of life, and from them man has life eternal. The like is signified by the tree of life in the Apocalypse of which it will be granted man to eat (Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14).

[2] By the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is signified the man who believes that he lives from himself and not from God; thus that love and wisdom, charity and faith, or good and truth, are his own in man and not God's, believing this because he thinks and wills, and speaks and acts, in all likeness and appearance as if from himself. And because from this belief he persuades himself that God has implanted in him, that is, has infused into him, His own Divine, therefore the serpent said:

[3] By eating of those trees is signified reception and appropriation--by eating of the tree of life, the reception of life eternal, and by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the reception of damnation. Therefore both Adam and his wife were accursed together with the serpent. By the serpent is meant the devil, as to the love of self and the pride of self-intelligence. This love is the possessor of that tree; and men who are in pride from this love are such trees. They, therefore, are in enormous error who believe that Adam was wise and did good from himself, and that this was his state of integrity, when yet Adam was himself accursed on account of that very belief, this being what is signified by his eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Therefore, he then fell from the state of integrity in which he had been by virtue of believing that he was wise and did good from God and not at all from himself, this being meant by eating of the tree of life. The Lord alone, when He was in the world, was wise of Himself and did good from Himself, because the Divine itself was in Him and was His from birth. Therefore He became the Redeemer and Saviour by His own power."

[4] From this and the preceding discussions, they then formed the following conclusion: "By the tree of life, and by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and by eating from them, is signified that for man life is God in him, and he then has heaven and eternal life; but that death for man is the persuasion and belief that life in man is not God but is himself; whence he has hell and eternal death, which is damnation!"

CL 136. After this, they looked at the paper left on the table by the angels and saw written at the bottom, "COMBINE YOUR THREE CONCLUSIONS INTO A SINGLE STATEMENT." They then put the three together and saw that they were in one coherent series, and that this series or statement was as follows: "Man was created to receive love and wisdom from God, and yet in all likeness as if it were from himself, and this for the sake of reception and conjunction. For this reason he is not born into any love or into any knowledge or even into any power of loving or of being wise from himself. Therefore, if he ascribes all the good of love and all the truth of wisdom to God, he becomes a living man; but if he ascribes them to himself, he becomes a dead man."

These words they wrote upon a fresh sheet of paper which they placed upon the table. And lo, suddenly angels were present in a bright white light, and they carried the paper to heaven. After it had been read there, those who were sitting on the seats heard thence the words, thrice repeated, "Well said." And immediately an angel therefrom was seen as though flying. He had two wings about his feet, and two about his temples, and in his hand he held the awards, which consisted of robes, caps, and wreaths of laurel. After alighting, he gave to those sitting at the north, robes of the colour of opal; to those at the west, robes of scarlet; to those at the south, hats, the brims of which were adorned with fillets of gold and pearls, and the risings at the left side with diamonds cut in the form of flowers; and to those at the east, wreaths of laurel in which were rubies and sapphires. Adorned with these awards, they all went home from the sport of wisdom; and when they would show themselves to their wives, the latter came out to meet them, they also being distinguished with adornments given them from heaven, whereat the men wondered.

CL 137. The second Memorable Relation:

While I was meditating on conjugial love, lo, afar off were seen two naked infants with baskets in their hands and turtle-doves flying around them. When they were nearer, they seemed like naked infants becomingly adorned with garlands of flowers, their heads adorned with chaplets of flowers, and their breasts with garlands of lilies and of roses of a hyacinthine colour hanging obliquely from their shoulders to their loins. Around the two and uniting them, as it were, was a common bond, woven of little leaves with olives interspersed. When they came yet nearer, however, they appeared, not as infants, nor naked, but as two persons in the first flower of their age, clad in robes and tunics of shining silk on which were woven flowers of a most beautiful appearance; and when they were beside me, there breathed through them out of heaven a vernal warmth, with a sweet-smelling odour as of the earliest blossomings in gardens and fields. They were two married partners from heaven.

They then spoke to me, and because what I had just seen was in my thought, they asked me, "What have you seen?"

[2] When I told them that they had first appeared to me as naked infants, then as infants adorned with garlands, and at last as adults clothed in garments embroidered with flowers, and that then forthwith an odour of spring breathed upon me with all its delights, they smiled pleasantly and said, that on their way, they had not seemed to themselves as infants, nor naked, nor with garlands, but continually the same in appearance as now. What at a distance had been thus represented was their conjugial love--its state of innocence by their appearing as naked infants, its delights by garlands of flowers, and the same now by the flowers woven in their robes and tunics. "And because you said that as we approached, a vernal warmth breathed upon you with its pleasant odours as though from a garden, we will tell you the cause of this."

[3] They then said: "We have been partners now for ages, and continually in the flower of age in which you now see us. Our first state was like the state of a virgin and a young man when they first consociate in marriage; and we then believed that that state was the very blessedness of our life. But we heard from others in our heaven, and afterwards we ourselves perceived, that that state was a state of heat not tempered with light, and that it is tempered according as the husband is perfected in wisdom and the wife loves that wisdom in her husband; also that this is effected by and according to the uses which each of them with mutual aid performs in society; and that delights follow in accordance with the tempering of heat and light, that is, of wisdom and its love.

[4] A warmth as of spring breathed upon you as we approached because in our heaven conjugial love and vernal heat act as one; for with us, heat is love and the light with which heat is united is wisdom; and use is as the atmosphere which contains both of them in its bosom. What are heat and light without their containant? and so, what are love and wisdom without their use? There is no conjugial in them, for there is no subject wherein to contain them. In heaven, wherever the heat is vernal, there is love truly conjugial; and it is there because nothing vernal is possible save where heat is united with light in equal measure, that is, where there is as much of heat as of light, and the reverse. Moreover, we affirm that, as heat delights itself with light and light in turn with heat, so love delights itself with wisdom and wisdom in turn with love."

[5] He said further: "With us in heaven there is perpetual light and never any shade of evening, still less darkness; for our sun does not set and rise as does yours, but remains continually midway between the upper pole of the sky and the horizon, which, according to your manner of speech, is in the sky at an angle of forty-five degrees. Therefore, the heat and light proceeding from our sun make perpetual spring and cause something perpetually vernal to breathe upon those with whom love is united with wisdom in equal measure. By the eternal union of heat and light, our Lord breathes forth nothing but uses. From this, moreover, come the germinations on your earth in the spring-time, and the matings of your birds and animals; for the vernal heat opens their interiors even to the inmost things thereof which are called their souls. These it affects; and it imparts to them its own conjugial, causing what is prolific in them to come into its delights, and this from a continual striving to produce the fruits of use, the use being the propagation of their kind.

[6] But with men, the influx of vernal heat from the Lord is perpetual, and therefore they can enjoy delights in marriage at any time, even in midwinter; for men were created to receive from the Lord light, that is, wisdom, and women were created to receive from the Lord heat, that is, the love of the wisdom of the man. This then is the reason why, as we approached, a vernal warmth breathed on you, with a sweet-smelling odour as of the early blossomings in gardens and fields."

[7] Having thus spoken, the man gave me his right hand and led me to homes where were partners in the same flower of age as themselves. He then said: "In the world, these wives whom you now see as maidens were old women; and their husbands, now seen as young men, were infirm and old. They have all been restored by the Lord to this flower of age because they mutually loved each other and from religion shunned adulteries as enormous sins." He said further: "No one knows the blessed delights of conjugial love save he who rejects the horrid delights of adultery; and no one can reject these save he who is wise from the Lord; and no one is wise from the Lord unless he performs uses from the love of uses."

Moreover, I then saw their household utensils. They were all in heavenly forms; and from the gold, they were glittering as though in flames from the rubies with which they were studded.