69、我知道，很少有人承认，一切欢喜和快乐，从初至末，皆汇集于婚姻之爱。因为真正的婚姻之爱，就是它们所汇集于其中的爱，现今如此罕见，以致人们不了解它的性质，几乎不知道它的存在，如前面（58，59节）所解释和证明的。它们只存在于纯正的婚姻之爱中；但由于这爱在世上极其罕见，所以不得不通过享有它的天使之口来描述它丰盛的快乐。论到它至内在的快乐，也就是灵魂的快乐（即爱与智慧，或良善与真理的婚姻结合从主首先流入的地方），天使说，这些快乐难以察觉，因而无法形容，因为它们同时也是平安和纯真的快乐。
但在下降的过程中，它们越来越容易被觉察到：在心智的高层被感觉为祝福，在心智的低层被感觉为幸福，在胸腔则被感觉为由此而来的快乐，再从胸腔扩散到身体的每一个部位，最后汇集于最表层，产生最强烈的快乐。天使接着讲述了有关它们的奇事，还声称，这些快乐在夫妻的灵魂中具有多样性，并从灵魂进入他们的心智，再从他们的心智进入他们的胸腔；它们不计其数，而且是永恒的，会照着丈夫所拥有的智慧而增长。这是因为，丈夫永远活在花样年华，对他们来说，没有什么比增长智慧更为蒙福的了。如天使所讲述的有关这些快乐的更多描述可见于记事，尤其下文若干章节末尾的记事。
69、我知道没有多少人会同意在婚姻之爱中包含着所有愉悦，因为如今真正的婚姻之爱如此稀有，几乎没有人知道它的存在（见58、59节）。这种愉悦并不是存在于任何的婚姻之爱中，而只存在于真正的婚姻之爱中，因为真正的婚姻之爱如此少，只有通过天使的经历才能证实它的美好境界。
关于首先从主那里进入到爱与智慧或者说善与真理的统一体中的愉悦也就是灵魂上的愉悦。天使们是这样说的：天使说这种愉悦无法形容的，它是一种平和、纯真中的愉悦。这种愉悦会逐步地显现出来。他们头脑的高层能感受到最高的快乐，头脑的低层能感觉到低一些的喜悦，而心能感受到的快乐才会传遍全身，最后通过表情而展现出来。
另外，天使们还讲到了这种愉悦是何等的好。婚姻中的人会在灵魂中感受到各种不同的愉悦，这些愉悦会从他们的灵魂中进入到头脑中，从头脑中进入到心中，它们的种类是无尽的，永恒的。天使们还说，这种愉悦随丈夫们的智慧程度而升降，因为天使们永远处在它们生命的最美的阶段，所以没有比变得越来越有智慧更好的了。
关于婚姻之爱中的愉悦将在以后章节中进一步提到。
69. I know that few people will acknowledge that all joys and delights from first to last are conferred on conjugial love, because truly conjugial love, which is what they are conferred upon, is so rare today that its nature and almost its very existence is unknown, as I explained and proved above (58-59). They are not present in any but genuine conjugial love; and since this is so rare on earth, it is impossible to describe its abounding happiness except from the description given by angels who enjoy it. Angels have said that its inmost delights, those of the soul, the first point reached by the conjugial influence of love and wisdom, or good and truth, coming from the Lord, are imperceptible and therefore inexpressible, being at once feelings of peace and innocence.
[2] But as they come down they become more and more easily perceived, in the upper levels of the mind as blessedness, in the lower levels as bliss, in the chest as the pleasant sensations these give, and spreading out from the chest into every part of the body, and finally uniting at the lowest level to produce the greatest of delights. The angels went on to relate wonderful things about these, saying too that the variations of these delights in the souls of married couples, and passing from there into their minds, and from there into their chests, are countless and also everlasting. They increase in degree depending on the wisdom the husband possesses. This is because the husbands live for ever in the flower of youth, and the angels find nothing more blessed than to keep on increasing in wisdom. Further descriptions of these delights, as related by angels, will be found in the account of experiences, especially those following at the end of a number of chapters.
69. I know that few will accept that all joys and all delights, from the first to the last of them, have been gathered into conjugial love, and this for the reason that truly conjugial love - the love into which these joys and delights have been gathered - today is so rare that people do not know what it is like, and scarcely that it exists (to repeat what was explained and established above, nos. 58, 59). For these joys and delights do not occur in any other conjugial love than genuine conjugial love. And because genuine conjugial love on earth is so rare, it is impossible to describe its supreme states of bliss on the basis of anything other than the testimony of angels, because angels experience it.
Regarding its inmost delights - which are delights of the soul, where the conjugial union between love and wisdom, or goodness and truth, first flows in from the Lord - angels have said these delights are imperceptible and therefore indescribable, because they are at the same time delights of peace and innocence. But they said, too, that these same delights, in their descent, become more and more perceptible - as states of bliss in the higher regions of their mind, as states of happiness in the lower regions of their mind, and as consequent states of delight in their heart, at which point they spread from the heart into each and every part of the body, finally coming together in the last of these as the delight of delights.
In addition, angels have reported wonderful things about these delights, saying also in regard to the varieties of these delights in the souls of married partners and as they descend from their souls into their minds and from their minds into their hearts, that these varieties are infinite, and also eternal. They have said, too, that these delights rise and deepen according to the wisdom in the husbands, and this because angels live to eternity in the flower of their life, and nothing is more blessed to them than to grow ever more wise.
But more about these delights as reported from the testimony of angels may be found in the narrative accounts, especially in some of those which come at the end of some chapters later on. 1
Footnotes:
1. See, for example, nos. 155[r], 183, 208, 293, 294.
69. I know that not many people are going to recognize that all joys and all pleasures from highest to lowest are gathered together in married love, because the real love in marriage where they are gathered is so rare today that people do not know what it is, and they hardly know that it exists (as was explained and demonstrated above, nos. 58-59), because the joys are only in a genuine love for marriage. And since this is so rare on earth the only way to describe its exceptional joys is from the mouths of angels, because they do have it.
They have said that its inner delights - of the soul, where the married relationship of love and wisdom or good and truth from the Lord first flows in - are beyond comprehension, so they defy description. They have to do with both peace and innocence. But they say the delights become more and more understandable as they filter down. In the higher levels of the mind they are like blessings, in the lower like good feelings, in the heart like the pleasures that blessings and good feelings bring. And from there they pour into each and every thing in your body and finally come together in your most outward parts, in the greatest delight of all.
Angels have mentioned other surprising things about the delights. They have said that the different kinds of delights in the souls of married partners - as well as the ones in their minds from those in their souls, and those in their hearts from those in their minds - are infinite, and also last forever, and the delights become more intense according to the husband's wisdom. This is because angel husbands live in the prime of life forever and because nothing is more blessed to them than to become wiser and wiser.
But more things that angels said about these delights appear in the stories in this book, especially in the ones after the next few chapters.
69. I know that few will acknowledge that all joys and delights from the first to the last are gathered into conjugial love, because, as explained and confirmed above (nos. 58, 59), the love truly conjugial into which they are gathered is at this day so rare that it is not known what it is and scarcely that it is, and these joys and delights are present in no other conjugial love than that which is genuine. And since this is so rare on earth, it is impossible to describe its supereminent felicities from any other source than the mouth of angels, for they are in it. These have said that its inmost delights, which are those of the soul - and it is into the soul that the conjugial of love and wisdom or good and truth from the Lord first flows--are imperceptible and hence ineffable, being delights of peace and at the same time of innocence; that in their descent they become more and more perceptible -
[2] in the higher regions of the mind as beatitudes, in the lower as happiness, and in the bosom, as delights therefrom; and that from the bosom, they pour themselves into each and every part of the body, and finally, uniting in ultimates, into the delight of delights. Moreover, angels have related wonders concerning them, saying that their varieties in the souls of married partners, and from these in their minds, and from these in their bosoms, are infinite in number and are also eternal; and that they are exalted according to the wisdom with the husbands, and this because the husbands live to eternity in the flower of their age, and nothing is more blessed to them than to grow ever more wise. But more concerning these delights as told by the mouth of angels, may be seen in the Memorable Relations, especially in those which follow after some of the later chapters.
69. I know that few will acknowledge that all joys and delights from first to last are gathered into marital love. For the marital love of which alone this is true is so rare today that it is not known what it is, and hardly that it exists, as was explained and shown above (n. 58-59). As this marital love is so rare on earth, we can only describe its surpassing felicities from the mouth of angels, who possess it. They have said that its inmost delights (which are of the soul, into which the marital inclination of love and wisdom or of good and truth from the Lord first flows) are imperceptible and hence ineffable, because they are at once things of peace and of innocence. But these imperceptible joys as they descend become more and more perceptible, in the higher reaches of the mind as beatitudes, in the lower as satisfactions, in the bosom as joys from these, and from the bosom are diffused into each and all things of the body, and finally unite in the ultimates in the delight of delights. Angels have related wonderful things about these joys, also saying that the variety of them in the souls of partners and thence in their minds and thence again in their bosoms, is infinite and also eternal; and that the joys are exalted according to the wisdom with the husbands; and this because they live in the flower of their age to eternity, and because there is nothing more blessed to them than to become increasingly wise. But still more information from the mouths of the angels about these delights may be seen in the Memorabilia, especially in those 1which follow some chapters farther on.
Footnotes:
1. Nn. 155r, 209; 293-294.
69. I know few will acknowledge that all joys and all delights from first to last are gathered into conjugial love; for the reason that love truly conjugial into which they are gathered is so rare at this day that it is not known what is its nature, and it is scarcely known to exist, as was explained and confirmed above in n. 58 and 59. For these joys and delights are in no other but in the genuine conjugial love; and as this is so rare on earth it is impossible to describe its super-eminent felicities otherwise than from the mouth of angels, for they are in it. They have said that its inmost delights, which are of the soul,-into which the conjugial of love and wisdom, or of good and truth, from the Lord first flows,-are imperceptible and therefore, ineffable, because they are delights at once of peace and of innocence; but that in their descent they become perceptible, more and more,-in the higher regions of the mind as states of blessedness, in the lower as states of happiness, in the breast as delights therefrom; and from the breast they diffuse themselves into each and every part of the body, and finally unite in the ultimates in the delight of delights. Moreover the angels have related wonders respecting these delights, saying, that the varieties of them in the souls of consorts, and therefrom in their minds and thence in their breasts are infinite and also eternal; and that they are exalted according to the wisdom in the husbands, and this because to eternity they live in the flower of their age, and because nothing is more blessed to them than to grow wiser and wiser. But many things respecting these delights, narrated from the mouth of angels, may be seen in the Relations especially in those which come after some of the following chapters.
69. Scio quod pauci agnituri sint, quod in Amorem conjugialem collata sint omnia gaudia et omnes delitiae a primis ad ultima, ex causa, quia Amor vere conjugialis, in quem collata sunt, hodie tam rarus est, ut non sciatur qualis est, et vix quod sit, secundum illa quae supra 58, 59. explicata et confirmata sunt, nam in alio Amore conjugiali quam genuino non sunt; et quia hic in terris tam rarus est, impossibile est supereminentes ejus felicitates aliunde describere, quam ex ore Angelorum, quia hi in illo sunt: hi dixerunt, quod Delitiae ejus intimae, quae sunt Animae, in quam primum influit conjugiale amoris et sapientiae seu boni et veri a Domino, sint imperceptibiles et inde ineffabiles, quia sunt simul pacis et innocentiae; sed quod eaedem in descensu fiant plus et plus perceptibiles,
[2] in superioribus mentis sicut beatitudines, in inferioribus mentis sicut faustitates, in pectore sicut jucunditates ex illis, et quod ex pectore se diffundant in omnia et singula corporis, ac demum uniant se in ultimis in delitium delitiarum; porro Angeli de illis mirabilia narraverunt, dicentes etiam quod varietates illarum delitiarum in Conjugum animabus, et ab his in illorum mentibus, et ab his in illorum pectoribus, sint infinitae, et quoque aeternae; quodque secundum sapientiam apud maritos exaltentur; et hoc quia in flore suae aetatis vivunt in aeternum, et quia illis nihil beatius est quam plus et plus sapere. Sed plura de Delitiis illis ex ore Angelorum enarrata, videantur in Memorabilibus, imprimis in illis quae post aliqua Capita porro sequuntur. 1
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: sequuntur absque puncto