5832. About marriages and adulteries
I saw an enormous crowd driven into the desert. Outside the societies were those who regarded adulteries as nothing, not only from a principle in the thought, but also from the acts. Among them were many appointed to high offices, and all said that they are no longer human beings but are like wild animals since they have put off their human nature by having shattered and profaned the holiness of marriage to such an extent that they have made the Divine precepts worthless, the civil rulers worthless, and the rational thought based on these worthless, which is why they cannot be said to resemble human beings but wild animals. For when this restraining bond [of holiness] has been broken, then what is human is put off. The mental image of them is like that of the lowest of the common people who have discarded their own humanity, whom society can no longer tolerate. They were thrown out into deserts so that they could live in accord with their nature, lest they have anything in common with the spirits.
[2] That this is the case with spirits can be known particularly from the fact that all who are in the hells are in favor of adulteries, and all who are in the heavens are against adulteries, and the more they oppose adulteries, the more inwardly they are in the heavens. From this can be known that rationality is lost with those who from principle and from their way of living were adulterers. And these did not know what the difference is between a human being and a beast, apart from the fact that a human being can speak. It was evident from this too that they had destroyed their human rationality and nature. It was said that as to adulteries and the principles about them in the Christian world it is as if hell has been opened and embraced - not so outside the Christian world.
5832. MARRIAGES AND ADULTERIES.
I saw a vast crowd driven into deserts outside societies. They were those who regarded adulteries as of no consequence - not only from a principle in thought, but also in acts amongst whom were many endowed with high rank; and it was said that they were all no longer like men but like wild beasts, inasmuch as they have put off the human nature through the fact that they rent asunder and profaned a society of marriage, and consequently made nothing of the Divine commands, nothing of the civil laws, nothing of rationality which is founded upon these: on which account they cannot be said to be like men, but as wild beasts. For, when that bond is ruptured, then the human is banished. The idea of them was like that of the vilest rabble, which divests itself of humanity, and can be no longer tolerated in society. They were cast out into deserts, so that they might live according to their nature, lest they should have anything in common with spirits. That such is the case with spirits, can be known principally from the fact that all who are in the hells are in favor of adulteries, and all who are in the heavens against adulteries; and the more so, the more interiorly in the heavens they are. Hence it may be known, that the Rational is destroyed with those who have been adulterers from principle and from life; neither did these know what is the distinction between man and beast, except that man is able to speak. Hence, also, it was manifest, that these have destroyed their human rationality and nature with themselves. It was stated, that, as regards adulteries, and the principles about them in the Christian world, it is as if hell is opened and received: not so outside the Christian world.
5832. De conjugiis et adulteriis
Vidi ingentem turbam adactam in desertum, extra societates erant qui adulteria pro nihil reputaverunt, non solum ex principio in cogitatione, sed etiam actis, inter quos erant plures in dignitate constituti, et omnes dicti quod non sint amplius sicut homines, sed sicut ferae, quoniam naturam humanam exuerunt per id quod conjugii sanctitatem ruperint et prophanaverint, ita quod nihili fecerint praecepta Divina, nihil reges civiles, nihil rationale quod super iis fundatum, unde non sicut homines dici possunt, sed ut ferae, cum enim id vinculum est ruptum, tunc humanum exulat, idea de illis erat sicut de vilissima plebe, quae exuit humanum apud se, quae in societate non amplius tolerari potest, ejecti sunt in deserta, ut viverent secundum naturam suam, ne aliquid commune haberent cum spiritibus, quod ita sit spiritibus imprimis notum esse potest, ex eo quod omnes qui in infernis sunt pro adulteriis sint, et omnes qui in coelis contra adulteria, et eo magis quo interius in coelis; inde sciri potest, quod rationale sit deperditum apud illos qui ex principio et ex vita adulteri fuerunt, illi nec sciverunt quid discrimen est inter hominem et bestiam, praeter quod homo possit loqui inde quoque patuit, quod humanam suam rationalitatem et naturam apud se perdiderint. Dictum quod quoad adulteria et principia de illis in Christiano orbe sit quasi infernum sit apertum et receptum, non ita extra Christianum orbem.