6051. About the love of adulteries, about the love of ruling, about deceit, etc.
The extent to which adulteries and other sins are hellish is to be described, as here regarding adulteries, that it is [hellish] to believe that adultery is permissible, whether one commits adultery or not. Scarcely anyone today believes that they are so hellish and that adulterers cannot be saved. The reasons for this are:
1. ) heaven is marriage, and hell is adultery;
[2] 2) because marriage love descends from the marriage of good and truth, adultery from the marriage of evil and falsity;
[3] 3) because offspring are born from marriage depending on the nature of the marriage love and the infernal love;
[4] 4) In heaven they abhor adultery, because it closes heaven and opens hell wide.
[5] 5) Through marriage love a person takes on the form of love, inwardly and outwardly; through adultery the form of hell; and heavenly love is implanted solely through marriage love.
[6] 6) Marriage love is the fundamental of all loves, for when a person becomes a form of love, they become an image of the Lord; otherwise the reverse happens.
[7] 7) For that reason the delights of marriage love exceed other delights in number and in quality.
[8] 8) Heavenly joy is founded upon this love in heaven, so that in so far as anyone has this love, so far they have heavenly joy of every kind and degree.
[9] 9) Wisdom grows through marriages in the heavens, which is in place of procreation there.
[10] 10) There is doctrinal adultery in the case of preachers in hell, which differs from natural adultery, about this.
[11] 11) The reason the growth of wisdom follows in accord with the degree of chastity is that its origin is the marriage of good and truth and the marriage of the Lord with the Church; its cause comes from this. For this reason no one can be wise in spiritual matters who is an adulterer. Consequently so far as one is an adulterer, so far is he blind in spiritual matters, and so far is he inwardly a devil.
[12] 12) Therefore to love one's married partner is to do good in the Lord's eyes, for this, when it comes from a chaste heart, is to love the Lord: it communicates with the heavens, and delights the minds of angels so much that it cannot be believed.
[13] 13) There is also a certain form of intercourse, because it is an effect of love, that delights heaven in like degree when it comes from chaste love; conversely it angers them to the extent it comes from adultery.
[14] 14) Bring forward examples showing that adulterers, however morally they may have lived in other respects and devoted themselves to prayers, are hurled into hell.
[Marginal Note: The reproductive organs in both sexes interact with the inmost or third heaven, where the angels more than others have a heavenly marriage, that is to say, a marriage of goodness and truth. In a word, marriages in the heavens are most holy, on which account they must not be profaned by adulteries.]
6051. ADULTERIES, THE LOVE OF RULING, DECEIT, ETC.
It must be described how infernal are adulteries and the other sins, for instance, in this place, adulteries that is, believing that adulteries are allowable though there may, or may not, be adultery. Scarcely anyone, at this day, believes that they are so infernal, and that adulterers cannot possibly be saved. The reasons are:
(1) Because heaven is marriage, and hell is adultery.
(2) Because conjugial love descends from the marriage of good and truth, adultery from the marriage of evil and falsity.
(3) Because from marriage, according to conjugial and infernal love, offspring is born.
(4) That in heaven they abhor adulteries, and that therefore heaven is closed and hell opened widely [by them].
(5) That a man by conjugial love receives the form of love inwardly and outwardly, by adultery the form of hell; also, that heavenly love is implanted solely through conjugial love.
(6) That conjugial love is the fundamental love of all loves for, when man becomes a form of love, he becomes an image of the Lord: otherwise, the reverse is the case.
(7) That, therefore, the delights of conjugial love exceed all other delights, both in number and quality.
(8) That heavenly joy is founded upon that love in heaven; so that as far as any one is in that, so far he is in heavenly joy of every kind and degree.
(9) That by marriages, in the heavens, wisdom increases; which increase, there, is in the place of procreation.
(10) That with preachers in hell, there is a doctrinal adultery, which differs from natural adultery - of which anon.
(11) The reason why wisdom increases according to chastity, is because the origin thereof is the marriage of good and truth, and the marriage of the Lord with the Church. This is its cause wherefore, nobody who is an adulterer can be wise in spiritual things. Hence, so far as he is an adulterer, so far is he blind in spiritual things, and so far is inwardly a devil.
(12) That, hence, to love the married partner, is to do good in the sight of the Lord for it is thus, from chastity, to love the Lord. This communicates with the heavens, and delights the souls of the angels to such an extent as cannot be believed.
(13) There is also a certain kind of coition, which, when it proceeds from chastity, inasmuch as it is the effect of that love, delights heaven in the highest degree. On the contrary, it distresses them so far as it is from adultery.
(14) Proofs may be brought forward, that adulterers, no matter how morally well they may have lived in other respects and have given themselves to prayers, are cast into hell.
The members devoted to generation, in both sexes, correspond to the inmost or third heaven, where the angels are in the heavenly marriage, or that of good and truth, more than the rest. In a word, marriages in the heavens are most holy; wherefore, they must not be profaned by adulteries.
6051. De adulteriis, de amore imperandi, de dolo, etc.
Describendum quantum adulteria et reliqua peccata sunt infernalia, ut hic adulteria, quod est, quod credere adulteria esse licita, tametsi adulteratur vel non; vix aliquis hodie credit, quod tam infernalia sint, et quod salvari nequeant adulteri, causae sunt quia
1) coelum est conjugium, et infernum est adulterium,
2) quia amor conjugialis descendit ex conjugio boni et veri, adulterium ex conjugio mali et falsi,
3) 1
quia ex conjugio secundum amorem conjugialem et infernalem nascuntur proles.
4) Quod in coelo abhorreant adulterium, et quod ideo claudat coelum, et aperiat late infernum.
5) Quod homo per amorem conjugialem recipiat amoris formam, intus et extus, per adulterium inferni formam, et quod unice per amorem conjugialem implantetur amor coelestis.
6) Quod amor conjugialis sit fundamentalis amor omnium amorum, nam dum homo fit amoris forma, fit imago Domini, alioquin vicissim.
7) Quod ideo jucunda amoris conjugialis excedant numero et qualitate jucunda alia.
8) Quod gaudium coeleste fundetur super illo amore in coelo, ut quantum quis in eo est, tantum sit in gaudio coelesti omnis generis et gradus.
9) Quod crescat sapientia per conjugia in coelis, quae loco procreationis ibi est.
10) Quod sit adulterium doctrinale apud praedicatores in inferno, quod differt ab adulterio naturali, de quo.
11) Causa quod crescat sapientia secundum castitatem, est quia origo ejus est conjugium boni et veri, ac conjugium Domini cum Ecclesia, inde causa, quare nemo potest in spiritualibus sapere, qui adulter est; inde quantum adulter est, tantum caecus est in spiritualibus, et tantum interius est diabolus.
12) Quod inde amare conjugem sit facere bonum coram Domino, est enim id dum ex castitate amare Dominum, communicat cum coelis, et jucundat angelorum animos in tantum, ut credi non possit.
13) Etiam est forma quaedam concubitus, quia est effectus illius amoris, dum ex casto, in simili gradu jucundat coelum, vicissim illos exacerbat, quantum ex adulterio.
14) Exempla producantur quod adulteri, utcunque praeterea moraliter bee vixerunt, et vacarunt precibus, in infernum conjecti sunt.
Quod membra generationi dicata in utroque sexu correspondeant intimo seu tertio coelo, ubi angeli in conjugio coelesti seu boni et veri prae aliis sunt. Verbo conjugia in coelis sanctissima sunt, quare non per adulteria prophananda.
Footnotes:
1. subnumeratio hujus paragraphi in ms. cucurit respective: 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12