Page:A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/551

 for the most part are external, and not at the same time internal. And yet internal conjunction, which is a conjunction of souls, constitutes real marriage; and this conjunction is not perceivable until man puts off the external and puts on the internal, which he does after death. Hence now it is that separations then take place, and afterwards new conjunctions with those who are similar and congenial,—unless these had been provided on earth; which is done for those who from their early years have loved, desired, and asked of the Lord a legitimate and lovely union with one; and have spurned and, as an offence to their nostrils, detested wandering lusts. (ib. n. 49.)

They who are in love that is truly conjugial look to what is eternal, because there is eternity in that love. And its eternity is from the fact that love increases with the wife and wisdom with the husband to eternity; and in this increase or progression the married pair enter more and more interiorly into the blessednesses of heaven, which their wisdom and love of it together have in store within them. If therefore the idea of what is eternal were eradicated, or should by any event escape from their minds, it would be as if they were cast down from heaven. What the state of the married in heaven is when the idea of the eternal escapes from their minds and an idea of what is temporal enters in its place, came into open view with me from this experience:—By permission granted, there was once with me a married pair from heaven; and then, by a certain worthless wretch speaking artfully, the idea of the eternal in marriage was taken from them; which being taken away they began to lament, saying that they could no longer live, and that they felt a wretchedness which they had never felt before. This being perceived in heaven by their fellow angels, the worthless spirit was removed and cast down. When this was done the idea of what is eternal returned to them; whereat they rejoiced with joy of heart, and most tenderly embraced each other. In addition to this I have heard a married pair who cherished, now an idea of the eternal, and now an idea of the temporal, in respect to their marriage. The reason was that there was an internal dissimilitude between them. When they were in an idea of the eternal they rejoiced with each other, and when in an idea of the temporal, they said, "It is no longer marriage;" and the wife said, "I am no more a wife, but a concubine;" and the man, "I am no longer a husband, but a fornicator." Therefore, when their internal dissimilitude was made known to them, the