It hath been said, Whosoever
shall put away his wife, let him giver her a writing of divorcement. But I say
unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of
fornication, causeth her to commit adultery; and whosoever shall marry her that
is divorced committeth adultery. (Matt. 5:37, 32.)
The whole of the Lord's discourse from the Mount
contains nothing but the law of charity which was to prevail in the Church
established by Him; that is to say, His discourse was the revelation of
interior truths of life for the establishment of an internal Church, in place
of the former and external Church. And therefore He so often says, "Ye
have heard that it was said by them of old time. But I say unto you."
In the verses immediately preceding that of our
text, the Lord teaches the interior truths respecting marriage and
its opposite, showing first that it is lust that constitutes the violation of marriage, and not merely an external act, as held by the Jews; and
then that it is only from the marriage of good and truth in
the internal man, that is, from the spiritual marriage, that
conjugial love can proceed, and with conjugial love a genuine and internal
resistance to the evil of adultery. This revelation is what is contained in the
verse commencing "Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her,"
and in the following verse commencing, "If thy right hand offend thee cut
it off and cast it from thee."
Following this the Lord lays down a new law of marriage,—a new external law, as the ultimate and containent of that
conjugial love which was to be established in the internal Church: "It
hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing
of divorcement, But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife save
for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery; and whosoever
shall marry her that is divorced, committeth adultery."
The Jewish Church was a merely external Church,
and had no knowledge, and still less any perception of internal truths. Hence it was not nor could be in conjugial
love. For conjugial love, which is the eternal marriage of one
man and one wife, is not possible except with those with whom the spiritual
mind is opened,—and this can be opened only by the spiritual truths of the
Word. Therefore to put away the wife, even for slight causes, while still an
evil, yet with the Jews was not a profanation of conjugial love; that is to
say, it did not result in commingling the truths of the spiritual man with the
false persuasions of the senses. And because of this, and because moreover the
Jews were an adulterous generation and could not be wholly restrained,
therefore it was permitted them to divorce their wives for
slight causes,—though under certain regulations. That this was merely a
permission is manifest from the Lord's words in Matthew: "Because of the
hardness of your hearts Moses suffered you to put away your wives, but from the
beginning it was not so." (19:8.) By "from the beginning" is
meant in the genuine Church which preceded the Jewish Church, and in which was
the knowledge of interior truths; and more particularly, the words signify the
Most Ancient Church which flourished in the golden age of conjugial love. But
even in the Jewish Word we find plain teaching that the divorces apparently
countenanced among the Jews were but a permission because of the hardness of
their heart. For we read in Malachi, "Take heed to your spirit, and let
none deal—treacherously against the wife of his youth. For the Lord, the God of
Israel, sayeth, that He hateth putting away; for it covereth violence with its
garment, saith the Lord." (2:16.) Yet, for the reasons stated this putting
away was permitted; and the same also may be said of concubinage, which was
also permitted in the Jewish Church.
The internal reason for these permissions was
that a wife represents the affection of truth, and in an inmost sense, wisdom
itself. In the external Church there is no genuine affection of truth nor any
perception of it, nor, indeed, much active thought concerning it, but the men
of the Church believe that to be true which is taught them by men of authority. Thus falses and obscurities are accepted as readily as truths. Nevertheless, if
there be obedience and simplicity, the Lord can conjoin Himself in a way, even
with those falsities or obscure truths,—not, however, as a husband with a wife,
but as with a concubine. That this might be represented, concubinage, and also divorce which is but another form of concubinage was permitted among
the Jews, with whom also the laws governing it served as some restraint to the
natural man.
But when an internal Church was to be
established, wherein truths could be seen in spiritual light, these permissions
were entirely abrogated, and the law was given that for no reason shall marriage be dissolved, save only for adultery. And in the New Church, which is to be a genuine internal Church, this law
is repeated and confirmed, and also further explained.
The reason for this is, that the marriage of one man and one wife is the very ultimate of the
spiritual marriage of good and truth which makes the internal
Church, and this spiritual marriage is now possible to all
who will look to the Lord, read His Word and obey it, for it is now possible to
enter into the understanding of interior truths, and to obey them, that is,
conjoin them with the good of life. But this possibility could not be
established, nor could it be preserved, unless the ultimate of this marriage which is the marriage of one man with one
wife were also established For ultimates are like bonds and girdles which bind
together and contain internal truths, and without which those truths would be
dissipated to the winds.
It was for the sake of the establishment of
genuine conjugial love and its preservation among men that the Lord gave t, the
Christian Church the new law respecting divorce, that by the
observance and establishment of this law preparation might be made for that
time when truths should be revealed which could not then be received. At this
day when the Christian world is ignorant of conjugial love, nay, is interiorly
opposed to it, this law seems gradually to be losing hold on the minds of men. With little or no knowledge of the spiritual law within it, there seems to be
in the Christian world a growing disposition to openly, or tacitly ignore this
command given by the Lord; and it may be that this also is to be permitted
because of the hardness of the heart. But in the New Church the law is to stand as the law of the Church. The
law is given anew to the New Church, and to it, is now added the teaching that
for the sake of the establishment of conjugial love, the conjugial friendship
and the conjugial life shall be preserved in externals, even where there is not
conjugial love between the partners; and that where life together is not
possible then separation may be permitted,—but not divorce,
except for the cause of adultery and all that the word implies.
This law is the external within which alone can
the internal which is conjugial love, be built up. And therefore, we repeat, it
was given by the Lord as a new law binding upon the Christian Church, to which,
at the same time, the opportunity of becoming an internal Church was offered. And, further, it is to be jealously preserved by the New Church to which internal truths are now offered in their
fullness as the gift to all who will receive.
But there are more interior reasons for this new
law respecting divorce. Man represents the love of growing
wise, because he is the very form of that love. Woman represents wisdom itself,
because she is the very form of wisdom. Or, what is the same thing, man
represents truth from the love of growing wise, and woman represents the
reception of that truth, or the affection of truth. In an internal Church
wisdom must be united to the love of growing wise; or, what is again the same
thing, affection must be conjoined with truth from the love of growing wise,
which affection is called the genuine affection of truth. Only in an internal
Church, is this possible; that is to say, it is possible only in a Church where
spiritual truths are revealed. These truths are to be received from the love of
growing wise, and when received they are to be loved and obeyed, in order that
from them genuine wisdom may be born, which shall be wisdom in its beauty given
by the Lord, and which shall be raised up like Eve from the rib of Adam, and
shall be given to man as the wife and consort of his life. In the internal
Church, wisdom, which is truth in the life, is to be conjoined with the love of
growing wise, and these two are to be one and indissoluble, even as husband and
wife. Neither can their union be broken, unless wisdom unites itself with some other
love,—with the love of self, or the love of learning, or the love of the world. In this case it is no longer wisdom, but becomes truth falsified and perverted,—it
is no longer a wife, but an adulteress. When this state arises in the man of
the Church, it necessarily leads to actual adultery, if not in the body, still
in the spirit. And when this state prevails in the Church, when its members are
led, and their thoughts and actions inspired, not by the love of wisdom, but by
other and merely natural loves, it is with such loves that the truths of the
Word are then conjoined, and the Church then becomes perverted and corrupt.
This is the reason why, at this day, when
spiritual wisdom has descended from its mountain height to its valley, when,
with most men, the love of growing wise is little more than the love of
acquiring fame and wealth and the instruments of worldly ease; and with women,
the love of wisdom is become, not the love of the wisdom of the husband, and
the will to be conjoined therewith, but merely the love of his fame, or
perchance, of her own beauty and attractiveness and its power over men, or, in
many cases, a merely natural love of marriage without any
love of spiritual wisdom,—it is because of this, that the Christian world is an
adulterous generation, and that the sphere that opposes marriage
finds so ready a place in the heart of man. It is because of this also that, at
this day, imagination and sentiment are more highly esteemed than reason and
judgment,—and especially than spiritual reason which at this day, is condemned
and despised as ignorance and simplicity. This, moreover, is the reason why, at
this day, women so largely rule; for even though they may not actually rule,
yet they rule indirectly in the fact that it is the sentiments and passions of
the animus that largely guide men, especially in moral and spiritual affairs,
rather than the dictates of rational judgment.
There is no truth in the Church unless it be seen
and acquired from the love of growing wise; and it is not genuine truth until
it is conjoined with the love of wisdom. These two, the love of growing; wise,
and the love of wisdom, are the two consorts that are to be united in the
spiritual marriage which is the marriage of
good and truth,—and this with every man who is to be a man of the Church and an
angel of heaven. Without this there can be no real wisdom in the Church,
howsoever it may appear to be. For true wisdom comes from the knowledge and
reception of Divine truth, and this cannot be received into the interior
thought, unless it be received by the love of growing wise conjoined to the
love of wisdom. Before this spiritual marriage is effected,
truth resides only in the memory, and it is from the memory that men reason and
dispute about it, but with little interior guiding sight, except of a general
sort, as to what is true and what false. But when the spiritual marriage is effected then there is the perception of truth that is
to be true, and hence comes certainty and conviction.
This is the reason why immediately after the
teaching concerning marriage, the Lord abolishes the law
respecting swearing or the making of vows. "But I say unto you, Swear not
at all. Neither by heaven for it is God's throne; nor by the earth for it is
His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king; neither by
thy head, for thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your
conversation be, Yea, Yea, Nay, Nay; for whatever is more than these cometh of
evil." To swear is to confirm truth while it is yet in the memory, and in
this state man is in obscurity and may confirm falsity equally with truth,
provided only it has been taught him by those whom he respects, or, provided
that it agrees with his own natural affections. But to say Yea, Yea, Nay, Nay,
is to see truth from within, that is to say, because it is present in the heart
from the marriage of good and truth.
We have said that this marriage
must take place with every man, and we now add that it cannot be effected with
any man unless it be conjoined with conjugial love. That is to say, unless that
man be also in conjugial love. By conjugial love is meant the love of one man
for one wife; and just as this love is not possible without the spiritual marriage, which is the marriage of good and truth,
so the spiritual marriage is not possible without conjugial
love. If the spiritual marriage of good with its truth, or of
love with its wisdom be present in the interiors, it must descend also to the
external, and there, inverting and regenerating the love of the sex, raise up
conjugial lore as a gem from its matrix. But if the interiors are the place
where truths are conjoined with evil affections, then these, flowing into the
external man, turn the love of the sex into what is opposite to conjugial love. Therefore no man can be in the spiritual marriage unless at
the same time he is in chaste natural marriage, if not in
actuality, yet in potency. The reverse of this is also true, viz., that no man
can enter into the spiritual marriage, unless he shuns all
that is opposed to conjugial love in his external. The two go hand in hand, and
there is no regeneration without them. For as man shuns the evils against marriage in thought and will, as well as in word and deed, so he
strives as from himself to live in conjugial chastity The external which he
thereby forms is the ultimate within which is gradually opened by the Lord a
new internal in which truths coming down from heaven are united to the love of
truth; and this internal is the spiritual origin of conjugial love. It is known
to all men that the relations of man and woman are universals of life,—that
they enter into all things of life for good or for ill,—but it is now revealed
for the first time that these relations are the ultimates of the spiritual marriage, or the opposite thereof, which is what makes the universal
quality of man's spiritual life, or of the life of his spirit. This is clearly
revealed for the first time to the New Church, but it was obscurely taught by the Lord when He gave
as the law of the Christian Church, "But I say unto you. That whosoever
shall put away his wife save for the cause of fornication, causeth her to
commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committeth
adultery"
When the Lord taught truth openly from His own
mouth He made it possible for the Church to be conjoined with Him as a bride to
her husband; with every man of the Church it becomes possible for truth to be
conjoined with its good, and good with its truth; and that this possibility may
be established and preserved, the Lord instituted the law of marriage. But the Christian Church did not fulfill its promise of
becoming an internal Church; it soon departed from the beginnings of the
spiritual marriage which were witnessed in the primitive
Church. Yet the law respecting marriage was preserved and
more firmly established. It was preserved because the Lord Himself was present
as the Word is in the midst of the Christian world and it was preserved in
preparation for the New Church, where as the promise is given, conjugial love will
be raised up with all who become spiritual by loving the spiritual things of
the Church.
We have said that the marriage of good and truth is not possible without
conjugial love in the natural, and that conjugial love in the natural is not
possible without the marriage of good and
truth. We would now note another and similar arcanum that is revealed to the New Church,
namely, that the spiritual marriage
is possible in its fullness only in the actual marriage
of one man with one wife. Many important truths are involved in this simple
statement. It involves that marriage
is the ultimate end to which every man of the Church will look as to the crown
of his life; and that, as the Church grows by the growth of the life of heaven
in her members, this end will be provided by the Lord. It involves that all who
are in the spiritual marriage are also
potentially in the natural marriage. But,—the most pregnant meaning perhaps of all,—it involves that the regeneration
of man is not possible without the sphere of woman, nor the regeneration of
woman without the sphere of man. The truths of the Church are to descend
through the husband from the love of growing wise. But they are not truths
unless conjoined with the love of wisdom which is with the wife only. Something
of this may be clearly realized by every husband, when he reflects that the
wisdom of his life is to love the wife alone; and that if he is not in this
love he is in insanity, howsoever many the truths in his memory. And it may be
realized by every young man, if he reflects on his state when he is in the love
and effort for the conjugial life, and on his state when assailed by evils that
oppose the conjugial life.
And so with woman. Woman alone is the love of
wisdom; nay, a wife is wisdom itself in its very form and beauty. But this love
of wisdom is not genuine, it is but a representative,—a possibility,—until it
is actually conjoined with the truth of wisdom received through men. So far as
it is conjoined with other than such truth, so far it becomes insanity.
The Church will grow so far as husbands grow in
the love of being wise, and wives in the love of wisdom; so far as her men
truths. This does not mean that men alone are to learn truths. It means nothing
unnatural, nothing strange to reason. Both men and women are to approach the
Lord,—to read the Word, to derive truths therefrom, to live their life in
accordance with the are cultivators of her truths, and her women lovers of
those indications of Providence
as they are given to see them. But as man does this, so he becomes more and
more a man,—more and more a means by which truths in greater light are present
on earth; and as woman does this so she becomes more and more a woman, more and
more a form of the affection of truth, by whom that affection becomes present
in the world. Wisdom increases and the love of wisdom, and the Church becomes
more fully the bride of the Lord,—a Church in which not man rules nor woman,
but in which conjugial love alone rules,—conjugial love between husband and
wife,—that universal love by which the Church conjoins herself to the Lord, as
a bride to her husband, in an indissoluble marriage
that shall not be broken.
And now to our one only God, Jesus Christ our
Lord, be glory and dominion, for ever and ever, Amen.
