116. THE MARRIAGE OF THE LORD AND THE CHURCH AND ITS CORRESPONDENCE That here the marriage of the Lord and the Church and the correspondence thereof is also treated of, is because, in the absence of knowledge and understanding concerning it, hardly any one can know that in its origin, conjugial love is holy, spiritual, and celestial, and that it is from the Lord. Some in the Church do indeed say that marriages have relation to the marriage of the Lord with the Church, but the nature of that relation is not known. In order, therefore, that the subject may be so presented as to be seen in some light of the understanding it is necessary to treat in detail of that holy marriage which is with and in those who are of the Lord's Church. Moreover, it is these and no others who have love truly conjugial. For the elucidation of this arcanum, the present chapter will be distributed under the following articles:
I. That in the Word, the Lord is called Bridegroom and Husband, and the Church Bride and Wife; and that the conjunction of the Lord with the Church, and the reciprocal conjunction of the Church with the Lord, is called Marriage. II. Also that the Lord is called Father, and the Church Mother. III. That the offspring from the Lord as Husband and Father and the Church as Wife and Mother are all spiritual, and in the spiritual sense of the Word are meant by sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, and by other names belonging to generation. IV. That the spiritual offspring which are born from the marriage of the Lord with the Church are truths, from which are understanding, perception, and all thought; and goods, from which are love, charity, and every affection. V. That from the marriage of good and truth which proceeds and flows in from the Lord, man receives truth, and to this the Lord conjoins good; and that thus the Church is formed by the Lord with man. VI. That the husband does not represent the Lord, and the wife the Church, because both together, the husband and his wife, make the Church. VII. Therefore, that in the marriages of angels in the heavens and of men on earth, there is not a correspondence of the husband with the Lord and of the wife with the Church. VIII. But that there is a correspondence with conjugial love, semination, prolification, the love of infants, and similar things which are in marriages and from them. IX. That the Word is the medium of conjunction because it is from the Lord and thus is the Lord. X. That the Church is from the Lord and is with those who approach Him and live according to His commandments. XI. That conjugial love is according to the state of the Church because according to the state of wisdom with man. XII. And because the Church is from the Lord, that conjugial love also is from Him. The explanation of the above now follows:
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