ten, twenty, or fifty years, and then to separate for lack of the proper constitutional adaptation of each to the other; could it with any greater propriety be said that they were joined by God? No: Man may join or tie together beings who are internally, constitutionally and mutually repugnant, and do not really belong together; just as they may join truth with evil, heaven with hell in their own minds. But all such alliances must, from their very nature, be sooner or later dissolved. But those whom God joins together, are and must be joined in the inmost ground of their being. And if created to live forever, they must (if joined by Him) be joined not for a day, but for the whole term of their existence; and so joined as, of twain, to make one flesh—one whole mind or person.
"Marriage in heaven," says Swedenborg, "is the conjoining of two into one mind. . . . Two married partners in heaven, therefore, are not called two but one angel."—H. H. n. 367.
"The most perfect and noble human form, is when two forms become one by marriage, thus when, two fleshes become one flesh, according to creation. The mind of the man is then elevated into superior light, and the mind of the wife into superior heat; and then they germinate, blossom and fructify, as trees in the time of spring."—C. L. n. 201.This, we see, is in perfect agreement with what we read in Genesis (v. 1, 2): "In the day that God created mian, in the likeness of God created He him, male and female created He them, and blessed them and called their name Adam [or man]." It requires both the male
