difference between them is such as the difference is between heaven and hell. Hence it is, that, in the Word, in its spiritual sense, heaven and the Church are signified by nuptials and marriages, and that hell and the rejection of all things of the Church are signified by adulteries and whoredoms."[1]
There are few things more striking in the Doctrines of the New Church, than the elevated view which they present of the nature of marriage. They show that true marriage has its origin in the conjunction of goodness and truth in the mind. Now, the conjunction of goodness and truth is what constitutes heaven: consequently, true marriage has its origin in heaven. Hence, in the Scriptures, particularly in the Gospels, heaven is frequently compared to a marriage. For instance, in the twenty-second chapter of Matthew, one of the Lord's parables commences with the words, "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king, who made a marriage for his son." Here by the marriage of the king's son, is represented the union of the Lord with the Church; the king's son signifying the Lord in his Divine Humanity; for the Son signifies the Humanity, as by the Father is signified the essential Divinity,—both in the Lord. So, in the twenty-first chapter of the Apocalypse, the New Jerusalem, that is, the New Church, is called the Lamb's Bride and Wife: the Lamb, here, signifying the same as the Son in the parable, namely the Divine Humanity; for it is this to which the church is wedded; that is, the true church is to worship the Lord in His
- ↑ Apocalypse Explained, n. 981.
