Conjugial Love (Acton) n. 222

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222. XIII. THAT THERE IS A CONJUGIAL SPHERE WHICH INFLOWS FROM THE LORD THROUGH HEAVEN INTO EVERY SINGLE THING OF THE UNIVERSE EVEN TO ITS ULTIMATES. That love and wisdom, or what is the same thing, good and truth continually proceed from the Lord, has been shown above in the chapter on that subject [no. 83 seq.]. These two continually proceed from the Lord in marriage, because they are Himself, and from Him are all things. [2] Moreover, what proceeds from Him fills the universe, for without Him nothing which exists would subsist. There are many spheres which proceed from Him, such as the sphere of the preservation of the created universe, the sphere of the protection of good and truth against evil and falsity, the sphere of reformation and regeneration, the sphere of innocence and peace, the sphere of mercy and grace, besides many others. But of all these the universal sphere is the conjugial; for this is also the sphere of propagation and is thus the supereminent sphere of the preservation of the created universe by successive generations. [3] That this conjugial sphere fills the universe and pervades it from first things to last, is evident from the fact, as shown above, that there are marriages in the heavens, the most perfect being in the third or highest heaven; and that on earth, besides being with men, this conjugial sphere is in all subjects of the animal kingdom even to worms, and also in all subjects of the vegetable kingdom, from olive trees and palms even to lowly grasses. [4] That this sphere is more universal than the sphere of heat and light which proceeds from the sun of our world--of this, reason can be convinced from the fact that it continues to operate, more especially in the case of man, in the absence of the sun's heat as in winter, and in the absence of its light as at night. The reason why it thus operates is because it proceeds from the sun of the angelic heaven, and from this there is a constant equality of heat and light, that is, a constant conjunction of good and truth; for the angelic heaven is in perpetual spring. The changes of the good and truth or of the heat and light thereof are not variations such as are the variations on earth due to the changes of the heat and light from the sun there, but arise from the recipient subjects.


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