442.  XVI.  THE DELIGHTS OF ADULTEROUS LOVE ARE THE PLEASURES OF INSANITY; BUT THE DELIGHTS OF CONJUGIAL LOVE ARE THE DELIGHTS OF WISDOM.  The reason why the delights of adulterous love are the pleasures of insanity is, because none but natural men are in that love, and the natural man is insane in spiritual things, for he is contrary to them, and therefore he embraces only natural, sensual, and corporeal delights.  It is said that he embraces natural, sensual, and corporeal delights, because the natural principle is distinguished into three degrees:  in the supreme degree are those natural men who from rational sight see insanities, and are still carried away by the delights thereof, as boats by the stream of a river; in a lower degree are the natural men who only see and judge from the senses of the body, despising and rejecting, as of no account, the rational principles which are contrary to appearances and fallacies; in the lowest degree are the natural men who without judgement are carried away by the alluring stimulant heats of the body.  These last are called natural-corporeal, the former are called natural-sensual, but the first natural.  With these men, adulterous love and its insanities and pleasures are of similar degrees.

443.  The reason why the delights of conjugial love are the delights of wisdom is, because none but spiritual men are in that love, and the spiritual man is in wisdom; and hence he embraces no delights but such as agree with spiritual wisdom.  The respective qualities of the delights of adulterous and of conjugial love, may be elucidated by a comparison with houses:  the delights of adulterous love by comparison with a house whose walls glitter outwardly like sea shells, or like transparent stones, called selenites, of a gold color; whereas in the apartments within the walls, are all kinds of filth and nastiness:  but the delights of conjugial love may be compared to a house, the walls of which are refulgent as with sterling gold, and the apartments within are resplendent as with cabinets full of various precious stones.

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444.  To the above I shall add the following MEMORABLE RELATION.  After I had concluded the meditations on conjugial love, and had begun those on adulterous love, on a sudden two angels presented themselves, and said, “We have perceived and understood what you have heretofore meditated upon; but the things upon which you are now meditating pass away, and we do not perceive them.  Say nothing about them, for they are of no value.”  But I replied, “This love, on which I am now meditating, is not of no value; because it exists.”  But they said, “How can there be any love, which is not from creation?  Is not conjugial love from creation; and does not this love exist between two who are capable of becoming one?  How can there be a love which divides and separates?  What youth can love any other maiden than the one who loves him in return?  Must not the love of the one know