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ON THE CORRESPONDENCE OF ADULTERIES WITH THE VIOLATION OF SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE.

515.  I should here say something, in the way of preface, concerning correspondence; but the subject does not properly belong to the present work.  The nature and meaning of correspondence may be seen in a brief summary above, n. 76, and n. 342; and fully in the APOCALYPSE REVEALED, from beginning to end, that it is between the natural sense of the Word and the spiritual sense.  That in the Word there is a natural and a spiritual sense, and a correspondence between them, has been demonstrated in the DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, and especially, n. 5-26.

516.  The spiritual marriage means the marriage of the Lord and the church, spoken of above, n. 116-131; and hence also the marriage of good and truth, likewise spoken of above, n. 83-102; and as this marriage of the Lord and the church, and the consequent marriage of good and truth, is in everything of the Word, it is the violation of this which is here meant by the violation of the spiritual marriage; for the church is from the Word, and the Word is the Lord:  the Lord is the Word, because he is divine good and divine truth therein.  That the Word is that marriage, may be seen fully confirmed in the DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, n. 80-90.

517.  Since therefore the violation of the spiritual marriage is the violation of the Word, it is evident that this violation is the adulteration of good and the falsification of truth, for the spiritual marriage is the marriage of good and truth; whence it follows, that when the good of the Word is adulterated, and its truth falsified, the above marriage is violated.  How this violation is effected, and by whom, is in some measure evident from what follows.

518.  Above, in treating of the marriage of the Lord and the church, n. 116, and the following numbers, and in treating of the marriage of good and truth, n. 83, and the following numbers, it was shewn, that that marriage corresponds to marriages in the world:  hence it follows, that the violation of that marriage corresponds to whoredoms and adulteries.  That this is the case, is very manifest from the Word itself, in that whoredoms and adulteries there signify the falsifications of truth and the adulterations of good, as may be plainly seen from numerous passages adduced out of the Word in the APOCALYPSE REVEALED, n. 134.

519.  The Word is violated by those in the Christian church who adulterate its goods and truths; and those do this who separate truth from good and good from truth; also, who assume and confirm appearances of truth and fallacies for genuine truths; and likewise, who know truths of doctrine derived from the Word, and live evil lives, not to mention other like cases.  These violations of the Word and the church correspond to the prohibited degrees, mentioned in Levit, chap. xviii.