into his external, and afterwards into his internal. And while they are in externals, one consort, if both are dead, meets and knows the other; and if they have lived together in the world, they unite and live together for some time. When they are in this state, they do not know the inclination of each to the other, because this conceals itself in their internals. But afterwards, when they come into their internal state, the inclination manifests itself; and if it be in accord and sympathy, they continue their conjugial life; but if in discord and antipathy, they dissolve it.
If the man has had many wives, he unites himself with them successively while he is in the external state; but when he comes into the internal state, in which he perceives the inclinations of love and what they are, he then either adopts one, or leaves all. For in the spiritual as well as in the natural world, it is not permitted any Christian to take more than one wife, because this infests and profanes religion. It is the same with the woman who has had several husbands. But they do not adjoin themselves to their husbands; they only present themselves, and the husbands adjoin them to themselves. It is to be known that husbands rarely know their wives, but that wives readily know their husbands. The reason is, that women have an interior perception of love, and men only an exterior.
