Arcana Coelestia (Potts) n. 8983

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8983. The woman and her children shall be his master's. That this signifies that good adjoined to truth by the spiritual, together with the truths and goods thence derived, shall not be appropriated to truth, is evident from the signification of "the woman," as being spiritual good adjoined to truth when in combat (of which above, n. 8981); from the signification of "children," as being derived truths and goods (of which just above, n. 8982); and from the signification of "shall be his master's," as being that they shall belong to the spiritual from which they are, and not to truth (for "the master" denotes the spiritual, n. 8981, and "the manservant," truth without the corresponding good, n. 8974; consequently that they shall not be appropriated to this truth). For in the internal sense by "man and woman" is signified the conjunction of truth and good, because marriage on earth represents the heavenly marriage which is that of good and truth; and moreover conjugial love corresponds to this marriage (n. 2727-2759, 2803). [2] But between a manservant and a woman given him by his master there is no marriage, but only a coupling like that of a concubine with a man, which coupling does not correspond to the heavenly marriage; and therefore it is dissolved when the manservant goes forth, for then the woman together with the children become the master's. The reason why such a coupling takes place, is that the truth which is represented by the manservant is in the external man, and the good which is represented by the woman is in the internal man; and the good of the internal man cannot be conjoined with the truth of the external unless conjunction has been previously effected in the internal man. This cannot be done, because the manservant represents the merely external man who has not the corresponding good, and to whom it cannot be appropriated. That the good of the internal man cannot be conjoined with the truth of the external unless conjunction has been first effected in the internal man, can be seen from what has been already said about the regeneration of man (n. 3321, 3469, 3493, 3573, 3616, 3882, 4353); for regeneration is the conjunction of good and truth.


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