172. 14. A wife is joined to her husband by her assimilation of the powers of his manhood, though this depends on the spiritual love they have for each other. That this is so is also something I have gained from the testimony of angels. They said that the seminal fluids expended by husbands are universally received by their wives and added to the life in them, and that the wives in consequence lead a life in harmony and in progressively greater harmony with their husbands. Moreover, that the effect of this is to bring about a union of souls and conjunction of minds. The angels said that this is because a husband's seminal fluid contains his soul, and also his mind in respect to the interior elements of it which have been joined to the soul.
They said further that this has been provided from creation, in order that a husband's wisdom - which forms his soul - may be assimilated into his wife, and that in this way they may become, in the Lord's words, one flesh. Also, that it has been provided as well to keep the male of the species from abandoning his wife for some imaginary reason after she has conceived.
However, the angels added that occurrences of the utilization and assimilation in wives of the life of their husbands are contingent on their conjugial love, because it is love, which is a spiritual union, which joins two people together. And that this, too, has been provided, for many reasons.
