718. 'Male and mate' ¹ means that truths were joined to goods. This is clear from the meaning of 'man' (vir) as truth which belongs to the understanding, and from the meaning of 'wife' as good which belongs to the will, both dealt with already. This consequently means that with man neither the smallest area of thought nor the smallest area of affection or activity has any existence at all unless it contains some marriage of understanding and will. In the absence of such a marriage nothing ever comes forth or is produced. The very organs of man's body, in their complex and in their simple parts, and indeed in the simplest parts of all, contain that which is passive and that which is active. And if these were not coupled together, like man and wife in marriage, they could not even be there, let alone produce anything. The same applies to the whole realm of nature. The source and origin of these enduring marriages lies in the heavenly marriage by means of which also the idea of the Lord's kingdom is stamped on everything in the whole realm of nature, both on animate beings and on inanimate.

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