47. Their lot in the other life is this. At first they take several wives as well as concubines there as they did in the world, but because in the spiritual world there is conjunction of minds, and those who disagree in mind cannot remain together, but they separate of their own accord, and eventually they mate with a woman of similar mind, thus by degrees they separate from their wives, and finally are united with one, with whom their mind agrees. Moreover, those who persist in polygamy in course of time become so weak and impotent that they become disgusted with marriage, for this is the effect of lasciviousness.

4492. 'All who went out of the gate of his city' means that they departed from the doctrine of the Church among the Ancients. This is clear from the meaning of 'going out' here as departing from, and from the meaning of 'the gate of the city' as doctrine, dealt with in 2943, 4477, here the doctrine of the Church among the Ancients, since it was the gate of 'his', that is, Shechem's, city. For 'Shechem' represents the truth of the Church among the Ancients, 4454, the phrase 'the Church among the Ancients' being used to mean that which descended from the Most Ancient Church, as also stated already. The implications of this will be evident from what follows next.