self-sacrifice, then the
self must be such that it can be continually sacrificed, else the joy
is a purely transitory one, or rather, is destroyed at the moment of
its consummation. Hence, though sacrificed, the self must still remain
itself.

The third view of perfection, to which these remarks naturally lead,
is that which sees it typified in marriage. The mystic-philosopher
SWEDENBORG has some exceedingly suggestive things to say on the matter
in his extraordinary work on _Conjugial Love_, which, curiously enough,
seem largely to have escaped the notice of students of these high
mysteries.

SWEDENBORG'S heaven is a sexual heaven, because for him sex is primarily
a spiritual fact, and only secondarily, and because of what it is
primarily, a physical fact; and salvation is hardly possible, according
to him, apart from a genuine marriage (whether achieved here or
hereafter). Man and woman are considered as complementary beings, and
it is only through the union of one man with one woman that the perfect
angel results. The altruistic tendency of such a theory as contrasted
with the egotism of one in which perfection is regarded as obtainable
by each personality of itself alone, is a point worth emphasising. As
to the nature of this union, it is, to use SWEDENBORG'S own terms, a
conjunction of the will of the wife with the understanding of the man,
and reciprocally of the understanding of the man with the will of the
wife. It is thus a manifestation of that fundamental marriage between
the good and the true which is at the root of all existence; and it is
because of this fundamental marriage that all men and women are born
into the desire to complete themselves by conjunction. The symbol
of sexual intercourse is a legitimate one to use in speaking of this
heavenly union; indeed, we may describe the highest bliss attainable
by the soul, or conceivable by the mind, as a spiritual orgasm. Into
conjugal love "are collected," says SWEDENBORG, "all the blessednesses,
blissfulnesses, delightsomenesses, pleasantnesses, and pleasures, which
could possibly be conferred upon man by the Lord the Creator."(1) In
another place he writes: "Married partners (in heaven) enjoy similar
intercourse with each other as in the world, but more delightful and
blessed; yet without prolification, for which, or in place of which,
they have spiritual prolification, which is that of love and wisdom."
"The reason," he adds, "why the intercourse then i