filth. Therefore from the brothels in the hells stenches pour forth
that excite vomiting. (A.E., n. 986.)

How holy in themselves, that is, from creation, marriages are can be
seen from the fact that they are the nurseries of the human race; and as
the angelic heaven is from the human race they are also the nurseries of
heaven; consequently by marriages not only the earths but also the
heavens are filled with inhabitants; and as the end of the entire
creation is the human race, and thus heaven, where the Divine itself may
dwell as in its own and as it were in itself, and as the procreation of
mankind according to Divine order is accomplished through marriages, it
is clear how holy marriages are in themselves, that is, from creation,
and thus how holy they should be esteemed. It is true that the earth
might be filled with inhabitants by fornications and adulteries as well
as by marriages, but not heaven; and for the reason that hell is from
adulteries but heaven from marriages.

Hell is from adulteries because adultery is from the marriage of evil
and falsity, from which hell in the whole complex is called adultery;
while heaven is from marriages because marriage is from the marriage of
good and truth, from which heaven in its whole complex is called a
marriage. That is called adultery where its love, which is called a love
of adultery, reigns, whether it be within wedlock or apart from it, and
that is called marriage where its love, which is called marriage love,
reigns.

When procreations of the human race are effected by marriages in which
the holy love of good and truth from the Lord reigns, then it is on
earth as it is in the heavens, and the Lord's kingdom on earth
corresponds to the Lord's kingdom in the heavens. For the heavens