Preached on 02-14-99
BEAUTY
A Sermon by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose
"And Leah's eyes were weak, and Rachel was beautiful in form and beautiful in look. And Jacob loved
Rachel, . . ." (Gen. 29:17,18)
AS WE LOOK AROUND THE WORLD which the Lord has created for us, and in which we live, we see many beautiful
things. What the Lord gives us is beautiful, and if we are to see the beauty of creation, all we need do is look
around and open our eyes. There are stars at night, and at dawn and sunset the sun bathes the world in the beauty
of light. After rain, we sometimes see a rainbow. There is beauty also in the minerals of the earth -- in gold,
in precious stones, and sometimes even in a simple rock. And amongst living things we can see beauty in the flight
of a bird, and in the movements and forms of animals on the ground. And what human art can even approach the beauty
of a flower?
Beauty attracts people. It calls forth love and dedication from the human mind. It is to be expected, therefore,
that beauty also plays a part in the two highest loves of which mankind is capable: conjugial love, and love of
the Lord.
There can be no greater love among created human beings than conjugial love -- true marriage love -- between
a husband and wife. Though any wise man knows such love cannot be based on physical beauty, still, it is no coincidence
that the beauty of a beautiful woman exceeds the beauty of anything else in the whole of creation. As we read in
the work Conjugial Love: "The universe was created by the Lord a most perfect work; but nothing more perfect
was created therein than woman, beautiful in countenance and charming in manner" (CL 56).
Above and within all love which exists between created human beings stands love of the Lord. It is therefore
no surprise that there is a beauty associated with this love as well. Beauty is not necessarily physical. Just
as our bodily eyes can behold things which delight us, so too, our minds can see a more abstract, a deeper beauty.
Ideas can be beautiful. Indeed, there can be far more beauty in gems of wisdom than in the natural gems of the
physical world. And, amongst those abstract ideas and concepts in which people can sense beauty, nothing can compare
to the truths of religion.
Though we may not always be aware of it, we can at times catch a mental glimpse of an incredible beauty in
the form and structure of the truths contained within the Heavenly Doctrines. Therefore it is that the New Church,
which is based on these doctrines, is described in the Word as being is beautiful. The New Church is one of the
significations of Zion as described in the 48th Psalm: "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth,
is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King " (Ps. 48:2). In the Book of Revelation
the New Church is described as a "the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having
the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal." (Rev.
21:10-11). The New Church is also likened to "a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev. 21:2), and "arrayed
in fine linen, clean and white" (Rev. 19:8).
It is noteworthy that the Word compares the beauty of the New Church to the beauty of a bride. There is a close
connection between true love between a husband and wife, that is, love truly conjugial, and the principal love
of the church, which is love of the Lord. Indeed, we are taught that "true conjugial love in its first essence
is love to the Lord from the Lord" (AE 996:2; emphasis added). As these two loves make one in essence, so
the beauties associated with each make one as to origin. Surprising though it may seem, the beauty of woman has
the same origin as the beauty of the church, and in many ways these two beauties are similar, for they perform
similar functions.
There are many definitions of beauty given in the Writings. One of the more general definitions is this: "beauty
is a form in which and therefore from which arises pleasantness" (SD 2461). The most basic type of beauty
thus has to do with the form of physical objects -- in other words, the shape of things and the way they arranged.
Beauty has to do with the "harmony of visual things" (SD 904; cf. AC 4301:3). From this harmony, the
Writings say, arises "the varieties of beauty which affect the mind, such as beauty in general, as also the
beauty of paradises and of similar things, and that of buildings" (SD 904). As beauty is the harmony of visual
things, so too, it is also the harmony of intellectual things. Truths also can be connected and arranged in a harmonious
form, a form which delights the mind (cf. SD 904).
Now harmony of physical form, in other words physical beauty, can perform a use in courtship and in later marriage.
Obviously beauty in a woman is one thing that can attract the eye of a young man, and lead to courtship. And, in
marriage itself, beauty, we are taught, can be what is called a "mediate good of conjugial love" (AC
4145:3); that is, beauty, and the attraction it produces, can be a means leading, eventually, to conjunction of
minds. Physical beauty certainly does not produce this conjunction of minds. It can, though, be one factor which
plays a part in a man's paying attention to his wife, and in holding them together until a full conjunction of
minds occurs.
Similarly, the beauty of certain teachings in the Writings can be an attraction. Some of the teachings of the
church are obviously beautiful, and can be the initial reason for an interest in the church. The teachings concerning
such matters as the Lord's providence, eternal life, conjugial love and Christmas have a beauty which many people
can sense immediately.
By itself, however, attraction based on beauty of form will not last. No lasting marriage between a man and
woman can be built upon the man's appreciation of the woman's physical beauty. Such love is superficial. It diminishes
with the passage of time. It is fickle, and easily wearies. So too, if an interest in the doctrines be simply a
superficial intellectual appreciation of their beauty, there will be no lasting interest. Fascination will give
way to boredom, the doctrines will seem to lose their beauty, and other ideas and systems of thought will soon
attract the mind.
This is involved in the story of Jacob's wedding. We do not know for certain what Jacob's motives were in falling
in love with Rachel. Perhaps he loved her beauty, for she was beautiful. Perhaps he saw something deeper in her.
But, for one reason or another, he wanted to marry her. When the time of the wedding arrived, though, his delight
gave way to indignation. The woman for whom he had worked for seven years turned out not to be the beautiful woman
he had desired. He found that he was to marry Leah instead.
Leah, the oldest daughter of Laban, is named from a Hebrew word meaning to be wearied. Her signification is
two-fold. First, she is said to represent the Jewish Church, and, more specifically, the attitude towards marriage
which prevailed at that time in history (SD 3384). Leah thus represents the belief that the marriage covenant is
temporary, and lasts only so long as does physical attraction, and that it doesn't matter if another married partner
is then taken after physical attraction wanes. What Leah represents has much in common with a love based merely
on physical beauty. Such a love can easily weary, and can so easily lead into adultery. Indeed, in essence such
a love is adultery. We read in the Spiritual Diary, "if beauty only, and not good, conjoins, it is adultery"
(SD 6110:82). Leah had weak eyes, and she was weak-eyed -- her eyes were not tender or delicate, as the King James
Version translates it. So too, a love based on physical attraction alone is also weak-eyed, for it lacks wisdom
and insight.
Leah has another signification in the Word. She represents the affection of external truth. Somebody who is
affected by a merely external, superficial and general view of the truth, also wearies. His interest soon wears
out, and he then fails to see anything deeper in this truth to sustain his interest. He also is weak-eyed, with
no real insight.
If there is to be permanence in a person's marriage or in his relationship with the church, he must see and
be attracted by a deeper beauty, a beauty which does not diminish, but grows continually. This is the beauty represented
by Rachel. Rachel represents the affection of internal truth. She thus represents not simply truth, but something
in truth, something which affects the mind. This something within, which gives truth the power to affect the mind,
is good. Truth is the form of good, that is, truth is an expression of what is good. And it is good that produces
the form and beauty of truth. This is what a good man sees in the truth. He sees within it what is good. And this
is what causes the truth to appear beautiful to him.
If a man's interest in the doctrines, interest in the truth, is only superficial, and remains superficial,
it will not last. But if he senses or comes to sense the real purpose of these teachings, his interest will grow.
Rachel will follow Leah. He will sense that these teachings are an expression of the Lord's love, and that they
are given to uplift us into what is truly good. Jacob represents natural good, and Rachel, as we have said, represents
being affected by spiritual or internal truth. Only to the degree that natural good is wedded to spiritual truth
can it be lifted up to become spiritual good. And so it is that a person who loves what is good will hold fast
to the truth, hold fast to the doctrines. He will search out and find deeper and deeper meanings in the Writings.
He will not necessarily devote himself to learned research and study. He will, though, certainly read and reflect
on how what he reads applies to his life. He will love the Writings, and never weary of them. Love does not grow
weary. Jacob easily served seven years for Rachel: "and they seemed but a few days to him, because of the
love he had for her" (Gen. 29:20).
It should be noted that whereas Leah is related to a Hebrew word meaning to be wearied, Rachel's name is thought
possibly to be related to a word meaning to cherish. Her name in fact means a ewe, a female sheep, and we are told
that she was a shepherdess. Certainly she was devoted to and cherished her flock. Also, in the New Testament, in
the Christmas story, Rachel is pictured as weeping for her sons, and refusing to be comforted at the death of those
she cherished (Matt. 2:18). Rachel's flocks signify the church and its doctrine (AC 3793), and her sons signify
spiritual truth (AE 695:15). So too, the person in the affection of internal truth cherishes and is devoted to
the church, the doctrines, and the spiritual truths they contain.
A similar devotion arises when a man comes to sense the internal beauty of his wife. If she is a good woman,
she will possess a beauty in addition to, or perhaps in spite of, her physical appearance. This beauty is none
other than her affection of the truth. She will be devoted to true wisdom. She will be devoted to and cherish that
which is truly right. She will conjoin herself with, support, and nurture the wisdom of her husband. She will stand
by him, and inspire him to search out the things of wisdom and true intelligence, and will encourage him to stand
up for what he sees to be true. And she will take his wisdom into her heart and make it her own. Such a woman is
truly beautiful, and her spirit will so appear in the other world. A true husband will see this beauty, and be
moved by it, and so love his wife from the bottom of his heart.
The wonder of such beauty is that it lasts and endures. Indeed, it grows and grows to all eternity. Beauty
attracts. And as the man is attracted and draws closer and closer to the mind of his wife, he comes to behold her
beauty in greater and greater depth.
So too with the beauty of the doctrines. Somebody who senses the interior beauty of the Writings is drawn to
them, and comes to see more and more wonderful and beautiful things in them to all eternity.
This is the nature and the purpose of true beauty. True beauty, or spiritual beauty, is the affection of truth.
It is the power of truth to affect the mind and to draw it closer and closer. This power comes from the good or
the love within the truth. And love desires conjunction.
In the case of a woman, this love is conjugial love, which flows in from the Lord directly into her soul, and
dwells there. This love seeks to conjoin her husband to herself. This love, this love truly conjugial, in seeking
this conjunction, flows into her mind, producing a beauty which captures her husband's heart.
In the case of the Writings, or the church, the love which seeks conjunction is the Lord's love of our salvation.
This love desires that we might be conjoined with Him. And in order that we might be so conjoined, He has revealed
Himself to us in the Word: in the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Writings. And in order that we might
be drawn to Him in His Word, His love has imparted to the truth of the Word a beauty, a beauty which draws a good
person ever and ever closer to the Lord. The closer he is drawn, the more the truths of the Word shine with the
flame of the Lord's love, with an unimaginable spiritual beauty.
Yet such a full conjunction with the Lord is not possible in the case of a single man or woman. Full conjunction
with Him is possible only in the case of a full human being. And a man is not a full human being. Neither is a
woman. A full human being is a married couple who are joined into a one even as to their very souls, by love truly
conjugial. Thus it is that love to the Lord and conjunction with Him are, in the end, inseparable from conjugial
love and the conjunction of the masculine and feminine soul.
This is why the Lord flows into the soul of a woman with conjugial love. This love produces beauty and tenderness
of mind, a tenderness which softens and bends the intelligence of her husband, causing him to seek the things of
true wisdom. This wisdom of the man is then loved and absorbed by the wife, causing her internal beauty to increase
more and more. They are thus joined together, not only as to minds and bodies, but also in their inmost souls,
standing before the Lord not as two, but as one. It is in such a one that the Lord's church or kingdom dwells in
fullness. In their mind the truths of the Word glitter as they are warmed by the Lord's love. It is these truths,
conjoined with love or good, which are the very essence of the church. And this conjunction of good and truth is
beauty itself (cf. CL 384). In such beauty dwells the delight and the happiness of heaven (SD 2461).
Such is what the Lord wills for all of us. Those who are single are being prepared by the Lord for such a marriage,
and they will enter into such a marriage, either in this world, or in the next, if they spurn and detest wandering
lusts as an offense to their nostrils (CL 49e), and remain faithful to the teachings of the church. And those who
are married can gradually receive this blessing within their marriage if they shun the evil of adultery in thought
and intention, and dedicate themselves to one another, and to the teachings of true religion.
But it should be remembered that such conjunction between a man and a woman, and between a couple and the Lord,
can never arise from a weak-eyed temporary attraction to merely external things. External things by themselves
do not bring happiness. They do not bring blessing. True blessing, true happiness, true conjunction, come only
as we seek for the deeper things of life. Peace within the home, and peace with God Himself, come only so far as
we open our eyes to behold the beauty of the Word, and the beauty of the spirit. Only then will we be led by the
Lord to be conjoined with Him, and to worship Him in the beauty of holiness.
Amen.
Lessons: Gen. 29:16-30; Rev. 19:4-9; CL 56 (part)
© 1998 by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose
