119. Genuine conjugial love is not possible except between pairs, that is, in the marriage of one man with one wife, but not with many; because conjugial love is mutual and reciprocal, and the life of one interchangeably in that of the other, so that they are as one. Such a union is given between pairs, but not between many, for many destroy that love. The men of the Most Ancient Church, who were celestial and in the perception of the union of good and truth like angels, had one wife only; they said that they perceived with one wife celestial delights and happinesses, and when marriage with several was only named, they were horrified. That the marriage of one wife and husband descends from the marriage of good and truth is evident from the words of the Lord in Matthew 19:3-12, which may be seen and adduced; also from the words of Adam concerning his wife. By "Adam and his wife" there is signified in the internal representative sense the Most Ancient Church, which was the golden age, the age of Saturn, concerning which the ancient authors wrote.