568. 'Daughters' means the things that constituted the will of that man, and so means evil desires. This is clear from what has been stated and shown about sons and daughters at verse 4 of the previous chapter, where 'sons' meant truths and 'daughters' goods. 'Daughters' or goods constitute the will. But as is a person's character so is his understanding and his will, and so therefore his 'sons and daughters'. At the moment the subject is the corrupt human type who has no will but merely evil desire instead, which people imagine to be the will and actually call the will. For any attribute is determined by the nature of the subject to which it is attributed. As shown already, the human type to whom 'daughters' are attributed here is a corrupt type.

[2] The reason 'daughters' means things constituting the will, which are evil desires when the will for good is non-existent, while 'sons' means those constituting the understanding, which are delusions when the understanding of truth is non-existent, is that the female disposition and make-up is such that the will or evil desire reigns rather than understanding. Every one of their fibres runs in that direction; and it is their very nature. The male make-up however is such that the understanding or reason reigns; every one of their fibres too runs in that direction, and it is their very nature. Consequently the marriage of the two sexes is like that of the will and the understanding in the individual. And because nowadays the will for good does not exist, but only evil desire, when yet it is possible for something of the understanding or reason to exist, so many laws were for that reason laid down in the Jewish Church concerning the husband's rights and the wife's obedience.