306. X. THAT WHEN THE TIME OF BETROTHAL IS COMPLETED,THE WEDDING OUGHT TO TAKE PLACE. There are ceremonies which are merely formal, and ceremonies which are also essential. Among the latter are weddings. That these are classed among essentials to be publicly solemnized and formally celebrated, is confirmed by the following reasons: 1. That the wedding marks the end of the previous state inaugurated by betrothal, which was principally a state of the spirit, and the beginning of the later state to be inaugurated by marriage, which is a state of the spirit and at the same time of the body; for then the spirit enters the body and there acts. On that day, therefore, they put off the state and also the name of bridegroom and bride and put on the state and name of married partners and consorts of the bed. 2. That the wedding is an introduction and entrance into a new state, and this that the virgin may become a wife and the young man a husband, and the two one flesh. This they do become when love unites them by ultimates. That marriage does actually change the virgin into a wife and the young man into a husband, has been shown in preceding pages, as also that marriage unites the two into one human form so that they are no more two but one flesh. 3. That the wedding is the entering into a complete separation of love of the sex from conjugial love. This is effected when, through full opportunity for conjunction, there comes an exclusive devotion of the love of the one consort to the love of the other. 4. It appears as if the wedding merely marks the interval between these two states, and thus that it is a mere formality which may be omitted; yet, in the wedding there is also the essential element, that the new state mentioned above is then to be entered into by a covenant, and that consent is to be declared in the presence of witnesses and also to be consecrated by a priest, besides other things whereby it is established. Since the wedding involves essentials, and not until after it, does the marriage become legitimate, therefore weddings are celebrated in the heavens also. See above, no. 21, and what follows in nos. 27 to 41.
