initiated into the duties of men, are bound in
matters of judgement to consult men, and then, if they are left to their
own disposal, they select from the counsels of men that which suits
their own inclination. Some also suppose that women are equally capable
with men of elevating their intellectual vision, and into the same
sphere of light, and of viewing things with the same depth; and they
have been led into this opinion by the writings of certain learned
authoresses: but these writings, when examined in the spiritual world in
the presence of the authoresses, were found to be the productions, not
of judgement and wisdom, but of ingenuity and wit; and what proceeds
from these on account of the elegance and neatness of the style in which
it is written, has the appearance of sublimity and erudition; yet only
in the eyes of those who dignify all ingenuity by the name of wisdom. In
like manner men cannot enter into the duties proper to women, and
perform them aright, because they are not in the affections of women,
which are altogether distinct from the affections of men. As the
affections and perceptions of the male (and of the female) sex are thus
distinct by creation and consequently by nature, therefore among the
statutes given to the sons of Israel this also was ordained, "_A woman
shall not put on the garment of a man, neither shall a man put on the
garment of a woman; because this is an abomination_." Deut. xxii. 5.
This was, because, all in the spiritual world are clothed according to
their affections; and the two affections, of the woman and of the man,
cannot be united except (as subsisting) between two, and in no case (as
subsisting) in one.

176. XVII. THESE DUTIES ALSO, ACCORDING TO MUTUAL AID, CONJOIN THE TWO
INTO A ONE, AND AT THE SAME TIME CONSTITUTE ONE HOUSE. It is well known
in the world that the duties of the husband in some way conjoin
themselves with the duties of the wife, and that the duties of the wife
adjoin themselves to the duties of the husband, and that these
conjunctions and adjunctions are a mutual aid, and according thereto:
but the primary duties, which confederate, consociate, and gather into
one the souls and lives of two married partners, relate to the common
care of educating their children; in relation to which care, the duties
of the husband and of the wife are distinct, and yet join themselves
together. They are distinct; for the care of suckling and nursing the
infants of each sex