nder and protector of
love; for all love is of such a nature that it bursts into indignation
and anger, yea into fury, whenever it is disturbed in its delights:
therefore if a love, especially the ruling love, be touched, there
ensues an emotion of the mind; and if it be hurt, there ensues wrath.
From these considerations it may be seen, that zeal is not the highest
degree of the love, but that it is ardent love. The love of one, and the
correspondent love of another, are like two confederates; but when the
love of one rises up against the love of another, they become like
enemies; because love is the _esse_ of a man's life; therefore he that
assaults the love, assaults the life itself; and in such case there
ensues a state of wrath against the assailant, like the state of every
man whose life is attempted by another. Such wrath is attendant on every
love, even that which is most pacific, as is very manifest in the case
of hens, geese, and birds of every kind; which, without any fear, rise
against and fly at those who injure their young, or rob them of their
meat. That some beasts are seized with anger, and wild beasts with fury,
if their young are attacked, or their prey taken from them, is well
known. The reason why love is said to burn like fire is, because love is
spiritual heat, originating in the fire of the angelic sun, which is
pure love. That love is heat as it were from fire, evidently appears
from the heat of living bodies, which is from no other source than from
their love; also from the circumstance that men grow warm and are
inflamed according to the exaltation of their love. From these
considerations it is manifest, that zeal is like the ardent fire of
love.

359. II. THE BURNING OR FLAME OF THAT LOVE, WHICH IS ZEAL, IS A
SPIRITUAL BURNING OR FLAME, ARISING FROM AN INFESTATION AND ASSAULT OF
THE LOVE. That zeal is a spiritual burning or flame, is evident from
what has been said above. As love in the spiritual world is heat arising
from the sun of that world, therefore also love at a distance appears
there as flame: it is thus that celestial love appears with the angels
of heaven; and thus also infernal love appears with the spirits of hell:
but it is to be observed, that that flame does not burn like the flame
of the natural world. The reason why zeal arises from an assault of the
love is, because love is the heat of every one's life; wherefore when
the life's love is assaulted, the life's heat kindles it