Heaven and its Wonders and HellSwedenborg, Emanuel
Religion
Heaven and its Wonders and Hell
Swedenborg, Emanuel
Future life -- Christianity -- Early work to 1800; Heaven -- Christianity; Hell -- Christianity
In the Christian world it is wholly unknown that heaven and hell are
from the human race, for it is believed that in the beginning angels
were created and heaven was thus formed; also that the devil or Satan
was an angel of light, but having rebelled he was cast down with his
crew, and thus hell was formed. The angels never cease to wonder at
such a belief in the Christian world, and still more that nothing is
really known about heaven, when in fact that is the primary principle
of all doctrine in the church. But since such ignorance prevails they
rejoice in heart that it has pleased the Lord to reveal to mankind at
this time many things about heaven and about hell, thereby dispelling
as far as possible the darkness that has been daily increasing
because the church has come to its end. [2] They wish for this reason
that I should declare from their lips that in the entire heaven there
is not a single angel who was created such from the beginning, nor in
hell any devil who was created an angel of light and cast down; but
that all, both in heaven and in hell, are from the human race; in
heaven those who lived in the world in heavenly love and belief, in
hell those who lived in infernal love and belief, also that it is
hell taken as a whole that is called the Devil and Satan-the name
Devil being given to the hell that is behind, where those are that
are called evil genii, and the name Satan being given to the hell
that is in front, where those are that are called evil spirits.{1}
The character of these hells will be described in the following
pages. [3] The angels said that the Christian world had gathered such
a belief about those in heaven and those in hell from some passages
in the Word understood according to the mere sense of the letter not
illustrated and explained by genuine doctrine from the Word; although
the sense of the letter of the Word until illuminated by genuine
doctrine, draws the mind in different directions, and this begets
ignorance, heresies, and errors.{2}
{Footnote 1} The hells taken together, or the infernals taken
together, are called the Devil and Satan (n. 694). Those that
have been devils in the world become devils after death (n.
968).
{Footnote 2} The doctrine of the church must be derived from
the Word (n. 3464, 5402, 6822, 6832, 10763, 10765). Without
doctrine the Word is not understood (n. 9025, 9409, 9424, 9430,
10324, 10431, 10582). True doctrine is a lamp to those who read
the Word (n. 10400). Genuine doctrine must be from those who
are enlightened by the Lord (n. 2510, 2516, 2519, 9424, 10105).
Those who are in the sense of the letter without doctrine come
into no understanding of Divine truths (n. 9409, 9410, 10582).
And they are led away into many errors (n. 10431). The
difference between those who teach and learn from the doctrine
of the church derived from the Word and those who teach and
learn from the sense of the letter alone (n. 9025).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account