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
490. All this makes evident that everyone's delights are changed
after death into their correspondences, while the love itself
continues to eternity. This is true of marriage love, of the love of
justice, honesty, goodness and truth, the love of sciences and of
knowledges, the love of intelligence and wisdom, and the rest. From
these loves delights flow like streams from their fountain; and these
continue; but when raised from natural to spiritual delights they are
exalted to a higher degree.
491. LI. THE FIRST STATE OF MAN AFTER DEATH.
There are three states that man passes through after death before he
enters either heaven or hell. The first state is the state of his
exteriors, the second state the state of his interiors, and the third
his state of preparation. These states man passes through in the
world of spirits. There are some, however, that do not pass through
them; but immediately after death are either taken up into heaven or
cast into hell. Those that are immediately taken up into heaven are
those that have been regenerated in the world and thereby prepared
for heaven. Those that have been so regenerated and prepared that
they need simply to cast off natural impurities with the body are at
once taken up by the angels into heaven. I have seen them so taken up
soon after the hour of death. On the other hand, those that have been
inwardly wicked while maintaining an outward appearance of goodness,
and have thus filled up the measure of their wickedness by artifices,
using goodness as a means of deceiving-these are at once cast into
hell. I have seen some such cast into hell immediately after death,
one of the most deceitful with his head downward and feet upward, and
others in other ways. There are some that immediately after death are
cast into caverns and are thus separated from those that are in the
world of spirits, and are taken out from these and put back again by
turns. They are such as have dealt wickedly with the neighbor under
civil pretences. But all these are few in comparison with those that
are retained in the world of spirits, and are there prepared in
accordance with Divine order for heaven or for hell.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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