Heaven and Hell.
The treatise on Heaven and Hell is among the most charming of Swedenborg’s writings. Its subjects possess a universal attraction; for, what believer in the immortality of man has not, at times, longed to penetrate the awful mysteries of the unseen world? And there is nothing unreasonable in the desire. True it is, that, until Swedenborg came, any but the most general knowledge of the nature of the future life had been withdrawn from mankind since the days of primeval innocence; yet not from anything hurtful in the knowledge itself, but simply because the sublime facts of the future state transcended the apprehension of men immersed in worldly loves and cares, and denying and ridiculing every idea which was not an object of sensual perception. For this reason the Lord said to his disciples: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye can not bear them now.” (John xvi. 12.) We frequently see this inability to “bear” things spiritual and divine, manifested in our own experience. We offer Swedenborg’s treatise, for perusal, to some man of science, full of self-confidence, with the laws and facts of the universe at his finger’s ends; or to some deeply-read theologian. The title page is read,—“Heaven and its Wonders, the World of Spirits, and Hell; being a relation of things heard and seen.” It is enough. “What nonsense! What foolishness! The lunatic! What could he know of heaven or hell? How could he get there? The impostor! None but a fool could write such a book!” And so on. The title page settles the whole question. Now what can be said in reply to these railers, of whom the world is full? How can one argue with, and combat, such inveterate prejudice? Yet these people are professing Christians. They profess to believe there is a heaven and a hell. But, does not their condemnation of Swedenborg betray a lurking infidelity in their hearts? If they really possessed a living faith in the existence of heaven and hell, it could not appear to them so utterly preposterous that some account of their nature might in these times have been revealed, through the abounding mercy of the Lord.
But the world now contains many who are willing to receive, and able to understand, the truths of the future life. The Lord, who never allows his children to lack any good thing, has, in due season, given them, through Swedenborg, this precious and delightful volume. Let us briefly enumerate its important statements.
The spiritual world divides itself into three great regions,—Heaven, the World of Spirits, and Hell.
Heaven is formed of all who have loved the Lord on earth by living a life in accordance with his laws. The laws of spiritual life are known, more or less perfectly, in all nations, even among the heathen. The lowest of the Gentiles have some faint rays of the light of spiritual truth; and if they live in obedience thereto, regeneration, and consequently, heaven, is attainable by them. Yet heaven has its degrees of bliss. Good persons of every variety of character pass into it. But the promiscuous association of these different kinds of character would not be orderly, and could not be blissful. By the law of spiritual gravitation, (from which the law of natural gravitation is but a derivation, and of which it is a type and image,) all who possess similar affections and intelligence are drawn together, and co-ordinated in the most blissful harmony. The infinite variety of heaven thus arranges itself, in general, into two kingdoms; specifically into three heavens; and in particular, into innumerable societies. The two kingdoms are respectively called celestial and spiritual. The angels forming the celestial kingdom are characterized by their exceeding love of the Lord and of goodness; and the angels who form the spiritual kingdom are distinguished by their exceeding love of their neighbor and of truth. The celestial angels are immensely wiser than the spiritual, and their blessedness is ineffable. Specifically there are three heavens, perfectly distinct, called the first heaven, the second or middle heaven, and the third or highest heaven; or they may be called external, internal, and inmost; or natural, spiritual, and celestial. Of these three heavens the highest or third, together with the internal of the first or lowest heaven, forms the celestial kingdom; and the middle or second, together with the external of the first or lowest heaven, forms the spiritual kingdom. These three heavens and two kingdoms, arising out of the varieties of the human mind, are not arbitrary distinctions. The external, first, or natural heaven, is formed of those who, from a principle of obedience and duty, live in accordance with the Divine will. The second, spiritual, or middle heaven, is formed of such as love truth, delight in things intellectual, and at the same time are in disinterested love to the neighbor. The inmost, third, or celestial heaven, is formed of those who, full of love to the Lord, are in innocence. These celestial angels, gifted with the highest wisdom and peace, yet full of humility, indefinitely exceed all beneath them in beauty and wisdom. The existence and order of the three heavens was represented by the courts of the Jewish temple. The celebrated Oberlin, a diligent reader of Swedenborg, had a plan of the courts of the temple hung upon the walls of his church, by which he taught his hearers, that, according to their humility, piety, fidelity, and love of being useful to each other, would be their elevation in the Lord’s kingdom, either to the first, second, or third heaven. We think that no one, in whom reign the heavenly principles of “love” to the Lord and the neighbor; “joy” in duty under all circumstances; “peace” in every change of state; “long-suffering” under all provocations; “gentleness” of behaviour; “goodness” of disposition, ever manifesting itself in good actions; “faith” or truth, believed, loved, and thence trusted in; “meekness” in doing and in suffering; “temperance” both in external and internal delights, Gal. v. 22, would be an unwilling inhabitant of such a heaven as Swedenborg describes. Is not this at least presumptive evidence that he has spoken truly?
The three heavens are further subdivided into innumerable societies, some smaller, and some larger; some consisting of myriads of angels, and some of hundreds. Their association into societies, is a result of similarity of character, which similarity is imaged in their faces; and a general likeness of countenance is observed among the angels who form one society. All who are in similar love know each other, just as men in the world know their kindred, relations, and friends; and thus, as it were, spontaneously associated, they feel at home and in freedom, and thence in the full delight of their life. From this it also follows that angels who differ much are far apart; and few depart out of their own society into another, because to go out from their own society is like going out of themselves, or out of their own life, and passing into another which is not so agreeable. Nevertheless all the societies of heaven are bound together in one perfect form, which is strictly human.
All angels are in the human form, and are just such men and women as they were on earth, except that they have rejected the material body. That we should have to write and enforce such truisms—for such they must appear to a mind really rational,—is owing to the strange and ridiculous fancies that are commonly entertained on this subject. We often hear the departed talked of as shades, and thought of as minds without forms, or mere thinking principles composed of some sort of ethereal vapor; and when artists draw them, we see perhaps an exquisitely beautiful human form, but disfigured with large feathery wings, which, having no adequate muscles, would have no power of motion. None of these vague, shadowy, and erroneous ideas do we find in the Bible. The angels seen by Abraham, Lot, Manoah, the prophets, and the Lord’s disciples, were all seen as men, and talked with as men. Our author writes thus explicitly on this subject. “The angelic form is in every respect human; angels have faces, eyes, ears, breasts, arms, hands, and feet; they see, hear, and converse with each other; and, in a word, no external attribute of man is wanting, except the natural body.”
And now comes a doctrine which on a first view may appear very mystical, and yet when pondered over, and understood, commends itself to our belief by a thousand irresistible evidences drawn from analogy, and confirmed by right reason. It is, that every society of heaven is in the human form; and that the universal heaven, viewed collectively, is also in the human form; and is called by Swedenborg the Grand or Greatest [Maximus] Man. Wilkinson well expresses this sublime truth. “Heaven,” he says, “is supremely human—nay more, it is one man. As the members of the body make one person, so before God, all good men make one humanity: every society of the angels is a heavenly man in a lesser form, and every angel in a least. The reason is, that God himself, (the Lord Jesus Christ,) is a Divine Man, and He shapes His heaven into His own image and likeness, even as He made Adam. The oneness of heaven comes from God’s unity: its manhood from His humanity. Heaven has, therefore, all the members, organs, and viscera of a man; its angel inhabitants, every one, are in some province of the Grand Man. Indefinite myriads of us go to a fibre of its humanity. Some are in the province of the brain; some in that of the lungs; some in that of the heart; some in that of the belly; some are in the legs and arms; and all, wherever humanized, that is to say, located in humanity, perform spiritually the offices of that part of the body whereto they correspond. They all work together, however spaced apparently, just as the parts of a single man. Their space is but their palpable liberty, and they touch the human atoms, more closely, by offices which unite them in God, than the contiguous fibres of our flesh.” Every society of heaven also increases in number daily, and as it increases, it becomes more perfect; and from its perfection the universal heaven becomes more perfect, because heaven is composed of societies. Since increasing numbers make heaven more perfect, it is evident how much they are deceived who believe that heaven will be closed when it becomes full. On the contrary, heaven will never be closed, for the greater its fullness, the greater its perfection; and therefore the angels desire nothing more earnestly than to receive new comers.
This part of our subject would require considerable expansion to make it intelligible to minds that have never meditated on these high themes, and whose theological education has perverted all perception of the truth on these matters. The subject is enticing, but our limits command restraint.
It was a remark of a profane wit and epicure that “as to heaven, he had no great longing, as he could not see what great pleasure there could be in sitting on a cloud and singing psalms to eternity.” We have in this expression a thought which we know to be common to many minds, but respect for the externals of religion forbids its expression. The general belief respecting the nature of life in heaven, is so vague, and contains so much of clouds and psalm-singing, that it is not to be wondered at that some free and daring spirits should openly avow their preference for the more substantial realities of this life. And is it not a pity that the divine glories and delights of the heavenly life should become so veiled in mystery as to lose their attraction, and cease to be desirable? With the exception of the church’s ignorance of the humanity, unity, and divinity of its Saviour and Lord, no surer evidence could be adduced of its consummation, than its inability to answer the simplest child’s questions as to the nature of life in heaven. Let us be thankful that man’s utmost wants, in this respect, are satisfied in the writings of that New Church which the Lord is now raising up, and of which Swedenborg was the divinely-appointed herald.
The sun of heaven is the Lord. The light of heaven is the divine truth, and its heat the divine love; both proceeding from the Lord as a sun. The sun of this world is not seen in heaven. Nature commences from the sun of this world, and everything which is produced from it, and subsists by it, is called natural; but the spiritual world in which heaven is, is above nature, and entirely distinct from it, although it is ever to be remembered that nature is a derivation from spirit, and communicates with spirit by correspondences. We shall have more to say on this conjunction yet perfect separation, between nature and spirit, when we come to speak of the doctrine of degrees.
The sun of heaven, or the divine sphere of glory surrounding the Lord, the “light which no man can approach unto,” 1 Tim. vi. 6, appears variously to the angels of heaven according to their states of love and intelligence. To the angels of the third heaven, the sun appears fiery and flaming; to the angels of the second heaven, white and brilliant; while to those of the first heaven its light is more subdued and veiled with clouds, yet at intervals bursting forth and pouring his glorious radiance upon them. Although the Lord is thus seen by the angels as a sun above them, yet at times He appears in their midst, in an angelic form, and with a resplendent countenance. What tongue can describe the rapt adoration and ineffable joy which must thrill angelic bosoms on these occasions!
Heaven has its times and its seasons, but they are not like those of earth. In heaven there is no winter and no night. The times and seasons of heaven are consequences of the variations of the states of angelic minds. While to all appearance they are objective as on earth, they are in reality strictly subjective. The external changes of light and heat correspond to the internal changes of love and wisdom in the angelic mind. Now as the angels are sometimes in a state of intense love, and sometimes in a state of love not so intense, morning, noon, evening, and twilight, exist in heaven as the external emblems of these changes. Without such changes life would lose its zest. Eternal uniformity would be eternal dullness.
Since angels are men, and live together in society like men on earth, therefore they have garments, houses, and other things similar to those which exist on earth, but of course infinitely more beautiful and perfect. The garments of the angels correspond to their intelligence. The garments of some glitter as with flame, and those of others are resplendent as with light; others are of various colors, and some white and opaque. The angels of the inmost heaven are naked because they are in innocence, and nakedness corresponds to innocence. It is because garments represent states of wisdom that they are so much spoken of in the Word, in relation to the church and good men. Thus in Isaiah liii. 1, “Awake, put on strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem.” And in Ezekiel xv. 10, the Lord says of his church: “I girded thee about with fine linen, and covered thee with silk.” And in the Apocalypse iii. 4, 5, it is said: “They who have not defiled their garments, shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment.” What a depth of meaning appears in these passages when we remember the spiritual signification of garments!
“The garments of the angels,” writes Swedenborg, “do not merely appear to be garments, but they really are garments; for they not only see them, but feel them, and have different ones, which they take off and put on, laying aside those which are not in use, and resuming them when they come into use again. That they are clothed with a variety of garments, I have witnessed a thousand times; and when I inquired whence they obtained them, they told me ‘from the Lord,’ and that they receive them as gifts, and that they are sometimes clothed without knowing how. They also said that their garments are changed according to the changes of their state.”
Since there are societies in heaven, and the angels live as men, it follows that they have habitations, various, like all else in heaven, according to the degree of love and wisdom in which they are principled. No words are like Swedenborg’s own on this subject. “Whenever I have conversed with the angels mouth to mouth, I have been present with them in their habitations, which are exactly like the habitations on earth called houses, but more beautiful. They contain chambers, parlors [conclavia], and bed-chambers, in great numbers; courts also, and around them gardens, shrubberies, and fields. Where the angels are consociated their habitations are contiguous, or near to each other, and arranged in the form of a city, with streets, ways, and squares, exactly like the cities on our earth.
“I have seen palaces in heaven, magnificent beyond description. Their upper parts were refulgent as if they were pure gold, and their lower parts as if they were precious stones: some were more splendid than others, and the splendor without was equaled by the magnificence within. The apartments were ornamented with decorations which neither language nor science can adequately describe. On the south were paradises, in which all things were similarly resplendent; for in some places the leaves of the trees were like silver, and the fruits like gold, while the colors of the flowers which were arranged in beds, appeared like rainbows; at the boundaries appeared other palaces, which terminated the view. Such is the architecture of heaven that one might say it is the very art itself; nor is this to be wondered at, because the art itself is from heaven. The angels said that such things, and innumerable others still more perfect, are presented before their eyes by the Lord, but that nevertheless they delight their minds more than their eyes, because in everything they see correspondences of things divine.
“The angels who constitute the Lord’s celestial kingdom, dwell for the most part in elevated places, or mountains; those who form the spiritual kingdom, on hills; but those who are in the lowest parts of heaven, in places which appear as rocks. There are also angels who do not live consociated, but separate. These dwell in the midst of heaven, and are the best of the angels.
“The houses in which the angels dwell, are not constructed by hand, like houses in the world, but are given them freely by the Lord, according to their reception of good and truth. All things whatsoever which the angels possess, they hold as gifts from the Lord; and they are supplied with everything they need.”
We thus learn that in heaven there are not external, physical, or mental occupations to support bodily wants, as in this world.
It was said above that the angels have not wings, as is commonly supposed. Their power of progression far exceeds anything that wings could supply. They have no idea of space, such as we have in the world. All who are of like disposition spontaneously associate together in the spiritual world. It thus follows that those are near each other who are in a similar state, and distant who are in a dissimilar state; and that what appears to be space in heaven is merely an external appearance, representative of internal differences of mind. From this cause alone the heavens are distinct from each other, and each society of heaven, and every individual in each society. Hence also the hells are altogether separated from the heavens.
From the same cause, any one in the spiritual world appears to be present if another intensely desires his presence; for from that desire he sees him in thought, and puts himself in his state. Again one person is removed from another in proportion as he holds him in aversion; for all aversion is from contrariety of the affections and disagreement of the thoughts; therefore many who appear together in one place in the spiritual world, so long as they agree, separate as soon as they disagree.
Further: when any one goes from one place to another, whether it be in his own city, in the courts, or the gardens, or to others out of his own city, he arrives sooner when he has a strong desire to be there, and later when his desire is less strong; the way itself being lengthened or shortened according to his desire of arrival. Hence again it is evident that distances, and consequently spaces, exist with the angels altogether according to the state of their minds.
These principles settle that often asked question, “Shall we know each other in the future life?” We shall, if we are in the same state as to love and truth; but if in different states, we shall not, but shall be separate; and, moreover, we shall have no desire for acquaintance. The only friendships in heaven are those formed on the ground of similarity of character. If this similarity does not exist,—with the exception perhaps of a short meeting in the world of spirits—death is an everlasting, though in such case not a mournful, farewell.
There are governments in heaven, various according to the varied classes of mind which compose the heavenly societies. The government of mutual love is the only government which exists in heaven. Governors in heaven are distinguished by love and wisdom more than others, and by willing well to all from love; and knowing, from their superior wisdom, how to realize the good they purpose. They do not domineer, and command imperiously, but minister and serve: not making themselves greater than others, but less; for they put their own good last, and the good of their society first: nevertheless they enjoy honor and glory; for they dwell in the midst of their society, in a more elevated situation than others, and inhabit magnificent palaces; but they accept glory and honor, not for the sake of themselves, but for the sake of obedience; for all in heaven know that they enjoy honor and glory from the Lord, and that, therefore they ought to be obeyed. These are the things which are meant by the Lord’s words to his disciples: “Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” Matthew xx. 27, 28. “He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger: and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.” Luke xxii. 26. A similar government prevails also in every house in heaven; for in every house there is a master, and there are servants, the master loving the servants, and the servants loving the master, so that they serve each other from love. The master teaches the servants how they ought to live, and directs what they ought to do, while the servants obey, and perform their duties.
Divine worship performed in heaven, is much the same in externals, as on earth. In the heavens, as on earth, there are doctrines, preachings, and temples. As the angels have houses and palaces, so also they have temples in which preaching is performed. Such things exist in heaven because the angels are continually perfecting in wisdom and love. But real divine worship in the heavens does not consist, any more than on earth, in frequenting temples, and hearing sermons, but in a life of love and usefulness; sermons and prayers being only means whereby the mind is enlightened to perform its various duties. “To work is to pray,” is a heavenly precept which we should all do well to engrave upon our hearts.
The sermons of heaven are fraught with such wisdom that nothing of the kind in the world can be compared with them. They are all drawn from the Word. The same Bible that we read here, the angels read in heaven; but to them it is a very different book from what it is to us. Where we read and think of earthly and material things, they read and think of spiritual and divine things. To them its spiritual and celestial senses are as open as the natural sense is to us. From the Word they derive their highest wisdom; and through continual converse with it, they grow wiser and wiser day by day. The Word is the wisdom of the Lord, and eternity can not exhaust it.
All infants go to heaven, whether born within the church or out of it; whether of pious parents or wicked ones. When infants die, they are still infants in the other life. They are not angels, but become angels. Every one, on his decease, is in a similar state of life to that in which he was in the world; an infant in the state of infancy, a boy in a state of boyhood, and a youth, a man, or an old man, in the state of youth, of manhood, or of age; but the state of every one is afterwards changed. As soon as infants are raised from the dead, which takes place immediately after decease, they are carried up into heaven, and delivered to the care of angels of the female sex, who in the life of the body loved infants tenderly, and at the same time loved God. By these good angels, they are educated and brought up until they attain a suitable age, when they are transferred to other teachers. They grow up and become young men and women; are instructed in wisdom, and trained in the duties of the heavenly life: and when their character is fully developed, they become settled in some society, either of the celestial or spiritual kingdom, in agreement with their inherited genius or disposition. What a delightful faith is this! Do not its beauty and rationality prove its truthfulness?
Many persons imagine that infants are forever infants in heaven, and that there is indeed something infantile about all angels. This idea probably arises from the pictures which are frequently seen, in which angels are drawn as infants. But this is a great mistake. Children in heaven grow up into young men and women, and the aged return to the freshness of early manhood. They who are in heaven are continually advancing to the spring-time of life, and the more thousands of years they live, the more delightful and happy is the spring to which they attain; and this progression goes on to eternity. Good women who have died old and worn out with age, after a succession of years come more and more into the flower of youth, and into a beauty which exceeds all the conceptions of beauty which can be formed from what the eye has seen. In a word, to grow old in heaven is to grow young. It is worthy of note, that the human form of every man after death, is beautiful in proportion as his love and practice of divine truths is interior. The angels of the inmost heaven are consequently the most beautiful, because their love of truth is the deepest, and their lives are the most perfect. “I have seen,” says Swedenborg, “the faces of angels of the third heaven, which were so beautiful, that no painter, with the utmost power of art, could depict even a thousandth part of their light and life; but the faces of the angels of the lowest heaven may, in some measure, be adequately depicted.”
It is believed by many in the world that heaven is a place of idleness, full of refined sensual delights, of pleasant sights and harmonious sounds; in short, some such place as a laborious tradesman, struggling for a fortune, fancies he shall enjoy when his gains shall have enabled him to “retire.” But this is a great mistake. Man’s nature remains the same in heaven as on earth; and who has not felt that his happiest moments are not those of mere pleasure and idleness, but those in which he was rendering himself most eminently useful? Happiness is as little consonant with idleness in heaven as on earth. Jesus himself said: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” John v. 17. The angels are employed. All the delights of heaven are conjoined with uses, and are inherent in them. In proportion to an angel’s usefulness, is his bliss. Some spirits, we read, conceived the opinion that heavenly happiness consisted in a life of ease, and in being served by others; but they were told that happiness by no means consists in mere rest from employment, because every one would then desire to take away the happiness of others to promote his own; and since all would have the same desire, none would be happy; that such a life would not be active but indolent, and that indolence makes life torpid; and that without activity there can be no happiness, and that cessation from employment is only for the sake of recreation, that a man may return, with new vigor, to the activity of his life. They who entertained the idea that heavenly joy consists in a life of indolence, and sucking in eternal delight without employment, were allowed some experience of such a life; and they perceived that it is most sorrowful, and that all joy being destroyed, they would after a time loathe and nauseate it.
Some spirits who believed that heavenly joy consists solely in praising and celebrating God, were instructed that to praise and celebrate God is not properly an active life; and that God has no need of praise and celebration. The Lord’s will is that all should perform uses; and the angels testify that in the performance of good works is the highest freedom, conjoined with ineffable delights.
From all this it follows that heaven is full of employments, in comparison with which those of the world are few. There are societies whose occupation consists in taking care of infants; other societies, whose employment is to instruct and educate them as they grow up; others which in like manner instruct and educate the young; others which instruct the simply good from the Christian world, and lead them in the ways of heaven; others which perform the same office to Gentile nations; others which defend novitiate spirits, or those who are newly arrived from the world, from the infestations of evil spirits; some also are attendant on those who are preparing in the world of spirits for heaven; and some are present with those who are in hell, to restrain them from tormenting each other beyond limit: there are also others who attend those who are being raised from the dead. In general, angels of every society are sent to men, that they may guard them, and withdraw them from evil affections and consequent evil thoughts, and inspire them with good affections, so far as they are willing to receive them. All these employments are performed by the Lord through their instrumentality; and hence it is that by angels in the Word, in its internal sense, are not meant angels, but something of the Lord; and for the same reason, angels in the Word are called gods.
These employments of the angels are their general employments, but every one has his own particular duty; for every general use is composed of innumerable others, which are called mediate, ministering, and subservient uses. But in heaven there are so many offices that it is impossible to enumerate them on account of their multitude. All angels feel delight in their employment derived from the love of use, and none from the love of self or of gain; nor is any one influenced by the love of gain for the sake of his maintenance, because all the necessaries of life are freely given them; their habitations, their clothes, their food.
It is De Quincey, we think, who accuses Swedenborg of sensualizing heaven, and reducing its sublime glories to the common order of things in this world. The assertion could only have been made through want of personal acquaintance with the writings of Swedenborg. No one can use the words, Isaiah lxiv. 4, quoted by the Apostle, 1 Cor. ii. 9: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him,” with more fervor and truth than the New Church preacher. Everywhere we are told by Swedenborg, that the joys and delights of heaven transcend the highest power of language to express; everywhere we are told that our highest ideas formed from natural things, fall indefinitely short of the common realities of the heavenly life. Yet we also learn that the common humanities and pleasures of this life are not lost in the next; and that as men and women we carry with us to our eternal home every faculty of thought and affection which we possess here. In this most rational doctrine there is gain every way. In thinking of heaven we know we can never overrate its bliss, think as we will; and yet with this idea is associated nothing of dreamy vagueness. We feel that as we live well we are but walking onwards to a pleasant home, in which all that is truest and best in this life will go with us. What stronger incentive can a man have to a pure and religious life than this divine faith. Entertaining it, with what feeling may he, at the close of life, utter the poet’s words,—
“Draw near, sweet death;
Come raise me into life!”
The condition of admission into heaven is the possession of a soul whose existence is a continual fulfillment of those two commandments on which the Lord says, “hang all the law and the prophets”—love to God, and love to man. To enter heaven, we must habitually place self last, and our neighbor first; and unless we can do this, we can never know eternal bliss. Now we are born into this world selfish; and hence it is truly said we are hereditarily depraved. It is the Divine will to take all to heaven. To do this, it is necessary that we should be divested of our corrupt hereditary nature; as the Lord said to Nicodemus: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This regeneration of mind, this change from a supreme love of self, to a supreme love of God and our neighbor, is, of necessity, a gradual work. It is not accomplished in a day, nor in a month, nor in a year. Like all Divine works, it proceeds gradually, step by step; “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” The regeneration of man is a Divine work, and as the Divine end in the creation of man was the formation of heaven out of the human race, the Lord’s providence is unceasingly exerted to draw man out of evil, by all means consonant with the maintenance of the inalienable freedom of his will. It thus follows that the Lord, in all his dealings with man, has respect solely to his eternal state, and amid all the apparent accidents and vicissitudes of life, he is present, bending them and making them all conduce to man’s everlasting peace. Life in this world, its cares, trials, pleasures, comforts, friendships, sympathies, and affections, form the divinely-appointed regenerative process; and those who will only believe this great truth, and submit to the Divine leading, will encounter nothing in life but what is good for them; and existence here, however bitter and painful at times, will resolve itself into a series of lessons devised by infinite wisdom to uproot all latent and known evils, transforming the patient sufferer into a true child of God. The Lord permits one man to be rich, powerful, and famous, and another to be afflicted with disease and perplexed with poverty; one to have a settled and calm peace of mind, while another is tried and tormented with doubts and anxieties; nor for any ultimate purpose on earth, but solely as a means of spiritual regeneration,—as a means of making man happy in the eternal life to come. All man’s states are under the minute guardianship of the Lord; and each day comes round with its circle of pleasant and unpleasant occurrences, often, apparently, the result of accident and chance, but in truth all provided of the Divine Providence for the eradication of evil, and the growth and nurture of goodness. There is no trial encountered, no circumstance met, or cross endured, but has its eternal issue; and man’s conduct in relation to it is looked upon by the Lord with a love and interest infinitely transcending our highest conception. All has been foreseen; and these daily recurring tasks are appointed by that wisdom which guides the stars in their courses, and by that love which requires eternity to satisfy the ardor with which it would bless. With what dignity does such a faith clothe existence! What earnestness and celestial patience must it infuse into life!
From all that has now been said, it will be very evident that heaven is not a gift of immediate Divine mercy, to be obtained by a verbal confession of faith at the hour of death. If man could be saved by immediate mercy, all would be saved; even the inhabitants of hell, and hell itself would not exist; because the Lord is Mercy itself, Love itself, and Good itself, and wills the salvation of all, and the damnation of no one. But man’s spirit is substantial; and if formed to evil, to change it would be equivalent to annihilation. “The angels declare that it were easier to change a bat into a dove, or an owl into a bird of paradise, than to change an infernal spirit into an angel of heaven.” “Ample experience,” writes Swedenborg, “enables me to testify that it is impossible to implant the life of heaven in those who have led an opposite life in the world. There were some who believed that they should easily receive divine truths after death, when they heard them from the angels; and that they would believe them then, amend their lives, and be received into heaven; and the experiment was made on great numbers of them, in order that they might be convinced that repentance is not possible after death. Some understood the truths they heard, and seemed to receive them; but as soon as they returned to the life of their love, they rejected them, and even argued against them. Some rejected them instantly, from entire unwillingness to hear them; but others were desirous that the life of the love they had contracted in the world, might be taken away from them; and that angelic life, the life of heaven, might be infused in its place. This was permitted; but when the life of their love was taken away, they lay as if dead, and deprived of all their faculties. From this it was manifest that no one’s life can possibly be changed after death, that evil life can not be changed into good life, nor the life of an infernal into that of an angel; because every spirit is from head to foot of the same quality as his love, and therefore of the same quality as his life; and consequently to transmute his life into its opposite is to destroy him altogether.” All this goes to confirm the Lord’s declaration before quoted, “Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God.” On no other terms can heavenly bliss be gained.
We now come to speak of the World of Spirits, which Swedenborg thus defines: “The world of spirits is neither heaven nor hell, but an intermediate place or state between both, into which man enters immediately after death; and then after a certain period, the duration of which is determined by the quality of his life in the world, he is either elevated into heaven, or cast into hell.
“The spirits in the world of spirits are immensely numerous, because that world is the general assembly of all immediately after their resurrection, and all are examined there and prepared for their final abode; but the length of their sojourn in that world is not in all cases the same. Some only enter it, and are immediately taken up into heaven, or cast down into hell; some remain there a few weeks, and others several years, but none (since the Last Judgment,) more than thirty years.”
A belief in the existence of an intermediate state has been entertained in all times and churches, except among Protestants, who, in their anxiety to divest themselves of every remnant of Popery, rejected the doctrine entirely, through aversion to the follies of Purgatory. A return to the truth is however slowly taking place; not a few Protestant divines having expressed their faith in the existence of Hades, or the intermediate state alluded to in the literal sense of Scripture. But the world of spirits is not to be thought of as a revived idea of Purgatory. The soul of no man is changed in the world of spirits. “As the tree falls so it lies.” The discipline of this life is perfected at death, and its opportunities never return. The world of spirits is a place where the externals of man are brought into correspondence with his internals; for no one, either in heaven or in hell, is allowed to have a divided mind, understanding one thing and willing another. What any one wills, he must understand, and what he understands he must will; therefore he who wills good in heaven, must understand truth; and he who wills evil in hell, must understand falsities. On this account also, falses are removed from the good in the world of spirits, and there are given them truths which agree and harmonize with their good; but truths are removed from the evil, and they take to themselves falses which agree and harmonize with their evil. Let us explain this subject further.
We suppose the generality of our readers will admit that countless thousands of good men and women among the Mahommedans, Chinese, Hindoos, and all the heathen nations, who live according to the measure of their light, are saved and taken to heaven. But it is very evident that they can not go to heaven carrying with them false notions on religious subjects, and knowing nothing of that good Lord into whose kingdom they are about to pass. They must be instructed. They must have errors removed from their minds, and truths implanted in their stead. Time is required to effect these changes, and the world of spirits is the school in which the process is accomplished. Instruction in truth is readily received by the simply good; and after being enlightened and purified from falsity, they are led to their eternal homes among the blessed—to those of a disposition and order of mind like themselves.
Then, again, among Christians, there are many who die with slight failings pertaining to them, with infirmities of temper, with bad habits of one kind and another; yet who are really sound-hearted and good men. Their lot can not be hell; yet with these flaws in their character, their presence in heaven could not be pleasant, because their state of mind is at variance with the perfect order and peace of heaven. Such, then, remain in the world of spirits, passing through trials, and temptations, and sufferings, until they reject all that is disorderly and impure. The processes by which this removal of external evils is accomplished, are frequently extremely painful, and extend over many years. Their removal might with less difficulty have been accomplished in the present life. The Lord warns us of this in these words: “Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.” Matthew v. 25, 26. Our adversary is the truth. Truth is ever an adversary to the evil. Elijah the prophet represented the Divine Truth. When he approached the wicked Ahab, Ahab cried: “Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?” “In the way with him” is in the present life; and the “prison” is the world of spirits, often so called in the Word, out of which we shall not be delivered until entirely divested of selfish affections, and false principles of thought. How practical, thus viewed, becomes our Lord’s advice! But without a knowledge of the world of spirits, and the spiritual sense of Scripture, it is quite mystical and unintelligible.
There are many in the Christian world who have confirmed their minds in false ideas on many religious doctrines. With such erroneous ideas they can not enter heaven, where truth alone prevails. They therefore remain in the world of spirits until, through instruction, they see and reject the false persuasions they had contracted on earth. In some cases, where false doctrine has been deeply reasoned upon, and ground, as it were, into the mind, the process of its removal and rejection is attended with deep and prolonged suffering.
As the good reject all false ideas in the world of spirits, so the evil cast off all true ones. It may be asked, Why? Why should bad be made worse? Bad is not made worse. It is for the peace of the evil themselves that they should be divested of all truth. The presence of truth with the wicked only adds to their torment by the continual protest it makes against their sin. It is also well that the evil lose all truth, for the sake of the good, whom they might trouble and disturb through the power that truth would afford them to assume an angelic appearance; to become wolves in sheep’s clothing; or as Paul states it, “Satan transforming himself into an angel of light.” Hypocrites, who have used truth to subserve their own selfish ends, remain longer than others in the world of spirits, and endure much suffering ere they allow their means of subtlety and mischief to depart from them. The process of divesting the evil of the truths they possess, is described by the Lord in these words: “Take heed, therefore, how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.” Luke viii. 18. What is heard is truth. The good alone have truth, for their goodness loves truth, and cherishes it. Truth thus loved, multiplies; therefore it is said, “more shall be given.” The bad may have truth in their memory, may use it for selfish purposes, and talk much about it; nevertheless it is not theirs. Their internal evil hates it. “Every one that doeth evil hateth the light;” and in the future life the truth which he seemed to have, is taken from him. How just, and at the same time how merciful, is this judgment!
Hell is the congregation of all evil spirits. As there are many heavens, so likewise there are many hells. As the inhabitants of heaven are arranged from similarity of goodness and truth, so the inhabitants of hell are arranged from similarity of evil and falsity. The hells are arranged so distinctly according to the differences of evil, that nothing more orderly and distinct can be conceived. The Lord, speaking through David, says: Psalm lxxxvi. 13: “Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.” Thus from Scripture we derive a direct proof, if proof were wanted, of the gradations of evil. There are several other texts to the same effect.
The scenery of hell, like that of heaven, is in perfect correspondence with the states of those there. It is an outbirth from the minds of its inhabitants; and as they are deformed and full of every pollution, so their scenery is full of horrors and things abominable. “In hell there is no sun, but the inhabitants roam in darkness corresponding to themselves, for they are darkness: their light is artificial, as of coal fires, meteors, ignes fatui, and the lights of night. They inhabit scenery of which they are the souls, as bogs, fens, tangled forests, caverns, dreary deserts, charred and ruined cities. In the milder hells, there appear, as it were, rude cottages, which are in some cases contiguous, and resemble the streets and lanes of a city. Within the houses infernal spirits are engaged in continual quarrels, enmities, blows, and violences, while the streets and lanes are full of robberies and depredations. The inhabitants are at continual war, hating and tormenting one another, and the cruelties they practice are indescribable.” “It is impossible to give a description of the horrible forms of the spirits of hell. No two are alike, although there is a general likeness in those who are in the same evil. They are forms of contempt of others, of menace against those who do not pay them respect, of hatreds of various kinds, and of revenge; and in these forms, outrage and cruelty are transparent from within; but when others commend, venerate, and worship them, their faces are drawn up, and have an appearance of gladness arising from delight. Some of their faces are direful and void of life, like corpses; some are black, and others fiery, like torches; others are disfigured by pimples, warts, and ulcers; and frequently no face appears, but instead of a face something hairy and bony, and sometimes nothing but teeth. Their bodies are monstrous, and their speech is the speech of anger, of hatred, of revenge; for every one speaks from his own false, and the tone of his voice is from his own evil. In a word they are all images of their own hell.”
“And does Swedenborg relate such horrors?” some may ask. For facts, we answer, Swedenborg is not to blame. Like the Israelites of old, we would fain have our prophets “speak unto us smooth things.” Let us rid ourselves of all morbid delicacy, and seek to know the truth. We should all do well to peruse with patience those pages wherein our author narrates the horrors of hell, so that we may see, shun, and detest the evils which make hell. It is well that every man should know whither his lust, his pride, his avarice, or anger, is leading him. If he shudder, it is for his eternal good.
The universal hell, like heaven, is as one man,—not of beauty, as heaven, but a hideous monster. In its collective capacity, it is the Devil and Satan; the Devil is the name of its evil, and Satan is the name of its falsity. There is no individual evil spirit ruling hell, and bearing either of those names. An enlightened view of Scripture confirms this doctrine in every point, and rids us of the innumerable absurdities which the commonly received theory in regard to the Devil involves. There is no spirit in hell who was not once a man on earth. There is no spirit in hell who was ever an angel in heaven. The Lord himself rules the hells, and by all means possible restrains their violence and mitigates their suffering.
Some people believe that God turns away his face from man, rejects him, and casts him into hell, and that he is angry with him on account of his evils; and others go still further, and affirm that God punishes man, and brings evil upon him. They also confirm this opinion from the literal sense of the Word, in which expressions occur that appear to sustain it. But these opinions are formed through ignorance of the real sense of these passages, and from a blind neglect of others, the literal sense of which teaches that God is goodness and mercy itself, and that fury is not in him. Isaiah xxvii. 4. True doctrine declares that the Lord never turns away his face from man, never rejects him, never casts any one into hell, and is never angry. The Lord is continually withdrawing man from evil and leading him to good; but man’s freedom is never taken away. If man will love evil and will do perversely, the Lord does not prevent. That man should go to hell is at variance with the Divine design; but to infringe man’s freedom would be to destroy his life and take from him all that is human, reducing him to the level of a machine or a brute. Those who are in hell, cast themselves down thither, and keep themselves where they are. “This is,” as Wilkinson says, “he last dogma of free will,—that of a finite being perpetuating for ever his own evil, standing fast to selfishness without end, excluding Omnipotence in all its dispensations, and making the ‘will not’ into an everlasting ‘cannot,’ to maintain itself out of heaven, and contrary to heaven.”
This is a very brief abstract of the leading ideas in Swedenborg’s wondrous treatise on Heaven and Hell. We are well aware how far short it falls of doing full justice to the work. Let us hope that what has been said may induce some to make a personal acquaintance with it; and then they will understand the difficulties we labor under in condensing within a few pages its multitudinous facts and closely linked logic.
It remains only to add, that the treatise on Heaven and Hell has been translated into English, French, and German. The English editions have been many, and in some cases large. The latest may be accepted as a sign of the times, being in the form of an eighteen-penny volume, a second edition of which has been called for. We lay no claim to the gift of prophecy, but we feel certain that the time is coming when Swedenborg’s “Heaven and Hell” will be the most popular and extensively read of religious books.