are grounded in the things of sense, which have reference to the body; and therefore they believe in the existence of nothing but what they see and touch. Few can be withdrawn from external and sensible things to those that are of an interior nature, and thus be elevated into the light of heaven, in which such interior things are perceived. Hence it is, that in regard to their soul or spirit, they cannot form any idea of it as man, but as of wind, of air, or of a phantom without form, in which there is yet some vital principle. This is the reason why they do not believe that they shall rise again till the end of the world, which they term the Last Judgment, at which time they suppose that the body, though mouldered into dust, and dissipated by every wind, will be brought back again and joined to its soul or spirit. It is permitted that they should thus believe, since, otherwise, those whose thoughts, as was said, are grounded in things of sense, cannot conceive that the soul or spirit can live as a man in human form, unless it receive again the body which it carried about while in the world: wherefore unless it were declared that that body would rise again, they would in heart reject the doctrine concerning a resurrection and eternal life as incomprehensible. That idea concerning a resurrection has also this use, that it leads them to believe in a life after death; the result of which is, that when they come to lie on a sick bed, and their thoughts are not governed as before by worldly and corporeal things, or things of sense, they then believe that they shall live immediately after their decease: then, also, they speak about heaven, and about the hope of living there immediately after death, in a manner very different from that of the doctrine concerning the Last Judgment. It has been a matter of surprise to me, that when they who are principled in faith, speak of a life after death, and

of their friends and relatives who are deceased, and at such times do not think about the Last Judgment, they then believe that those friends and relatives live as men immediately after their decease. But this idea, as soon as a thought concerning the Last Judgment flows-in, is changed into a material idea, about their terrestrial body, and its being united again to their soul. For they do not know that every man is a spirit as to his interiors, and it is this spirit which lives in the body, and in all its parts, and that the body does not live from itself; and moreover that it is from the spirit of every one that the body has its human form, consequently it is the spirit of every one which principally is man, and in a like form; invisible, however, to the eyes of the body, yet visible to the eyes of spirits. Hence also when the sight of man's spirit is opened, which is effected by the removal of bodily sight, angels appear as men; thus it was that angels appeared to the ancients, accounts of which we have in the Word. I have also spoken occasionally with spirits, whom I knew when they lived in the world, asking whether they had any desire to be clothed again with their terrestrial body, as they had once thought; but they started at the very idea of such a union, being struck with amazement that in the world they had so thought from a blind belief, void of all understanding.

The Last Judgment.

What the Last Judgment is, few at this day know; it is supposed that it is to come at the destruction of the world; and hence it is thought that this terrestrial globe is to perish by fire, together with all things in the visible world, and that then, first, the dead shall rise again and shall undergo their judgment,-when the wicked are to be cast into hell, and the good to

ascend into heaven. These ideas are derived from the prophetical parts of the Word, where mention is made of a new heaven and a new earth, also of the New Jerusalem; it not being known that the propheticals of the Word in their internal sense, signify things quite different from those which are expressed in the sense of the letter; and that by "heaven" is not there meant literally the heavens, nor by "earth" literally the earth, but the Church of the Lord in general, and with every individual in particular.

By the last judgment is meant the last time of the church and also, the end of every one's life. To speak of it, first, as denoting the last time of the church. It was the last judgment of the Most Ancient Church, which had been before the flood, when their posterity perished, whose destruction is described by the flood. It was the last judgment of the Ancient Church, which was after the flood, when almost all of that church became idolaters, and were dispersed. It was the last judgment of the representative church, which succeeded, amongst the posterity of Jacob, when the ten tribes were carried away into captivity, and dispersed among the nations; and when the Jews, after the Lord's coming, were expelled from the land of Canaan, and scattered over the whole earth. The last judgment of the present church, which is called the Christian, is what is meant by John in the Apocalypse, by "the new heaven and the new earth."

That the end of the life of every man, when he dies, is to him a last judgment, is not unknown to some, but yet few believe it. Nevertheless it is a certain truth, that every man rises again after death, and is brought to judgment. The judgment is thus accomplished. As soon as his corporeal organs grow cold, which takes place after some days, he is raised again by the Lord by the instrumentality of the celestial angels, who at first are attendant upon him. But

if he be such, that he cannot remain with them, he is then received by spiritual angels, and then, in succession, by good spirits. For all that come into the other life, are kindly received and welcomed; but as every one's desires follow him, he who has led a wicked life cannot abide long with angels and good spirits, but successively separates himself from them, and this until he comes amongst spirits whose life is similar to and in conformity with that which he had while in the world. It then appears to him as if he was in his bodily life, and in fact, it is a continuation of his life. From this life his judgment commences. They who have led a wicked life, in process of time descend into hell: they who have led a good life are by degrees elevated by the Lord into heaven. Such is the last judgment of every one.

That the Human Race on Earth will never cease.

They who have adopted the belief concerning the last judgment, that all things in the heavens and on earth will then perish, and that in the place of these a new heaven and earth will exist, believe, consequently, that the generations of the human race will cease after that time, for they suppose that all things will then be accomplished, and that mankind will be in altogether a different state from that in which they were before. But as the destruction of the world is not meant by the day of the last judgment, as shown in the last article, it follows that the human race will continue, and that the generations of men will not cease.

That the generations of the human race will continue to eternity, is plain from many things which might be adduced, some of which may be seen in the "Treatise on Heaven and Hell," particularly the following: That the human race is the basis on which

heaven is founded; that the human race is the seminary of heaven; that the extent of heaven, which is for angels, is so immense, that it cannot be filled to eternity; that those of whom heaven consists as yet, are respectively few; that the perfection of heaven increases according to numbers; and that every Divine work has respect to infinity and eternity.

Unless the Lord had come, that the whole Human Race would have perished.

It is indeed possible that the human race on one earth might perish, which comes to pass when they altogether separate themselves from the Divine; for then man no longer possesses spiritual life, but only natural, similar to that of beasts; and when man becomes of such a nature, no society can be formed and governed by laws, inasmuch as man without influx from heaven, or without Divine government, would become insane, and rush openly into the commission of every evil one against another. But although mankind, by separation from the Divine, were to perish on one earth, (which, however, is provided against by the Lord,) yet still they would remain on other earths; for there are earths in the universe, to the number of some hundreds of thousands. I was informed from heaven, that the human race on this earth would have perished, so that at this day there would not have existed a single individual, unless the Lord had come into the world, and on this earth had put on the humanity, and made it Divine; and also, unless the Lord had given to this earth such a Word, as might serve for a basis to the angelic heaven, and for its conjunction with mankind.