Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/109

Rh having first lived as men in the natural world, and that many of them afterwards rebelled, and were cast down from heaven, together with Lucifer the instigator and leader of the insurrection, has no foundation whatever in the Sacred Scriptures either of the Old Testament, or of the New; but has arisen in the church from a misapprehension of the true sense of those passages, wherein mention is made of angels, of the sons of God, and of Lucifer the son of the morning; and has been further confirmed by the representations of poets and other fanciful writers. The true doctrine of divine revelation on this subject is, that man was created and afterwards formed into the image and likeness of God, with the capacity of becoming an angel or inhabitant of heaven after his departure out of the natural world: and hence on many occasions, in the sacred pages, angels are expressly called men, and men are called angels. For indeed every man, according to the quality of his life in the world, becomes after death either an angel or a devil; an angel, or good spirit, if his life has been good; but a devil, or evil spirit, if his life has been evil. Nor can his life, which he acquires here, be ever changed hereafter; but he abides in spirit such as was the nature of his ruling love: for infernal love cannot be transmuted or converted into heavenly love, because they are opposites. This is what is meant by the words of Abraham to the rich man in hell: "Between