Page:Heaven Revealed.djvu/343

 and he shall have abundance;" and "with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." There can be no reception of the heavenly life, without the giving, or the effort to give, of this same life,—that is, without the exercise of the heavenly graces; and the exercise of these involves the performance of heavenly uses.

Thus do reason, analogy, human experience and Sacred Scripture unite to prove that the denizens of heaven must be actively employed; and since they are all human, their employments must be human. They must be such employments as are suitable to human beings—such as proceed from and agree with true human love. But there is in heaven as on earth an endless diversity of character and state. Therefore we should expect an endless variety of occupations there as here. We should expect societies and individuals to have such occupations as correspond to their different states. Accordingly Swedenborg says:

"The employments of heaven are innumerable, and various according to the offices of the societies. Every society performs a peculiar office; for as the societies are distinct according to goods, so are they also according to uses, since goods with all in heaven are goods in act, which are uses. Every one there performs a use, for the kingdom of the Lord is a kingdom of uses.

"There are, in heaven as on earth, various administrations; for there are ecclesiastical affairs, civil affairs and domestic affairs.

"Ecclesiastical affairs in heaven are under the charge of those who, when in the world, loved the Word and earnestly sought for the truths which it contains, not for the sake of honor or gain but for the sake of the use