Page:Heaven Revealed.djvu/371

 sive change, like all truly divine operations. It goes on during the whole period of man's pilgrimage on earth. "There is," says Swedenborg, "no determinate period of a man's regeneration, in which he may say, 'now I am perfect;' for there are innumerable states of evil and falsity with every man . . . all of which must be so entirely shaken off as to no longer appear." (A. C. n. 894.) And it is clear that these states cannot be all changed in a moment. Selfishness cannot be eradicated or thoroughly subdued, and disinterested love implanted in the heart, in an hour. Character is neither formed nor changed suddenly. It is a thing of slow and gradual growth, like the progress from infancy to manhood. The kingdom of heaven cannot be instantly established and built up in any soul. It is always exceeding small at first—like a grain of mustard seed; but it grows until it becomes a tree, so that the birds may build their nests in the branches thereof. It is subject to the same divine law that governs all living things—the law of development, growth, progress.

And here the question naturally arises. Does this law of progress exist in heaven as well as on earth? Is there with the angels anything in the nature of spiritual improvement or growth?—Anything like a progressive advancement toward higher and more perfect states of life? The following is Swedenborg's answer to this question:

"Regeneration, or the implantation of heavenly life in man, commences from his infancy and continues even to the close of life in this world, and after death it goes on perfecting forever; and what is a secret, man's