Page:Heaven Revealed.djvu/372

 regeneration in the world is only a plane for the perfecting of his life to eternity."—A. C. n. 9334.

"The arcana of regeneration are innumerable and scarcely at all known to man; for the man who is principled in good, is reborn every moment from his earliest infancy to the last period of his life in the world, and afterwards to eternity."—Ibid. 5202.

"The angels are being continually perfected by the Lord; yet they can never be perfected to such a degree that their wisdom and intelligence can be compared with the divine wisdom and intelligence of the Lord."—Ibid. 4295.

"While the church is being established in man, he is in truths, and by means of them good grows; but when established, he is then in good, and from good in truths which in this case grow continually. The growth is, indeed, small during his life in the world, because obstructed by cares for food and raiment and other things; but in the other life it is immense, and this perpetually to eternity; for the wisdom which is from the Divine has no end. Thus the angels and all who become angels when they come into the other life, are perfecting continually; for everything of wisdom is of infinite extension, and the things of wisdom are infinite in number; hence it may be clearly seen that wisdom is capable of growth to eternity."—Ibid. 6648. See also A. C. n. 894, 1941, 1610, 5122, 7541, 8325, 8426, 4803, 10,048.

Extracts similar to the foregoing might be greatly multiplied. What is here quoted is Swedenborg's uniform teaching on this subject; nowhere in his writings do we meet with anything contrary to this.

Now, it must be conceded that there is something in the doctrine here enunciated, which produces an agreeable impression upon the mind on its first announce-