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 and the Old is by no means similar to that between this latter and the Jewish.

Then, again, the best of the Jews, like the best of the Mohammedans and Pagans, have a heaven of their own entirely distinct from the Christian heaven. But no such distinction exists between the New Christian heaven and the Old. There is no Old Christian or Old Church heaven now, as many seem to suppose; but a large portion (perhaps by far the largest) of the New Heaven with which the New Church on earth is associated consists of Old-Church people—that is, of those who were once members of the old Christian Church. This is distinctly and repeatedly taught in the Writings. To cite here one or two passages:—

"After the last Judgment (in 1757) a new heaven was formed from among Christians, only from those, however, who acknowledged the Lord to be the God of heaven and earth, and also repented in the world of their evil works. From this heaven the New Church on earth, which is the New Jerusalem, descends, and will continue to descend. . . . And this New Church on earth makes one with the New Heaven." (Preface to A. R.)

"In this new Christian heaven are all those who, from the first formation of the Christian church, worshiped the Lord, and lived according to his commandments in the Word, and were therefore in charity and faith from the Lord through the Word." (A. R. 876.)