Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/240

234 who best know how to serve. We should further expect that the fitness of every one for the particular governmental position he is called to fill, would be perceived and acknowledged by all, and that all administrative powers would be so kindly and wisely exercised, that nothing like friction would be felt in the working of the machinery, but that all would move on as smoothly and harmoniously as the machinery in a loving family or a healthy human body. We should expect this, from the character of the angels as already described (pp. 121, '2), as well as from the perfection of their social organization. And we should further expect that the government would not be the same in every society, but would vary to suit their various states.

Now, all this (and much more of like character) which seems so reasonable, is precisely what has been revealed through Swedenborg on the subject. He says "there are governments in heaven," and that these are "various," different in the higher from what they are in the lower heavens, and "differing also according to the ministries performed by each society." But "they all agree in this: That they regard the general good as their end, and in that the good of every individual." This results from the fact that all in heaven are under the auspices of the Lord, "who loves all, and from divine love ordains that the common