Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/245

Rh doctrine, all who die in infancy and childhood, go directly to heaven; that is, they pass immediately into some one of the angelic societies, and are so instructed and governed by the angels, that they all in due time become angels. Nor does this depend on the character of their parents, as whether they are righteous or wicked, in the church or out of it, Christians or Pagans; nor upon the circumstance of their having received the rite of baptism or not. They are not angels immediately after their decease, for they lack the intelligence and wisdom which angels have. Or, they are rudimental angels, as little children on earth are rudimental men and women. They have the same spiritual organism, and consequently the same infantile forms and infantile minds, that they had while in the world. But they do not forever remain infants. They advance there to the full stature of men and women. They grow by the assimilation of spiritual substance, as children in this world grow by the assimilation of material substance; for the bodies of both angels and men, are formed of the substances belonging to their respective worlds.

But children in heaven do not grow old as they do in this world. They never advance there beyond the period of early manhood or womanhood, but retain forever the freshness and bloom belonging to that age. But they must attain the fullness