Page:The Judgment Day.pdf/110

 It will be seen that the doctrine contained in these extracts, as well as in the writings of the author generally, wherever this subject is referred to, is, that there is every variety of forms and appearances in the spiritual world, including all those that exist in the natural world, as well as many that are never seen here; but that in all these external forms there is nothing material—there is nothing that in its essential nature, has any resemblance to the objects that we here behold. On the contrary, those forms and appearances which constitute the external of that world, result immediately from the influence of the spiritual sun upon the states of those who dwell there. Those objects are the ultimate correspondences and expressions of the affections and thoughts of those who dwell among them. They have a direct and immediate connection with those affections and thoughts, and appear, disappear and change, so as always to correspond to the spirit's state.

This is the use of the external spiritual world. It manifests and represents the internal states of those who dwell there, as is very finely expressed in the following passage.

"They have a world, beautiful, varied, and living, far beyond this; and it is the reflection of the world within them. There, as the thoughts and the affections vary, so varies the animal and vegetable growth which lives from and represents those thoughts and affections. That world is not material; it is spiritual; and it is therefore more real, more substantial than this world. An angel about whom lies a paradisal garden, laden with fruits and filling the bright air with sweet odors, and peopled with living and enjoying creatures, knows that these are the truths and goods received into his understanding and will from their only source, and thus arrayed without him, because received within."

It must not be forgotten however, that there is a dark side to that world as well as to this. There are evil affections, malignant and gloomy passions, vile and sensual lusts; and these also have their external representatives. It would be easy enough for the imagination to conjecture what some of these representatives must be; for there is reason to believe