Page:The Judgment Day.pdf/86

 same final end or cause shall demand its existence. But, as was remarked before, the end towards which the divine love is directed, is the formation of heaven, and the natural world is a seminary for heaven. This is the use for which it appears to have been formed, and for which it now exists. It affords the material for the formation and support of the human body, which is the external natural covering of the spirit. Such forms appear to be necessary to the beginning of the spirit's existence; and as they are natural and material, they can be supplied nowhere but in the natural world. All angels must therefore have been born men, and must have begun their existence either on this earth, or on some of the other earths in the universe.

As this proposition may be new to some persons, and may seem to demand some further confirmation, I will introduce a few passages from the writings of Swedenborg, for the purpose of illustrating it. To the reader who is unacquainted with the writings of that author, some of the passages which I am about to transcribe, may not appear perfectly intelligible. The easiest and most certain way to remove any such obscurity, will be to read the works from which the extracts are taken. You will then have entered upon a course of reading which will not only enable you to understand these passages, and to see the truth of them, but which will also clearly and beautifully unfold, all that you can have any reasonable desire to know, in regard to spiritual things.

In his work entitled Heaven and Hell, Swedenborg says:

"That heaven is from the human race, may be evident also from this, that angelic minds and human minds are similar: both enjoy the faculty of understanding, perceiving, and willing, and both are formed to receive heaven; for the human mind is capable of wisdom as well as an angelic mind, but that it does not attain so much wisdom in the world, is because it is an earthly body, and in that body its spiritual mind thinks naturally. But it is otherwise when it is loosed from its connexion with that body; then it no longer thinks naturally, but spiritually; and when it thinks spiritually, then it thinks things incomprehensible and in-