Page:The New View of Hell.djvu/55

 justice and neighborly love as often as his ruler (self-love) dictates.

Such, according to Swedenborg is the essential nature of heaven and hell. They are both within the human soul, and consist in essentially opposite states of life—opposite kinds of love—resulting by inevitable sequence, in character, conduct, modes of government, and an outward or objective world, as different as are the loves that rule in these two kingdoms respectively.

Surely there is nothing unreasonable in all this. But how does it agree with the teachings of Scripture? That is the question for present consideration. And the first thing that claims attention, is the meaning of the word Hell. To ascertain this, we must go to the original languages of the Bible.

The Hebrew word translated Hell, is Sheōl. And Sheōl, according to its primary literal import, means the under world, or a vast subterranean place pervaded by thick darkness. Hence this word is sometimes translated the grave, as in Genesis xxxvii. 35; xlii. 38. The corresponding Greek word is Hades. This has the same meaning as Sheōl, and is always used instead of it in the Greek version of the Old Testament. And as further evidence of their identity of import, we find the passage from the sixteenth Psalm, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell" etc., quoted in the Acts of the apostles (ch. ii.).