Page:The New View of Hell.djvu/99

 agreement with his will-faculty. . . . It may be imagined by those who are not instructed concerning the life after death, that they can then easily receive faith when they see that the Lord governs the universal heaven, and when they hear that heaven consists in loving Him and their neighbor. But they who are principled in evil, are as far from being able to receive faith after death, that is, from being able to believe from a ground in the will-faculty, as hell is from heaven. . . . If it were possible for spirits to believe and become good from mere instruction in the other life, there would not be a single individual in hell; for the Lord is desirous of elevating all, how many soever there be, to Himself in heaven. For his mercy is infinite, because it is the Divine [Love] itself; and is exercised toward the whole human race, alike toward the evil as toward the good." (Arcana Cœlestia 2401.)

"The life of a man cannot be changed after death, but must remain for ever such as it had been in this world; for the character of a man's spirit is in every respect the same as that of his love; and infernal love can never be changed into heavenly love, because they are in direct opposition to each other. This is what is meant by the words of Abraham addressed to the rich man in hell: 'Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they who would pass from hence to you, cannot; neither can they pass to us who would come from thence.' (Luke xvi. 26.) Hence it is evident that