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The instruction is given by the angels of many societies, especially by those which are in the northern and southern quarters; for these angelic societies are in intelligence and wisdom derived from the knowledges of good and truth. The places of instruction are toward the north, and are various, arranged and distinguished according to the genera and species of heavenly goods, so that every one there may be instructed according to his peculiar genius and faculty of reception. These places extend in all directions there to a considerable distance. The good spirits who are to be instructed, are conveyed thither by the Lord after they have completed their second state in the world of spirits.

All, however, are not taken to them; for they who have been instructed in the world, were there also prepared by the Lord for heaven, and are conveyed to heaven by another way; some, immediately after death; some, after a short stay with good spirits, where the grosser things of their thoughts and affections, which they contracted from honors and riches in the world, are removed, and thus they are purified. Some are first vastated, which is effected in places called the lower earth, where some suffer severely. These are they who have confirmed themselves in falsities, and yet have led good lives,—for falsities confirmed inhere with great tenacity; and until