Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 1.djvu/158

 of the Lord: "Have ye not read what is written, the stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner? Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken," Luke xx. 17, 18. A stone signifies divine truth; and the stone (or rock) of Israel, the Lord as to the Divine Human; the builders are the members of the church; the head of the corner is where the two ways meet; to fall and be broken is to deny and perish.

I have been permitted to converse with some in the other life, who had withdrawn themselves from the business of the world, that they might live a pious and holy life; and with others also who had afflicted themselves in various ways, because they imagined that this was to renounce the world and to subdue the concupiscences of the flesh. But the greater portion of these,—having by such austerities contracted a sorrowful life, and removed themselves from the life of charity, which can only be lived in the world,—cannot be associated with angels, because the life of the angels is one of gladness resulting from bliss, and consists in performing acts of goodness, which are works of charity.

Besides, they who have led a life withdrawn from worldly affairs, are possessed with the idea of their