Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 1.djvu/31



AN is so created that, as to his internal, he cannot die; for he is capable of believing and of loving God, and thus of being conjoined to Him by faith and love. And to be thus conjoined to God is to live to eternity.

This internal exists in every man who is born; his external is that by which he brings into effect the things which belong to his faith and love. The internal of man is the spirit, and the external is the body. The external or the body is suited to the performance of uses in the natural world, and is rejected or put off at death; but the internal which is called the spirit, and which is suited to the performance of uses in the spiritual world, never dies. After death, this internal exists as a good spirit or angel, if the man had been good during his abode in the world; but if he had lived a wicked life, he is, after death, an evil spirit. (N. J. D. 223, '4.)

When the body is no longer capable of performing its functions in the natural world, corresponding to the thoughts and affections of its spirit which are