Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 1.djvu/67



EW at this day know what is meant by the last judgment. It is generally supposed that it is to be accompanied with the destruction of the world: and hence it is conjectured that this terrestrial globe is to perish by fire, together with all things that exist in the visible world; and that then, for the first time, the dead shall rise again and undergo their judgment; when the wicked are to be cast into hell, and the good to ascend into heaven.

These conjectures are grounded in the prophetical parts of the Word, where mention is made of a new heaven and a new earth, and also of the New Jerusalem,—mankind not being aware that the prophetical parts of the Word, in their internal sense, have a totally different signification from what appears in the literal sense; and that by heaven or the sky, is not meant heaven or the sky, nor by earth the earth, but the church of the Lord in general, and with every individual in particular.

By the last judgment is meant the last time of the church; and also the last time of every one's life.