A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion/Chapter 37
XXXVII. Heaven and Hell.
THE life of man's spirit consists in two things, love in his will, and faith in his understanding. If these be derived from the Lord, and also directed to him, and if at the same time man live in charity with his neighbour, according to the directions of the Holy Word, in such case the kingdom of heaven is established within him. For, as the Lord teaches in Luke xvii. 21, heaven is in the internal of man, that is, in his will and his understanding, so far as they are influenced by a right love and a true faith: from thence it extends itself to the external, that is, to his actions and speech, so far as these are brought under the influence of the same love and faith. But heaven cannot be in the external, unless it be first in the internal: the good that appears outwardly, without a corresponding state of spiritual affection within, is merely natural or hypocritical.
As love to the Lord, and love towards our neighbour, together with a true faith, which derives it's essence from those loves, constitute the life of heaven; so self-love and the love of the world, together with a false faith, which in like manner derives it's essence from the last-mentioned disorderly loves, constitute the life of hell. Or again, as the delight of doing good, together with the happiness attending it, constitutes heaven; so the delight of doing evil, together with the misery entailed upon it, constitutes hell. They, who have the life of heaven within them in this world, have the same also after death, but in much greater fulness and perfection, accompanied with a joy and happiness exceeding all description. And the heaven, which they carry within their bosoms, produces a correspondent heaven around them: so that according to the degree and quality of their love to the Lord and to their neighbour, such is their internal and their external felicity, which in both respects is inconceivable to the natural mind. On the other hand, they, who have admitted the Life of hell to gain the ascendency within them in this world, continue to be under the same influence also after death, but in an aggravated degree; while the misery and unhappiness, which is necessarily entailed on the love and practice of evil, perpetually assails, and wrings them to the heart.
The fire of hell is not, as many have supposed, material fire; for this cannot in any wise affect or torment a spirit; but it is the lust or delight of evil, which consists in envy, hatred, revenge, cruelty, and other deadly passions. For as the heat and genial warmth of heaven is pure disinterested love, and universal benevolence, so infernal fire is the continual burning desire of committing violence, and spreading destruction among others. It is therefore written by the prophet, "Wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke: the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother," Isa. ix.18, 19. In this and many other passages by fire is meant the lust of self-love and the love of the world; and by the smoke which ascends, the false arising from and accompanying evil.
In a general point of view, heaven may be said to consist of two kingdoms, the celestial and the spiritual being so called on account of the different loves, which characterize the angels respectively. Love to the Lord being in it's own nature superior to, and more heavenly than, love to the neighbour, is therefore called a celestial love; and the angels, with whom it predominates, are called celestial angels: while those, whose distinguishing characteristic is neighbourly love, are called spiritual angels, because their love is truly spiritual. The celestial kingdom is also called the priesthood and habitation of the Lord; but the spiritual is called his royalty and his throne. In reference to the former, the Lord, while in the world, was called Jesus; and in reference to the latter, Christ.
But besides the above general arrangement, the universal heaven is also distinguished into three distinct heavens; the inmost, highest, or third heaven, properly called celestial; the middle or second heaven, called spiritual; and the lowest or first heaven, called spiritual-natural and celestial-natural, because partaking in a comparatively obscure degree of both a spiritual and celestial quality by influx from the two former. These distinctions are similar to those, which have place in man, and bear a certain relation to the head, trunk, and feet; or to the soul, body, and act; and in reference to the Lord himself, from whom heaven is derived, to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Again, heaven is further distinguished into innumerable societies in each general kingdom, and in each particular heaven, according to the indefinite varieties of the reception of good and truth from the Lord. And although the angelic inhabitants are so arranged into distinct kingdoms, heavens, and societies, yet there is a communication between them all, not indeed by an open and manifest intercourse of society with society, or of individual with individual, in the different heavens, but by an interior influx of vital principles from the highest to the lowest heaven, and by an extension of the sphere of the life of each society and individual: so that the happiness of each is perceived by all, and the happiness of all is reciprocally perceived by each.
Now as heaven in general is distinguished into two kingdoms, also into three heavens, and into innumerable societies; so in like manner is hell distinguished into two infernal kingdoms, also into three hells, and into innumerable societies, all in exact and direct opposition to the angelic heaven. Thus to the celestial kingdom is opposed the infernal or diabolic, and to the spiritual kingdom the satanic. Moreover the whole of the hells collectively, so far as they are under the influence of evils of the will, are called the Devil; and so far as they are under the influence of falses of the understanding, they are called Satan. Hence spirits of the former description are called devils or genii, and they of the latter description satans or evil spirits. To the first, second, and third heaven are also opposed a first, second, and third hell; and to every angelic society in the heavens, an infernal or satanic society in the hells. And as in heaven love to the Lord and mutual love, accompanied by every species of good and truth, produce unspeakable happiness, as before observed; so, on the other hand, self-love and mutual hatred, accompanied by evils and falses of every kind, produce a state of misery and unhappiness, which cannot be described.
The inhabitants of heaven, as well as those of hell, are all of the human race, without a single exception. The general opinion, that angels were originally created such, and immediately placed in heaven, without having first lived as men in the natural world, and that many of them afterwards rebelled, and were cast down from heaven, together with Lucifer the instigator and leader of the insurrection, has no foundation whatever in the Sacred Scriptures either of the Old Testament, or of the New; but has arisen in the church from a misapprehension of the true sense of those passages, wherein mention is made of angels, of the sons of God, and of Lucifer the son of the morning; and has been further confirmed by the representations of poets and other fanciful writers. The true doctrine of divine revelation on this subject is, that man was created and afterwards formed into the image and likeness of God, with the capacity of becoming an angel or inhabitant of heaven after his departure out of the natural world: and hence on many occasions, in the sacred pages, angels are expressly called men, and men are called angels.[1] For indeed every man, according to the quality of his life in the world, becomes after death either an angel or a devil; an angel, or good spirit, if his life has been good; but a devil, or evil spirit, if his life has been evil. Nor can his life, which he acquires here, be ever changed hereafter; but he abides in spirit such as was the nature of his ruling love: for infernal love cannot be transmuted or converted into heavenly love, because they are opposites. This is what is meant by the words of Abraham 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. The same is also denoted by the following: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still,; and he that is holy, let him be holy still," Apoc. xxii. 11. Whence it follows, that they, who are once consigned to hell, abide there to eternity; and they, who are once raised by the Lord into heaven, abide there also to eternity.
- ↑ If the reader be desirous of further satisfying himself on this subject, let him read carefully the following passages: Gen. xviii. 1 to 33. Chap. xix. 1 to 22. Josh v. 13 to 15. Judg. xiii. 3 to 21. Ezek. ix. 1 to 11. Chap. x. 2 to 7. Dan. viii. 15, 16. Chap. ix. 21. Chap. x. 5 to 21. Chap. xii. 7. Zech. i. 8 to 11. Chap. ii. 1 to 3. Luke xx. 36. Apoc. xix. 10. Chap. xxi. 17. Chap. xxti. 8, 9.