Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 1.djvu/76

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whereby it is extinguished; it is also like seed cast upon sand, which does not germinate, but perishes with its prolific principle. But to think and to will, and thence to do, is like a flame in the open air, which diffuses heat and light all around; and it is like seed in the ground, which grows up into a tree or flower, and so attains a living and visible existence.

Every one may know that to will and not to do when there is opportunity, is in reality not to will; and that to love good and not to do it when it is possible, is in reality not to love it. Will which stops short of action, and love which does not do the good that is loved, is a mere thought separate from will and love, which vanishes and comes to nothing.

Love or will is the very soul of a deed or work, forming its body in the sincere and just actions which a man performs. The spiritual body, or the body of a man's spirit, is from no other origin; that is, it is formed from nothing else but the things which the man does from his love or will. In a word, all things which belong to the man and to his spirit, are in his deeds or works.


THE LIFE THAT HE REMAINS AFTER DEATH.

From the foregoing considerations it may be clearly seen what is meant by the life which remains with man after death; namely, that it is his love and the faith thence derived—not love and faith merely in