The Swedenborg Library Vol 1/Chapter 7
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VII.
THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
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. To speak of it, first, as denoting the last time of the church.
It was the last judgment of the Most Ancient Church, or that before the flood, when their posterity perished, whose destruction is described by the flood. It was the last judgment of the Ancient Church, or that after the flood, when almost all who belonged to that church became idolaters, and were dispersed. It was the last judgment of the representative church which succeeded among the posterity of Jacob, when the ten tribes were carried away into captivity, and dispersed among the nations; and afterwards when the Jews, after the coming of the Lord, were driven out of the land of Canaan and scattered over the face of the whole earth. The last judgment of the present church, which is called the Christian Church, is what is meant, in the Revelation of John, by the new heaven and the new earth.
That the last time of the life of every man, when he dies, is to him the last judgment, is not unknown to some; but still few believe it. Nevertheless it is a certain truth, that every man rises again after death into another life, and undergoes a judgment. This judgment is accomplished in the following manner:
As soon as the corporeal organs grow cold, which happens a few days after the man's decease, he is raised again of the Lord by celestial angels who at first are attendant on him. But if he be such that he cannot remain with them, he is then received into the care of spiritual angels; and successively afterwards into the care of good spirits. For all who come into the other life, whoever they may be, are welcome guests who meet a kind reception.
But as every one's desires follow him, he who has led a wicked life cannot abide long with the angels and good spirits, but successively separates himself from them; repeating these separations till he comes among spirits whose life is similar and conformable to that which he had while in the world. It then appears to him as if he was in his former bodily life; and, in fact, his present life is a continuation of his past. From this life his judgment commences. They who have led a wicked life, in process of time descend into hell: and they who have led a good life, are by degrees elevated by the Lord into heaven. Such is the last judgment of every individual person; of which we have spoken from experience in the First Part of this work. (A. C. 2117-2119.)
JUDGED BY OUR WORKS.
It is known to every Christian from the Word, that every one's life remains with him after death; for it is there declared in many passages, that man will be judged and rewarded according to his deeds and works. Every one also who thinks from good and from real truth, cannot help seeing that he who lives well will go to heaven, and that he who lives wickedly will go to hell.
But they who are immersed in evil, are not willing to believe that their state after death will be according to their life in the world; but they think, especially when they are sick, that heaven is granted to every one out of pure mercy, however he may have lived; and that it is given according to one's faith which they separate from life.
That man will be judged and recompensed according to his deeds and works, is declared in many passages in the Word, some of which I will here adduce:
"The Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He shall render to every one according to his works," (Matt. xvi. 27.) "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord:—Yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them," Rev. xiv. 13. "I will give unto every one according to his works," Rev. ii. 23. "I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God; and the books were opened;—and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and hell delivered up those that were in them; and they were judged every one according to his works," Rev. xx. 12, 13. "Behold I come;—and my reward is with me to give to every one according to his works," Rev. xxii. 12. "Every one that heareth my words and doeth them, I will liken to a prudent man;—but every one who heareth my words and doeth them not, is likened unto a foolish man," Matt, vii. 24, 26. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in the heavens. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied by thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? But then will I confess to them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye workers of iniquity," Matt. vii. 22, 23.
Where the Lord prophesies concerning the last judgment, He mentions nothing but works; and declares that they who have done good works shall enter into eternal life, and that they who have done evil works shall enter into damnation, (see Matt. xxv. 32 to 46, and many other passages which treat of the salvation and condemnation of man.) It is evident that works and deeds are the external life of man, and that the quality of his internal life is manifested through them.
WORKS ARE GOOD OR EVIL ACCORDING TO THE PROMPTING MOTIVE.
But by the deeds and works according to which man is judged, are not meant such deeds and works as are merely exhibited in the external form, but such also as they are internally. For every one knows that every deed and work proceeds from man's will and thought; for if it were otherwise, his deed would be mere motion, like that of an automaton or image. Therefore a deed or work in itself considered, is nothing but an effect which derives its soul and life from the will and thought, insomuch that it is will and thought in effect, and will and thought in an external form.
Hence it follows, that such as are the will and thought which produce a deed or work, such also is the deed or work. If the thought and will be good, the deeds and works are good; but if the thought and will be evil, the deeds and works are evil, although outwardly they may appear alike. A thousand men may act alike; that is, they may exhibit a similar deed,—so similar, that as to the outward form their deeds can scarcely be distinguished; and yet the deeds may all be essentially unlike, because they proceed from dissimilar wills.
Take for example, the case of acting sincerely and justly with the neighbor. One man may act sincerely and justly with him, in order that he may appear to be sincere and just for the sake of himself and his own honor; another, for the sake of the world and of gain; a third, for the sake of reward and merit; a fourth, for the sake of friendship; a fifth, through fear of the law, or the loss of reputation and employment; a sixth, that he may draw some one to his own side,—wrong though it be; a seventh, that he may deceive; and others from other motives.
But the deeds of all these, although they appear good,—for it is good to act sincerely and justly with one's neighbor,—still are evil, since they are not done for the sake of sincerity, and justice, because they love them, but for the sake of self and the world. These are the objects which they really love; and outward sincerity and justice are subservient to this love, as servants to a master who despises and dismisses them when they are not serviceable to him.
The sincere and just conduct of those who act from the love of sincerity and justice, appears similar in the external form to that of the others. Some of these act from the truth of faith, or from obedience, because it is so commanded in the Word; some from the good of faith or from conscience, because from religious principle; some from the good of charity toward the neighbor, because his good ought to be consulted; and some from the good of love to the Lord, because good ought to be done for its own sake, and therefore also sincerity and justice. They love sincerity and justice because these are from the Lord, and because the Divine which proceeds from the Lord is in them; and thence, viewed in their very essence, they are divine.
The deeds or works of these are interiorly good, and therefore also they are exteriorly good; for, as was said above, deeds or works are altogether such as the thought and will from which they proceed; and without these, they are not deeds and works, but only inanimate motions.
From these considerations, it is manifest what is meant by deeds or works in the Word.
Because deeds or works are of the will and thought, therefore also they are of the love and faith, and consequently they are of the same quality as the love and faith. For whether we say the love or the will of a man, it is the same thing; and whether we say the faith or the determinate thought of a man, it is also the same; for what a man loves he also wills; and what he believes he also thinks. If a man loves what he believes, he also wills it, and as far as possible does it.
Every one may know that love and faith reside in man's will and thought, and not out of them, since the will is what is enkindled by love, and the thought is what is enlightened in matters of faith. Therefore only those who can think wisely are enlightened; and they, according to the degree of their illumination, think truths and will them; or, what is the same, they believe truths and love them.
But it is to be observed that the will makes the man, and the thought only so far as it proceeds from the will, and that deeds or works proceed from both; or, what is the same, that love makes the man, and faith only so far as it proceeds from love; and that deeds or works proceed from both. Hence it follows that the will or love is the man himself; for whatever proceeds belongs to that from which it proceeds. To proceed is to be brought forth and exhibited in a suitable form, in order that it may be comprehended and seen.
From these considerations it is manifest that faith separate from love is not faith, but mere science which in itself is void of spiritual life; in like maner that a deed or work without love, is not a deed or work of life, but a deed or work of death, wherein there is an appearance of life derived from the love of evil and from faith of what is false. This appearance of life is what is called spiritual death.
THE WHOLE MAN EXHIBITED IN HIS DEEDS.
It is further to be observed, that the whole man is exhibited in his deeds or works; and that his will and thought, or his love and faith, which are his interiors, are not complete until they exist in deeds or works which are his exteriors; for these latter are the ultimates wherein the former terminate, and without which terminations they are as things vague and unlimited which have as yet no existence, and therefore are not yet in the man.
To think and to will without doing, when there is opportunity, is like a flame shut up in a close vessel, 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 potency, but also in act; thus that it is his deeds or works, because these contain within themselves all things which belong to the man's love and faith.
It is his ruling love that remains with a man after death. Nor is this ever changed to eternity. Every one has many loves, but still they all have reference to his ruling love, and make one with it, or together compose it. All things of the will which agree with the ruling love are called loves, because they are loved. These loves are interior and exterior; some of them are immediately conjoined to the ruling love, and some mediately; some are nearer to it, and some more remote; but all are in some manner its servants. Taken together, they constitute as it were a kingdom; for although man is entirely ignorant of it, their arrangement within him resembles the subordinations of a kingdom. But something of this is manifested to him in the other life; for according to their arrangement he has extension of thought and affection there,—extension into heavenly societies if his ruling love consist of the loves of heaven, but into infernal societies if his ruling love consist of the loves of hell.
FACTS GATHERED FROM EXPERIENCE.
But the truths which have been hitherto advanced affect only the thought of the rational man. That they may also be presented in a form that the senses can take cognizance of, I will adduce some facts from experience whereby the same things may be illustrated and confirmed.
First, it shall be shown that man after death is his own love or his own will. Secondly, that man remains to eternity such as he is in respect to his will or ruling love. Thirdly, that the man whose love is celestial and spiritual goes to heaven, and that he whose love is corporeal and worldly, destitute of that which is celestial and spiritual, goes to hell. Fourthly, that faith does not remain with man, if it be not from heavenly love. Fifthly, that it is love in act which remains with man; therefore that it is his life.
That man after death is his own love or his own will, has been testified to me by manifold experience. The universal heaven is distinguished into societies according to the differences of the love of good; and every spirit who is elevated into heaven and becomes an angel, is conveyed to that society which is distinguished by his ruling love. On his arrival there, he is as though he were at home, and living in the house where he was born. The angel perceives this, and is there consociated with those like himself. When he departs thence and goes to some other place, he is always sensible of a certain inward resistance, attended with a desire to return to his like, and thus to his ruling love. It is in this way that consociations in heaven are effected.
The like occurs in hell, where also they are consociated according to loves which are the opposite of the loves of heaven.
That man after death is his own love, has also been made evident from this, that those things are then removed, and as it were taken away from him, which do not make one with his ruling love. If he is good, all things discordant or disagreeing with his good are removed, and as it were taken away, and he is thus let into his own love.
The like occurs if he is evil,—but with this difference, that truths are taken away from the evil, and falsities from the good; and this process goes on until every one at last becomes his own love. This takes place when the man-spirit is brought into the third state, which will be treated of hereafter. When this is accomplished, he turns his face steadily to his own love, which he has continually before his eyes in whatever direction he turns himself.
All spirits may be led at pleasure, provided they be kept in their ruling love; nor can they resist, even though they are perfectly aware of being so led, and think that they will resist. The experiment has often been tried whether they could do anything contrary to it; but to attempt it was in vain. Their love is like a cord or rope fastened around them as it were, whereby they can be drawn along, and from which they cannot extricate themselves.
The case is similar with men in the world; for their own love leads them also, and by means of it they are led by others. Still more is this the case when they become spirits; because then it is not allowable to assume the appearance of any other love, and to counterfeit what is not their own.
That the spirit of man is his ruling love, is manifest in all social intercourse in the other life; for so far as any one acts and speaks according to another's love, the latter appears conspicuously, with a full, cheerful and lively countenance; but so far as any one acts and speaks in opposition to the love of another, his countenance begins to change, to become obscure, and to fade from the sight, until at last he disappears entirely as if he had not been there. I have often wondered at this, because nothing of the kind can take place in the world; but I was told that the case is similar with the spirit in man, which, when it turns itself away from another, is no longer visible to him.
That a spirit is his ruling love, was also made evident by this circumstance, that every spirit seizes and appropriates to himself whatever agrees with his love, and rejects and removes from himself everything that does not agree with it.
Every one's love is like spongy and porous wood, which imbibes such fluids as promote its growth, and repels others. It is also like animals of every kind, which know their proper food, and seek that which agrees with their nature, and turn away from whatever disagrees; for every love desires to be nourished by its proper aliments,—evil love by falsities, and good love by truths. I have several times observed that certain simple good spirits wished to instruct the evil in truths and goods, but that the latter fled far away from the proffered instruction; and when they came to their associates, they caught with much pleasure at the falsities which were in agreement with their love. I have also seen good spirits conversing with each other about truths, which were listened to with eager affection by the good spirits present; but some evil spirits who were also present paid no attention to what was said, and behaved as if they did not hear.
In the world of spirits there appear ways, some of which lead to heaven and some to hell, and every one to some society. The good spirits go only in those ways which lead to heaven, and to the society distinguished by the good of their peculiar love; nor do they see the ways that tend in other directions. But the evil spirits go only in the ways which lead to hell, and to that society there distinguished by the evil of their peculiar love; nor do they see the ways that tend in other directions; and if they do see them, still they are unwilling to walk in them. Such ways in the spiritual world are real appearances, which correspond to truths or falsities; therefore ways in the Word signify truths or falsities.
By these proofs from experience, the truths before advanced from reason are confirmed, namely, that every man after death is his own love and his own will. It is said his own will, because the will of every one is his love.
That man after death remains to eternity such as he is as to his will or ruling love, has also been confirmed by abundant experience. I have been permitted to converse with some who lived two thousand years ago, whose lives are known because described in history; and I found that they still retained their distinctive characters, and were exactly such as they had been described; for the quality of their love, from and according to which their lives were formed, remained the same.
I have also been permitted to converse with others who lived seventeen centuries ago, and whose lives are known from history; with others who lived four centuries ago; with others who lived three; and so on; and it was found that an affection similar to that which distinguished them in the world, ruled in them still. The only difference was, that the delights of their love were turned into such things as correspond to them.
I have been told by the angels that the life of the ruling love is never changed with any one to eternity, since every one is his own love; therefore to change that love in a spirit, would be to deprive him of his life, or to annihilate him. They also stated the reason, which is: that man after death is no longer capable of being reformed by instruction, as in the world, because the ultimate plane, which consists of natural knowledges and affections, is then quiescent, and cannot be opened because it is not spiritual; that the interiors which belong to the rational and natural minds rest upon that plane, like, a house on its foundation; and that it is on this account that man remains to eternity such as the life of his love had been in the world.
The angels wonder exceedingly that man does not know that every one is such as his ruling love is; that many should believe they can be saved by immediate mercy, and by faith alone, whatever be the quality of their lives; also that they do not know that the divine mercy operates through means, and consists in being led by the Lord both in the world and afterwards to eternity; and that those are led by mercy who do not live in evil. They are also surprised that men do not know that faith is the affection of truth proceeding from heavenly love which is from the Lord.
That the man whose love is celestial and spiritual goes to heaven, and he whose love is corporeal and worldly without celestial and spiritual, goes to hell, has been made plain to me from all whom I have seen taken up into heaven and cast into hell. The life of those who were taken up into heaven had been from celestial and spiritual love; but the life of those who were cast into hell had been from corporeal and worldly love.
Heavenly love is to love what is good, sincere and just for their own sake, and from the love of such things to do them. Thence is derived the life of goodness, sincerity and justice, which is heavenly life. They who love goodness, sincerity and justice for their own sake, and practice or live them, love the Lord above all things, because these are from Him;[1] and they also love the neighbor, because these are the neighbor that is to be loved.
But corporeal love is to love what is good, sincere and just, not for their own sake but for the sake of self, because they are loved only as the means of securing reputation, honor and gain. They who are in such love do not regard the Lord and the neighbor in what is good, sincere and just, but themselves and the world, and experience delight in fraud; and goodness, sincerity and justice, practised with fraudulent intent, are evil, insincerity and injustice; and these latter are the things which they love in the former.
Because the loves thus determine the quality of every one's life, therefore all are examined on their first entrance after death into the world of spirits; and when their character is ascertained, they are joined to those who are in similar love. They who are in heavenly love are joined to their like in heaven, and they who are in corporeal love, to their like in hell. And when they have passed through their first and second states, the two classes are so completely separated, that they no longer see or know each other; for every one becomes his own love, not only as to his interiors which belong to the mind, but also as to his exteriors which belong to the face, body and speech; for every one becomes the image of his own love, even in external appearance.
They who are corporeal loves appear gross, obscure, black and deformed; but they who are heavenly loves appear fresh, bright, fair and beautiful. In their minds and thoughts also they are altogether unlike. They who are heavenly loves are also intelligent and wise; but they who are corporeal loves are stupid and as it were foolish.
When permission is given to inspect the interiors and exteriors of the thought and affection of those who are in heavenly love, their interiors appear like light,—those of some like flaming light,—and their exteriors appear of various beautiful colors like those of the rainbow; but the interiors of those who are in corporeal love appear like something black, because they are closed; and in some cases they have a dusky, fiery appearance; these latter are they who have been interiorly in malignant deceit; but their exteriors appear of a shocking color, and melancholy to look upon.
They who are in corporeal love can see nothing in the light of heaven, that light being thick darkness to them; but the light of hell, which is like that from ignited coals, is to them as clear light. Their interior sight is also darkened, in the light of heaven, to such a degree that they become insane; therefore they shun that light, and hide themselves in dens and caverns, at a depth proportioned to their falsities derived from evils.
But on the other hand, those who are in heavenly love see all things more clearly in proportion as they enter more interiorly or superiorly into the light of heaven; and all things appear to them more beautiful also, and truths are perceived more intelligently and wisely in the same proportion.
They who are in corporeal love cannot possibly live in the heat of heaven; for the heat of heaven is heavenly love. But the heat of hell is agreeable to them, which heat is the love of exercising cruelty toward those who do not favor them. Contempt of others, enmity, hatred and revenge are the delights of that love. "When they are in these delights, they are in their life, being utterly ignorant of what it is to do good to others from good itself, and for the sake of good itself, but only skilled in doing good from evil and for the sake of evil.
Nor can those who are in corporeal love breathe in heaven. When any evil spirit is conveyed thither, he draws his breath like one who struggles in a contest. But they who are in heavenly love breathe more freely and live more perfectly in proportion as they enter more interiorly into heaven.
From these considerations it may be evident that celestial aud spiritual love is heaven with man, because all things of heaven are inscribed on that love; and that corporeal and worldly love, without that which is celestial and spiritual, is hell with man, because all things of hell are inscribed on these loves. Hence it is plain that he who is in celestial and spiritual love goes to heaven; and he who is in corporeal and worldly love, without that which is celestial and spiritual, goes to hell.
That faith does not remain with man, unless it spring from heavenly love, has been made manifest to me by so much experience, that were I to recite all that I have seen and heard on this subject, it would fill a volume. This I can testify, that there is no faith at all, neither can there be any, with those who are in corporeal and worldly love without that which is celestial and spiritual; and that what some may regard as faith, is mere science, or a persuasion that such a thing is true because it serves their love.
Many also from among those who supposed that they had faith, have been brought to those who really had it; and when communication with them was opened, they perceived that their faith was no faith at all. They also confessed afterwards that mere belief in the truth and in the Word is not faith; but that to love truth from heavenly love, and to will and do it from interior affection, is faith.
It was also shown that their persuasion, which they called faith, was only as the light of winter, in which there is no heat. In that season, therefore, all things on the earth being bound in frost become torpid and lie buried beneath the snow. Wherefore as soon as the rays of the light of heaven fall upon the light of this persuasive faith, with them it is not only extinguished, but also becomes as thick darkness wherein no one sees himself. And their interiors become so darkened at the same time, that they understand nothing whatever, and at length become insane from falsities.
Therefore all the truths which such persons had learned from the Word and from the doctrine of the church, and had called the truths of their faith, are taken away from them, and they are imbued, instead, with every false persuasion which is in agreement with the evil of their life; for all are let into their own loves, and into the falsities which agree with them; and then they hate and turn from and thus reject truths, because they are repugnant to the falsities of evil in which they are.
This I can testify from all my experience concerning the things of heaven and hell, that all who have acknowledged the doctrine of salvation by faith alone and have led evil lives, are in hell. I have seen many thousands of them cast down thither; concerning whom see in the treatise on the Last Judgment and the destruction of Babylon.
That it is love in act, thus that it is the life of man, which remains, follows as a conclusion from the experimental evidence that has now been adduced, and from what has been said above concerning deeds and works. Love in act is work and deed.
It is to be observed that all works and deeds belong to moral and civil life, and therefore regard sincerity and uprightness, justice and equity. Sincerity and uprightness belong to moral life; justice and equity, to civil life. The love from which they are practised, is either heavenly or infernal. The works and deeds of moral and civil life are heavenly, if they are done from heavenly love; for whatever is done from heavenly love is done from the Lord, and whatever is done from the Lord is good. But the deeds and works of moral and civil life are infernal, if they are done from infernal love; for whatever is done from this love,—which is the love of self and the world,—is done from man himself, and whatever is done from man himself is in itself evil; because man, viewed in himself, or as to his proprium, is nothing but evil. (H. H. 470-484.)
- ↑ He who believes that he loves the Lord, and does not live according to his precepts, is very much deceived. For to love the Lord is to live according to his precepts; which precepts are the truths that are from Him and in which He is. Therefore in the degree that these precepts are loved, that is, in the degree that the life is formed according to them from love, in the same degree the Lord is loved. The reason is, that He loves man, and from love desires that he may be happy to eternity; and man cannot be made happy except by a life according to the precepts of the Lord; for by these man is regenerated and made spiritual, and can thus be elevated into heaven. But to love the Lord without living according to his precepts, is not to love Him; for in this case there is nothing appertaining to a man into which the Lord can flow, and elevate him to himself. He is an empty vessel; for there is nothing of life in his faith or in his love—A. C. 10,578.