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48 DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG.
heard and seen in the spiritual world concerning the
states of men after death, of which ignorance makes a
jest and derision. But he answered me, that this did
not depend on him ; that he was too old to sport with
spiritual things, and too much concerned for his eternal
happiness to give in to such foolish notions, assuring me,
on his hopes ofsalvation, that no imagination produced
in him his revelations, which were true, and from what
he had heard and seen. This may be: the church can
as well as at the conclusion of the explanation of every chapter
of the Word, as to its spiritual sense, in the Arcana Calestia,
and Apocalypse Revealed, he has added one or more of these
memorable relations, which always tend either to illustrate the
doctrine in question, or to convey some important information
respecting the state of man after death, or respecting his state as
a spirit in the spiritual world, in which he is to live for ever,
either in states ofineffable happiness in heaven, or of unspeakable
misery in hell, according to his previous life in the world. The
information, therefore, which these memorable relations profess to
communicate is of the utmost moment, and consequently claims
the most serious attention of every thinking mind. Levity and
worldly-mindedness, we know, make light of every thing spiritual ;
but seriousness and piety are delighted to become acquainted with
things which concern the spirit of man, and which point out, in
the most effectual manner, the way to holiness and consequent
happiness, and present the most powerful persuasives to desist
from evil of every kind, and to seek peace and pursue it. This is
the effect which the reading of the memorable relations, contained
in the writings of Swedenborg, will invariably have upon the
sincere and pious mind. All the objects and phenomena of the
spiritual world are, according to Swedenborg, directly corres
pondent to the states of the inhabitants, so as perfectly to repre
sent, in outward emblems, the affections and thoughts, that is, the
real life, whether good or evil, of the spirits whom they surround.
That this is the fact, Holy Scripture, when read with any degree
of spiritual discernment, amply testifies. Thus, in the first
Psalm, " The man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
&c., is pronounced blessed, and is compared to a tree planted bythe
rivers of water, that bringethforth hisfruit in his season, whose leaf
also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Now,
here the tree, the rivers of water, the fruit, and the unfading leaf,
are not only mere figures of speech, but are emblems corres
ponding to the blissful state of the good man, and depict the
delightful scenery by which he is surrounded when he becomes an
inhabitant of the spiritual world, or when he comes into heaven
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