pared with the wholesome ventilations of pure refreshing breezes.

549. The angelic state is such that each communicates his own blessedness and happiness to another, for in another life there is given a communication and most exquisite perception of affections and thoughts, in consequence of which every individual communicates his joy to all others, and all others to every individual, so that each is, as it were, the centre of all, which is the celestial form; wherefore, as the number of those who constitute the Lord's kingdom is increased, so much greater is their happiness; and hence it is that the happiness of heaven is inexpressible. Such is the communication of all with each, and of each with all, when one loves another better than himself; but should any one wish better to himself than to another, then the love of self prevails, which communicates nothing from itself to another except the idea of self, which idea is most filthy and defiled, and as soon as it is perceived, is instantly separated and rejected.

550. As in the human body, each and every part concurs to the general and particular uses of all, so it is in the kingdom of the Lord, which is as a single man, and is also called the GRAND MAN [Maximus Homo]. Herein each particular member concurs more nearly or more remotely by manifold methods to the general and particular uses to all, consequently to the happiness of every one, and this according to an order instituted and constantly maintained by the Lord.

553. Such as are principled in mutual love are continually advancing in heaven to the spring-time of their youth; and the more thousands of years they pass, they attain a more joyous and delightful spring, and so continue on to eternity with fresh increments of blessedness, according to their respective proficiencies and gradations of mutual love, charity, and faith. Those of the female sex who had departed this life broken with the infirmities of old age, but after having lived in faith towards the Lord, in charity towards their neighbour, and in conjugial love with their husbands, after a succession of ages appear to advance towards the bloom of

youth with a beauty surpassing all description; for goodness and charity form their own image in such persons, and express their delights and beauties in every feature of their faces, insomuch that they become real forms of charity. Certain spirits that beheld them were astonished at the sight. Such is the form of charity which in heaven is represented to the life; for it is charity that portrays it, and is portrayed in it, and that in a manner so expressive that the whole angel, more particularly as to the face, appears as charity itself, in a personal form of exquisite beauty, affecting the soul of the spectator with something of the same grace. By the beauty of that form, the truths of faith are exhibited in an image, and are also thereby rendered perceptible. Those who have lived in faith towards the Lord-that is, in a faith grounded in charity—become such forms, or such beauties in another life. All the angels are such forms, with an infinite variety; and of these heaven is composed.

OF THE SOCIETIES WHICH CONSTITUTE
HEAVEN AND HELL.

684. There are three heavens: the first where good spirits are, the second where angelic spirits are, and the third where angels are; and one more interior and purer than the other. Thus they are most distinct from each other. Each heaven, both the first, the second, and the third, is distinguished into innumerable societies, and these are distinguished from each other according to the differences of mutual love and faith towards the Lord. Every particular angel, and every particular society, is an image of the universal heaven, and a kind of heaven in miniature.

686. It is the Lord's love towards the universal heaven, and the whole human race, which determines all and each into societies. It is this mercy which produces conjugial love, and thereby the love of parents towards their children, which are fundamental and principal loves; hence come all other loves with an indefinite variety, which are most distinctly arranged into societies.

687. Such being the nature of heaven, it is impossible for any angel or spirit to have any life unless he be in some society, and thus in the harmony of united numbers; for there can be no such thing as individual vitality unconnected with the life of others. The societies in which, and with which, men have been during their life in the body, are shown to them when they come into the other world; and when they arrive at their own society after the death of the body, they come into the very essence of the life which they had in the body, and from that commence a new life; and thus, according to the life which they lived in the body, they either descend into hell or are raised up into heaven.

688. There being such a conjunction of all with each, and of each with all, there is also a similar conjunction of the most minute particulars of affection, and the most minute particulars of thought.

689. Hence there is an equilibrium of all and each as to things celestial, spiritual, and natural, so that no one can think, feel, and act, except by conjunction with others, and still each individual is led to imagine that he thinks, feels, and acts most freely from himself. In like manner nothing exists which is not balanced by its opposite, and by intermediates between it and its opposite, so that each by himself, and many together, live in the most perfect equilibrium. No evil, therefore, can befall any one but it is immediately counterbalanced; and when there is a preponderance of evil, then evil, or he that is in evil, is chastised by the law of equilibrium solely for this end-that good may come. In this form, and hence in equilibrium, consists celestial order, which is formed, disposed, and preserved by the Lord alone to eternity.

690. It is further to be observed that no one society ever entirely and absolutely resembles another, nor is one individual in any society like another; but there is an agreeing and harmonizing variety of all, which varieties are so ordered by the Lord that they tend to one end, which is effected by love and faith towards Him, whence comes union. For the same reason the heaven and heavenly joy of one person are

never entirely and absolutely similar to those of another, these being according to the varieties of love and faith.

692. As man entertains only the most superficial idea of heaven, so does he also in respect to hell; indeed, it is so obscure, that it can scarcely be called an idea. For as those who have never travelled beyond the limits of their own sylvan cottages may form an idea of the earth, but yet, for want of knowing the empires, kingdoms, forms of government, and still more particular societies, and the lives of the individuals who compose them, must needs have a most superficial idea of the earth, indeed such as scarcely to deserve the name of an idea; so is it also in respect to heaven and hell, when, nevertheless, there are innumerable things contained in each; and as no two individuals have a similar heaven, so neither have any two a similar hell.

693. As love towards the Lord and our neighbour, together with the joy and happiness thence originating, constitute heaven; so hatred against the Lord and against our neighbour, together with the punishment and torment thence originating, constitute hell. There are innumerable genera, and still more innumerable species, of hatreds, and hence the hells are innumerable.

694. As heaven from the Lord, by mutual love, constitutes, as it were, one man and one soul, and thus regards one end, which is the preservation and salvation of all to eternity; so, on the other hand, hell, from proprium, by self-love and the love of the world, that is by hatred, constitutes one devil and one mind [animus], and thus regards one end, which is the destruction and damnation of all to eternity.

695. But the hells have such a form and order induced by the Lord, that all are kept tied and bound by their lusts and phantasies, wherein the very essence of their life consists; which life, as originating in death, is changed into dreadful torments, such as cannot be described. The highest satisfaction of their life consists in being able to punish, torture, and torment each other, which they do by arts altogether unknown in the world, whereby they excite exquisite sensations, and also direful and horrible phantasies, together with terrors and

horrors, and many other things of a similar kind. The diabolical crew perceive so much pleasure in this, that if it were possible for them to increase and strain pangs and torments to infinity, they would not even then be satisfied, but would still burn with desire to go beyond the infinite. The Lord, however, frustrates their efforts, and mitigates the torments they inflict.

696. Such is the equilibrium of all and every thing in another life, that evil punishes itself; so that in evil is the punishment of evil. It is similar in respect to the false, which returns upon him who is principled therein; hence every one brings punishment and torment on himself by casting himself into the midst of the diabolical crew, who act as the executioners. The Lord never sends any one into hell, but is desirous to bring all out of hell; still less does he induce torment; but since the evil spirit rushes into it himself, the Lord turns all punishment and torment to some good end and use. It would be impossible there should be any such thing as punishment unless use were the end aimed at by the Lord; for the Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of ends and uses, but the uses which the infernal spirits are able to promote are most vile, and when they are exercised in promoting those uses, they are not in so great a state of torment, but on the cessation of such uses they are cast again into hell.

697. There are with every man at least two evil spirits and two angels; by means of the evil spirits he has communication with hell, and by means of the angels with heaven: without such communication with both, it would be impossible for him to live a single moment. Thus every man is in some society of infernals, although he is entirely ignorant of it, but their torments are not communicated to him, because he is in a state of preparation for eternal life. That society in which a man has been is sometimes shown him in another life, for he returns into it, and thereby into the life which he had in the world, and thence either tends towards hell, or is raised up into heaven. Thus he who has not lived in the good of charity, and has not suffered himself to be led by the Lord, is one of the infernals, and after death moreover becomes a devil.