knows nothing of the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, knows no other than that flesh and blood are understood by flesh and blood when they are mentioned in the Word; but the internal sense doth not treat of the life of the body, but of the life of the soul of man, that is, of his spiritual life, which he is to live to eternity; this life is described in the Word in its literal sense by such things as appertain to the life of the body, that is to say, by flesh and blood; and forasmuch as the spiritual life of man subsists by means of the good of love and the truth of faith, therefore the good of love is understood by flesh, and the truth of faith by blood, in the internal sense of the Word; these are what are understood by flesh and blood in heaven; and also by bread and wine; for by bread altogether the same is understood there as by flesh, and by wine altogether the same as by blood; but they who are not spiritual men, do not apprehend this; let such abide therefore in their own faith, only let them believe that in the holy supper and in the Word there is a holy [principle], because they are from the Lord; it may be they do not know where that holy [principle] resides, but let them who are endowed with any interior percep tion, consider whether flesh is understood by flesh, and blood by blood, in the following passages. In the Revelation, "I saw an angel standing in the sun, ❝ and he cried with a great voice, saying, unto all "the birds that fly in the midst of the heaven, gather "yourselves together to the supper of the great God, "that ye may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh "of captains of thousands, and the flesh of the

mighty, and the flesh of horses and of them that "sit on them, and the flesh of all freemen and "servants, both small and great," xix. 17, 18; who can ever understand these words, unless he knows what is signified by flesh in the internal sense, what by kings, by captains, by the mighty, by horses, by them that sit on them, by freemen and servants. And in Ezekiel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, say to every bird of heaven, and to every beast of the field, be gathered to

1

"gether

"gether and come; gather yourselves from around

upon my sacrifice that I sacrifice for you, a great "sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye

may eat flesh and drink blood; ye shall eat the "flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the "princes of the earth; and ye shall eat fat to satiety, " and drink blood even to drunkenness, of my sacri"fice which I will sacrifice for you; ye shall be sa"tiated upon my table, with horse, and with chariot, "with the mighty man, and with every man of war; so will I give my glory among the nations,' xxxix. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. In this passage the subject treated of is concerning the calling together of all to the kingdom of the Lord, and in particular concerning the establishment of the church with the Gentiles; and by eating flesh and drinking blood, is signified to appropriate Divine Good and Divine Truth to themselves, thus the holy [principle] which proceeds from the Lord's Divine Human; who cannot see, that flesh is not here understood by flesh, nor blood by blood, as when it is said, that they should eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, and that they should drink blood even to drunkenness; also that they should be satiated with horse, with chariot, with the mighty man, and with every man of war? What is signified by the birds of heaven and the beasts of the field in the spiritual sense, may be seen in the Treatise on Heaven and Hell, n. 110, and in the notes therein. Let it now be considered what the Lord said concerning his flesh and his blood, in John, "The bread "which I will give, is my flesh: Verily, verily, I 66 say unto you, except ye shall eat the flesh of the "Son of Man, and shall drink his blood, ye will "have no life in you; whoso eateth my flesh and "drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will "raise him up at the last day; for my flesh is truly "meat, and my blood is truly drink: he that eateth "my-flesh and drinketh my blood, abideth in Me, " and I in him: this is the bread which cometh "down from heaven," vi. 50 to 58. That the flesh of the Lord is Divine Good, and his blood Divine

Truth, each from him, is evident from this circumstance, that these [principles] are what nourish the spiritual life of man; hence it is said, My flesh is truly meat, and my blood is truly drink; and inasmuch as man is conjoined to the Lord by means of Divine Good and Truth, it is therefore also said, He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, shall have eternal life; and he abideth in me, and I in him and in the former part of the same chapter, "Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which abideth to eternal life," ver. 27. That to abide in the Lord is to be in love to him, the Lord himself teaches in John, chap. xv. 2 to 12.

ἐσ

Of the RESURRECTION.

123. MAN is so created, that as to his internal he cannot die; for he is capable of believing in God, and also of loving God, and thus of being conjoined to God by faith and love; and to be conjoined to God is to live to eternity.

224. This internal is with every man who is born; his external is that by means of which he brings into effect the things which are of faith and love. The internal is what is called the spirit, and the external is what is called the body. The external, which is called the body, is accommodated to uses in the natural world; this is rejected when man dies; but the internal, which is called the spirit, is accommodated to uses in the spiritual world ; this does not die: this internal is then a good spirit and an angel, if the man had been good when

in the world, but an evil spirit, if the man had been evil when in the world.

225. The spirit of man, after the death of the body, appears in the spiritual world in a human form, altogether as in the world; he enjoys also the faculty of seeing, of hearing, of speaking, of feeling, as in the world; and he is endowed with every faculty of thinking, of willing, and of acting, as in the world; in a word, he is a a man as to all things and every particular, except that he is not encompassed with that gross body which he had in the world; he leaves that when he dies, nor does he ever re-assume it.

226. This continuation of life is what is understood by the resurrection. The reason why men believe that they are not to rise again before the last judgment, when also every visible object of the world is to perish, is because they have not understood the Word; and because sensual men place all their life in the body, and believe that unless this were to live again, it would be all over with the man.

227. The life of man after death is the life of his love and the life of his faith; hence such as his love and such as his faith had been, when he lived in the world, such his life remains to eternity; this is the life of hell, with those who have loved themselves and the world above all things, and the life of heaven, with those who have loved God above all things and their neighbour as themselves; the latter are they that have faith, but the former are they that have not faith. The life of heaven is what is called eternal life, and the life of hell is what is called spiritual death.

228. That man lives after death, is taught in the Word; as when it is said that God is not the God

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God of the dead, but of the living, Matt. xxii. 31: That Lazarus after death was taken up into heaven, but the rich man cast into hell, Luke xvi. 22, 23, and the following verses: That Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are in heaven, Matt. viii. 11; chap. xxii. 31, 32: Luke xx. 37, 38: That Jesus said to the thief, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise, Luke xxiii. 43.

EXTRACTS from the Treatise on HEAVEN and

HELL.

229. IT is unnecessary here to adduce any thing from the ARCANA CELESTIA Concerning the resurrection and life of man after death, inasmuch as what relates thereto has been fully shewn in the TREATISE ON HEAVEN AND HELL, and may be seen therein under the following articles. I. That every man is a spirit as to his interiors, n. 432 to 444. II. Of man's resuscitation from the dead, and entrance into eternal life, n. 445 to 452. III. That after death man is in a perfect human form, n. 453 to 460. IV. That man after death retains every sense, and all the memory, thought, and affection, which he had in the world; and that he leaves nothing but his terrestrial body, n. 461 to 469. V. That the quality of man after death is such as his life had been in the world, n. 470 to 484. VI. That the delights of every one's life are turned into things corresponding thereto, n. 485 to 40. VII. Of the first state of man after death, n. 491 to 498 VIII. Of the second state of man after death, 499 to 511. IX. Of the third state of man after death, which is that of instruction for those that go to heaven, n. 512 to 520. X. That heaven and hell are from the human race, n. 311 to 317.

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