333. THAT THE SOULS OF THE DEAD DRAW WITH THEM FROM THE WORLD THE NATURE OF THE BODY Souls of the dead draw with them from the body all its nature, so much so that they suppose that they are in the body, clothed with garments and similar things, and they have also its cupidities, as the appetite of eating, and the like; so that the things that are of the body are inscribed upon souls. They retain the nature which they draw with them from the world and the body; but in the course of time this is, as it were, given to oblivion, so that for the most part when they become angels, they suppose that they have entirely put it off, for the reason that they have been gifted with the faculty of receiving the mercy of God Messiah, and on account of that faculty which they have received, their former nature seems to have been obliterated. Nevertheless, it still remains, for if it should please God Messiah to take back His gift and return the angel to his former life, that soul would then become altogether as he was before, when he left the body. Thus it can be said to each single soul that he loses nothing, and that nothing has been taken away from him: but then they become wild beasts and devils. 1747, Dec. 11.