Spiritual Experiences (Buss) n. 4930

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4930. CONTINUATION CONCERNING HEAVEN AND THE LAST JUDGMENT. There are cities there, large and numerous; and men repair to them in the other life, for the reason that they take with them, from the world, the ability to live there - by virtue of fear of their life, of the law, of honor and of gain - in the appearance of some good. As long as such fears are in them, they live morally; but, when they are taken away, they then live according to their interiors, which are then also manifested. Such cities appear upon rocks and upon mountains. Upon the rocks are those who are in principles derived from the doctrine of the Church. Upon the mountains are those who are in loves. Hence it is that rock, in the Word, signifies faith, and mountain, love. They also differ in many respects. To such cities there repair, at first, such as are in faith and have led a moral life in the world; but yet, by degrees, the wicked also, by means of simulated affections of truth and good and by various arts, repair thither; and when this happens, then the inhabitants of that city begin to be infested - for thoughts and affections are communicated in the other life - and, when this occurs, visitation takes place. Angels are sent thither, that they may know what is the nature of the state there; and, when they discover that the state of faith, or the state of love, is perverted by those wicked ones, then the good are separated from the evil like the sheep from the goats, and the good go forth and the evil remain; and then that city sinks down even into the depths, and thus the evil are let down into hell. I saw this take place with some of them.


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