662. THAT MAN AFTER DEATH RETAINS ALL THE FACULTIES AND SENSATIONS WHICH HE HAD IN THE BODY, EXCEPT CERTAIN NATURAL FUNCTIONS Man after death loses nothing from the faculties that he had in the life of the body, but retains them all, and more are given him, concerning which [I have written] here and there. But he is gifted with other faculties, as when a spirit confesses that he can do nothing but evil, he is so tempered by modes of devastation that he can desist from them, and at length hold them in aversion; he is also later given the faculty of effecting something good. Thus it is only a faculty that is given him, but he still retains his former faculties. The faculties of doing good that are super-added and given are the Lord's gift, and as soon as this is taken away he returns to his original nature. This sometimes happens to angels who, when restored to their original state, are evil spirits as before, even those who for centuries, and for some thousands of years, had been in heaven. From this it follows that whatever a soul does from himself is evil, and that he can do nothing good except from the Lord alone; thence is the fount of all good. Wherefore as soon as this gift ceases the soul returns to its innate and inrooted wickedness. It also follows from this that it is only the faculty of doing good from the Lord which is given, and that there neither has been, nor is, anything of good inrooted in him. 1748, Feb. 6.