762 NEW (JERUSA 
after their deceafe, and fo feparated from others in the 
world of fpirits, but afterwards releafed, and remanded 
thither by turns; fuch are they who, under civil pretexts, 
deal fraudulently with their neighbours; but the fore- 
mentioned are very few compared to the many claffes of 
thofe who are detained in the world of fpirits, in order to 
their preparation for heaven or hell, according to the 
eftablifhed order of divine economy. 
“ As to the firft ftate before mentioned, or that which 
refpedts the exterior, this man enters upon immediately 
after death. Now, as the life of men newly become 
fpirits is fo like to their natural life in this world, and 
as they are at firft ftrangers to their new ftate, with¬ 
out knowing any thing more of heaven and hell than 
what they have learned from the letter of Scripture, and 
their preachers; therefore, after wondering for fome time 
at their being clothed with a body, and poffeffing every 
fenfe as in this world, and alfo at their feeing things 
under the like appearance as before, they find themfelves 
urged by a defire of knowing what and where heaven and 
hell are ; upon which they are inftrudted by their friends 
in things relating to eternal life, and are conduced to 
various places, and different focieties, and fome into 
cities, gardens, and beautiful plantations, and more par¬ 
ticularly to fee magnificent buildings, as fuch external 
objects fuit with the prefent external ftate of their minds. 
Then they are led to infpedt thofe interior fentiments and 
ideas, which they had in this life concerning the ftate of 
fouls after death, and, concerning heaven and hell, not 
without indignation to think of their own paft ignorance, 
and alfo that of the church, in relation to thefe important 
fubjedts. Almoft all in the world of fpirits are defirous 
to know' whether they fhall go to heaven or not, and the 
greater part judge in favour of themfelves as to this par¬ 
ticular, efpecially fuch as had lived by the external rules 
of morality and civil obligation here; not confidering 
that both good and bad do the fame to outward appear¬ 
ance, as alfo do many good offices to others, and in like 
manner go to church, hear fermons, and bear a part in 
the public worfhip ; not reflecting that thefe external 
adts, and this outward form of worfhip, avail nothing in 
themfelves, confidered feparately from the difpofition and 
principle of the worfhipper, and that it is the interior or 
inner man that ftamps the charadter and value upon the 
outward work and form ; but fcarcely one in a thoufand 
knows what is meant by the interior, and, even after 
being taught it, place all in the words and bodily fervice; 
and fuch are the greater part of thofe who at this day pafs 
from the Chriftian world into the other. 
“ After that man, now become a fpirit, has gone through 
his firft ftate, which is that of his exterior thoughts and 
will, he then paffes into his fecond or interior Jiate; and 
this he enters upon infenfibly, which refembles that of a 
man in this world, who, finding himfelf at liberty from 
every reftraint and diflipation, recolledts himfelf, and 
enters into the moft fecret recefies of his foul. Now in 
this ftate of introverfion, when he thinks freely from his 
inmoft difpofition and affedtions, he is properly himfelf, 
or in his true life. All without exception enter into this 
ftate in the other world, as proper to fpirits; for the former 
is affumed and pradtifed in accommodation to fociety and 
tranfadlions in this world; and therefore, though it re¬ 
mains with man for fome time after death, yet it is not 
long continued in, as not being fuitable to the nature of 
a fpirit, for the following reafons : Firft, becaufe a fpirit 
thinks and fpeaks from the governing principle of life 
without difguife; nay, the fame is the cafe of man in this 
world, when he enters into his inmoft felf, and takes an 
intuitive view of his inward man, in which kind of furvey 
he fees more in a minute than he could utter in an hour. 
Secondly, becaufe, in his converfation and dealings in this 
world, he fpeaks and adts under the reftraint of thofe rules 
which fociety has eftablifhed for the maintenance of 
civility and decorum. Thirdly, becaufe man, when he 
enters into the interior recefies of his fpirit, exerciles rule 
LEM) CHURCH. 
over his outward economy, prefcribinglaws thereto, how 
to fpeak and adt in order to conciliate the good will and 
favour of others, and that by a conftrained external be¬ 
haviour. Thefe confiderations may ferve to fhow, that 
this interior ftate of liberty is not only the proper ftate of 
the fpirit of a man after death, but even in this life. 
When a fpirit has paffed into this fecond or interior ftate, 
it then appears outwardly what manner of man he had 
been in this world, as he now adls from his proper felf; thus, 
if he had been a wife and good man before, he now mani- 
fefts ftill higher degrees of rationality and wifdom in his 
words and adlions, as being freed from thofe corporeal 
and earthly embarrafl’mehts which had fettered and ob- 
feured the inward operations of his mind: whereas the 
bad man evinces greater foil)' than before ; for, whilft in, 
this world, he faihioned his external behaviour by the 
rules of prudence, in order to five appearances ; but, not 
being under the like reftraints now, he gives full fcope 
to his infanity. 
“ The third ftate of man, or of his fpirit, after death, 
is the ftate of infraction, which is appointed for thofe that 
go to heaven, and become angels; but not for thofe that 
go to hell, as fuch are not in a capacity of inftrudtion, 
and therefore their fecond ftate is their laft, and anlwers 
to the third in others, as it terminates in their total change 
into that prevailing love which conftitutes their proper 
principle, and confequently into a conformity to that 
infernal fociety with which they have fellowfhip. When 
this is accompliflied, their will and thoughts flow fpon- 
taneoufly from their predominant love, which, being in¬ 
fernal, they can only choofe the evil and falfe, and rejedt 
all that apparent good and truth which before they had 
adopted, folely as means fubfervient to the gratification, 
of their ruling paflion. On the other hand, the good 
fpirits are introduced from their fecond into their third 
ftate, which is that of preparation for heaven by the means 
of inftrudtion ; for none can be qualified for heaven but 
through the knowledge of fpiritual good and truth, and 
their oppofites, evil and falfehood, which can only come 
from previous inftrudtion. As to good and truth in a 
civil and moral fenfe, commonly called juftice and fincerity, 
thefe may be learned from the laws of nations, and from 
converfation in virtuous company; but fpiritual good and 
truth, as ingrafted principles in the heart, are only re¬ 
ceived by the teachings of a divine light: for, though they 
are literally fet forth in the Scripture, and the dodtrines 
of the Chriftian churches founded thereon, yet they only 
gain the efficacy of a vital principle from a celeftial in¬ 
fluence manifelling itfelf in a confcientious obedience to 
the divine laws, as promulgated in the written word, and 
that in refpedt to the divine authority of them, and not 
from felfifh and worldly motives; then a man is in the 
heavenly life, or in heaven, even whilft in this world. 
“ The way of conveying inftrudtion in the other world 
differs from that on earth, inafmuch as truths there are 
committed not to the memory, but to the life; for the 
memory of fpirits is in their life’s principle, and they 
receive and imbibe only what is conformable thereto, for 
fpirits are fo many human forms of their own affedfions. 
As the nature of fpirits is fuch, therefore they are con¬ 
tinually infpired with an affedtion for truth for the ufes 
of life; for the Lord has fo ordered it, that every one 
fhould love the ufes that accord with their particular 
gifts and qualities; which love is likewife heightened by 
the hope of their becoming angels; for in heaven all par¬ 
ticular and Angular ufes have relation to the general ufe 
or good of the Lord’s kingdom, and may be confidered as 
fo many parts of one whole, fo that the truths which they 
learn are both truths and the ufes of truths conjundtly: 
thus the angelical fpirits are prepared for heaven. The 
affedtion or love of truth for the purpofes of ufe is in- 
finuated into them many ways not known in this world, 
more particularly by various reprefentations of ufe under 
fuch delightful forms as aftedt both their minds and fenles 
with unipeakable pleafurej fo that, when any fpirit is 
3 joined 
