we allow to govern us; that is, with the love that reigns and rules in our hearts, the central fire and moulding force of our immortal being.
XVIII.
REJUVENESCENCE AND GROWTH IN HEAVEN..
WHOEVER thinks of existence in heaven as a reality, can hardly help asking. Do people grow old there as they do here on earth? And is their age written on their faces, as it is on the faces of men? And do those who leave this world far advanced in years, and who enter the society of the blessed, forever retain the withered form and furrowed cheeks which they had at the time they left this world? There is really but one question involved in these interrogatories, and that is one concerning the age or apparent age of the denizens of heaven. Do they appear young or old? What is Swedenborg's answer to this question?
Before adducing his testimony, we will consider how the question ought to be answered. What is the verdict of reason on the subject, and what the inevitable conclusion to be drawn from the teaching of the last chapter?
If what has been said concerning the beauty of the angels is to be accepted as true, it follows that they do not grow old; or, at least, that age does not plow such furrows in their faces as it does in the faces of men. For we all recognize something comparatively unbeautiful in
