studies of which the doctor himself, appears to have been peculiarly fond.
In regard to the sufferings of hell, it has been generally supposed that they will result from a direct outpouring of divine wrath—a direct and immediate infliction of so much suffering for so much sin. With respect to the manner in which the divine wrath will be made effectual, in securing the misery of the impenitent, there have been various conjectures,—all, however, agreeing in ascribing the punishment of the wicked, to the vengeance of an offended Deity.
On the other hand, the doctrines of the New Church teach and demonstrate, from the Divine Word, as well as from reason, that the happiness of heaven, is the necessary and inevitable result, of cherishing and acting in accordance with those affections which are good, useful and orderly, and that the miseries of hell, are the equally necessary and inevitable consequence, of receiving and acting from the opposite evil affections.
It is often declared, in the Divine Word, that every man shall be rewarded according to his works. The passages, in which this truth is asserted, are so many and so easily referred to, that it is unnecessary to introduce them here. They may be found in Math. vii. 22–26, xvi. 27, xxv. 32 46; Luke xii. 25–27; Jer. xxv. 14, xxxii. 19; Hosea iv. 9; Rev. ii. 23, xiv. 13, xx. 24, 15, xxii. 12; and in many other places.
It must not be supposed, however, that the works, according to which all men are rewarded, denote simply the external form of their conduct, as it appears before men. It is the internal intention, the end from which they act, that gives character to their works, and constitutes them either good or evil. Every external act first originates in some affection of the will; it is then brought out into the light of the understanding, where it is clothed in thought, and at last is openly manifested in the form in which we behold it.
