"The life of man after death is the life of his love and the life of his faith, hence such as his love and such as his faith had been, when he lived in the world, such his life remains to eternity. It is the life of hell with those who have loved themselves and the world above all things, and the life of heaven with those who have loved God above all things and their neighbours as themselves. The latter are they that have faith, but the former are they that have not faith. The life of heaven is what is called eternal life, and the life of hell is what is called spiritual death.
"That man lives after death, the Word teaches, as that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, Matt. xxii. 31; that Lazarus after death was taken up into heaven, but the rich man cast into hell, Luke xvi. 22, 23, and the following verses; that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are there, Matt. viii. 11; chap. xxii. 31, 32; Luke xx. 37, 38; that Jesus said to the thief, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise, Luke xxiii. 43."
The doctrine contained in the above extract is so clear and beautiful, and so perfectly in accordance with reason and the word of the Lord, that it is difficult to conceive on what ground it can be opposed. The words of the Lord as quoted by Swedenborg, are certainly a clear and distinct expression of the doctrine which we advocate. What could be plainer than the passage in Matthew, 22. 31. "But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead but of the living."
And in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the Lord distinctly teaches the same truth, that is, that both the good and the evil enter the spiritual world as living, intelligent active men, with all the powers and faculties which belong to organized spiritual beings, and are either happy or miserable, according to their life on earth.
