Page:The Other Life.djvu/187

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are the powers which create it and animate it and sustain it from one moment to another.

The material of heaven is, therefore, a numberless multitude of souls, each one of whom is perfectly submissive to the divine will, and loves his neighbor better than himself. Each one is ready and eager to give, not only much but all he has for the benefit of others, and to devote his labors and consecrate his life to the common good. This lofty ideal is attained by a good life on earth, and by the judgment after death, when the good and evil elements in the character are separated, the evil cast out or made thoroughly dormant, and the good made the ruling loves and guiding principles of the future life.

Souls, such as we have described the angels to be, live in society with each other. Men, as we see them here on earth, are gregarious, like animals; but angels are consociative; that is, they are drawn together by spiritual affinities, and they are arranged or organized into societies, series, orders and degrees, according to the special functions they can discharge. The organizing power is not the selfhood of the spirit, nor the rule of the strongest, nor a transmuted authority, nor the will of a majority. The organizing power is the love and