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XII.
ADMISSION INTO HEAVEN NOT AN ACT OF IMMEDIATE MERCY.
HEY who are not instructed concerning heaven and the way thither, and concerning the life of heaven with man, suppose that to be received into heaven is purely of mercy, which is granted to those who are in faith and for whom the Lord intercedes; that it is therefore admission out of mere favor. Hence they suppose that all men without exception might be saved, if it were the Lord's good pleasure; yea, some imagine that even those in hell might be saved.
But such persons are totally unacquainted with the nature of man, not being aware that his character is altogether such as his life is, and that his life is such as his love is, not only as to his interiors which belong to his will and understanding, but also as to his exteriors which belong to his body; and that the corporeal frame is only an external form, wherein the interiors present themselves in effect; and hence that the whole man is his own love.
Nor are they aware that the body does not live of itself, but from its spirit, and that the spirit of man is his affection itself, and that his spiritual
