Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 1.djvu/223

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

guards in all directions; they extort the confessions of the heart, which are also confessions of the thoughts and intentions; and if any one will not confess, they threaten him with infernal fire and torments in purgatory; and those who dare to speak against the Papal throne and their dominion, they shut up in a horrible jail called the Inquisition. All this they do for one sole end;—that they may possess the world and its treasures, live in congenial delights and be the mightiest of men while the rest are their slaves.

But such domination is not that of heaven over hell, but of hell over heaven; for in so far as the love of ruling prevails in man, especially in the man of the church, hell reigns in him. This love rules in hell and makes hell. From this summary it may appear that they have no church, but a Babylon among them. The church is where the Lord Himself is worshiped, and where the Word is read.


BABYLONIANS IN THE OTHER LIFE.

What manner of men they of Babylon are in the other life, can be known only to one who has been allowed by the Lord to be together with those who are in the spiritual world. As this has been granted me, I am able to speak from experience; for I have seen them, heard them, and spoken with them.

Every man after death is in a life similar to his life in the world. This cannot be changed, save only