Heaven and Hell by Emanuel Swedenborg tr by George F Dole (2000).pdf

Heaven and Hell

by Emanuel Swedenborg

Mirabilibus, et de Inferno, ex Auditis et Visis (London, 1758). Trans-

lated by George F. Dole for the Swedenborg Foundation's New Century

by the Swedenborg Foundation.

This downloadable version includes the entire Dole 2000 translation,

and nothing but the Dole 2000 translation, of Swedenborg's original (Swe-

denborg Foundation: West Chester, Pa., 2000). It is intended solely for per-

sonal use. This file was derived electronically from the typeset version but

has not been proofread against the printed text. Some characters may not

have converted accurately.

For a hardcover or paperback volume of the same work that includes in-

troductions, diagrams, bibliographies, notes, and indices, order the New

Century Edition Heaven and Hell from the Swedenborg Foundation ([800]

355-3222 in the United States, or www.swedenborg.com) or other book-

sellers.

O riginally published anonymously in Latin as De Coelo et Ejus

H E AV E N & H E L L

[Author’s Preface]

his disciples about the close of the age, the last time of the church. a,*,2

At the end of his prophecies concerning the sequence of states of its love

and faith, b,3 he says:

Immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened

and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven,

and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the

Human-born One 4 will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the

earth will lament. And they will see the Human-born One coming in

the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send his

angels with a trumpet and a loud voice, and they will gather his chosen

ones from the four winds, from one end of the heavens all the way to

the other end. (Matthew 24:29–31) 5

When people understand these words according to their literal mean-

ing, they can only believe that all these things are going to happen just as

this meaning describes them, at that end of time called the Last Judg-

ment. 6 This does not mean only that the sun and moon will be darkened

and that the stars will fall from heaven, that the sign of the Lord will ap-

pear in heaven, and that he will be seen in the clouds with angels blowing

trumpets. It also includes matters prophesied elsewhere, statements that

the whole visible world is going to be destroyed and that afterward a new

heaven and a new earth will come into being.

a. On the close of the age as the last time of the church: 4535, 10672 [10622].

b. For explanations of what the Lord said in Matthew 24 and 25 about the close of the age, his

coming, and thus the gradual destruction of the church and the Last Judgment, see the material

prefaced to chapters 5–24 [26–40] of Genesis. In particular, see 3353–3356, 3486–3489, 3650–3655,

3751–3759 [3751–3757], 3897–3901, 4056–4060, 4129–4231 [4229–4231], 4332–4335, 4422–4424,

[4535,] 4635–4638, 4661–4664, 4807–4810, 4954–4959, 5063–5071.

* Swedenborg’s footnotes, indicated by superscript letters, comprise references to his previously

published Secrets of Heaven (1749–1756). Endnotes, containing information helpful to the reader,

are indicated by superscript numbers. Text citations in both series of notes refer to Swedenborg’s

section numbers. See the list of short titles and other conventions on pages 79–84 above. [GFD]

I N the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, we find the Lord 1 talking to

H E A V EN A N D H E L L

§1

Many people in the church these days are of this opinion. 7 However,

people who believe such things are not aware of the hidden depths that

lie within the details of the Word. 8 There is in fact spiritual meaning in

these details, for they intend not only the outward and earthly events

that we find on the literal level but spiritual and heavenly events as well.

This holds true not just for the meaning of phrases but even for each

word. c

The Word is in fact written in pure correspondences d,9 so that there

may be deeper meaning in the details. Questions about the nature of this

meaning can be resolved by all the things I have set forth about it in

Secrets of Heaven. 10 A selection of these may be found also in my explana-

tion of the white horse in the Book of Revelation. 11 It is in this deeper

sense that we are to understand what the Lord said in the passage just

cited about coming in the clouds of heaven. The sun that will be dark-

ened means the Lord in respect to love, e the moon means the Lord in re-

spect to faith. f The stars mean insights into what is good and true, or into

love and faith. g The sign of the Human-born One in heaven means the

appearing of divine truth. The wailing tribes of earth mean all the ele-

ments of what is true and good, or of faith and love. h The Lord’s coming

in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory means his presence in

the Word, and revelation. i The clouds refer to the literal meaning of the

Word j and the glory to the Word’s inner meaning. k The angels with a

trumpet and a loud voice mean heaven, which is where divine truth

comes from. l

c. There is deeper meaning in every detail of the Word: 1143, 1984, 2135, 2333, 2395, 2495, 4442,

9049, 9086.

d. The Word is composed using pure correspondences, so that its every detail points to some-

thing spiritual: 1404, 1408, 1409, 1540, 1619, 1659, 1709, 1783, 2900, 9086.

e. The sun in the Word means the Lord in respect to love, and therefore love for the Lord: 1529,

1837, 2441, 2495, 4060, 4696, 4996 [4966], 7083, 10809.

f. The moon in the Word means the Lord in respect to faith, and therefore faith in the Lord:

1529, 1530, 2495, 4060, 4996 [4696], 7083.

g. Stars in the Word mean insights into what is good and true: 2495, 2849, 4697.

h. Tribes mean all true and good elements in a single complex, or all elements of faith and love:

3858, 3926, 4060, 6335.

i. The Lord’s coming is his presence in the Word, and revelation: 3900, 4060.

j. Clouds in the Word mean the Word in the letter or its literal meaning: 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343,

6752, 8106, 8781, 9430, 10551, 10574.

k. Glory in the Word means divine truth as it is in heaven and in the inner meaning of the Word:

4809, 5292 [?], 5922, 8267, 8427, 9429, 10574.

l. The trumpet or horn means divine truth in heaven and revealed from heaven: 8815, 8823, 8915.

“Voice” has the same meaning: 6971, 9926.

§2

T H E L O R D I S G O D O F H E A V E N

This enables us to see what these words of the Lord mean. They

mean that at the end of the church, when there is no longer any love and

therefore no longer any faith, the Lord will open the Word by disclosing

its deeper meaning and will reveal the heavenly contents hidden 12 within

it. The particular hidden contents to be disclosed in the pages that follow

have to do with heaven and hell and with our own life after death.

Church people these days 13 know practically nothing about heaven

and hell or their life after death, even though there are descriptions of

everything available to them in the Word. In fact, many who have been

born in the church deny all this. In their hearts they are asking who has

ever come back to tell us about it.

To prevent this negative attitude—especially prevalent among people

who have acquired a great deal of worldly wisdom—from infecting and

corrupting people of simple heart and simple faith, it has been granted

me to be with angels and to talk with them person to person. I have also

been enabled to see what is in heaven and in hell, a process that has been

going on for thirteen years. Now I am being allowed therefore to describe

what I have heard and seen, in the hopes of shedding light where there is

ignorance, and of dispelling skepticism.

The reason this kind of direct revelation is taking place today is that

this is what the Coming of the Lord means. 14

The Lord is God of Heaven

since everything else depends on this. Throughout the whole of

heaven, no one is acknowledged as God of heaven except the Lord. 15 An-

gels say what he himself taught, namely that he is one with the Father,

that the Father is in him and he in the Father, that anyone who sees him

sees the Father, and that everything holy emanates from him ( John

10:30, 38; 14:9–11; 16 16:13–15). I have often talked with angels about this,

and their consistent testimony has been that in heaven they cannot di-

vide the Divine 17

into three because they both know and perceive that

F IRST and foremost, we need to know who the God of heaven is,

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