Last Judgment (Post) (Rogers) n. 324

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324. [316.] In the natural kingdom where people are as long as they live in the world, in the spiritual kingdom where spiritual angels are, and in the celestial kingdom where celestial angels are, similar phenomena appear, even so similar that scarcely any difference distinguishes them other than the fact that similar phenomena in the spiritual kingdom are more perfect than in the natural kingdom, and in the celestial kingdom more perfect than in the spiritual kingdom. A spirit or angel looks like a person in the world, so much so that he does not know but that he is an inhabitant of the world. He has a similar facial appearance and similar physique. As regards his facial appearance, he has similar eyes, nose, ears, lips, mouth, and hair. As regards his physique, he has a similar chest, similar belly, similar loins, similar hands and feet, even similar reproductive organs. In a word, he is a human being in outward form entirely like an inhabitant of the world. He has similar lungs, because he breathes. He also has a similar heart, because he has a rhythmic pulse. The rest of the internal organs of his body are similar, too, because they equally have societies of heaven corresponding to them. There is a ruddiness as well in his face and in his hands, and in his arms and body, as comes from blood in the arteries and veins. He has also similar fibers, sinews, and muscles, because he moves his limbs in the same way as a person in the world. Moreover, he has a similar sense of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. He possesses, too, a similar power of speech, and of singing as well, and also a similar imagination, thought, intellect and will, affection, and desire. In a word, an angel or spirit is so like an inhabitant of the world that he himself does not know but that he is an inhabitant of the world. Married love* is for him likewise similar, with its every effect, except that there is no procreation, but instead of procreation a uniting of minds and a consequent increase of intelligence and wisdom. (So it is that in the Word, a marriage means in its spiritual sense a joining of good and truth, daughters qualities of good, and sons truths, and so on.) * Or, Conjugial love.


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