Earths In Our Solar System Which Are Called Planets, and Earths In The Starry Heaven Their Inhabita | Page 7

been unacquainted with,
and which are in agreement with the knowledges they already possess.
It was also stated that they do not know how they meet with the
companions with whom they are conjoined, and that this also is
effected under the Divine auspices.
26. As they journey through the universe in this manner, and are thus
enabled to know more than others about the systems and earths beyond
the sphere of our solar system, I have spoken with them on this subject
also. They said that in the universe there are very many earths, with
human beings upon them; and that they wonder at its being supposed
by some, whom they called men of little judgment, that the heaven of

the Omnipotent God consists only of the spirits and angels who come
from one earth, when these are so few that, relatively to the
Omnipotence of God, they are scarcely anything, and this would be the
case even if there were myriads of systems with myriads of earths.
They said, moreover, that they knew of the existence of earths in the
universe exceeding in number some hundreds of thousands; and yet
what is this to the Divine, who is Infinite!
27. The spirits of Mercury, when they were with me while I was
writing and explaining the Word as to its internal sense, and who
perceived what I was writing, said that the things which I wrote were
very gross, and that almost all the expressions appeared as material.
But it was given to reply, that the men of our Earth nevertheless look
upon the things that have been written, as subtle and elevated, and that
many things they do not understand. I added, that very many on this
Earth do not know that it is the internal man that acts on the external,
and causes it to live, and that from the fallacies of the senses they
persuade themselves that the body has a life of its own, and that in
consequence the evil and unbelieving are in doubt as to a life after
death. Also, that that in man which is to live after death they do not call
the spirit but the soul; and that they dispute about what the soul is and
where its abode is, and believe that the material body, although
dispersed to all the winds, must be again conjoined to it, in order that
man may live as a man; besides many other things of the same kind.
When the spirits of Mercury heard these things, they asked whether
such men could become angels. To this it was given to answer that
those who have lived in the good of faith and charity become angels,
and that then they are no longer in external and material things, but in
internal and spiritual things; and that when they come into this state,
they are in a light superior to that in which the spirits from Mercury are.
In order that they might know that this was so, an angel who had come
into heaven from our Earth, and who had been such while he lived in
the world, was allowed to speak with them; which circumstance will be
detailed below [at no. 37].
28. Afterwards there was sent me by the spirits of Mercury a long paper
of an irregular shape, consisting of several papers stuck together, which
appeared as if printed with types such as are used on this Earth. I asked
whether they had such among them; but they said they had not, but that

they knew that there were such printed papers on our Earth. They were
not willing to say more; but I perceived that they thought that the
knowledges on our Earth were on papers, and not so much within the
man himself, thus derisively insinuating that the papers, so to speak,
knew more than the man. But they were instructed as to the real state of
the case. After some time they returned, and sent me another paper,
which also appeared printed with types like unto the former one; not,
however, like it, stuck together and untidy, but symmetrically shaped
and neat: they said they had been further informed that on this Earth
there were such papers, and books made of them.
29. From the facts that have now been stated, it clearly appears, that
spirits retain in the memory the things that they see and hear in the
other life, and that they are equally capable of being instructed as when
they were men in the world, consequently, of being instructed in those
things that are of faith, and thereby of being perfected. The more
interior spirits and angels are, the more promptly and fully do they
imbibe, and the more perfectly do they retain [what they hear],