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

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], and as this [capacity remains] for ever, it is evident that wisdom is continually growing with them. With the spirits of Mercury, the science of things is continually growing, yet not therefore wisdom, because they love knowledges, which are means, but not uses, which are ends.
30. Furthermore, the character of the genius of the spirits who are from the planet Mercury may still further appear from the following facts. It must be known that all spirits and angels without exception were once men,