and ever tend towards action. Those life-objects are presented without any effort on the part of man, just as the external objects of this world are presented to the bodily senses; and however good or evil man may be, while he is in this world he has ever present with him those opposite principles.

Man having objects of choice which are of opposite qualities, and those objects when chosen inducing their qualities upon him, it follows, that whichsoever he chooses, this necessarily imparts to him its quality. It is only whilst man is in this world that he has objects of opposite qualities present with him of which he can choose, because it is only whilst he is in this world that he is held in equilibrium between heaven and hell, and therefore in immediate communication with good and evil spirits, by whom those objects are presented. How this is effected will be shown subsequently.

While man is in a state of probation, it is essential that he should be held in a state of equilibrium between good and evil, because if he had not good and evil present, they would not be objects of choice by which he could change; and if he was not held in equilibrium, he would have no power to choose. Whether we say between good and evil, or between good and evil spirits, it amounts to the same thing, inasmuch as there can be no such properties without their subjects. When man enters the spiritual world, his freedom is no longer between good and evil influences; but it is in the quality of the principles he has made his own by appropriation, while in a state of probation. Hence, the freedom in which angels and devils are preserved is not like that in which man is kept while in the world. His freedom is between good and evil; but theirs is in the measure of good or evil which they chose while in the world, in which they lived, and in which they were willing to remain; for that which man makes his own, by love and life, becomes fixed and permanent.

Man in this world having opposite principles of life as objects of his choice, cannot but choose one or the other; his choice is not whether he will choose or not, but which of the two he will choose,-and choose he must, either one or the other, his existence being grounded in choosing or willing. Man cannot rest between good and evil, and remain neutral, but he of necessity chooses either one or the other,and he as necessarily becomes of the quality of the one chosen. And what man chooses and confirms in himself constitutes his mental acquisition, or his voluntary mind, in which he experiences his pleasure or pain, happiness or misery; therefore it is himself, as to his voluntary existence.

Another reason why man can change while he is in this world is, because his life, which is mediate and of opposite qualities, consequently from opposite sources, enters his constitution in the spiritual degree, therefore above his conscious part, and thence by influx into his conscious part. Man's conscious part, while he is in the world, is the natural, or that which is in the world. It may be seen that man's consciousness is in the natural principle; for this reason, what enters him by influx is not felt, as to its entrance, but only as it is received in the natural; because it cannot be manifested as influx or activity, but only as it is re-acted,-and the plane of re-action is the natural. Now whatever enters man's unconscious part, and flows thence into his conscious part, is not perceived as an influx, but appears to originate where it is first perceived,-and what appears to originate in man, is to him as though it did really originate in him, and it is felt and used as his own. If life flowed immediately into man's conscious mind, it would not appear as his own, and as originating in himself, but he would perceive its entrance, just as he perceives sensations, the subject and the objects being on the same plane.

But man is capable of changing here, not simply by reason of receiving life into his unconscious part, for he will always be subject to that condition, even in the spiritual world, but it is on account of receiving life of opposite qualities into that principle,—yet it is by virtue of his receiving life in that part that it appears to originate in himself, and that he can use it freely as his own, and thereby make it his own. These opposite principles of life are under the immediate government of the Lord,—and they are so regulated that neither of them shall preponderate, but that man shall be poised between them, and by his capability of choosing, select for himself either the one or the other; this is a state which is peculiar to man in this world, and it is on that account that he can change at will. We hold, therefore, that man's being held in communication with good and evil spirits is the reason why he can change before death.

Man cannot change after death, for two reasons:-first, because he has, during his life in this world, formed to himself a ruling love; and second, because then he is not in immediate communication with good and evil spirits, as he was while he lived in the world.

First,—When man enters the spiritual world, he is first in the world of spirits, which is the intermediate between heaven and hell; and he is there associated with those spirits with whom he was in connection when he was in this world, and he is in all respects apparently cir

554

WHY CANNOT MAN CHANGE AFTER DEATH?

cumstanced as he was when in the natural world; but he is gradually dissociated from those who are not in agreement with himself, and associated with those who are similar in disposition. This is done voluntarily, by virtue of his ruling love, which he had acquired by his life in the world; for, during man's probation in this world, he does really acquire for himself, by his choice of good or evil, and a life in agreement therewith, a dominant principle, which ever after serves as a bias, and inclines to such things and practices as are in agreement with itself. In the spiritual world love causes associations, it being the conjoining principle there; according to it relationships are formed, near or remote, according to approximation of state, which is of love, and these are the relationships referred to in the Word. (Mark iii. 34, 35.)

Man's ruling love is a life-bias, or internal cause, by virtue of which he cannot change after death; from his love he makes his first choice after he enters the spiritual world,—and as love conjoins and associates there, he, as the result of his choice, recedes from the things refused, and approaches those chosen, and he becomes separated from the one and conjoined with the other. According to the similitude of love, spirits and angels have internal conjunction and external associa tions, and so it is with evil spirits and devils. And as love conjoins, and similitude associates, so hatred disjoins, and dissimilitude separates. Hence it follows that in the spiritual world approximations and distances are in perfect agreement with the similarity or dissimilarity of the loves of the inhabitants.

Now, man having acquired during his abode in this world a ruling disposition, as such he enters the spiritual world; and when there, he cannot but feel an aversion to those things and persons whose qualities are opposite to his own, and he will naturally turn himself from them, it being his nature so to do, whether he be good or evil. If the good could not turn away from what was in quality opposite to themselves, they could not be happy, but would be miserable. However exalted the life's love might be, if man was obliged to dwell with uncongenial and opposite spirits, he would be prevented from mutual intercourse and association; he would also be subject to various annoyances and vexations; he would be a subject of grief, anxiety, and pain; there would be neither heaven nor happiness for him, but only disquietude and sorrow. Hence the wisdom of God in classifying all men in their final states according to their qualities, that the good may be happy, and the bad as little miserable as possible; and this is effected by external arrangements for their accommodation and existence; but by no means interfering with

them as to their loves or principles of life, that being impossible without their destruction.

But God does not only classify all in the spiritual world according to their qualities, but He has provided by creation various regions, superior and inferior, as suitable abodes for men of all degrees of goodness; and not only so, but His mercy, ever extending equally to the wicked as to the good, in accommodation to their states, has also provided for them against the influences of heaven, which, if allowed to be present and operative with them, would cause their misery to be intolerable. He, therefore, protects them by defences which originate in themselves, and which are effected by their own spheres; and, as they cannot bear the light of heaven, He permits them to see themselves according to their own infatuations, and fantasies, objectively, as real, but not as they are in themselves.

It may be asked, How does man acquire to himself a ruling love? We answer, by consenting to, and voluntarily acting with, the involuntary principles of life which he perceives in himself as feelings or tendencies towards action. He cannot produce life, but only approve or disapprove of it when presented: if he disapproves of it, it is rejected; but if he approves of it, it is accepted. And he has no voluntary life but what he receives in this way,-therefore, that life which he voluntarily consents to and acts with, he becomes actuated by; it is perceived as one with himself; and it is, to all appearance and all purpose, his own life. Man never can be made a subject in which life originates, but only a recipient of life,-life not originating with any finite subject only as to reception; therefore, his possession of life can be, at best, only an appearance; yet, nevertheless, to him it is as a reality. It appears as real; it is lived as real; and if it originated in himself, he could experience no more: he is a perfect likeness of the Self-existent.

Secondly, Man cannot change after death, because then he is not in immediate communication with spirits in the world of spirits, as he was whilst in this world.

When man enters the spiritual world, he thereby comes into open and manifest existence on the plane where the spirits reside from whom he received his life while in the world; so that what then flowed into his unconscious part, now flows into him consciously; it previously entered by an internal way, but now by an external way; and what was then perceived by the mind only, is now manifested openly to the senses of the body. Man being thus changed as to his condition, he is no longer held between opposite influences, but associated with those. whose quality he has chosen; and as he associates with spirits of one quality, the opposite recede, and he becomes separated from them.

And though this may not be fully effected instantly after death, yet man's state is irrevocably fixed. The process of receding from one, and of acceding to the other, commences immediately on his entrance into the spiritual world; with all men this is certain, but it is accomplished with a facility and rapidity proportionate to the amount of good or evil appropriated, and the confirmation effected. In consequence of man having, during his life in this world, acquired a ruling love, the direction he will take in the world of spirits is certain; if his love be good, his course will be heavenward, but if it be evil, his course will be towards hell, and nothing can avert it. The very first act of man's will in the other life removes him a step from those who are not in agreement with his love, towards those who are in agreement with it; and continually, while he acts voluntarily from his love, he is, by a law of the spiritual world, gradually and simultaneously removed from the place of abode of one to that of the other.

It may appear that some change takes place with man by his removal into the spiritual world, but no change is thereby effected in himself; so far is he from having undergone any change in himself, that there all change of state is impossible. The change which he experiences in the spiritual world is not a change of state as to love or life, but only a change in his condition as to associations, and also in the effects of the influences from heaven and hell.

We trust it will be seen from the foregoing remarks that man has the ability of changing, while in this world, from the presence of opposite principles; if so, then it may be seen that if one of those opposites be removed from his presence, so as to be no longer an object which he can choose, he cannot become changed by its appropriation, but he is then necessitated to choose and live in agreement with such influences and things as are present with him, all of which are in accord with his life's love. That is man's condition in his final state in the spiritual world; and though, as has been stated, he has to undergo a process of recession and accession before he arrives at his final destination, still that process does not affect his state, but only the things with which he is in connection.

It must be plain to every considerate mind, that the removal of an object from man's presence renders it no longer an object of choice; and if so, that it cannot be appropriated, and thereby induce its quality upon man, and he, as a consequence, change his state. Be it remembered, that it is the principle of life which is chosen that gives man his quality, and not his capability of choosing; and that the objects of man's choice during his probation are opposite principles of life, which are