It is a belief of some that only such children as are born within the
church go to heaven, and that those born out of the church do not,
and for the reason that the children within the church are baptized
and by baptism are initiated into faith of the church. Such are not
aware that no one receives heaven or faith through baptism; for
baptism is merely for a sign and memorial that man should be
regenerated, and that those born within the church can be regenerated
because the Word is there, and in the Word are the Divine truths by
means of which regeneration is effected, and there the Lord who
regenerates is known.{1} Let them know therefore that every child,
wherever he is born, whether within the church or outside of it,
whether of pious parents or impious, is received when he dies by the
Lord and trained up in heaven, and taught in accordance with Divine
order, and imbued with affections for what is good, and through these
with knowledges of what is true; and afterwards as he is perfected in
intelligence and wisdom is introduced into heaven and becomes an
angel. Everyone who thinks from reason can be sure that all are born
for heaven and no one for hell, and if man comes into hell he himself
is culpable; but little children cannot be held culpable.
{Footnote 1} Baptism signifies regeneration by the Lord by
means of the truths of faith from the Word (n. 4255, 5120,
9088, 10239, 10386-10388, 10392). Baptism is a sign that the
man baptized is of the church in which the Lord, who
regenerates, is acknowledged, and where the Word is from which
are the truths of faith, by means of which regeneration is
effected (n. 10386-10388). Baptism confers neither faith nor
salvation, but it is a witness that those who are being
regenerated will receive faith and salvation (n. 10391).
330. When children die they are still children in the other life,
having a like infantile mind, a like innocence in ignorance, and a
like tenderness in all things. They are merely in the rudiments of a
capacity to become angels, for children are not angels but become
angels. For everyone passing out of this world enters the other in
the same state of life, a little child in the state of a little
child, a boy in the state of a boy, a youth, a man, an old man, in
the state of a youth, a man, or an old man; but subsequently each
one's state is changed. The state of little children surpasses the
state of all others in that they are in innocence, and evil has not
yet been rooted in them by actual life; and in innocence all things
of heaven can be implanted, for it is a receptacle of the truth of
faith and of the good of love.
331. The state of children in the other life far surpasses their
state in the world, for they are not clothed with an earthly body,
but with such a body as the angels have. The earthly body is in
itself gross, and receives its first sensations and first motions not
from the inner or spiritual world, but from the outer or natural
world; and in consequence in this world children must be taught to
walk, to guide their motions, and to speak; and even their senses, as
seeing and hearing, must be opened by use. It is not so with children
in the other life. As they are spirits they act at once in accordance
with their interiors, walking without practice, and also talking, but
at first from general affections not yet distinguished into ideas of
thought; but they are quickly initiated into these also, for the
reason that their exteriors are homogeneous with their interiors. The
speech of angels (as may be seen above, n, 234-245) so flows forth
from affection modified by ideas of thought that their speech
completely conforms to their thoughts from affection.
332. As soon as little children are resuscitated, which takes place
immediately after death, they are taken into heaven and confided to
angel women who in the life of the body tenderly loved little
children and at the same time loved God. Because these during their
life in the world loved all children with a kind of motherly
tenderness, they receive them as their own; while the children, from
an implanted instinct, love them as their own mothers. There are as
many children in each one's care as she desires from a spiritual
parental affection. This heaven appears in front before the forehead,
directly in the line or radius in which the angels look to the Lord.
It is so situated because all little children are under the immediate
auspices of the Lord; and the heaven of innocence, which is the third
heaven, flows into them.
333. Little children have various dispositions, some that of the
spiritual angels and some that of the celestial angels. Those who are
of a celestial disposition are seen in that heaven to the right, and
those of a spiritual disposition to the left. All children in the
Greatest Man, which is heaven, are in the province of the eyes-those
of a spiritual disposition in the province of the left eye, and those
of a celestial disposition in the province of the right eye. This is
because the angels who are in the spiritual kingdom see the Lord
before the left eye, and those who are in the celestial kingdom
before the right eye (see above, n. 118). This fact that in the
Greatest Man or heaven children are in the province of the eyes is a
proof that they are under the immediate sight and auspices of the
Lord.
334. How children are taught in heaven shall also be briefly told.
From their nurses they learn to talk. Their earliest speech is simply
a sound of affection; this by degrees becomes more distinct as ideas
of thought enter; for ideas of thought from affections constitute all
angelic speech (as may be seen in its own chapter, n. 234-245). Into
their affections, all of which proceed from innocence, such things as
appear before their eyes and cause delight are first instilled; and
as these things are from a spiritual origin the things of heaven at
once flow into them, and by means of these heavenly things their
interiors are opened, and they are thereby daily perfected. But when
this first age is completed they are transferred to another heaven,
where they are taught by masters; and so on.
335. Children are taught chiefly by representatives suited to their
capacity. These are beautiful and full of wisdom from within, beyond
all belief. In this way an intelligence that derives its soul from
good is gradually instilled into them. I will here describe two
representatives that I have been permitted to see, from which the
nature of others may be inferred. First there was a representation of
the Lord's rising from the sepulchre, and at the same time of the
uniting of His Human with the Divine. This was done in a manner so
wise as to surpass all human wisdom, and at the same time in an
innocent infantile manner. An idea of a sepulchre was presented, and
with it an idea of the Lord, but in so remote a way that there was
scarcely any perception of its being the Lord, except seemingly afar
off; and for the reason that in the idea of a sepulchre there is
something funereal, and this was thus removed, after wards they
cautiously admitted into the sepulchre something atmospheric, with an
appearance of thin vapor, by which with proper remoteness they
signified spiritual life in baptism. Afterwards I saw a
representation by the angels of the Lord's descent to those that are
"bound," and of His ascent with these into heaven, and this with
incomparable prudence and gentleness. In adaptation to the infantile
mind they let down little cords almost invisible, very soft and
tender, by which they lightened the Lord's ascent, always with a holy
solicitude that there should be nothing in the representation
bordering upon anything that did not contain what is spiritual and
heavenly. Other representations are there given, whereby, as by plays
adapted to the minds of children, they are guided into knowledges of
truth and affections for good.
336. It was also shown how tender their understanding is. When I was
praying the Lord's Prayer, and from their under standing they flowed
into the ideas of my thought, their influx was perceived to be so
tender and soft as to be almost solely a matter of affection; and at
the same time it was observed that their understanding was open even
from the Lord, for what flowed forth from them was as if it simply
flowed through them. Moreover, the Lord flows into the ideas of
little children chiefly from inmosts, for there is nothing, as with
adults, to close up their ideas, no principles of falsity to close
the way to the understanding of truth, nor any life of evil to close
the way to the reception of good, and thereby to the reception of
wisdom. All this makes clear that little children do not come at once
after death into an angelic state, but are gradually brought into it
by means of knowledges of good and truth, and in harmony with all
heavenly order; for the least particulars of their nature are known
to the Lord, and thus they are led, in accord with each and every
movement of their inclination, to receive the truths of good and the
goods of truth.
337. I have also been shown how all things are instilled into them by
delightful and pleasant means suited to their genius. I have been
permitted to see children most charmingly attired, having garlands of
flowers resplendent with most beautiful and heavenly colors twined
about their breasts and around their tender arms; and once to see
them accompanied by those in charge of them and by maidens, in a park
most beautifully adorned, not so much with trees, as with arbors and
covered walks of laurel, with paths leading inward; and when the
children entered attired as they were the flowers over the entrance
shone forth most joyously. This indicates the nature of their
delights, also how they are led by means of pleasant and delightful
things into the goods of innocence and charity, which goods the Lord
continually instilled into these delights and pleasures.
338. It was shown me, by a mode of communication common in the other
life, what the ideas of children are when they see objects of any
kind. Each and every object seemed to them to be alive; and thus in
every least idea of their thought there is life. And it was perceived
that children on the earth have nearly the same ideas when they are
at their little plays; for as yet they have no such reflection as
adults have about what is inanimate.
339. It has been said above that children are of a genius either
celestial or spiritual. Those of a celestial genius are easily
distinguished from those of a spiritual genius. Their thought,
speech, and action, is so gentle that hardly anything appears except
what flows from a love of good to the Lord and from a love for other
children. But those of a spiritual genius are not so gentle; but in
everything with them there appears a sort of vibration, as of wings.
The difference is seen also in their ill-feeling and in other
things.
340. Many may suppose that in heaven little children remain little
children, and continue as such among the angels. Those who do not
know what an angel is may have had this opinion confirmed by
paintings and images in churches, in which angels are represented as
children. But it is wholly otherwise. Intelligence and wisdom are
what constitute an angel, and as long as children do not possess
these they are not angels, although they are with the angels; but as
soon as they become intelligent and wise they become angels; and what
is wonderful, they do not then appear as children, but as adults, for
they are no longer of an infantile genius, but of a more mature
angelic genius. Intelligence and wisdom produce this effect. The
reason why children appear more mature, thus as youths and young men,
as they are perfected in intelligence and wisdom, is that
intelligence and wisdom are essential spiritual nourishment;{1} and
thus the things that nourish their minds also nourish their bodies,
and this from correspondence; for the form of the body is simply the
external form of the interiors. But it should be understood that in
heaven children advance in age only to early manhood, and remain in
this to eternity. That I might be assured that this is so I have been
permitted to talk with some who had been educated as children in
heaven, and had grown up there; with some also while they were
children, and again with the same when they had become young men; and
I have heard from them about the progress of their life from one age
to another.
{Footnote 1} Spiritual food is knowledge, intelligence, and
wisdom, thus the good and truth from which these are (n. 3114,
4459, 4792, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5410, 5426, 5576, 5582,
5588, 5655, 8562, 9003). Therefore in a spiritual sense
everything that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord is food
(n. 681). Because bread means all food in general it signifies
every good, celestial and spiritual (n. 276, 680, 2165, 2177,
3478, 6118, 8410). And for the reason that these nourish the
mind, which belongs to the internal man (n. 4459, 5293, 5576,
6277, 8410).
341. That innocence is a receptacle of all things of heaven, and thus
the innocence of children is a plane for all affections for good and
truth, can be seen from what has been shown above (n. 276-283) in
regard to the innocence of angels in heaven, namely, that innocence
is a willingness to be led by the Lord and not by oneself;
consequently so far as a man is in innocence he is separated from
what is his own, and so far as one is separated from what is his own
he is in what is the Lord's own. The Lord's own is what is called His
righteousness and merit. But the innocence of children is not genuine
innocence, because as yet it is without wisdom. Genuine innocence is
wisdom, since so far as any one is wise he loves to be led by the
Lord; or what is the same, so far as any one is led by the Lord he is
wise. [2] Therefore children are led from the external innocence in
which they are at the beginning, and which is called the innocence of
childhood, to internal innocence, which is the innocence of wisdom.
This innocence is the end that directs all their instruction and
progress; and therefore when they have attained to the innocence of
wisdom, the innocence of childhood, which in the meanwhile has served
them as a plane, is joined to them. [3] The innocence of children has
been represented to me as a wooden sort of thing, almost devoid of
life, which becomes vivified as they are perfected by knowledges of
truth and affections for good. Afterwards genuine innocence was
represented by a most beautiful child, naked and full of life; for
the really innocent, who are in the inmost heaven and thus nearest to
the Lord, always appear before the eyes of other angels as little
children, and some of them naked; for innocence is represented by
nakedness unaccompanied by shame, as is said of the first man and his
wife in Paradise (Gen. 2:25); so when their state of innocence
perished they were ashamed of their nakedness, and hid themselves
(chap. 3:7, 10, 11). In a word, the wiser the angels are the more
innocent they are, and the more innocent they are the more they
appear to themselves as little children. This is why in the Word
"childhood" signifies innocence (see above, n. 278).
342. I have talked with angels about little children, whether they
are free from evils, inasmuch as they have no actual evil as adults
have; and I was told that they are equally in evil, and in fact are
nothing but evil;{1} but, like all angels, they are so withheld from
evil and held in good by the Lord as to seem to themselves to be in
good from themselves. For this reason when children have become
adults in heaven, that they may not have the false idea about
themselves that the good in them is from themselves and not from the
Lord, they are now and then let down into their evils which they
inherited, and are left in them until they know, acknowledge and
believe the truth of the matter. [2] There was one, the son of a
king, who died in childhood and grew up in heaven, who held this
opinion. Therefore he was let down into that life of evils into which
he was born, and he then perceived from the sphere of his life that
he had a disposition to domineer over others, and regarded adulteries
as of no account; these evils he had inherited from his parents; but
after he had been brought to recognize his real character he was
again received among the angels with whom he had before been
associated. [3] In the other life no one ever suffers punishment on
account of his inherited evil, because it is not his evil, that is,
it is not his fault that he is such; he suffers only on account of
actual evil that is his, that is, only so far as he has appropriated
to himself inherited evil by actual life. When, therefore, the
children that have become adults are let down into the state of their
inherited evil it is not that they may suffer punishment for it, but
that they may learn that of themselves they are nothing but evil, and
that it is by the mercy of the Lord that they are taken up into
heaven from the hell in which they are, and that it is from the Lord
that they are in heaven and not from any merit of their own; and
therefore they may not boast before others of the good that is in
them, since this is contrary to the good of mutual love, as it is
contrary to the truth of faith.
{Footnote 1} All kinds of men are born into evils of every
kind, even to the extent that what is their own is nothing but
evil (n. 210, 215, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047, 2307, 2308, 3518,
3701, 3812, 8480, 8550, 10283, 10284, 10286, 10731).
Consequently man must needs be reborn, that is, regenerated (n.
3701). Man's inherited evil consists in his loving himself more
than God, and the world more than heaven and in making his
neighbor, in comparison with himself, of no account, except for
the sake of self, that is, himself alone, thus it consists in
the love of self and of the world (n. 694, 731, 4317, 5660).
All evils are from the love of self and of the world, when
those loves rule (n. 1307, 1308, 1321, 1594, 1691, 3413, 7255,
7376, 7488, 7490, 8318, 9335, 9348, 10038, 10742). These evils
are contempt of others, enmity, hatred revenge, cruelty, deceit
(n. 6667, 7370-7374, 9348, 10038, 10742). And from these evils
comes all falsity (n. 1047, 10283, 10284, 10286). These loves,
so far as the reins are given them, rush headlong; and the love
of self aspires even to the throne of God (n. 7375, 8678).
343. Several times when a number of children that were in a purely
infantile state have been with me in choirs, they were heard as a
tender unarranged mass, that is, as not yet acting as one, as they do
later when they have become more mature. To my surprise the spirits
with me could not refrain from inducing them to talk. This desire is
innate in spirits. But I noticed, each time, that the children
resisted, unwilling to talk in this way. This refusal and resistance,
which were accompanied by a kind of indignation, I have often
perceived; and when an opportunity to talk was given them they would
say nothing except that "It is not so." I have been taught that
little children are so tempted in order that they may get accustomed
to resisting, and may begin to resist falsity and evil, and also that
they may learn not to think, speak, and act, from another, and in
consequence may learn to permit themselves to be led by no one but
the Lord.
344. From what has been said it can be seen what child education is
in heaven, namely, that it is leading them by means of an
understanding of truth and the wisdom of good into the angelic life,
which is love to the Lord and mutual love, in which is innocence. But
how different in many cases is the education of children on the earth
can be seen from this example. I was in the street of a large city,
and saw little boys fighting with each other; a crowd flocked around
and looked on with much pleasure; and I was told that little boys are
incited to such fights by their own parents. Good spirits and angels
who saw this through my eyes so revolted at it that I felt their
horror; and especially that parents should incite their children to
such things, saying that in this way parents extinguish in the
earliest age all the mutual love and all the innocence that children
have from the Lord, and initiate them into the spirit of hatred and
revenge; consequently by their own endeavors they shut their children
out of heaven, where there is nothing but mutual love. Let parents
therefore who wish well to their children beware of such things.
345. What the difference is between those who die in childhood and
those who die in mature life shall also be told. Those dying in
mature life have a plane acquired from the earthly and material
world, and this they carry with them. This plane is their memory and
its bodily natural affection. This remains fixed and becomes
quiescent, but still serves their thought after death as an outmost
plane, since the thought flows into it. Consequently such as this
plane is, and such as the correspondence is between the things that
are in it and the rational faculty, such is the man after death. But
the children who die in childhood and are educated in heaven have no
such plane, since they derive nothing from the material world and the
earthly body; but they have a spiritual-natural plane. For this
reason they cannot be in such gross affections and consequent
thoughts, since they derive all things from heaven. Moreover, these
children do not know that they were born in the world, but believe
that they were born in heaven. Neither do they know about any other
than spiritual birth, which is effected through knowledges of good
and truth and through intelligence and wisdom, from which man is a
man; and as these are from the Lord they believe themselves to be the
Lord's own, and love to be so. Nevertheless it is possible for the
state of men who grow up on the earth to become as perfect as the
state of children who grow up in heaven, provided they put away
bodily and earthly loves, which are the loves of self and the world,
and receive in their place spiritual loves.