The immensity of the heaven of the Lord is evident from many things
that have been said and shown in the foregoing chapters, especially
from this, that heaven is from the human race (n. 311-317), both from
those born within the church and from those born out of it (n.
318-328); thus it consists of all from the beginning of this earth
that have lived a good life. How great a multitude of men there is in
this entire world any one who knows anything about the divisions, the
regions, and kingdoms of the earth may conclude. Whoever goes into a
calculation will find that several thousands of men die every day,
that is, some myriads of millions every year; and this from the
earliest times, since which several thousands of years have elapsed.
All of these after death have gone into the other world, which is
called the spiritual world, and they are constantly going into it.
But how many of these have become or are becoming angels of heaven
cannot be told. This I have been told, that in ancient times the
number was very great, because men then thought more interiorly and
spiritually, and from such thought were in heavenly affection; but in
the following ages not so many, because in the process of time man
became more external and began to think more naturally, and from such
thought to be in earthly affection. All of this shows how great
heaven is even from the inhabitants of this earth alone.
416. The immensity of the heaven of the Lord is shown also by this,
that all children, whether born within the church or out of it, are
adopted by the Lord and become angels; and the number of these
amounts to a fourth or fifth part of the whole human race on the
earth. That every child, wherever born, whether within the church or
out of it, whether of pious or impious parents, is received by the
Lord when it dies, and is brought up in heaven, and is taught and
imbued with affections for good, and through these with knowledges of
truth, in accordance with Divine order, and as he becomes perfected
in intelligence and wisdom is brought into heaven and becomes an
angel, can be seen above (n. 329-345). From all this a conclusion may
be formed of the multitude of angels of heaven, derived from this
source alone, from the first creation to the present time.
417. Again, how immense the heaven of the Lord is can be seen from
this, that all the planets visible to the eye in our solar system are
earths, and moreover, that in the whole universe there are
innumerable earths, all of them full of inhabitants. These have been
treated of particularly in a small work on those earths from which I
will quote the following passage:
It is fully known in the other life that there are many earths
inhabited by men from which spirits and angels come; for everyone
there who desires from a love of truth and of use to do so is
permitted to talk with spirits of other earths, and thus be assured
that there is a plurality of worlds, and learn that the human race is
not from one earth alone, but from innumerable earths. I have
frequently talked about this with spirits of our earth, and was told
that any intelligent person ought to know from many things that he
does know that there are many earths inhabited by men; for it may be
reasonably inferred that immense bodies like the planets, some of
which exceed this earth in magnitude, are not empty masses created
merely to be borne through space and to be carried around the sun,
and to shine with their scanty light for the benefit of a single
earth, but must have a more important use. He that believes, as
everyone must believe, that the Divine created the universe for no
other end than that the human race might exist, and heaven therefrom,
for the human race is a seminary of heaven, must needs believe that
wherever there is an earth there are men. That the planets visible to
us because they are within the limits of our solar system are earths
is evident from their being bodies of earthy matters, which is known
from their reflecting the sun's light, and from their not appearing,
when viewed through telescopes, like stars, sparkling with flame, but
like earths varied with darker portions; also from their passing like
our earth around the sun and following in the path of the zodiac,
thus making years and seasons of the year, spring, summer, autumn,
and winter, also revolving on their axes like our earth, making days
and times of the day, morning, mid-day, evening, and night; also from
some of them having moons, called satellites, that revolve around
their earth at stated times, as the moon does around ours; while the
planet Saturn, being at a greater distance from the sun, has also a
large luminous belt which gives much light, though reflected, to that
earth. Who that knows all this and thinks rationally can ever say
that the planets are empty bodies? Moreover, I have said to spirits
that man might believe that there are more earths in the universe
than one, from the fact that the starry heaven is so immense, and the
stars there so innumerable, and each of them in its place or in its
system a sun, resembling our sun, although of a varying magnitude.
Any one who duly weighs the subject must conclude that such an
immense whole must needs be a means to an end that is the final end
of creation; and this end is a heavenly kingdom in which the Divine
may dwell with angels and men. For the visible universe or the heaven
illumined by stars so numberless, which are so many suns, is simply a
means for the existence of earths with men upon them from whom the
heavenly kingdom is derived. From all this a rational man must needs
conclude that so immense a means to so great an end could not have
been provided merely for the human race on a single earth. What would
this be for a Divine that is infinite, to which thousands and even
myriads of earths, all of them full of inhabitants, would be little
and scarcely anything? There are spirits whose sole pursuit is the
acquisition of knowledges, because their delight is in this alone;
and for this reason they are permitted to wander about, and even to
pass out of our solar system into others, in acquiring knowledge.
These spirits, who are from the planet Mercury, have told me that
there are earths with men upon them not only in this solar system but
also beyond it in the starry heaven in immense numbers. It was
calculated that with a million earths in the universe, and on each
earth three hundred millions of men, and two hundred generations in
six thousand years, and a space of three cubic ells allowed to each
man or spirit, the total number of so many men or spirits would not
fill the space of this earth, and scarcely more than the space of one
of the satellites about one of the planets--a space in the universe
so small as to be almost invisible, since a satellite can scarcely be
seen by the naked eye. What is this for the Creator of the universe,
to whom it would not be sufficient if the whole universe were filled,
since He is infinite? I have talked with angels about this, and they
said that they had a similar idea of the fewness of the human race
compared with the infinity of the Creator, although their thought is
from states, not from spaces, and that in their thought earths
amounting to as many myriads as could possibly be conceived of would
still be nothing at all to the Lord.
The earths in the universe, with their inhabitants, and the spirits
and angels from them, are treated of in the above mentioned work.
What is there related has been revealed and shown to me to the intent
that it may be known that the heaven of the Lord is immense, and that
it is all from the human race; also that our Lord is every where
acknowledged as the God of heaven and earth.
418. Again, the immensity of the heaven of the Lord is shown in this,
that heaven in its entire complex reflects a single Man, and
corresponds to all things and each thing in man, and that this
correspondence can never be filled out, since it is a correspondence
not only with each of the members, organs, and viscera of the body in
general, but also with all and each of the little viscera and little
organs contained in these in every minutest particular, and even with
each vessel and fiber; and not only with these but also with the
organic substances that receive interiorly the influx of heaven, from
which come man's interior activities that are serviceable to the
operations of his mind; since everything that exists interiorly in
man exists in forms which are substances, for anything that does not
exist in a substance as its subject is nothing. There is a
correspondence of all these things with heaven, as can be seen from
the chapter treating of the correspondence of all things of heaven
with all things of man (n. 87-102). This correspondence can never be
filled out because the more numerous the angelic affiliations are
that correspond to each member the more perfect heaven becomes; for
every perfection in the heavens increases with increase of number;
and this for the reason that all there have the same end, and look
with one accord to that end. That end is the common good; and when
that reigns there is, from the common good, good to each individual,
and from the good of each individual there is good to the whole
community. This is so for the reason that the Lord turns all in
heaven to Himself (see above, n. 123), and thereby makes them to be
one in Himself. That the unanimity and concord of many, especially
from such an origin and held together by such a bond, produces
perfection, everyone with a reason at all enlightened can see
clearly.
419. I have also been permitted to see the extent of the inhabited
and also of the uninhabited heaven; and the extent of the uninhabited
heaven was seen to be so great that it could not be filled to
eternity even if there were many myriads of earths, and as great a
multitude of men on each earth as on ours. (On this also see the
treatise on The Earths in the Universe, n. 168.)
420. That heaven is not immense, but it is of limited extent, is a
conclusion that some have derived from certain passages in the Word
understood according to the sense of its letter; for example, where
it is said that only the poor are received into heaven, or only the
elect, or only those within the church, and not those outside of it,
or only those for whom the Lord intercedes; that heaven is closed
when it is filled, and that this time is predetermined. But such are
unaware that heaven is never closed, and that there is no time
predetermined, or any limit of number; and that those are called the
"elect" who are in a life of good and truth;{1} and those are called
"poor" who are lacking in knowledges of good and truth and yet desire
them; and such from that desire are also called hungry.{2} Those that
have conceived an idea of the small extent of heaven from the Word
not understood believe it to be in one place, where all are gathered
together; when, in fact, heaven consists of innumerable societies
(see above, n. 41-50). Such also have no other idea than that heaven
is granted to everyone from mercy apart from means, and thus that
there is admission and reception from mere favor; and they fail to
understand that the Lord from mercy leads everyone who accepts Him,
and that he accepts Him who lives in accordance with the laws of
divine order, which are the precepts of love and of faith, and that
the mercy that is meant is to be thus led by the Lord from infancy to
the last period of life in the world and afterwards to eternity. Let
them know, therefore, that every man is born for heaven, and that he
is received that receives heaven in himself in the world, and he that
does not receive it is shut out.
{Footnote 1} Those are the elect who are in a life of good and
truth (n. 3755, 3900). Election and reception into heaven are
not from mercy, as that term is understood, but are in
accordance with the life (n. 5057, 5058). There is no mercy of
the Lord apart from means, but only through means, that is, to
those that live in accordance with His precepts; such the Lord
from His mercy leads continually in the world, and afterwards
to eternity (n. 8700, 10659).
{Footnote 2} By the "poor," in the Word, those are meant who
are spiritually poor, that is, who are ignorant of truth and
yet wish to be taught (n. 9209, 9253, 10227). Such are said to
hunger and thirst, which is to desire knowledges of good and of
truth, by which there is introduction into the church and into
heaven (n. 4958, 10227).