1. I. THE LAST JUDGMENT HAS BEEN COMPLETED

My earlier work on THE LAST JUDGMENT dealt with the following subjects:

The day of the Last Judgment does not mean the destruction of the world (The Last Judgment 1-5).

The reproduction of the human race will never cease (6-13).

Heaven and Hell are from the human race (14-22).

All people who have ever been born since the beginning of creation and have died are in heaven or in hell (23-27).

The Last Judgment is to be where all are together, and so in the spiritual world, not on earth (28-32).

The Last Judgment takes place when a church comes to an end; and this happens when there is no faith because there is no charity (33-39).

All the predictions made in the Book of Revelation are today fulfilled (40-44).

The Last Judgment has taken place (45-52).

On Babylon and its destruction (53-64);

on the former heaven and its abolition (65-72);

on the future state of the world and the church (73-74).

12. The perfection of heaven increases as its numbers grow. This is clear from its form, which determines the arrangement of associations there and their interconnexions, achieving the highest degree of perfection. The more people there are in such a perfect arrangement, the more there are who can be guided to agree on a single aim, and the closer is their linking and the greater their unanimity. Agreement and the resultant linking increase as numbers grow, for each individual element is inserted as an intermediate connexion between two or more others; and what is so inserted strengthens the link.

[2] The form of heaven resembles that of the human mind. Its perfection increases as truth and good, the sources of intelligence and wisdom, increase. The reason why the form of a human mind possessed of heavenly wisdom and intelligence resembles that of heaven is that the mind is a model of heaven on the smallest scale. That is why the thoughts and affections for good and truth of such people and of the angels are shared in every way with the communities of heaven around them. They reach out further as wisdom increases, that is, the more truths are grasped and planted in the intellect, and the more affections for good are planted in the will; this means in the mind, since the mind is composed of the intellect and the will.

[3] The mind of human beings and of angels is such that it can be enriched to eternity and enrichment increases its perfection. This happens especially when a person is guided by the Lord, for then he is led to real truths which are planted in the intellect and to real kinds of goodness which are planted in the will. Then the Lord arranges the whole structure of such a mind so as to resemble that of heaven, until finally it becomes a small-scale model of heaven. This comparison makes it plain that the increase in the number of angels makes heaven more perfect, since the two cases are similar.

[4] Again, every form is composed of different elements. A form not composed of different elements would not be a form since it would lack a peculiar quality and would not be able to change. The peculiar quality of each form arises from the mutual arrangement of its different elements, from their relationship to each other, and from their unity of purpose which causes every form to be regarded as a unit. The perfection of such a form increases, the more elements there are combined in it in this manner. For each element, as I said before, strengthens and augments the linking, so increasing the perfection.

[5] These statements can be better demonstrated by the proofs offered in HEAVEN AND HELL, especially the sections showing that each community in heaven is a small-scale heaven, and each angel a heaven on the smallest scale (51-58); also those dealing with the form of heaven as shown by association and connexion of communities there (200-212), and with the wisdom of the angels of heaven (265-275).