though they are in the society of angels; for they are destitute of that intelligence and wisdom by which the angels are characterized. Or, they are rudimental angels, as the ovary or seed-bud is the rudiment of the yet immature fruit, or as little children here on earth are initial or rudimental men. They have the same infantile form and infantile mind which they had before their decease; for the death of the body works no immediate change in the spiritual organism, or in the mental characteristics. So long, therefore, as infants in the other world are destitute of heavenly wisdom, they are not angels, although associated with angels. Accordingly Swedenborg says:
"When infants die, they are still infants in the other life. They possess the same infantile mind, the same innocence in ignorance, and the same tenderness in all things. They are only in rudimental states introductory to the angelic; for infants are not angels, but become angels. Every one, on his decease, is in a similar state of life to that in which he was in the world; an infant in a state of infancy, a boy in a state of boyhood, and a youth, a man, or an old man, in the state of youth, of manhood, or of age; but the state of every one is afterwards changed. The state of infants excels that of all others, because they are in innocence, and evil is not yet rooted in them by actual life; for innocence is of such a nature, that all things of heaven may be implanted in it, because innocence is the receptacle of the truth of faith and of the good of love."—H. H. 330.
The state of infants in the spiritual world is far more perfect than that of infants in this world; for
