The Other Life (1871)
by William Henry Holcombe
4203623The Other Life1871William Henry Holcombe

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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The Other Life.


The Other Life.





BY

WM. H. HOLCOMBE, M.D.,

Author of "Our Children in Heaven," "The Sexes Here and Hereafter," "In Both Worlds," etc. etc.







PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
1871.



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.,

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.





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Lippincott's Press,
Philadelphia.
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TO


THE MINISTERS


OF


THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST,


WHO PREACH TO THEIR CONGREGATIONS


"THE LIFE EVERLASTING,"


THIS LITTLE VOLUME


IS


AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.



CONTENTS.




CHAPTER I.

HOW CAN WE KNOW ANYTHING OF THE OTHER LIFE?

PAGE
What the skeptic says. What the Christian says. The error of both. The critical spirit. Its uses. Skepticism the secret friend of religion. How. Reasonable demand of skeptics and doubting Christians. New light necessary; new light coming. How it ought to come to be satisfactory to all. The kind of revelation asked for; the kind granted. Swedenborg. What he claims. Why do we believe Euclid? The Christian seer. The biblical test, the sole test of Swedenborg's credibility
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
17


CHAPTER II.

OUR SPIRITUAL BODIES.

Definition of death. Reality opposed to immaterialism. The substantial, neither material nor immaterial. The Human Form. The universality of man. Why do children grow in heaven? Angels were once men and women. Coexistence of two bodies. Our dual life. Opening of the Spiritual Senses. Beautiful or ugly hereafter. How we know our friends hereafter. Metamorphoses of the Spiritual Body. Sorrowful indignation of the angels at the ignorance of men
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
38


CHAPTER III.

OUR SPIRITUAL SENSES.

Sensation—Touch. Spiritual forms and media corresponding to the natural forms and media. The Spiritual Sun and the natural sun. Why our sun will never become exhausted of its heat and light. Heat and light in the spiritual world. Wonderful things about them. The atmospheres of heaven. Lights and their spiritual meaning. Spiritual blindness. Spiritual ears; spiritual deafness. Music in heaven. Tones of the voice. Taste. Smell. What is the resurrection? Pain, mesmeric phenomena, etc.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
58


CHAPTER IV.

OUR LANGUAGE HEREAFTER.

Communication of ideas. Pantomime. Speech. What language do spirits use? Spiritual words. Spiritual names. How do angels in different heavens interchange ideas? How does God speak to man? Origin of poetry and rhyme. Harmony of thought in heaven. One speaks for all. Writing in heaven. Visual representatives. The Apocalypse. Ideas made visible in the mesmeric state. Books and libraries in heaven
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
80

CHAPTER V.

OUR SURROUNDINGS HEREAFTER.

The subjective must for ever have its objective manifestation. Correspondence between internal and external—between state and place. Heaven is real and substantial. Sensation of a new-comer. How is heaven created? Difference between physical and spiritual externeity. Each spirit creates its own surroundings. Clothing in heaven. Houses in heaven. Cities there. What associates; what disjoins. Societies. Spiritual thought and natural thought
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
104


CHAPTER VI.

SPIRITUAL TIMES AND SPACES.

Swedenborg's metaphysics no bugbear. Mental measures of time and space. No fixed times or spaces in the spiritual world. Appearances and their meaning. How are times and spaces created? What is the horizon? Two fundamental spiritual laws. Did Joshua make the sun stand still? The impassable gulf between Abraham, and Dives. Traveling in the spiritual world. How did Swedenborg see into the planets? The spiritual sun never rises nor sets; but it appears and disappears. Morning, noon and evening in heaven. No night. Sleep and dreams. Alternation of states and its origin
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
127

CHAPTER VII.

THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD IN HEAVEN.

Shall we see God? Heaven in the soul. The Lord in the angels is the life of heaven. The divine sphere. Heaven symbolizes the Lord. The Lord is the Sun of heaven. The Lord is a Divine Man—hence He may be visible. God never appears to man or angel as He really is. How does He appear? "The Angel of Jehovah." The three men who visited Abraham. The two angels who saved Lot. Did God manifest Himself to Swedenborg? Christ seen and recognized as the Supreme God by those who had known Him on earth. The Lord present in the Word in heaven. How is the Word divine? The unfolding of its spiritual sense equivalent to a second coming of the Lord
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
147


CHAPTER VIII.

THE OCCUPATIONS OF HEAVEN.

Dr. Chalmers' repudiation of an immaterial heaven. Swedenborg's substantial heaven. What is the materiel of heaven? How is it organized? Spiritual Anatomy or the transcendental philosophy of Form. Occupations not material and not immaterial nor purely mental, but spiritual and substantial. Love the all of religion or the heavenly life. Social, civil and domestic affairs in heaven. Ministering spirits and their labors. Unitary and composite perfection
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
174

CHAPTER IX.

HELL: ITS DELUSIONS AND MISERIES.

The antipode of heaven. Common errors respecting it. How is hell created? Its materiel. Its life is self-love, and hatred to the neighbor. Hell-fire. The darkness of hell. What kind of bodies have evil spirits? What abodes? What surroundings? Are they punished for the sins done in the body? Do they feel remorse? The Devil—what of his personality? How are evil spirits occupied? Reception of a new-comer in hell. Sufferings. Why does God permit? Why does He not reform the devils? or annihilate them? Is hell to be eternal? The uses of hell
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
197


CHAPTER X.

THE WORLD OF SPIRITS.

The intermediate state. Hades. Why the Reformers expunged it from their creed. Necessary in the nature of things. How created. Its first external appearance to the new-comer. The causes of the wonderful changes there. Judgment—special and general. How is the special judgment effected? Uses of the world of spirits. Societies there. Spiritual affinities. General judgments. Peter's strange interpretation of a passage from the prophet Joel. Four judgments have taken place. Christ the Judge; angels the ministers. New keys to the philosophy of history. Effects of the judgment executed by the Lord when He was on the earth. Last judgment in 1757. Its effects on modern civilization. Transitional chaos. The new creation
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
233


CHAPTER XI.

WHY ARE THESE THINGS NOT BELIEVED?

Thought flows only from love. We believe what we love and love what we believe. What affections prevent or obscure the perception of divine truth? Out of the Church, sensualism and self-culture. In the Church, love of its doctrines from religious hopes or fears; love of the Church and its sphere as an external organization. What superior and purer affections are to introduce the New Church truths into the minds of men as articles of faith? The love of truth for its own sake; the æsthetic perception of beauty; the love of goodness as synonymous with the love of use. The inevitable
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
263