Conjugial Love (Rogers) n. 530

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530. (5) Thus is licentious love imputed to a person. It is imputed namely, not in accordance with deeds such as they appear in outward respects before men, but such as they appear in their inner respects before the Lord, and from Him before angels, which depends on the nature of the person's will and understanding in the deeds. There are various circumstances in the world which mitigate and excuse offenses, and also which aggravate and worsen them. Even so, however, imputations after death are not made in accordance with circumstances that outwardly surround the deed, but in accordance with the internal circumstances of the mind; and these are regarded in everyone in accord with the state of the church in him. So it is, for example, with a person impious in will and intellect, being one who has no fear of God nor any love for the neighbor, and consequently no reverence for any sanctity of the church. After death he is held guilty of all the offenses which he committed in the body, nor is there any remembrance of his good deeds; for his heart, the wellspring from which those offenses poured as from a fountain, was turned away from heaven and turned towards hell, and actions flow from the place where one's heart has its abode. [2] In order for this to be understood, let me relate a secret. Heaven is distinguished into innumerable societies, and so likewise, in opposition to them, hell; and every person's mind actually dwells in accordance with his will and consequent intellect in one of these societies, intending and thinking along with the inhabitants there in similar ways. If the mind is in some society of heaven, then it intends and thinks in like manner as the inhabitants there. If it is in some society of hell, it does so in like manner as the inhabitants there. However, as long a person lives in the world, he migrates from one society to another in accordance with changes in the affections of his will and so in the thoughts of his mind. But after death his sojournings are brought together, and from these assembled into a single path a place is appointed for him, in hell if he is evil, in heaven if he is good. [3] Now because all in hell have a will for evil, all are regarded there in accordance with that; and because all in heaven have a will for good, all are regarded there in accordance with it. Consequently imputations after death are made in accordance with the nature of a person's will and understanding. The same thing happens in cases of licentiousness, whether they be cases of fornication, or of resorting to a courtesan, or of taking a mistress, or of adultery, since these are imputed to a person, not in accordance with the deeds, but in accordance with the state of mind in the deeds. For deeds go with the body into the tomb, whereas the mind rises again.


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