But
the children who die in childhood and are educated in heaven have no
such plane, since they derive nothing from the material world and the
earthly body; but they have a spiritual-natural plane. For this
reason they cannot be in such gross affections and consequent
thoughts, since they derive all things from heaven. Moreover, these
children do not know that they were born in the world, but believe
that they were born in heaven. Neither do they know about any other
than spiritual birth, which is effected through knowledges of good
and truth and through intelligence and wisdom, from which man is a
man; and as these are from the Lord they believe themselves to be the
Lord's own, and love to be so. Nevertheless it is possible for the
state of men who grow up on the earth to become as perfect as the
state of children who grow up in heaven, provided they put away
bodily and earthly loves, which are the loves of self and the world,
and receive in their place spiritual loves.
346. XXXVIII. THE WISE AND THE SIMPLE IN HEAVEN.
It is believed that in heaven the wise will have more glory and
eminence than the simple, because it is said in Daniel:
They that are intelligent shall shine as with the
brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to
righteousness as the stars for ever and ever (12:3).
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