28. I. THAT MAN LIVES AS A MAN AFTER DEATH. That man lives as a man after death has been hitherto unknown in the world for the reasons given just above; and, what is remarkable, it is unknown even in the Christian world where is the Word, and from it enlightenment respecting eternal life, and where the Lord himself teaches that all the dead rise again, and that God is not the God of the dead but of the living (Matt. 22:31-32; Luke 20:37-38). Moreover, as to the affections and thoughts of his mind, man is in the midst of angels and spirits, and is so consociated with them that if torn away from them he would die. That it is unknown is still more remarkable, when yet, after his decease, every man who has died from first creation, has come and does come or, as it is said in the Word, has been gathered and is gathered to his own. Besides this, man has common perception, and this is one with that influx from heaven into the interiors of his mind from which, inwardly in himself, he perceives truths and sees them, as it were; and especially this truth, that he lives as a man after death, happy if he has lived well, unhappy if he has lived ill; for who does not think this, when he elevates his mind a little above the body and above the thought next to his senses? as is the case when he is inwardly in Divine worship, and when he lies upon his bed about to die and awaits the end; likewise when he hears about the deceased and their lot. I have related a thousand things about them, such as, what was the lot of the brothers of certain persons, of their married partners and friends; I have also written about the lot of Englishmen, Dutchmen, Papists, Jews, Gentiles, and also about the lot of Luther, Calvin, and Melancthon; and as yet I have never heard any one say: "How can their lot be such when they have not yet risen from their graves, seeing that the Last Judgment has not yet taken place? are they not in the meantime souls, which are breaths? and in some Pu or Ubi?"* By no one have I yet heard such things said; and from this, I can conclude that every one perceives within himself that he lives as a man after death. What man who has loved his wife and his infants and children, if in thought he is elevated above the sensual things of the body, does not say within himself when they are dying or have died, that they are in God's hand, and that he will see them again after his own death, and will again be conjoined with them in a life of love and joy!
* Pu and Ubi are respectively the Greek and Latin words meaning "Somewhere". They were formerly used as theological terms to designate the abode of souls while waiting for reunion with their bodies. Such souls were also said to be "in limbo" (in the border land).
