The act of exploring what the men are, and moreover the separation of the good from the evil, is visitation; and the good are then removed, and the evil are left behind.
Emanuel SwedenborgThe quality of the Lord's church on earth, cannot be seen by any man, so long as he lives in the world, still less how the church in process of time has turned aside from good to evil
Emanuel SwedenborgNo one's character is completely like another'sthis infinite variety is like a mirror in which we can see the infinity of God the Creator.
Emanuel SwedenborgPeople who have intended and loved what is evil in the world intend and love what is evil in the other life, and then they no longer allow themselves to be led away from it. This is why people who are absorbed in evil are connected to hell and actually are there in spirit; and after death they crave above all to be where their evil is. So after death, it is we, not the Lord, who cast ourselves into hell.
Emanuel Swedenborg