662. After death we retain all the faculties and sensations we had in the body, except for several earthly functions
After death people lose nothing of the faculties they had in bodily life, but retain them all, and more are given to them, which have been spoken of here and there [333, 400]; but they are gifted with different ones.
For example, when a spirit confesses that he cannot help doing evil, then by chastening methods he is tempered in such a way that he is able to desist from them, and finally turn away from them. After that he is also given the ability to accomplish something good. So it is an ability he is simply given as a gift, while he still retains his former faculties.
Faculties for doing good that are added or given, are a gift of the Lord, and as soon as this gift is taken away, a spirit returns to his original nature. This happens sometimes to angels, who, when restored to their original state, are evil spirits as before - indeed, who had been in heaven for ages, and several thousand years.
From this it follows that anything souls do from their own power, is evil, and that they can do nothing good except from the Lord Alone, the fountain of all goodness. Therefore, as soon as this gift ceases, the soul returns to its inborn and enrooted wickedness.
It also follows from this that the ability to do good is only from the Lord, and it is given, and not that anything of good has been enrooted or becomes enrooted in him. 1748, 6 February.
662. THAT MAN AFTER DEATH RETAINS ALL THE FACULTIES AND SENSATIONS WHICH HE HAD IN THE BODY, EXCEPT CERTAIN NATURAL FUNCTIONS
Man after death loses nothing from the faculties that he had in the life of the body, but retains them all, and more are given him, concerning which [I have written] here and there. But he is gifted with other faculties, as when a spirit confesses that he can do nothing but evil, he is so tempered by modes of devastation that he can desist from them, and at length hold them in aversion; he is also later given the faculty of effecting something good. Thus it is only a faculty that is given him, but he still retains his former faculties. The faculties of doing good that are super-added and given are the Lord's gift, and as soon as this is taken away he returns to his original nature. This sometimes happens to angels who, when restored to their original state, are evil spirits as before, even those who for centuries, and for some thousands of years, had been in heaven. From this it follows that whatever a soul does from himself is evil, and that he can do nothing good except from the Lord alone; thence is the fount of all good. Wherefore as soon as this gift ceases the soul returns to its innate and inrooted wickedness. It also follows from this that it is only the faculty of doing good from the Lord which is given, and that there neither has been, nor is, anything of good inrooted in him. 1748, Feb. 6.
662. Quod homo post mortem, retineat omnes facultates et sensationes quas habuit in corpore, praeter aliquas functiones naturales
Homo post mortem nihil perdit a suis facultatibus, quas habuit in vita corporis, sed omnes retinet, et plures ei donantur, de quibus passim [333, 400], sed donatur aliis, sicut dum spiritus fatetur quod non aliud possit, quam malum facere, tunc 1
per devastationis modos, ita temperatur, ut ab iis desistere possit, et tandem ea aversari, dein quoque facultate donatur aliquid boni efficere 2
, quare est solum facultas qua donatur, sed usque retinet priores suas facultates; facultate 3
superadjectae seu donatae bonum faciendi, sunt 4
donum Domini, quod illico dum aufertur, redit ad suam pristinam naturam, quod contingit quandoque angelis, qui dum in statum pristinum restituuntur, sunt spiritus mali sicut prius, imo ii qui per saecula, et aliquot mille annos fuerant in coelo, exinde sequitur, quod quicquid anima agit ex semet, id est malum, et quod nihil bonum agere possit, quam a Solo Domino, inde fons omnium bonorum; quare illico ac donum hoc intermittitur redit anima ad 5
malitiam innatam et irradicatam, inde etiam sequitur, quod solum facultas bonum efficiendi, ex Domino sit, quae donatur, nec quod aliquid boni ei irradicatum sit aut irradicetur. 1748, 6 Febr.
Footnotes:
1. in J.F.I. Tafel's edition tum
2. sic manuscript; J.F.I. Tafel's edition has efficiendi substituit, sed vide praefationem hujus editionis sub capite "Idiosyncrasies"
3. The Manuscript has facultate
4. This is how it appears in J.F.I. Tafel's edition; the Manuscript has est
5. The Manuscript has a d