1. On Swedenborg’s use of the term “the Word” for the books of the Bible that have an inner meaning, see note 7 in New Jerusalem 1. On the continuous and connected spiritual meaning that he sees as existing within the literal meaning of these books, see Last Judgment 40-42; Secrets of Heaven 1-5; New Jerusalem 1, 252, 258-261; White Horse 9-12; Sacred Scripture 5-26; True Christianity 193-209. [LSW]

2. Swedenborg is not implying that heaven is visible to the physical eye. The word for heaven in biblical Hebrew (שָׁמַיִם [šāmayim]) and Greek (οὐρανός [ouranós]), as well as in Swedenborg’s original Latin (caelum), can mean either “sky” or “heaven,” and here his explanation of the term new heaven hinges on the ambiguity: “People . . . understand the Last Judgment to mean the end” of the physical sky, but instead it means, among other things, the end of a particular nonphysical heaven in the spiritual world, as initially described in Last Judgment 2 and in greater detail thereafter, especially in §§65-72. [LSW, SS]

3. Swedenborg refers here to Revelation 21:1. For related discussion, see note 3 in Last Judgment 15 below. [RS]

4. The Latin word here translated “earthly” is naturalis, traditionally translated “natural.” For more on the concept behind this word, see note 6 in New Jerusalem 1. [Editors]

5. The Latin here translated “of the divine design” is ordinis divini, literally, “of the divine order.” On this term, see note 1 in New Jerusalem 11. [Editors]

6. By “the Christian world” here (Latin orbe Christiano), Swedenborg means the predominantly Christian regions of the world, which in his day were Europe and its colonies, or in nongeographical terms, the world’s Christians themselves. [LSW, SS]

7. In this instance, as often elsewhere, Swedenborg is using the term “church” historically to mean the core religious approach of a given age or era through which heaven was connected with humankind, of which he asserts there have been five major instances, in the following sequence: the earliest (or “most ancient”) church, the early (or “ancient”) church, the Jewish church, the Christian church, and a new church represented by the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22. For more discussion, see note 3 in New Jerusalem 4. [JSR]

8. On the term “spiritual world,” which includes heaven, hell, and the intermediate “world of spirits,” see note 2 in New Jerusalem 22. [Editors]

9. The reference here is to Heaven and Hell, apparently composed and probably also published at a time earlier in 1758 than Last Judgment. On the order of composition of Swedenborg’s works of 1758, see the editors’ preface, pages 29-33. [GFD, SS]

10. The Latin word here translated “union” is conjunctio, traditionally translated “conjunction.” For more on Swedenborg’s use of this Latin term, see note 6 in New Jerusalem 2. [Editors]

1. On the belief that all people who have died will be resurrected in their physical bodies at the end of the world, an event commonly identified with the Last Judgment, see note 1 in Other Planets 165. [Editors]

2. The exact point of commencement of Swedenborg’s daily, waking, ongoing interaction with angels and spirits is variously stated in his writings. To cite just a few representative examples: (1) In a diary passage apparently written in early 1746, Swedenborg states that his interaction with spirits and angels dates a medio Aprilis 1745, “from mid-April 1745” (Spiritual Experiences [= Swedenborg 1998-2013] §[8a]). (2) In two later passages, one in a theological manuscript of early 1763 and one in a letter of November 11, 1766, he assigns the commencement a date of 1744 (for the manuscript, see Draft on Divine Wisdom chapter 7, item 1 = §95 [Mongredien’s numbering] [= Swedenborg 1994-1997c, 480]; for the letter, see Acton 1948-1955, 627). (3) In a still later letter to a British follower, Thomas Hartley (1708-1784), on August 5, 1769, he states that his sight was “opened into the spiritual world” in 1743 (Acton 1948-1955, 679). In other words, as the years passed, Swedenborg saw the commencement of his interaction as having occurred earlier and earlier. Some of this variation may derive from his changing assessment of which event constituted the true beginning of his spiritual experiences. Even if the variations are taken at face value, the dates that he mentions for this commencement all fall within the range 1743-1745. See Tafel 1877, 1118-1127, for a list of the relevant passages, with discussion. For a detailed account of the onset of Swedenborg’s spiritual experiences, see Acton 1927, 26-118. [JSR, GFD, SS]

3. The popular belief concerning the future cosmic cataclysm described here is based on biblical passages such as Isaiah 13:9-13; 34:1-4; Revelation 21:1. In particular, the belief that the stars will fall is based on a literal interpretation of such biblical passages as Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:25; Revelation 6:13; 12:4. On the belief that bodies will be raised from the dead in the flesh, see note 1 in Other Planets 165. Swedenborg decries these beliefs in many passages, including Secrets of Heaven 931, 1850, 2117-2133; Heaven and Hell 312; Revelation Unveiled 877; Marriage Love 182:6; True Christianity 769-771. [LSW, SS]

4. On the theme of going to the spiritual world and returning to report on it, see note 2 in Other Planets 124. [Editors]

5. While Swedenborg’s characterization of the nonbeliever’s position is fairly general, it does reflect a polemic that took place in his time, as the eighteenth-century Enlightenment brought the validity and necessity of the Christian revelation into serious question for the first time since the creation of a monolithic European “Christendom” during the Middle Ages. Most of Christianity’s Enlightenment “deniers” were not atheists but Deists, who thought the existence of a benevolent and all-powerful God could be deduced from a rational contemplation of the elegant design of the universe. English Deists such as John Toland (1670-1722) and Matthew Tindal (1657-1733) argued that the Christian revelation was indeed authentic but provided no truths that human reason could not discern unaided. In France, more vehemently anticlerical thinkers such as Voltaire (1694-1778) rejected Christianity as a superstitious impediment to any true understanding of the Supreme Being. Atheism proper, however, was never openly professed, probably because of the threat of legal penalties, though it certainly can be documented among the members of the upper classes. One notable example of atheism can be found in the French salon of Paul-Henri Dietrich, Baron d’Holbach (1723-1789), who hosted radical luminaries like Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and published his own antitheistic polemics under a variety of pseudonyms (Kors 2003, 2:213-215). Another well-known atheist was the Catholic priest Jean Meslier (1664-1729), whose memoir repudiating Christianity in its entirety was discovered after his death. His book was subsequently abridged and published by Voltaire, and the abridgment includes such passages as: “What then are the worthless resources of these Christ-worshipers? . . . Their miracles? But what people do not have their own such things, and who among the wise do not scorn them as fables? Their prophecies? Has not their falsity been proven? . . . Their doctrine? But is that not the height of absurdity?” (Meslier 1830, 363-364; translated by SS). On the further movement from Deism to atheism in the later Enlightenment, see note 1 in Last Judgment 16. [RS, DNG, SS]

6. [Swedenborg note] Nowadays, few people in the Christian world believe that after we die we immediately rise again: preface to Genesis 16, §§4622, 10758. They believe instead that our resurrection will happen when the visible world is destroyed at the time of the Last Judgment: 10595. The reason for this belief:10595, 10758. But in fact we do rise again immediately after death, and are then complete human beings in every detail: 4527, 5006, 5078, 8939, 10594, 10758. The “soul” that lives after death is the human spirit, the true self that lies within us; in the other life it has a complete human form (322, 1880, 1881, 3633, 4622, 4735, 5883, 6054, 6605, 6626, 7021, 10594); illustrated by eyewitness experience (4527, 5006, 8939); illustrated from the Word (10597). An explanation of what is meant by the dead appearing in the holy city in Matthew 27:53: 9229. How we are revived from death: 168–189 (described on the basis of personal experience). Our state after being revived: 317, 318, 319, 2119, 5078, 10596. Some wrong opinions concerning the soul and resurrection: 444, 445, 4527, 4622, 4658.

7. On the meaning of the word “bodily” here, see note 3 in New Jerusalem 9 and note 3 in Last Judgment 38.[Editors]

1. "The first heaven," also referred to as "the former heaven," is treated in Last Judgment 65-72. "The first earth" (that is, the former church; see note 3 in New Jerusalem 4 below on the meaning of "church") is covered in Last Judgment 45-64, without being explicitly labeled as such. On "the first earth," see also Supplements 9-10. In this context, "the first heaven" is a reference to Revelation 21:1, in which "first" is a temporal term denoting a heaven that passes away and is replaced by a new heaven (compare note 1 in Last Judgment 69). This should not be confused with the "first heaven" that is the lowest in Swedenborg's system of three heavens arranged vertically one above the other, in which context "first" serves as a spatial analogy (see note 2 in New Jerusalem 4). [GFD, LSW]

2. Swedenborg begins Last Judgment by insisting that the term "the Last Judgment" does not refer to the end of the world. In Last Judgment 46, he notes two previous "last judgments," one at the time of the Flood and the other at the time of the Incarnation. He takes the word "last" in the familiar phrase "the Last Judgment" to refer to the end of a religious era; and the era he usually means is the one which began with the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ and which by his account ended with a cataclysmic upheaval in the spiritual world in 1757. [JSR, GFD]

3. Much like "goodness" and "truth" (see note 9 in New Jerusalem 1), "faith" (Latin fides) and "caring" (Latin charitas; sometimes elsewhere in this edition rendered "thoughtfulness," "goodwill," or the more traditional "charity") are treated by Swedenborg as a pair. In True Christianity 365 faith and caring (goodwill) are in fact defined together in terms of goodness and truth: "‘Faith' means all the truth from the Lord that we perceive, think, and speak. ‘Goodwill' means all the goodness from the Lord which moves us and which we then intend and do. " The Latin word charitas is an abstract noun related to the adjective charus, also spelled carus, meaning "dear," "beloved"; this connection is made quite explicitly in New Jerusalem 108. "Caring" is here used with the intent of suggesting that meaning. [JSR, GFD]

4. Without ever specifying exactly what the form is, Swedenborg mentions "the form of heaven" or "a form like heaven" in almost a hundred descriptions of spiritual objects in his published theological works. As Swedenborg says, "Heaven's form by its very nature can never be fathomed even in a general way and is thus incomprehensible even to angels" (Heaven and Hell 212). The phrase is occasionally plural (as it appears later in the sentence in question here), and apparently these forms are varied ( Marriage Love 14[2]). The chief characteristics of these forms are that they are "human," they incorporate a great variety of elements into one harmonious arrangement, and each element can be viewed as the central one; see Secrets of Heaven 4040, 4043, 6607, 9846, 9877. Even household utensils in the spiritual world may have this form ( Marriage Love 137[7]). See also Heaven and Hell 202. [JSR, SS]

5. Heaven and Hell was published by Swedenborg in London at some time in 1758. It would seem from the references to that volume throughout New Jerusalem that the date of the composition of Heaven and Hell was likely to have been earlier than that of New Jerusalem. On the order of composition of Swedenborg's works of 1758, see the editors' preface to this volume, pages 29-33. [GFD]

6. The Latin word here translated "a joining together" is conjunctio. Swedenborg uses the word to denote the relationship that develops when two people or things come together, without either element losing its identity. It may be used of our relationship with the Lord as well as of the relationship between inanimate objects or qualities of the mind. [JSR]

7. On the function of a fullness and variety of many differing individuals or parts working harmoniously together in the approach to the perfection of a form, see note 3 in Other Planets 9. [Editors]