938. Saying, Great and wonderful are thy works. That this signifies that all the goods of heaven and the church are from Him, is evident from the signification of the works of the Lord, as denoting all the goods of heaven and the church. The reason why these are signified by His works is, that the words, "just and true are Thy ways" follow, and by the ways of the Lord are signified all the truths of heaven and the church. For in the Word, where good is treated of, truth is also treated of, because of the heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of good and truth, in all its details. It is, therefore, clear that by works are here signified goods, and by ways, truths. The reason why the goods of heaven and the church are the works of the Lord is, that heaven is heaven, and the church is a church, from the good of love to the Lord, and from the good of love towards the neighbour (concerning which see the work on Heaven and Hell 13-19).

Continuation:-

[2] In the article n. 936, desisting from evils from the spiritual freedom in which every man is kept by the Lord was treated of. But because all the evils, into which man is born, derive their roots from the love of ruling over others, and from the love of possessing the goods of others; and all the delights of man's own life spring from these two loves; and because all evils are from them, therefore also the loves and delights of these things, that is to say, of evils, constitute man's own life. Now, because evils constitute man's life, it follows, therefore, that a man cannot at all desist from them of himself, for this would be to give up his own life from virtue of his own life. It is provided, therefore, that he is able to desist from them of the Lord; and that he may be able to do so, the freedom of thinking as he pleases is given to him, and also of asking the Lord for aid. He has this freedom because he is in the midst between heaven and hell, consequently, between good and evil. And he who is in the midst is in equilibrium; and he who is in equilibrium can easily, and, as it were, of his own accord, turn himself the one way or the other; and the more so, because the Lord continually resists evils, and repels them, raises a man up and draws him to Himself. But still a combat exists, because the evils belonging to a man's life are aroused by the evils perpetually rising up from hell; and then a man ought to fight against them; and, indeed, as of himself; if not as of himself, the evils are not separated.

4415. Recently arrived souls, or novitiate spirits - that is to say, people who a few days after death of the body have entered the next life - are utterly amazed at the existence of light in the next life, for they bring with them the uninformed idea that there are no other sources of light than the sun and material flame. Still less do they know of a light which brings light to the understanding, for they have not observed it during their lifetime; and still less that such light provides the capacity to think, and by flowing into forms which exist from the light of the world frames everything seen in the understanding. If those novitiate spirits have been good people they are raised up, for the purpose of their instruction, to heavenly communities, passing from one community to another. They are raised up to these so that they may recognize through actual experience that light exists in the next life, a light that is brighter than that which shines in the world can ever be, and that the amount of light they dwell in there determines the amount of intelligence. Some borne up into spheres of heavenly light have spoken to me from there, confessing that they had never believed in any such thing and that the light of the world in comparison was darkness. From there they also looked through my eyes into the light of the world, which they saw to be nothing other than dark cloud. And they said, doing so with feelings of pity, that such was the darkness in which men dwelt. From what has been said one may also see why in the Word the angels of heaven are called angels of light; also that the Lord is the Light, and consequently the Life, for men, John 1:1-8; 8:12.