AC 3967 - by "Issachar" is meant "reward"

I apologize for the length of this quote.  Perhaps if my dad, who loved the New Church, had not gone from this external world to the internal world so recently, you would be spared.  But he did.

AC 3957
. . . by "Issachar" is meant "reward;"
and as in the external sense "reward" is mutual love;
and in the internal sense, the conjunction of good and truth,
it may be well to state that very few at the present day
in the Christian world know that "reward" has this meaning
. . . as they had not been solicitous about the life after death,
but only about life in the world . . ..

[2] The things which they might have known of themselves
had they chosen to use their reason, are the following:
First, that when a person is divested of his body,
he comes into the full exercise
of a much more enlightened understanding
than when living in the body . . ..
From this they might know that the state after death
is much more clear-sighted and enlightened
than the state before death;
and that when a person dies,
he passes comparatively from shade into light,
because he passes from the things of the world
to those of heaven,
and from the things of the body to those of the spirit.
But wonderful to say,
although they are able to understand all this,
they nevertheless think the contrary,
namely, that the state of life in the body is relatively clear,
and that the state of life after being divested of the body
is relatively obscure. 

[3] The Second thing that they may know
if they will use their reason,
is that the life
which a person has procured for himself in the world
follows him; that is, he is in such a life after death.
. . . For example: he who has acquired a life of deceit,
and has found in this the delight of his life,
cannot put off the life of deceit, but is still in that life after death.
He who is in the love of self,
and thereby in hatred and revenge
against those who do not serve him,
and those who are in other such evils,
remains in them after the life of the body;
for these are the things which they love,
and which constitute the delights of their life . . .
and therefore such things cannot be taken away from them
without at the same time extinguishing all their life.
And so in other cases. 

[4] The Third thing which a person may know of himself,
is that when he passes into the other life
he leaves many things behind which have no place there,
such as cares for food, for clothing, for a place of abode,
and also for gaining money and wealth,
as well as for being exalted to dignities,
all of which are so much thought of
by a person in the life of the body;
but in the other life are succeeded by others
that are not of this earthly kingdom.

[5] Therefore the Fourth thing a person can know
is that he who in the world
has thought solely of such worldly things,
so that he has been wholly possessed by them,
and has acquired delight of life in them alone,
is not fitted to be among those
whose delight is to think about heavenly things,
that is, about the things of heaven. 

[6] From this follows also a Fifth thing; namely,
that when the externals of the body
and the world are taken away,
the person is then such as he has been inwardly;
that is, he so thinks and so wills.
If his thoughts have inwardly been deceits, machinations,
aspiration for dignities, for gains, and for fame thereby;
if they have been hatreds and revenges and the like,
it can be seen that he will still think such things,
thus the things that belong to hell,
however much he might
for the sake of the before-mentioned ends
have concealed his thoughts from people,
and thus appeared outwardly to be worthy,
while leading others to believe
that he had not such things at heart.
That all such externals, or simulations of worth,
are also taken away in the other life,
may likewise be known from the fact
that outward things are put off together with the body,
and are no longer of any use.
From this everyone may conclude for himself
what kind of a person he will then appear to the angels. 

[7] The Sixth thing that may be known is that heaven,
or the Lord through heaven,
is continually working and inflowing with good and truth;
and that if there is not then in people
- in their interior person which lives after the death of the body -
some recipient of good and truth, as a ground or plane,
the good and truth that flow in cannot be received;
and for this reason a person while living in the body
ought to be solicitous to procure such a plane within himself;
but this cannot be procured
except by thinking what is good toward the neighbor,
and by willing what is good to him,
and therefore doing what is good to him,
and thus by acquiring the delight of life in such things.
This plane is acquired by means of charity toward the neighbor,
that is, by means of mutual love;
and is what is called conscience.
Into this plane the good and truth from the Lord can inflow,
and be received therein;
but not where there is no charity,
and consequently no conscience;
for there the inflowing good and truth pass through,
and are turned into evil and falsity.

[8] The Seventh thing that a person can know of himself,
is that love to God and love toward the neighbor
are what make a person to be a person,
distinct from brute animals;
and that they constitute heavenly life, or heaven;
while their opposites constitute infernal life, or hell.
But the reason why a person does not know these things
is that he does not desire to know them,
because he lives the opposite life,
and also because he does not believe in the life after death;
and likewise because he has taken up with principles of faith,
but none of charity;
and consequently believes in accordance
with the doctrinal teachings of many,
that if there is a life after death, he can be saved by faith,
no matter how he has lived,
even if his faith is received in his dying hour.