Such is the doctrine revealed through Swedenborg concerning the state of the Heathen in the great Hereafter,—very different, we see, from that hitherto believed and taught in the Christian church. A doctrine truly catholic in its spirit, wholesome in its tendency, boundless as God's love in its embrace, and in complete agreement with Holy Scripture and enlightened reason. It assures us that the Lord has left none of his intelligent creatures without sufficient light, if they follow it, to guide them to the realms of bliss. It declares that people of every nation and creed, be they civilized or barbarous, may be saved and are saved so far as they live according to the truths they know; and, furthermore, that the worst of all the devils in hell are from Christian countries; and that those who live under the noonday light of the Gospel, may be lost and are lost if they walk not according to that light.
Thus the new doctrine affirms this momentous truth—a truth often reiterated in the writings of the great seer, and which deserves to be engraven indelibly on every heart—that entrance into the kingdom of heaven depends not upon what people know, but upon how they live; not upon the character or amount of the truth they believe, but upon the motive and measure of their obedience to its requirements; not upon the brilliancy of the light that illumines their pathway, but upon their fidelity and sincerity in following the light. Therefore "while ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light," saith the Lord. And the only genuine and saving belief, is that which avails to the renovation of the heart and life; for "with the heart
