Page:The Other Life.djvu/185

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all the activities, and in the enjoyment of all the pleasures of which the soul and body of man are capable.

The scientific element predominates so largely in our modern culture, and the current theology is so utterly divorced from science, that in the minds of most men the spiritual and natural worlds stand far apart, without the least necessary or philosophical connection. The result is a deep-rooted naturalism both in and out of the church, so that the intellect is actually offended at the idea of open communication with heaven, as if it were something absurd or impossible.

Swedenborg teaches us the difference and the analogy between substance and matter, between the spiritual and natural worlds, and satisfies our rational faculty as to their corresponding laws and phenomena. This he has done under special and constant illumination from divine sources, surrounded by every safeguard to protect him from error or imposition. The Bible will hereafter be a sealed book only to those who refuse to examine the spiritual light revealed in its pages by its Divine Author through his chosen medium. To them, indeed, death will remain a dark shadow, and heaven a vague splendor, an imaginary state,