Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 1.djvu/20

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dividual. And after all, not a single person who in heart denies a resurrection, would be persuaded; but a thousand objections would arise in his mind, which would confirm him in his negative conclusion.

Some profess to believe that they shall rise again, but not till the day of the last judgment; and the idea they have formed of that day is, that all things belonging to the visible world will then be destroyed. As that day, however, has for so many ages been vainly expected, they still have doubts whether any resurrection will ever take place.

Hence it may be seen what sort of persons there are at this day in the Christian world.[1] The Sadducees spoken of in Matthew xxii. 23, openly denied a resurrection. Yet they did better than those at the present day, who profess not to deny because it is an article of faith, and yet deny it in their hearts; so that their profession is contrary to their belief, and their belief to their profession.

Lest, therefore, mankind should any longer confirm themselves in that false opinion, it has been granted me by the divine mercy of the Lord, during my abode in this world in the body, to be in the spirit in the other world (for man is a spirit clothed with a body), and there to discourse with souls that

  1. [It should be borne in mind that this was written more than a hundred years ago, when faith in a life beyond the grave was considerably weaker throughout Christendom than it is now.—Ed.]