principle was implanted by those who gave an oral preference to sanctity, and feigned holy gestures, and moreover impressed the people with a belief in their power of saving; on which ground also they were not removed, but were preserved among their own.
But the principal reason was, that all are preserved from one judgment to another, who live the semblance of a spiritual life in externals, and imitate, as it were, internal piety and sanctity; all, indeed, from whom the simple may receive instruction and guidance,—for the simple in faith and heart look no farther than to see what is external, and apparent before the eyes. Hence all such were tolerated from the commencement of the Christian church until the day of the last judgment. . .
It was granted me to see how the last judgment was brought about and thoroughly accomplished upon all, especially upon the Babylonians. I will therefore describe it. This was granted me principally in order to reveal to the world that all things predicted in the Apocalypse are divinely inspired; and that the Apocalypse is a prophetic book of the Word. For if this, and at the same time the internal sense which there is in each expression of that book, as in each expression of the Prophets of the Old Testament, were not revealed to the world, that book might possibly be rejected, on account of not being understood; which would further make men
