world; that he is clothed and decked with ornaments, as before in the world; that he hungers and thirsts, eats and drinks, as before in the world; that he enjoys conjugial delights, as before in the world; that he sleeps and wakes, as before in the world; that in the spiritual world there are land and water, mountains and hills, plains and valleys, fountains and rivers, paradises and groves; also that there are palaces and houses, cities and villages, as in the natural world; and further, that there are writings and books, employments and trades; also precious stones, gold and silver; in a word, that there are all such things there as there are on earth, and that those things in the heavens are infinitely more perfect; with this difference only, that all things in the spiritual world are from a spiritual origin, and therefore are spiritual, because they are from the sun of that world, which is pure love; whereas all things in the natural world are from a natural origin, and therefore are natural and material, because they are from the sun of that world, which is pure fire; in short, that a man after death is perfectly a man, yea more perfectly than before in the world; for before in the world he was in a material body, but in the spiritual world he is in a spiritual body." Hereupon the ancient sages asked, "What do the people on the earth think of such information?" The three strangers replied, "We know that it is true, because we are here, and have viewed and examined everything; wherefore we will tell you what has been said and reasoned about it on earth." Then the PRIEST said, "Those of our order, when they first heard such relations, called them visions, then fictions; afterwards they insisted that the man had seen spectres, and lastly they hesitated, and said, 'Believe them who will; we have hitherto taught that a man will not be in a body after death until the day of the last judgement.'" Then the sages asked, "Are there no intelligent persons among those of your order, who can prove and evince the truth, that a man lives a man after death?" The priest said, "There are indeed some who prove it, but not to the conviction of others. Those who prove it say, that it is contrary to sound reason to believe, that a man does not live a man till the day of the last judgement, and that in the mean while he is a soul without a body. What is the soul, or where is it in the interim? Is it a vapor, or some wind floating in the atmosphere, or some thing hidden in the bowels of the earth? Have the souls of Adam and Eve, and of all their posterity, now for six thousand years, or sixty ages, been flying about in the universe, or been shut up in the bowels of the earth, waiting for the last judgement? What can be more anxious and miserable than such an expectation? May not their lot in such a case be compared with that of prisoners bound hand and foot, and lying in a dungeon? If such be a man's lot after death, would it not