CHAPTER 34 Mutual influence of married couples upon each other [1] You say: this is completely correct, and we understand. But since we also saw women in the company, who did not fulfill any public office, the question is what they are doing here and why they are in a certain sense an integral part of the company. [2] My best friends, you should be amazed of yourselves that you have not understood it immediately. [3] Is it not the case as from old that the in many ways weaker woman passionately desire and long for exactly that what they are the least capable of, namely to reign and rule. When men fulfill one or the other office, and he marries or is married, it is certainly always the case that the woman at the end rules more than the man who is actually more equipped to rule. [4] To execute their plans, they use all their female cunningness and the husband sure must be very resolute if he does not want to be caught by his “Eve”. [5] You again ask: Yes, but why is it that the woman usually gains the victory through her cunningness? I tell you: the reason is very much natural and therefore also understandable. If you would consider that the woman is the root of the man, then you will have everything else easily declared. [6] The trunk of a tree indeed stands with his branches in the light of the heaven, sucking its ethereal food from the rays of the sun and no one sees that still draws his main amount of food through his roots. If the roots would conspire against the tree and loosen themselves from it, what would soon happen with the tree? He would wilt and finally bear no more fruit. [7] Look, the wife knows this in her heart, and they can very well feel how much the man needs her. If she had a bad education, though and has a depraved nature, they would do the same than what the roots sometimes do to a tree; they let new shoots grow from the earth, feed them and thus deprive the tree of its future nourishment. Such root-twigs will certainly never grow into a powerful and fruit-bearing tree, but only bushy growth resembling the tree. If the tree with the higher food from the heavens would not powerfully resist such misuse, by diligently pushing the growth of its branches and smaller twigs to let the root-shoots wilt in its strong shadow, to let them be suffocated during a favorable season or with the help of winter, then it would certainly be detrimental to his own existence and work sphere. [8] As such it goes with a man who has a wife with a lust for power and wants to impress in everything. If he is not capable to resist her with his manly power, she will very soon have him encompassed with her wild shoots, and he will become increasingly weaker, will finally wither and see all his power go up into the unconquerable male root growth of his wife. This then is the female lust to rule and reign! CHAPTER 34 Mutual influence of married couples upon each other [1] You say: this is completely correct, and we understand. But since we also saw women in the company, who did not fulfill any public office, the question is what they are doing here and why they are in a certain sense an integral part of the company. [2] My best friends, you should be amazed of yourselves that you have not understood it immediately. [3] Is it not the case as from old that the in many ways weaker woman passionately desire and long for exactly that what they are the least capable of, namely to reign and rule. When men fulfill one or the other office, and he marries or is married, it is certainly always the case that the woman at the end rules more than the man who is actually more equipped to rule. [4] To execute their plans, they use all their female cunningness and the husband sure must be very resolute if he does not want to be caught by his “Eve”. [5] You again ask: Yes, but why is it that the woman usually gains the victory through her cunningness? I tell you: the reason is very much natural and therefore also understandable. If you would consider that the woman is the root of the man, then you will have everything else easily declared. [6] The trunk of a tree indeed stands with his branches in the light of the heaven, sucking its ethereal food from the rays of the sun and no one sees that still draws his main amount of food through his roots. If the roots would conspire against the tree and loosen themselves from it, what would soon happen with the tree? He would wilt and finally bear no more fruit. [7] Look, the wife knows this in her heart, and they can very well feel how much the man needs her. If she had a bad education, though and has a depraved nature, they would do the same than what the roots sometimes do to a tree; they let new shoots grow from the earth, feed them and thus deprive the tree of its future nourishment. Such root-twigs will certainly never grow into a powerful and fruit-bearing tree, but only bushy growth resembling the tree. If the tree with the higher food from the heavens would not powerfully resist such misuse, by diligently pushing the growth of its branches and smaller twigs to let the root-shoots wilt in its strong shadow, to let them be suffocated during a favorable season or with the help of winter, then it would certainly be detrimental to his own existence and work sphere. [8] As such it goes with a man who has a wife with a lust for power and wants to impress in everything. If he is not capable to resist her with his manly power, she will very soon have him encompassed with her wild shoots, and he will become increasingly weaker, will finally wither and see all his power go up into the unconquerable male root growth of his wife. This then is the female lust to rule and reign! [9] Another example you will see with your children, who are often stronger in their weakness than the greatest hero for whom thousands and thousands more shudder. Let us assume that the hero is the father of a small child barely able to babble something coherently. Thousands may come to this hero to divert him from a certain idea, but they will avail to nothing. Yet the child only has to look at him, laugh at him and say: Daddy, stay with me, do not go away, I am so scared that you would become sad, and the hero become tender-hearted and listen to his child. [10] After this example, we return to the women. The voice of a man gains a powerful manly sound already in his youth years; that of a woman retains the sound of a child. Look, as the woman retains this sound, she also retains to a certain extent the nature of a child in her. Because of this ability, she also possesses the childish power which, as was said, is not seldom, greater than the will-power of such a great landlord. [11] Because of this power of the woman, she can have an influence on the man from the roots up. If she would see that she cannot achieve anything by the usual means of 'female politics', then the woman reverts to her well-known apparently weak childishness, with which she is mostly able to conquer the powerful man. [12] I think that this example will make everything even more clear, that you can easily understand why there are also female beings in this company. You should also know that the woman stays with the man in the spiritual realm if he has not completely rid himself of the burdensome things of the world. [13] Many men would have progressed earlier, yes, much, much earlier to spiritual purity, if his ever the same more sensual wife would not have hindered him. Therefore, would our company regarding the men, have been much better off if no women were among them. [14] As often as one or the other man has a good intention and his heart is inclined to a better way, his wife knows how to prevent him by means of her lust for power and shows him another way. In other words: A man having such a wife has it much worse in the spiritual realm than on earth. Even if he seeks to separate himself from her, she knows how to move him again with her pleading and various childish pretending to stay with her and make him promise to her in any possible way to never leave her. [15] Yes, it is even often the case that men with a good heart would come to this resort with wives who have made themselves completely ready for hell. Such women are the most dangerous and the most stubborn, for their heart is attached to what belongs to hell, but also against their man, because of different selfish reasons and lust for power. [16] Because her attitude, in fact, pulls him to hell and the better man do not have the necessary power to loosen himself from her and subject himself to the apparent weakness of his wife, she gradually pulls him over the boundaries of this region and over the, to you already familiar, stream with her; as you would say, most innocently into hell. It then would cost the most powerful angel the utmost amount of patience and greatest effort to free such a man from the hands of his hellish wife. According to you time reckoning, can such a process often last hundreds of years. And look, also in this company are a few such wives. [17] You are indeed saying: But could the Master not intercede and draw a mighty line over the bill of such women. There is something to say for such an intervention if someone is not initiated into the higher ways of the Godly order. But who knows it will very well know that something like this would, with the eye on the preservation of the spirit, be as good as impossible. [18] You need to know that a man's love is his life and this the life he carries within him. But how does it happen that a man let himself be conquered by a woman? In that, he took her too much into his love. A man must take counsel with himself and put his love for his wife and the love for the Master onto a very sensitive scale.; he needs to weigh both these loves with meticulous fearfulness and take a good look, which one weighs the most. He needs to investigate himself which loss would be more bearable to him: the loss of his beloved wife was also all benefits of this relationship would be lost, or the love of the Master. [19] But this may not, as is said, stay with a superficial comment, where someone would, for instance, say: I would offer unto the love of the Master not one, but ten women. No, this question of life needs to be answered with full conviction. [20] Would we consider a situation where the Master would take the wife of a man who alleged that he loves the Master ten times more than his wife, through the death of the body? [21] If the man would then be able to say in himself with all earnestness and full conviction: Master, I thank you for doing this to me, for I indeed know that, due to my love for You, everything You do, is the best. When unto such a man, the love of the Master would be more than a reward for the loss of his wife, then is the love of the Master in him truly greater than for his wife. [22] Should he become sorrowful because of the act of the Master, and he says: Master, truly, I love You so much; why have You afflicted me with so much sorrow and grief? Truly, you can believe it, such a man loves his wife more than the Master! [23] If such a man would survive his wife for many years, would forget her along the way and would have turned himself completely to the Master, he still has not completely banned such a love from his heart. For should his wife return after ten years, he would be as if enchanted and take her back with the greatest of love, especially if she would come back to him spiritually rejuvenated. [24] You again ask: How then is it possible, if such a widower have completely devoted himself to the Master? But I ask you: Was this devotion voluntary, or necessary? Would he have done it if the Master would not have taken his wife from him? With the Master, only the free will and the consequent complete self-denial counts. [25] This man grieves the loss of his wife. He turns to the Master to find the necessary comfort, consolation and full healing of his broken heart. [26] What does the Master then mean to him? Was He truly the central love of the heart of such a man, or was He only a consolation, a covering for the pain and thus also the healing plaster for it? Now can you certainly say nothing other than that the Master only was second, namely medicine, covering and plaster. But who can say that a love out of thankfulness is the fundamental love of the heart? [27] Is this love not comparable to the love one feels towards a benefactor who made one happy and the love for the fortune that befalls him? I think that there is a great distinction to be made between these two kinds of love, for the love for the benefactor is only a consequence of the fundamental love in which lives received bliss and is as such no fundamental, but a subjective love. [28] What does she represent regarding the Master, since man indeed expect one's greatest joy from the Master alone? If considered like this, everything else should be unto him of no and null worth and thus eternally vestigial. He should be able to honestly say in himself: If only I have the Master, I ask neither for heaven nor for an earth, even less for a wife. [29] Out of this you can easily understand why I have specifically focused your attention on how intensively a man should investigate his love for the Master and that for his wife, for the Master Himself says: Who loves his father, his mother, his wife, his brother and his children more than Me, is not worthy of Me! [30] Now you again ask: Is such a man then lost because of his subjective love for the Master? Certainly not, but he cannot come to the Master before he properly said goodbye to the actual ground of his love forever and have made his subjective love, his main love. [31] What troubles this often causes him in the spiritual realm, we have seen in part with this company. We will have a more proper and intensive look at this point at the following scene. Then you will see how often such an apparently completely quenched, wrongly married love again ignites when such couples meet again in the spiritual realm. We will, therefore, let this company continue their way unhindered, and we will go a bit further. CHAPTER 35 A married couple in the hereafter [1] Look, not far from us you will see a human couple. This is a man and a woman, and they are presently in a situation which we will be able to very well use for our purpose. We will therefore quickly go to them, to catch up with them. You ask about the relationship between them. I tell you, for our purpose they could not be anything better than what they are. This is a relationship in which the wife has died only six years before the husband. The husband mourned much about her, but he threw himself after a few years completely into the arms of religion and lived faithfully according to his learned insights. But now he has also been called away from the earth and has arrived here only recently. This introduction is sufficient for the time being; the details you will practically experience in the spirit. [2] Now that we, fortunately, have caught up with our couple, you have nothing to do other than to take notice of their conversation which will start out immediately, from which you will be able to gather everything necessary. Listen now! She presently began to ask her husband a question, saying: [3] I am exceptionally happy to see you again after such a long time and I now believe that no death will ever separate us. But tell me now as much as you can, if my last will has been properly attended to, for it is dear to my heart. [4] The man says: My above all beloved wife, for you to see how strictly your last will has been obeyed, I can only tell you that I have done, in my own last will, nothing other than to confirm yours anew. In my last will, I, therefore, kept exactly to yours, except for a few insignificant changes. Our whole wealth, therefore, multiplied with a few thousand by me, is bequeathed to our children. Are you happy with that? [5] The wife says: My beloved husband, except for the changes, completely! Tell me, therefore, the amounts and to whom are they given? Dear wife, says he, the amounts is no more than two thousand guilders, is divided into five parts and are bequeathed to relatives of yours, except for one part. I had to give one part to the poor, for sake of decency. I would not have done this if you did not often during your life insisted to think about these relatives of you. But regarding the poor, you know that one always must first do something for the sake of society and then also for God's sake, because we are Christians and no heathens. Besides, these alms of two thousand guilders are nothing compared with our great bequeathed inheritance, for as I have finally calculated, each of our seven children gets a full amount of a hundred and fifty thousand guilders. All our children have learned to handle money frugally and you can be just as easy as I am about your bequeathed wealth. At my side, you can now with me, search for other riches which would here bring us into just as happy a life as we have lived upon earth. [6] She says: I will be content with it that our children are well cared for. Every child will indeed have change in the hand with the two thousand guilders and can start out with that without immediately having to use the interest of the great capital. But, as it is just how it is, we cannot do anything about it anymore and I must be content with that. [7] Yet, what you have said about the other, usable capital, I ask you as your still faithful and loving spouse, to let go of all your silly ideas about it; for already six years have gone in which I have wandered in great agony and worries through this dark and lonely wilderness, while the only thing edible I could find, was a kind of moss. Now and then is some sort of dry grass to be found to finally fill one's stomach with. Would you not coincidentally have come here from earth with yet a bit of dusky light exactly to this place, we would in eternity barely have found each other. [8] He says: but my beloved wife, have you then absolutely no suspicion for the reasons you have justly come to this place? I do think that your worldly attitude has brought you here. You indeed were a very frugal and in our worldly relationships a very honorable woman and you were exceptionally wise, but the teaching of true Christianity often was a thorn in the eye to you. You have often expressed yourself about it negatively and have kept you more to the wisdom and philosophy of the world. I have often told you, dear wife, that if there would exist a life in the hereafter, then I do think that worldly wisdom would not be enough; therefore, it would be best to keep to God's word, for the temporary lasts but a short time. If there would, however, exist an eternity, we would have difficulty finding our way with temporary wisdom, as I have said. Look, dear wife, these were my literal words I have often spoken to you in trust, and as I can see now to my greatest and most woeful surprise, this has come true, sadly enough. Therefore, I do think now, dear wife, that it is now critical to us if one can say so here, to completely free ourselves of all worldly reminiscing and to turn to our Master Jesus Christ to receive compassion and pity. For if He would not help us, we will be lost forever; for I do feel in myself and know assuredly that without Christ, there is no other helper in the whole of infinity. If He helps us, we will be helped; If He would not help, then we are eternally, irretrievably lost! Now I would that I have bequeathed our wealth to beggars and made our children into beggars. This would have brought us more blessing here than all our worldly care for the material well-being of our children. Because we cannot change our worldly foolishness anymore, nothing is left for us, dear wife, as said, then for to turn ourselves exclusively to Christ, to the exclusion of all other thoughts or wishes, that He can, despite our great foolishness, be merciful and compassionate towards us and might recompense this folly to our children through his infinite mercy and compassion. [9] The wife says: I indeed always thought that your religious, fanatic foolishness would bring you along to this world. What have you and I ever done wrong upon earth? Were we not always just to everyone! Have we ever stayed in debt to anyone or have we not always paid our housemaid the agreed upon salary? If there would exist some or the other God, or, according to your opinion, some or the other “Christ”, then it would indeed be the greatest injustice that he would reward people like us with what we see here before us. What God would take the least offense that one can have no faith in an 'old saga' riddled with nonsense and silly things. I do believe namely, and even a blind can see it, that if a God would attach some value to humanity, if a God would exist, that man would not be able to dream up anything more unjust than that this God would only once come personally, endowed with all wondrous power to man, and that too only the people of a very small region, while the whole world was indeed populated. [10] Tell me, therefore, can God unequivocally expect that people and nations, who did not live in that same region, and especially not in the same time as Him, to unconditionally accept that He was the one Who started the teaching? Can God, if He exists and is just, blame them if they cannot do it? Cannot the people revolt against God, if He would perhaps exist and say: How would you want to harvest if You did not sow? How could you judge us, being an unjust God? Would you want to judge righteously, then judge those who saw You and to whom You have preached. But leave us alone, for we have never seen You and could never convince ourselves of Your existence. The word which was delivered to us and would have come from You is impossible for us to judge, for it could just as well have been invented as it could have been true and probably more invented than true. If we have lived upon earth, we only saw the old nature; yet, no trace of You. We came into this world, being pure children of the powers of nature. People and teachers have taught us knowledge. Our whole lives through there were not a trace of You. Why would You now want to execute judgment over us, while You never wanted to give us any proof of Your existence and character? [11] Look, dear husband, this is as clear as the sun on a bright afternoon upon the earth. You do not see it yet because you have been here for only a short while yet. When you will have been here for as long as I have been, then it would become clear to you, even in this dense darkness. As proof of my love and faithfulness I also say that you can call upon your so-called God-Christ here at the side of your above all beloved wife for as long and as powerfully as you want to; yet I guarantee upon my love and faithfulness that you will, after years of calling, come to the clear insight that I, your always faithful, loving wife, see clearer with my natural mind than you do with your so-called godly knowledge. [12] An old adage says about the Bible: Oh Bible, oh Bible, you are to man an evil! And look, that adage is right. Would people upon earth have the courage to destroy that old Jewish nonsense root and all and put in its place pure human logic, the world would have progressed a hundred years into the future regarding her culture. Yet, for some reason, this old nonsense still has to be preserved, by which the most honorable and just people's hands get bound unto the finer arts. What is the result? Just think with your otherwise good mind! Where does one find the most abominable, bad and poor people? Certainly, nowhere else than exactly there where the Bible and the new Christian teaching is predominant. Go to Rome, go to Spain, go to England and you will find my words confirmed. [13] People depend upon God and become lazy while waiting for His help! Yet, the help does not come, with the natural consequence that many people impoverish and even if they do not all become bad, they do finally become a burden unto the zealous and newer people. Man proclaims everywhere, saying: God is endlessly good, highly loving and exceptionally merciful; yet, He would rather let every beggar starve if they would not be taken care of by his zealous fellow man. [14] Look, dear spouse: it is easy for the lazy spirituals to preach to honest, diligent and therefore well-to-do people about an endlessly good and merciful God. But if we would exclude these people, then we soon shall see to what sullen end such sermons will come to. Would these black and white screamers have known how it is with life here in the hereafter, they would probably preach differently, or would instead take up the offering. There could possibly exist a God which could guide as a primordial power the whole universe, but a God as is taught by the Jewish Bible, certainly do not exist. [15] He says: Oh, beloved wife, you are on a dreadfully wrong track, for I did read [in the writings] of famous theological authors that pure hellish spirits speak exactly like you. I can assure you that this is why you find yourself in this eternal night. Truly, I am becoming truly afraid for your sake! For with such principles I see you getting lost irrevocably forever! If you absolutely do not want to accept any other principles, then I feel myself obliged to leave you forever. [16] She says: So, would you be able to do such a thing to me, your faithful, eternally beloved wife? I tell you, you would not be able, even if you would be damned to hell! I would not want to leave you in the fire and you would want to leave me because of my wise words? You are free to give a wise exegesis of your opinion to me, but it should not be any nonsense, for I love you too much to let you go on the wrong track. Rather, follow me, I want to bring you to a place better than here, where you would accept in a greater company, how it is here with people. [17] He says: My dear wife, I do not want to leave you, for I like you way too much, therefore I will follow you wherever you would take me, for I can see that you are still very honest in your heart, despite your ignorance regarding true religion. You still are my good wife against whom I still have nothing to object, except for that you cannot share my insights. If you would then know about a place in the kingdom of darkness, take me there, then we will see what can be done there. Look, she takes his arm and leads him away. But we will follow this interesting pair to be witnesses of the success of this relationship. She's off and we follow them. CHAPTER 36 The couple and the lying spirit [1] You should not be surprised if your eyes would this time be challenged somewhat, for we are going towards the north and to where it becomes increasingly darker. Yet, for ourselves, we will have sufficient light that nothing will escape us. [2] Do you not yet hear something in the distance? You say: We indeed hear something, but it is much different to a human voice; it rather sounds like the rattling of wagons in the distance. It also sounds like the thunderous noise of a great, distant waterfall. You ask what it means. Let us follow our couple, then we will soon get there. [3] Can you not yet discern something vaguely reddish, a glow as of a softly glowing iron? Look in this direction, for there is awaiting us an important scene. [4] Listen, it is coming closer and the peculiar noisy rattling is changing more into natural, raw, human voices. But we will stand still, for the multitude is moving right up to here as you see, also they, our mutually very loving leaders, came to standstill. [5] Look how fearful he is for what is coming and retreats in his great anxiety and fear. She grabs him by the arm, though, and pleads him with all that is dear, to only listen to and stay with her this one more time, for this is exactly the fortune she has predicted which he needs to get acquainted with, to convince himself whether she is right or wrong. [6] He asks her what is approaching them that seems so horrible. She says to him: What it is, what it is?! Purely deep thinking people whom you would soon clearly see with your own eyes and clearly hear with your own ears. [7] And now look, he is content with this and waits upon the approaching, deep thinking group. See, the great company is almost there. Our couple approaches them out of decency. We should do the same also, even if it is not out of decency, but with another purpose. [8] Look, they now meet and greet each other with the greatest possible courteousness. We will also go closer not to miss anything. [9] You will see that from the middle of the group is coming to a knobby and emaciated manly figure and comes closer to our couple. The woman receives him exceptionally lovingly and benevolently. Also, the man of the woman bows deeply before this manly figure. [10] The manly figure says: Highly esteemed lady, it pleases me greatly that the special fortune has befallen me to again call you one of us, for with your mind and your exceptionally amiable demeanor, you are greatly honoring our company and indeed gives us the most beautiful ornament. Well, my dear lady, would you have anything on your tender heart, it would be the greatest bliss if you would entrust such a sweet wish of your heart to me. [11] She says: My highly appreciated and above all very much honored friend, you see, this man here to my side, is my tenderly beloved earthly spouse. He has acted in every way upon earth exceptionally just, good and profitable, that I can say in all earnest that our marriage truly was very happy. For what can a woman ask more in her marriage, than to have a husband which fulfills all the desires of the female heart? In this regard, I would, with exception of a few trifle things, have no objection. [12] But now comes an important issue about which we never could reach consent and because of which there often was discord between the two of us. I will explain to you the reason for this discord as well as a woman can, and you, honored friend, would certainly be so good to whisper a few words to my husband which would completely heal him. [13] The figure says: I implore you, my very much esteemed lady, you are much too good! I give you the assurance that it would be a great honor and bliss if I could say to myself that I could have served such a loving lady with my little person. Therefore, I ask you to entrust the issue which you bear on your heart to me. She says: Oh, my very much appreciated friend, you are much too good and too modest and exactly this is what inspires so much trust in me, that I will hold nothing back; be thus so good to me to listen to me. [14] See, regarding this fatal issue I can candidly say that my otherwise good and loveable man is a Bible and thus also a Christ-fanatic. The reason though, why he had thrown himself into the arms of this laughable sect, is because he grew up poor. Therefore, he was ingrained from the crib, as it usually is the case with the poor classes, this old beggar's philosophy. But how difficult it becomes over time to get this nonsense, which was nursed in with mother's milk and thus became his own flesh out, you most honored friend, would know even more than I. With this beggar's philosophy have my yet much-appreciated husband also ended up here in this kingdom where the primordial powers of nature rules, as you already have explained to us most kindly. But it does not get through to him! He still is attached to his Christ and even wants to part himself from me to search for this probably nowhere-to-be-found Christ. Now my learned and much-honored friend, I have briefly presented my problem and I, therefore, ask you if you would have mercy on my, in this respect poor, man of mine. [15] The figure says: Oh, if it is nothing else, we will here, in the kingdom of the naked truth, find each other quickly and easily. Now the figure turns to the husband, offers him the hand and say: Best friend, is this what your lovely spouse has just bemoaned before me, truly your earnest? [16] The man says: Esteemed friend, I must honestly admit that I truly do not believe that we will, however beloved and dear my spouse is to me, can find consensus on this subject. For no matter how things will fare, I am solidly resolute to cling to my faith in Christ forever! I am also absolutely convinced that this Name has often given me much consolation and still is my infallible, happy and leading star. Have I ever gone onto a wrong track, it was solely because I did not hold on to Christ with steadfastness. When I then again turned myself toward Christ, I was often helped again as if magic! [17] You as a thinking and wise man will, therefore, see for yourself that it would be very unreasonable of me to remove myself far from such a benefactor, especially now that I need Him the most, as it appears to me. Therefore, esteemed friend, do not exert any effort for my sake, for I assure you openly that you will achieve nothing with me. I've been long enough the foolish slave of the charm of my wife. After her death, I learned in Christ my Master to endure it and I hope that it will not influence me here, especially because the marriage with my former wife was severed because of the death of her body. Should she follow me, then she will always stay valuable and beloved. But I will never give up Christ for her sake, even if they would drag me with a mighty force into the middle of some of the other hell! If she is content with this that I can be with her unhindered with my Christ, then I do not want to sever the old ties of love with her, but if it is not, then I have just spoken my last words in her presence. [18] The figure says to the man. Best friend, I have listened patiently to you from beginning to end and I can only say with all earnest about your words, that I deplore it sorely. For you to know with whom you are dealing (here the figure is taking refuge in a lie), I tell you that I am the great teacher Melanchton, about whom you certainly must have heard about on earth! The man says: Oh yes, but what do you want to say with that? The figure says: Esteemed friend, nothing but that I would know better what Christ is than would you, for I have worked till the last hour of my existence with exceptional zeal in the so-called Christian vineyard and I would certainly even have died, if necessary, for the sake of the Christ. I have not only purified the Roman, but also the more pure teaching of Luther of all vestigial burdens; I lived literally according to the word of this teaching and what was the result? This I do not need, esteemed friend, to explain to you in words, for one glance at my whole being would show you the result of my life according to the so-called purest, abbreviated content of Christianity. I do not need to tell you more. Let it then be according to the old “experyetia docet” [no substitute for experience], then I am convinced of it that we will, if everything shall go well, meet one another again after one hundred years exactly like we are now standing over against each other. You, my friend, is still a completely new arrival here and do not know how one lives in the kingdom of the central primordial powers. When you would have been chased around and hungered by this eternal night for decades, then would more solid and practical insights certainly bereave you of all worldly folly and find more room in you than now. [19] The man says to the figure: Most esteemed friend, if you are in possession of so much well-founded knowledge on this terrain, let me hear it. I am not averted to listening to you, but will nevertheless stay with my conviction if you could not convince me completely. [20] The figure says: Good, my friend, first I want to draw your attention to the fruit of Christianity on earth. The Romans were a great people as long as they remained in their Godly logical teaching. All their work was great and full of wise meaning. Their principles of justice still are the basis of all state and national judicial laws. But when Christianity sneaked in, death sneaked in together with it into the great Roman people. Now, in the place where once lived the greatest and most heroic nation, lazy, indolent priests, a lot of miserable rabble and a great number of thieves and robbers lay watching along the roads with rosaries in the hand, where no pedestrian has an assurance of his life anymore. See, this is the fruit out of the garden of Christianity! Take a journey through beautiful Spain and look at this nation out of old and then look at it again in the Christian middle ages; it would not escape your eye how, through pure Christian blessing, thousands upon thousands have bled and yet more thousands upon thousands have burnt to ashes upon flaming stakes, breathed their last breath in doubt! Look at the touching import of Christianity under Carl the Great, how he had by this blessing, chased thousand and again thousands by the cutting edge of the sword! Journey from there to America; look up their history and you will see countless, most pitiable and sorrowful examples of the Christian blessings which happened there! Go from there to my time and look at the blessed atrocities of the thirty-year border war. You can scrutinize the ancient history of all peoples and you will be able to show me similar gruesome scenes, then I oblige myself to carry you in my arms forever. [21] I do not want to focus your attention on the multifarious blessings of Christianity of other times but would only like to let you see the conditions of other current peoples who do not yet know Christianity, like the almost eternally peaceful Chinese and other significant nations in Asia and on the not yet discovered islands. You indeed must be completely blind if you could not yet, at first glance, see the difference between Christianity and the true wisdom of the older, more experienced people. Yet I tell you, that all these great, harmful deficiencies of Christianity or even more of the new Jewry could be made good if one would say: these historical facts are indeed all true, but Christ have never taught them that and therefore He could impossibly be blamed for all the horror which the spreading of His teaching has brought with it, for His teaching was, in fact, pure and especially humane. Best friend, this is seemingly very plausible and because of that was I also during my whole life upon earth a zealous defender of Christianity. Only here, in this teaching, have I seen the true poison for the nations in it and this is the clear reference to laziness and indolence. Man, having an inborn inclination towards laziness, finds in this teaching the best defense for this inclination, for it is clearly taught to him to do nothing other than to search after a certain spiritual kingdom, where the roasted birds would fly into his opened mouth. You see, various sages do not need much time to become convinced that nothing would come of these roasted birds. They, therefore, reach out to other means, namely, the trusty old sword, leave the Christianized people in their blindness and then serve him roasted birds with the sword in the hand. Friend, think about it as you like, you will, regarding Christianity, impossibly reach another conclusion, despite all other higher, spiritual experiences one gains here in a purified condition as in my case after the passing of many centuries. Worthy friend, I am done now and you can do what you want. Be still assured of my high esteem and my friendship; it will be my pleasure if we would meet again after a few centuries. Look, the others depart and move on with the whole company and our couple is left behind alone. The effect of this 'neat speech' and the exceptionally humane instruction, we will experience next time. Thus, enough for today. CHAPTER 37 Weakness of the husband. The wife going to hell. [1] Look, the company has vanished completely, but our couple is still standing at the same spot, deep in thought. She asks him: “Well, beloved husband, what do you now say of this!” He says thoughtfully: My dear wife, there is not much to say here anymore. Either the speaker has it right and then the issue is settled and no one should say anything about it anymore, or he is wrong and I stay with my principles and then there is still no more to say. Whether he is right or not, is not to be determined so quickly, but this will my own experience teach in the course of time. [2] She says: But best man, do you hold me, your faithful wife and this worthy man for liars because you do not readily want to believe his convincing words? Look, people are only inclined to lie and deceive each other if they would gain something for themselves by it. But tell me, what kind of benefit can lies and deceit give someone here? Here is indeed nothing to gain, nor to lose, but one thing is sure: a company always has it worse regarding the satisfaction of his stomach than someone wandering alone through this endless region. A single person quickly finds enough edible moss or grass to fill his stomach in case of emergency, but if there is more, it goes with such a patch of moss worse than with a loner. [3] You ask me what I want to say with that? My most beloved man, nothing other than I want to convince you, still a wise man, to your own benefit, to let go of your Bible faith. For if we should proceed each for himself, we would both profit, for each would be able to navigate easier on his own on this meager surface, than two would do together. If we would want to lie to or deceive you, then we would have left you to your principles and you would have gone away as a consumer due to your principles. We certainly do not want to lie to, nor deceive you, but we have shown you only the pure truth of which no mortal upon earth could have dreamt, even less such a staunch Bible and Christ fanatic like you. What do you still want to think about? Come for once to your senses and follow me, your eternally loving wife. If you would not listen to me on earth, then at least to it here in the kingdom of the naked truth, where I already have six more years of experience than you have. Look, on earth is nothing but deceit because everybody benefits something from it or at least think to gain something, but here, al winning came to an end; all lies and deceit falls away automatically. Believe me, nothing but my love binds me to you; this is the only gain I have of you. But if you still want to cling in folly to your old, insignificant principles, my gain also falls away. We can therefore only be happy if our insights and feelings would mutually completely concur. If we cannot settle this harmony, then I must honestly acknowledge that I would be happier without you than with you, empty-head, at my side. I am not able to speak anything more to your advantage, but the following: Because I truly love you and always have loved you, I have done here everything possible to show to you my eternal, solemnly promised love and faithfulness. But you have never loved me, you are willing to leave me forever for the sake of your love for your folly. Now, consider what you are going to do. [4] Look, the man begins to scratch behind his ears and after a while says to his wife: My dear wife, I have gathered from your words that you really love me. This I can impossibly deny. But I only cannot understand, if in this dark spiritual world nothing is to be gained or lost by either truth or lies, why would you then try to completely senselessly force a certain truth upon me, with which finally just as little can be gained than with my so-called, to you and your learned man, alleged false teaching! Therefore, I believe, if your love for me would really be as intense as you just indicated to me, you could just as well follow me as I could follow you, except if you have already found something better in the way of your truth. In that case, I would indeed want to follow you to convince myself of the reality of your truth. If this is not the case, then it is of no consequence where to we go. [5] I keep thinking: We did live upon earth as so-called Christians, have read the gospel, but never really lived according to it. We lived and acted according to our own insights and to our own benefit, but for the active practice of the teaching of Christ were neither with me, even less with you, anything present. [6] Look, the teaching says: “Love God above all and your neighbor as yourself”. Have we ever done that? If I ask my heart, then it answers completely honestly that the love unto God has stayed completely foreign. But you never believed in a God, therefore your heart would be even more devoid of love than mine. [7] There is also written in the word of the gospel: Who wants to enter into life with Me, takes up his cross and follow Me! Tell me for once, dear wife, when have we done something of this upon earth? I never carried a cross and you even less; our complete cross consists out of purely worldly financial cares. [8] Furthermore, is written in the gospel that the Master said to the rich youth: Sell all your earthly goods, distribute your gain among the poor and follow Me, then you will inherit eternal life. But what does the great Teacher say to the youth, or rather to his apostles after he removed himself from the Master in sorrow? Look, these words were full of special meaning as it appears to me, are we now living exactly the sad meaning of these words, going as follows: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter through the gate of heaven. [9] There is also written in Scripture that the Master has invited many guests to a festive banquet and that the invited would not find the time to attend, due to their worldly affairs. Tell me for once, were we not invited once upon a time and did we give heed to this invitation? Well, my dear wife, we have completely, only ourselves to thank for our circumstances and that we are finding ourselves in this place of utter darkness where is weeping and gnashing of teeth and of which the Master once said precisely people like us would be cast out into. [10] Because there is no faith in the Master to be found here, and your honorable company has spoken with just as much denial about Him as you, I believe they are finding themselves here for the very same reason as we do. If the great love and mercy of Christ would not help us all, I am convinced that all eternities, filled with melancholic truths, would barely be able to help us. [11] In addition, if you had found something better with your alleged truth, then I want to, as I said, follow you there to show you that I also love you and will not force any of my principles upon you like you have forced your so-called truths upon me. [12] The wife says: You can talk as much as you like, I am right once and for all. I cannot give you the assurance that I have already found something better, but I am nevertheless of the opinion that, if you would follow me, we would in not such a long time, find a place where there will be abundant light. For look, here to our right I have once, according to my inner feeling, walked for a long time all through, where I came to a broad river. To the other side of the river, I came upon a mighty mountain and behind the mountain arise a light as of the light of early morning. If one would be able to cross the river, one would, according to my conviction, find a lighter environment than this. [13] The man says: Well, I will follow you; lead me to it. We will also follow them, for you need to see the unraveling of it! CHAPTER 38 In the first degree of hell [1] You say: Best friend, we follow the couple as they go forth before us already for quite a while, still just as blind and silent as this night and look, there still is nothing to be seen of the morning red behind the mountains of which the woman spoke. Where is it then? Would the woman really have lied to her husband? I tell you: Have a bit more patience, then you will see the praise-worthy morning red soon enough. Take notice of our pair, how the wife is becoming ever more joyful, the man, in contrast, becomes more sorrowful and somber. [2] You ask: Why? The answer is obvious: She is getting closer to the element from where her love originates; therefore, she becomes happier. But with him, the opposite is true. He is getting closer to an element not related to him, he is not drawn by his love, but is dragged along by the love for his wife. [3] It goes with him almost like the lover in the old tale about the love for the beautiful Sirene. As long as the lover would observe the enchanting Sirene, he was elated. To be embraced by such a beloved seemed to him to be the pinnacle of all happiness. When he did approach his beloved and when she took him into her soft arms, dragging him down in embrace into her element, the initial fantastic enchantment vanished and a great fright and fear of death enveloped him. [4] Look, this is exactly the case here. The man notices that it is gradually getting darker. Such an increasingly impenetrable night is not his element, but the wife feels more and more satisfied the darker it becomes because the most complete darkness is the element of her love and therefore also of her life. But now you can also hear a muffled noise, almost like that of a great, distant waterfall. [5] You ask what it means? I tell you: Nothing other than that we have come rather close to the bordering river which we already came to know with our visit to the northern region. Let us go there courageously, then we will reach the riverside quickly. You again ask about the first mentioned morning red behind the mountains, which is still not in sight. Have a bit more patience. When we would have reached the bank of the river, which is already quite close as you can gather from that growing noise, you will probably be able to see the morning red in the distance behind the mountains. Pay attention and watch the ground, for, in just a few steps, we will reach the riverbank. [6] Stop now; we reached our goal and look, there beside the river, there far away on the background, you can see a very strong, red glow, looking like a distant great fire. Now, pay attention again to our couple's conversation. She says: Well, my dear husband, what do you say, was I right or not? Look at that beautiful morning red and here is the broad river. What shall we do now to get to the shining region? Look, we cannot cross the river, but we can indeed walk along the bank of the river. It becomes increasingly lighter as you can see with your own eyes and in times we shall certainly reach that glowing region. [7] The man says My dear, appreciated wife, it seems as if something is amiss with this light. Regarding the red glow, it does not seem to have any relationship with true morning red. In my eyes, it does not look like a glow coming from the sun, but much more like that of a burning city behind the mountains. If there is, in fact, a burning city I do doubt, but that something is burning, is certainly beyond suspicion. I, therefore, want to go with you until we get a proper view of the fire, but I will go no further. For one cannot know where it comes from and therefore it is always sensible to stay far away, for one should preferably stay out of the environment he does not know and which is not related to his nature. [8] She says: No, but now you are speaking utter nonsense! Only now does one see how dumb you really are; but where does this come from? I tell you, only and just because you have taken very little care upon earth to explain the effects of the primordial powers of nature, making you now incapable to explain these phenomena. Secondly, you are here only for a very short time yet and you have had a way too little opportunity to observe such phenomena and to let you be educated about it by the sages of this region. But look, there are two men walking along the riverbank, approaching us. Let us go to meet them; I am convinced that you would have much profit in engaging in a conversation with them. The man says: Yes, dear wife, I've always been a great friend of men in possession of much knowledge. Why would I not be? [9] But now I tell you: Pay good attention. The man greets the biggest and most imposing one very courteously. He stiffly bows and asks the woman's husband: Who has shown you, night rabble, the way from the darkness to the domain of the light? [10] The man says: Very respectable friend, I have only arrived here in the deep night a few days ago, but my wife has been here already for about six years. She knew nothing of these light domains; I also knew nothing, but only feel a great yearning towards light, so much so that nothing else remains for me than to let me, being a most inexperienced person, be led here by my more experienced wife. You would therefore not, my respectable friend, regard it as a transgression? If anyone has acted wrongly in this, then it could obviously only have been my wife. [11] The stranger says: And you dare acknowledge this here is a man? Truly, you do not seem to be something significant, for men who need the leading of their women is in our view on the same level than apes. Then the stranger turns to the woman and says to her: Has it really been you, my most amiable, lovely lady? She says: Oh, respectable friend, I indeed must acknowledge to my shame that he, my otherwise truly loving husband, would probably prefer to moss and dry grass in the thickest darkness out of pure dumb and insignificant love for the to you well-known Jewish philosopher, than to walk the way of the light as it was suggested not only by me but also by the exceptionally wise, to you well-known scholar, who calls himself Melanchthon. [12] The stranger says: O very estimable, loveable lady, I truly have sincere compassion with you, but on the other hand, I also admire your strength, inherent power with which you are so untiringly busy to bring such an awkward man in the right way. Most loving, most worthy lady, do not blame me if I would, in this shining, increasingly brighter time, jump out of my skin of annoyance about that old Christian-Judean philosophy. Yes, it seems to me even more dumb and stupid than when one would resolve to stay true to terribly old-fashioned dress, while the whole world around him have long ago seen the benefits of the new clothing and have accepted it unconditionally. [13] Now the stranger turns to the husband, and say to him: Is this indeed true, what your truly wise wife has said about you? [14] Look, the man is a bit disheveled and does not immediately know what to answer this man who seems very learned to him. He does not want to let go of Christ and it seems not advisable to say something about Him in the presence of this man who seems to be so mighty and learned. [15] But the learned stranger again turns himself to him and say: Yes, my best friend, if this is so with you, then you get the food without cost. Do you understand me? The man says: No, I do not know what you mean. The stranger says: It does not surprise me anymore. Regarding the ‘without payment’, it was already the custom with the old wise Romans and Greeks that one should always give free food to the crazy and the foolish. Even in this time, men give to men like you the honorable diploma of foolishness without cost, by which you could easily be taken up in a well-provided madhouse. This should not be unknown to you, for, as far as I know, you were indeed on top of management and state affairs. Do you understand what I mean? [16] The man says: Alas, I must understand it, but I am also at liberty to pose a question to you. Who gives you, with all your erudition, the right to treat me so crassly while I, in fact, approached you with particular courtesy, like on earth an utterly haughty schoolmaster would do to a dumb, miserable student? The stranger says: Listen, best friend, that I have treated you only somewhat gruffly was only a special discernment from my side, which you can assign to your sound wife. I would have treated such a dumb Christian simpleton otherwise differently and such a treatment would probably have eternally bereaved you of your longing after a bright region. But when you shall be open to reason, take your wife’s side and give me the assurance that you repent of your old worldly stupidity which caused you to come into this darkness, then I will bring you into - take note, only because of your wife - the neighborhood of that shining place, to a place of instruction where you, if you are not slow of understanding, come to a better insight. [17] The man says dumbfounded and humbly: Best, esteemed friend, if this is so, then I ask you to take me there. On earth, I have as a student always belonged among the best and I will certainly not be the worst in your school. [18] The stranger says: Good, I will accept you, but think to consider that you must leave the school immediately in the case of bad results and be sent back to your original night. But should you be an outstanding student, then your deserved acknowledgment would not be withheld from you. Yet, regarding your old Christian-Judean philosophy, I do recommend beforehand that you would not speak of it much there in the high school, for it will result in you being chased out right away. Such is an adverse sign, for fanatics are not suitable for the study of serious, higher sciences; only sober and controlled thinking can be applied there. [19] The wife now sinks to her knees before the erudite and thank him anew with the most flattering words for such an exceptional favor. The erudite answers her: Yes, yes, my esteemed, beloved lady, you are one in a thousand, yes millions of inhabitants of this nightly region to which he owes this. Follow me, therefore! [20] Look, the wife grabs her husband’s arm, go after the erudite and says to him while walking: Well, what do you say now? I indeed realize now that relationships here functions in a much different manner than you would have dreamt of on earth. The man says: Dear wife, this is so, but if these relationships are good and useful, only the future will show. Said among us, this whole debacle still seems rather suspicious to me; but time will tell what will become of this. [21] In a text of the honorable apostle Paul is written: Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. This I will do also here, but deep in my heart, I do think that there is not much or nothing good to be expected of this strange trial. The increasing intensifying light which seems to me as if one is still approaching a burning city seems to me to be nothing good. But as said, it is all subject to proof. Look a bit further down the river; there, more to the background, it almost seems to become glowing and it seems as if the waves are dissolving in a glowing haze. It seems as if we are approaching a sea of fire which upsets this river. [22] The wife says: Yes, my dear husband, here is the source where to get to know the working powers in the depths of their being and it indeed gives a bit greater light as when a miserable student on earth must study a Roman writer by poor lamp-light. [23] Look, here is a boat moored at the riverbank. The boatman says: If you would follow me towards your greatest fortune, step into the boat with which we shall sail downstream to the exalted regions of the light. [24] The wife steps very quickly into the boat, but the man hesitantly scratches himself behind the ears and do not know what he should do. But not to stay behind alone, and again for the sake of decency, he steps into the boat. The boat gets untied, and we see how it shoots downstream like an arrow from a bow. But now we will also quickly go, for we are as quick as the vehicle and can be even faster if needs be. [25] We have reached the boat. Look how the water down there is glowing with increasing intensity till there where the river flows into a broad cleft in the mountain. Let us therefore quickly gain advantage till beyond the mountain and wait for our boat at the outflow of the river. Do not be afraid, for also here, we are untouchable; all the horrors you will see there, will not influence us. [26] Look, we are there already. You are having a great fright because you see the river as a broad, glowing waterfall, thundering down into a deep, endless sea of flames and you ask what it means. [27] I tell you: this is the first mentioned ‘high school’ where our poor husband would get to know the fundamental working of the primordial powers, or better said: This is the first degree of hell! [28] Now look at the river again; our boat is just coming closer. The man stands upright, wringing his hands, wanting to jump from the boat, but the wife throws her arms around him, holds onto him and look, the boat with the four of them plunges over the edge, right into the high school! [29] You ask: do we also need to go down there? I indeed told you beforehand that you need to see the whole progression until the end, otherwise you would only know half of the bondage of such double love of a heart. Do not be afraid of these flames, for it is only but a manifestation of the hellish. At arrival, it will already look much different again. Follow me then without fear. CHAPTER 39 Where are heaven and hell located! [1] You say: It really goes down steeply and the road passes over so many rocks and steep hills! Yes, yes, best friends, it only seems like this to you; but to those whose being corresponds with this place, it seems like a broad and easily passable way. Let us courageously proceed; it will not be long before we will reach the visible sea of flames. [2] Look down there, how the flames begin to vanish gradually, letting you see many glowing places without flames up there. But you ask: Do we have to pass over there? I tell you: Do not worry yourselves about it, for all this is only apparitions depicting the condition of the being of those living below. The ‘flame’ means the zeal of the evil, the waft above the flame corresponds with the completely wrong, and the “glow” shows the complete self-love with the consequent wrongly directed zeal and the depraved will of those finding themselves in such a self-love. But how it all will work out here, you will see immediately with your own eyes. [3] Look down again now; what do you see now? You say: The flames have completely vanished and the glow have gathered into heaps, but in between the heaps we see a pitch-dark night. You again ask: What is then the river which we have seen glowingly rushing down? This river is once again an apparition and depicts the progress of the wrong as it flows out into evil. The depth of the evil is depicted by the depth of this abyss and how it concocts cunning and well-considered plans to execute its evil resolve. [4] Because you now know this, we will courageously approach it to reach our goal and so also our company. Only a few steps more and look, we are already on the plain and thus also completely in the depth. You are not seeing anything now, for the darkness here is so deep that you cannot see anything with the light of your eyes. We are therefore in need of enough light to discern anything here. None of those present here may see anything of our light, though. Therefore, you need to hold on tight to me and not get closer to the sphere of any spirit than what is granted to you. [5] And now, look, we already have as much light as is needed to get a closer look of this resort. What do you see? You excitedly remark: For God’s almighty and most mercy’s sake, what is this for a horrific resort! We see nothing but black sand and black rock and this is all that this resort’s surface consists of. Between the sand and rock is rising here and there wafts like we have often seen in upon earth when coals are being burnt. You also ask: Are there any beings to be seen here? This region looks completely desolate. Yes, my dear friends, this is again also only an apparition and depicts ‘death'! But do not worry yourselves about the absence of beings in this resort, for you will soon see more than enough of it. [6] Look, not far from here can something be seen which looks like a rather big stake with you on earth. We will have a closer look at this stake, then you will soon convince yourselves about the material this stake consists of. Well, we are at the right distance; have a closer look. What do you see? Again, you say: But in God’s almighty Name, what could this be? This is purely people, stacked upon each other like herrings and so well secured to the ground with a very strong chain, that no one would be able to move even a little in this condition. If this is so, then it will fare but particularly poor with the eternal freedom of the spirit. [7] Yes, yes, best friends, if we would view it from our heavenly light, it certainly does seem to be the case at first glance. Therefore, this is also just an apparition, corresponding with the true situation. In its deepest nature does this apparition depicts how a company is kept imprisoned by her own, completely wrong institution and the evil consequences of it. Let us now leave this stake and go on. Look, there in front of us is yet another, higher heap. We are already close, tell me what do you see. You say: Best friend, we see here the same as before, the heap is conical in form and a mass of chains is thrown over it, making it look as if these beings are tightly pressed together, so much so that their bodies are almost pressed flat. We can nowhere see what their faces look like, for all of them have their faces turned downward. You ask: Friend, does our previous quartet also find themselves in this heap? No, friends, we still shall get to them. Now that we have seen everything here, we will go a bit further. [8] Look, far away from us is a true mountain to be seen and because we again are at the right distance, we can have a closer look at it. What do you see! You again say: But for the almighty and just will of God, now what is this! This is also pure human beings, stacked beneath chains and iron grids. Between them are also a whole lot of snakes and adders looking with their detestable eyes in all directions, flicking their tongues in and out. What does it say! This is saying that this is a company which have already proceeded from its wrongful institution into evil acts. Let us go on from here. Look, not far from us, is a mountain which you cannot see so clearly at first glance. This is also not necessary, for a place speak for the whole. Here is already one of the foothills of the mountain range; take a good look at it and tell me what do you see. You say: We see nothing other but all kinds of skinned and knobbled monstrosities; only here and there a flattened skeleton of a human cadaver is hanging out from among them. What would this then mean? This depicts the purest self-love and this is the picture of the worldly power, greatness, and wealth, which takes form when these characteristics would on earth be used for egoistic and bad purposes. [9] You again ask, saying: But best friend, we do know very well that we are finding ourselves in your sphere and indeed on the spiritual sun, where we expect nothing but the heavenly; how come is it that we find here also complete hell? Yes, dear friends, has it not been explained to you at the time of your passing over to the spiritual sun, that the spiritual is the most inner, the all-penetrating and the all-encompassing? If this is the nature of the spiritual, then it indeed penetrates all planets and the whole sphere, as far as the light of the natural sun reaches; but purely spiritually takes it much further even. Therefore, you are now not exactly in the sphere of the actual sun, but in the specific sphere of your planet. Like all planets receives their heat from the actual sun and her influence penetrates all these planets, such is also the case with the spiritual sun, allowing us to observe by the vibrations of her spiritual radiation, also the spiritual of her planets. Because we now understand this better, it would hopefully be clear to you that one will be able to view also the spiritual nature of hell, as it pertains to your earth. [10] You should not picture heaven and hell as being materially and spatially removed from one another, but only as a condition. Heaven and hell can find each other spatially next to each other, as a heavenly good person can walk right next to a hellish bad one and even sit next to him on the same bench. The one has perfect heaven in himself and the other, perfect hell. As proof of this, I can immediately let you see my own sphere which can find himself here just as well in heaven as in hell, for you see it all plainly in my sphere and you only have to take a step out of my sphere and you will find yourselves again at the same place from where you have originally entered my sphere. Since you now know this, we can leave this mountain again and look at everything in another light. [11] Now, take notice, the light has changed. How do you see the mountains now? You are astonished that you are instantaneously seeing, instead of the mountain, freely moving groups, as well as various dwellings, looking partly like filthy pubs and partly like old, black knightly castles and see, all this in a reddish, dusky light. [12] But look, up front, not far from us, stands an old knightly castle, seemingly built against the rocky mountain. We will go there. Look, here we are; the gate is open. We are invisible here, therefore we will enter this castle, then we shall see how things are there. Well, there is the first hall. On the walls hang all kinds of instruments of murder and torture. In the background on a throne, sits the so-called lord of the castle. He confers with his brothers in arms, to decide on their strategy for robbing the goods and treasures of the owner of the similar, neighboring castle. Listen how he instructs them to overcome the targeted castle in complete silence, to kill them all with sables and everyone living there mercilessly and take hold of the treasures. Those who would stubbornly resist should be taken captive and as was often the case before already, would this captive be subjected to the most painful tortures. Well, the decision has been made and the council is disbanded. Everyone grab their weapons and runs outside. Because we have nothing more to do here, we shall run after them. [13] Look, there in front of us, not far from here, is the mentioned castle. It is being surrounded and look, the terrible slaughter begins. These evil beings are fighting fervently against each other, resulting in the inhabitants of the second castle to be cut to pieces. Keep on watching; our familiar quartet have just been chained and brought closer by the brothers in arms of our first castle owner. Let us join them and listen to the dialogue. Listen, the man says to the woman: Oh, you miserable snake, now I have seen through you! My anxious suspicion has always whispered to me that you are permeated by a bad spirit! This is now the high school and your merciful light which you have cunningly portrayed to me as a so-called highly experienced spiritual being with hypocrisy and lying. This chained, evil professor of this high school is now bound together with us in this abhorring captivity, in which we can be sure to expect the most horrible fate. [14] The wife says: How can you now think this about me? Who can do anything about unforeseen bad luck? I have but only meant it well with you. The man says: Be silent, you miserable snake! I have only you to thank that I am obviously finding myself in hell. Between me and you shall now every bond be severed forever. And You, my Jesus, on whom I always have called upon, help me from this terrible captivity. I want rather to, if it is Your most holy will, to wander around in that dark resort for thousands of years to make penance for my sins than to stay for one moment longer in this resort of horrors, which seems to be eternally cut off from Your compassion and mercy! Oh Jesus, help me! Oh Jesus, save me! [15] Look, two disguised ones are quickly approaching this caravan. Look, they are there already. They remove their disguise and as you see are they two judging angels of the Master. Each of them has a flaming sword in the hand. One swings his sword over the conquered castle, by which the torn apart and cut apart beings have been put together again, and they begin to mourn the suffered injustice. The other angel swings with his sword over the first notorious castle at which occasion it burst into flames. Burning and howling figures throw themselves outside from the openings, frames, and doors and curse these two judging angels. [16] Keep on looking: an angel strikes with his flaming sword among our quartet. The chain is broken. The man sinks down before the two angels and pleads them for merciful salvation. One angel grabs him and pulls him with him, but the wife also takes hold of him and scream for her husband for compassion and mercy and not to leave her. Look for how long she let herself be dragged along by the angelic spirit! Look now, both angels lift him up; one carries the man, while the woman lets herself be taken along and do not let go of the man. Only now, already on a great height, the other angel loosens the wife from her husband with much effort, striking at her with his sword. She suddenly falls back into her element, weeping; and the man is brought to the border of the kingdom of the children, where the environment still seems but meager and dark. [17] You have now seen such a rescue and that still one of the best. There are indeed countless more horrible and stubborn cases, of which you would barely be able to bear the scene, even expressed only in words. We shall therefore now go back to our initial place and from there pass over into the region of the midday. This, therefore, is enough for today.
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