72、他们当中的许多人能接受真理，也能理性看到公义，如我在灵界通过与他们交谈所能观察到的。我和他们谈论了一位神，复活和婚姻。关于一位神，他们说，他们不明白基督徒所谈论的三位一体，基督徒说有三个位格，每个位格都是神，却又坚持说神为一。我回答说，天上来自基督徒的天使不是这样说的，而是说，神在本质和位格上都为一，祂里面有一个三位一体，世人却将这三位一体称为三个位格；这三位一体在主里面。为证明这一切，我在他们面前读了马太福音和路加福音中描述主从父神成孕，并教导父与祂为一的经文。听到这番话，他们明白了，说这意味着神性本质在祂里面。
关于复活，他们说，他们不明白基督徒论到人死后状态的话，基督徒将灵魂比作风或空气，因此在最后审判之日与肉体重新结合之前，灵魂丧失了一切快乐。我回答说，只有一些基督徒这样讲；但不属这教派的基督徒则相信死后他们会上天堂，与天使交谈，并体验天上的喜乐，只是他们没有描述出来，并且没有想到这喜乐不同于他们在世上所体验的喜乐。我补充说，如今，关于死后状态的许多细节被揭示给他们，这都是他们闻所未闻的。
关于婚姻，我与他们有过多次交谈；除了其它事外，我又告诉他们说，婚姻之爱是一种属天堂的爱，只能存在于两个人之间；与多个妻子的结合会排除这爱中属天堂的元素。他们听了我的理由，看到了它们的正确性。他们还明白，他们被允许有一夫多妻制，是因为他们是东方人；没有这种许可，东方人将比欧洲人更贪恋污秽的通奸，因而早就灭亡了。
72. Many of them are very receptive to truth and are capable of seeing what is right on the basis of rational argumentation—something I have been able to observe in my conversations with them in the spiritual world. I talked with them about the one God, about resurrection, and also about marriage.
Concerning the one God, they said that they see no sense in what Christians say about the Trinity, namely, that there are three persons and that each one is God, and yet they maintain that there is nevertheless one God. I said in response that angels in the Christian heaven do not say things like that; they say that God is one person and has one essence, but there is a trinity that exists within him. I added that people on earth refer to this trinity as three “persons,” but actually all three exist within the Lord. To support this I read to them the passages in Matthew and Luke about the Lord’s conception by God the Father [Matthew 1:18–25; Luke 1:26–38], and then the passage where the Lord says that he and the Father are one [John 10:30]. When they heard this they perceived that it was so and said that the Lord’s essence, then, is divine.
[2] As for resurrection, they said they see no sense in what Christians say about our state after death. Christians say the soul is something like air or a breeze and is incapable of experiencing any pleasure before being reunited with its body on the day of the Last Judgment. I replied that only a particular group of Christians says things like that; Christians who are not part of that denomination believe instead that they will go to heaven after they die, will talk with angels, and will enjoy heavenly delight, and although they do not specify what that delight is, they see it as being not unlike the pleasures they experience in the world. I added that many things about our state after death are just now being revealed to Christians, things they had not known about before.
[3] I have also had many conversations with them about marriage, saying among other things that marriage love is a heavenly love and is possible only between two individuals, and that a husband’s partnering with many wives blocks access to the heavenliness of this love. They heard the reasons and perceived the fairness in them. I added that polygamy was permitted them because they were Middle Easterners; if polygamy had not been allowed, they would have been even more vulnerable than Europeans to falling into flagrant adulteries of the filthiest kinds and would have destroyed themselves.
72. Many of them are capable of receiving the truth, and can see the rightness of arguments, as I was able to observe by talking with them in the spiritual world. I talked with them about the one God, resurrection and marriage. On the subject of one God they said they did not understand Christians talking about the Trinity and saying there are three Persons, each of whom is God, while still insisting that God is one. I replied that the angels in the Christian heaven do not say that, but that God is one in person and in essence in whom there is a threefold entity, which people on earth call three Persons. I said that this threefold entity is in the Lord; and to prove this I read to them the passages in Matthew and Luke which describe the Lord's conception from God the Father, and where He teaches that the Father and He are one. On hearing this they grasped the point, saying this meant that He had a Divine essence.
[2] On resurrection they said that they did not understand what Christians said about people's state after death, likening the soul to wind or air, so that it had no chance of pleasure until reunited with the body on the day of the Last Judgment. I replied that only some Christians spoke in this way; but those who do not belong to that sect believe that after death they will reach heaven, talk with angels and experience heavenly joy, which, although they give no account of it, they do not distinguish from similar joy experienced in the world. I added that at the present time further revelations previously unknown about the state of people after death are being made to them.
On marriage, I had many conversations with them. I said among other things that the love of a married couple is a heavenly love, which cannot exist except between two persons; and association with more than one wife excludes the heavenly element in that love. They listened to my arguments and saw their rightness. They also grasped that polygamy had been permitted them because they are orientals, who but for that dispensation would have lusted more than Europeans after foul adulteries, and so would have been lost.
72. Many of them are receptive of truth, and they see justice in reasons, as I was enabled to observe from conversations with them in the spiritual world. I spoke with them concerning the One God, the resurrection, and marriage. Of the One God they said, that they do not comprehend the Christians when speaking of the Trinity, and saying that there are three Persons, and that each Person is God, and still saying that God is one. But I replied, that the angels in the heaven which is from Christians, do not speak thus, but say, that God is one in essence and in Person, and in whom is a Trine, and that men on earth call this Trine three Persons; and that this Trine is in the Lord. In confirmation, I read before them out of Matthew and Luke, all that is said there of the conception of the Lord from God the Father, as well as the passages in which He Himself teaches, that He and the Father are one. On hearing this they perceived it, saying that thus the Divine essence is in Him. Of the Resurrection they said, that they do not comprehend Christians when they speak of the state of man after death, making the soul like wind or air, and hence is deprived of all delight before its reunion with the body at the day of the Last Judgment . But I replied, that only some talk thus, but that they who are not of that class, believe they will come into heaven after death, will speak with the angels, and enter upon heavenly joy, which they do not conceive to be dissimilar to their joy in the world, although they do not describe it; and I told them, that at the present day, many particulars of the state after death are revealed to them, which they did not know before. Of Marriage, I have had many conversations with them, and have told them, among other things, that conjugial love is a celestial love, which can exist only between two, and that conjunction with many wives does not admit the celestial of that love. They heard my reasons, and perceived their justice; as also this, that polygamy was permitted them, because they are Orientals, who without this permission would have burned for foul adulteries more than Europeans, and would have perished.
72. Sunt multi ex illis receptibiles veri, et vident in rationibus justitiam, quod ex colloquiis cum illis in mundo spirituali animadvertere potui. Locutus sum cum illis de Deo uno, de Resurrectione, et de Conjugio. De Deo uno dixerunt, quod non comprehendant Christianos loquentes de Trinitate, et dicentes quod tres Personae sint, et unaquaevis Deus, et quod usque dicant quod Deus unus sit: sed respondi illis?, quod angeli in caelo, quod ex illis est, non loquantur ita; sed quod Deus unus sit Persona et Essentia in quo Trinum, et quod homines in terris hoc Trinum appellent tres Personas; et quod illud Trinum sit in Domino: ut confirmarentur, perlegi coram illis ex Matthaeo et Luca, quae ibi de conceptione Domini ex Deo Patre dicuntur, tum ubi Ipse docet quod Pater et Ipse unum sint; his auditis perceperunt rem, dicentes quod sic Divina Essentia Ipsi sit. De Resurrectione dicebant, quod non comprehendant Christianos loquentes de statu hominis post mortem, quod faciant animam similem vento aut aeri, et inde in nullo delicio ante reunitionem cum corpore die ultimi judicii: sed respondi, quod modo aliqui ita loquantur sed quod qui ex illa secta non sunt, credant se post mortem in caelum venturos, cum angelis locuturos, et gaudio caelesti fruituros, quod non abstrahunt a simili gaudio quod illis est in mundo, tametsi non describunt illud; et quod hodie revelentur illis plura de statu post mortem, quae antea non sciverunt. De Conjugio plura cum illis locutus sum, et inter illa, quod amor conjugialis sit amor caelestis, non dabilis quam inter duos, et quod conjunctio cum pluribus uxoribus caeleste illius amoris non admittat: audiverunt rationes, et justitiam in illis perceperunt; tum etiam hoc, quod permissa sit illis polygamia, quia orientales sunt, qui absque illa permissione prae Europaeis flagravissent in spurca adulteria, et periissent.