73、对主一无所知的外邦人或异教徒出现在认识主的人周围。事实上，只有那些纯粹的偶像崇拜者和拜日月的人才占据最边缘的地带。但那些承认一位神，严格遵守类似十诫的戒律之人出现在较高地带，因而更直接地与中心地带的基督徒交流，因为这样会防止交流被伊斯兰教徒和天主教徒切断。外邦人或异教徒也是照着他们从主通过天堂接受光的天赋和能力来划分的；因为他们当中有些人更内在，有些人更外在；这种多样性不是因为他们的出生地，而是因为他们的宗教信仰。非洲人比其他人更内在。
73. Africans, and People of Other Religions, in the Spiritual World
The people of other religions, who had had no knowledge of the Lord, appear farther from the center than the people who had had such knowledge. They are arranged in such a way that those who are at the farthest edge are all complete idolaters and worshipers of the sun or the moon.
The ones who acknowledge one God, though, and who take precepts like those of the Ten Commandments to be religious principles that determine how they live, are situated in a higher region and therefore have more direct communication with the Christians who are in the central region. Their location keeps this communication from being blocked by Muslims and Catholics.
People of other religions are also sorted by disposition and by their ability to receive light through the heavens from the Lord. Some of them are shallow by nature and some are deep. How deep or shallow they are is attributable not to their native soil but to the religion they practice. The Africans are by nature deeper than the rest.
73. X. THE AFRICANS AND THE HEATHEN IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD
The heathen, who know nothing about the Lord, are to be seen surrounding those who do. Indeed the people who occupy the outermost fringes are those who are utter idolaters and worshipped the sun and the moon. Those, however, who acknowledge one God and are scrupulous in observing the kind of precepts that are in the Ten Commandments, are to be seen in the upper region, and are thus in more direct communication with the Christians in the heartland, for this prevents communication being cut off by the Mohammadens and the Roman Catholics. The heathen too are grouped according to their characters and their ability to receive light from the Lord through the heavens. Some live further in, some further out; this does not depend on their native country, but on their religion. The Africans are further in than the rest.
73. X. THE AFRICANS AND THE GENTILES IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD.
The Gentiles who know nothing concerning the Lord, appear around those who know of Him; so that no others make the extreme circumferences but those who are altogether idolatrous, and have adored the sun and moon. But they who acknowledge one God, and make precepts like those of the Decalogue a part of religion and of life, are seen in a higher region, and thus communicate more immediately with the Christians in the center; for thus the communication is not intercepted by the Mohammedans and Papists. The Gentiles are also distinguished according to their genius and faculty of receiving light through the heavens from the Lord; for there are some of them who are more interior, and some who are more exterior; and these diversities are not derived from their place of birth, but from their religion. The Africans are more interior than the rest.
73. (X.) DE AFRICANIS ET DE GENTIBUS IN MUNDO SPIRITUALI.
Gentes, quae non aliquid norunt de Domino, circum illos qui norunt, apparent; usque ita, ut ultimas peripherias faciant non alii quam qui prorsus idololatrae sunt, ac solem et lunam adoraverunt. Illi autem, qui unum Deum agnoscunt, ac praecepta, qualia sunt in Decalogo, religionis et vitae faciunt, conspiciuntur in regione superiore, et sic immediatius communicant cum Christianis in meditullio; nam communicatio sic non intercipitur a Mahumedanis et Pontificiis. Gentes etiam distinctae sunt secundum genios et facultates recipiendi lucem per caelos a Domino; sunt enim ex illis interiores et exteriores, quod non trahunt ex solo natali, sed ex religione: Africani sunt reliquis interiores.