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 only when there is a union of souls between the parties. If the union is merely external, and the two have no spiritual affinity, it will not be renewed or continued in the Hereafter.

The same remarks are applicable to other earthly relationships. They may be, and sometimes are, continued in heaven, with their pleasures refined, their joys exalted, and their delights immensely increased. This, too, is what the great seer teaches.

"Certain souls," he says, "who were with me [on one occasion], were let into a state of innocence, from which they conversed with me through spirits; and they confessed that it was a state of such joy and gladness that the human understanding could form no conception of it, for it was their very inmosts which were affected. . . They were with those who had been their parents, grandparents, and ancestors, that is, with their entire family for two centuries back. They were admitted together with them into that heaven, and their joy was such as cannot possibly be described."—Spl. D. 832, '4.

Such is Swedenborg's teaching concerning the meeting and recognition of friends in the Hereafter, and the continuance or cessation of natural relationships. Does it sound like the ravings of a madman or the utterances of a fanatic? Stretch your imagination to the utmost, and see if you can conceive of any different view that is at once so rational, philosophical, and scriptural as this.

The doctrine here disclosed is one that fully meets the demands of our reason as well as of our God-implanted desires and instincts. It satisfies the cravings of even the strongest natural affection. It permits the