the Body, which He glorified in the world, which is not the case with any man; on which subject He also instructed His disciples, saying, “Feel Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have” [(Luke xxiv. 39)][zz].  This was clearly understood by those spirits, for such truths fall into the understanding of angelic spirits.  They then added, that the Lord alone has power in the heavens, and that the heavens are His; to which it was given me to answer, that this also is known to the Church on our Earth from the mouth of the Lord Himself before He ascended into heaven; for He then said, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth” [(Matt, xxviii. 18)].

[Footnote yy:  From the Creed of Athanasius.]

[Footnote zz:  Immediately after death, man rises again as to his spirit; and he is in the human form, and he is a man as to all things in general and particular, nos. 4527, 5006, 5078, 8939, 8991, 10594, 10597, 10758.  Man rises again only as to the spirit, and not as to the body, nos. 10593, 10594.  The Lord alone rose again as to the body also, nos. 1729, 2083, 5078, 10825.]

160.  I afterwards conversed with those spirits concerning their earth; for all spirits can do this when their natural or external memory is opened by the Lord; for this they carry with them from the world, but it is not opened except at the Lord’s good pleasure.  Respecting their earth, from which they had come, the spirits then said that when leave is given them, they appear to the inhabitants, and converse with them, as men; and that this is effected by their being let into their natural or external memory, and consequently into such a thought as they had been in when they lived in the world; and that on such occasions the inhabitants have their interior sight or the sight of their spirit opened, by which they see the spirits.  They added, that the inhabitants know no otherwise than that they are men of their earth, and only apperceive they are not when they are suddenly removed from their sight, I told them that the same thing also happened on our Earth in ancient times, as, for instance, to Abraham, Sarah, Lot, the inhabitants of Sodom, Manoah and his wife, Joshua, Mary, Elizabeth, and the prophets generally; and that the Lord appeared in like manner, and they who saw Him knew no otherwise than that He was a man of the earth, till He revealed Himself.  But that at the present day this rarely happens; the reason is, lest men by such things should be compelled to believe; for compelled faith, such as is the faith which enters by means of miracles, does not inhere, and would also be hurtful to those with whom faith may be implanted by means of the Word in a state without compulsion.