16. XVI. The races and peoples outside the church who have no Word and thus know nothing about the Lord and redemption.

The numbers of those who have the Word are small compared with those who do not have it. The Word exists only in Europe among what are called the Reformed Christians; among the Roman Catholics the Word certainly exists, but it is not read, and there are kingdoms devoted to this religion such as France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, more than half of Germany and also of Hungary, as well as Poland. The Word is also little read in Russia, but it is still believed to be holy. Only ¹ in England, Holland, certain duchies in Germany, and in Sweden and Denmark is the Word taught and preached. But the peoples of Asia, Africa and the Indies are ignorant of the Word, numerous as they are compared with the Reformed Christians.

However, the Lord saw to it that to prevent the Word being lost, the Jewish race, which possesses the Word of the Old Testament in its original language, should survive, and live scattered throughout much of the world. Although they deny the Lord to be the Messiah or Christ who was foretold by the Prophets, and although they are wicked at heart, still their reading of the Word creates communication with certain heavens. For correspondences open up communication, whatever sort of person the reader may be, so long as he acknowledges it as Divine. This continues today as in the past. For when they reverence as if minor deities Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David, Elijah and many others who are named in the Word, then the heavens perceive instead the Lord, being unaware of the person in the world who is the origin of that holy element in their worship. That is how heaven is linked with people by means of the Word.

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