"I hope that the work, entitled The True Christian Religion, which has recently left the press, is now in your hands, and also that the two copies which I sent at the same time to his Serene Highness the Duke and Landgrave have reached him; for I greatly desire to have your opinion concerning the things contained therein, knowing as I do that by enlightenment from the Lord you will more than others see in light the truths which are manifested there from the Word. Today I send also my reply to the letter which his Serene Highness the Duke wrote to me lately; and in compliance with his orders I speak to him of several conversations I had with, among others, the Queen of Sweden and her brother. But these must by no means be regarded as miracles; for they are simply testimonies that I have been introduced by the Lord into the spiritual world, and have communication and converse there with angels and spirits; in order that the church, which has hitherto remained in ignorance concerning that world, may know that heaven and hell really exist, and that man lives after death a man, as before; and that thus no more doubts may flow into his mind in respect to his immortality. Please, deign to satisfy the Duke, your prince, on this score, that these things are not miracles, but merely testimonies that I converse with angels and spirits. The fact and the reason that there are no miracles at the present day, may be seen in the above mentioned work. The Lord says . . . Wherefore those who do not believe unless they see miracles, are very easily led into fanaticism. I have seen two volumes full of miracles wrought by a certain Paris, which are nevertheless nothing but pure falsehoods, being in part fantastical and in part magical doings. The same is the case with the other miracles among the Roman Catholics. Examine also, if you please, those things that have been related by me on this subject in the above work. At this day faith will be established and confirmed in the New Church only by the Word itself, and the truths which are derived thence; if these shine in a certain light before the eyes of those who read my last work, it is a sign that the Lord is present and enlightens; because He is the Word itself, and also the truths that are derived thence.

Farewell in the Lord. ["Em. Swedenborg.] ["Amsterdam, July 13, 1771."] * Documents Concerning Swedenborg, Vol. 2, pp. 390-391.