590. Learned European spirits who continually desire to seduce them from the truth and from faith in the Lord objected that salvation was effected in time, and that almost four thousand years had elapsed before He came into the world, and yet spirits had also been saved before that time. The spirits of Jupiter could not but laugh that they should make such allegations concerning things Divine, when, as they were told, the past and the present are one with God; for all things from eternity to eternity are present to Him, and the promise and the deed are the same thing with the Lord. There are besides, other things which the spirits of our earth often raise as objections, and they want to pervert all the spirits they meet. Such are the Europeans who are called Christians, and there are very many indeed who are inwardly such; for in the world they simulate, and say one thing with the mouth, and cherish another at heart. A spirit or soul cannot speak except from his acquired disposition, thus from the heart, consequently from the life of his love which had consisted of mere cupidities. Therefore their so-called understanding is from mere falsities, for there is no inherent reason within them except that which flows from their love. Thus such as is the love in the body, such is the life and such is the act, which is so easily known in the other life that nothing is easier. If they only utter one word or disclose one idea, or if they only think, the whole spirit discloses himself therein, and shows of what quality he had been during the life of the body; wherefore he is associated with those who are alike, and they act together.