820. All who go from the earth to the spiritual world are kept at first in the confession of faith and religion of their own country; and as this is true of the Papists, they always have a representative of a pope placed over them, whom they worship with ceremonies like those they observed in the world. It rarely happens that anyone who has been a pope in the world is placed over them after his demise; but one who filled the pontifical chair thirty or forty years ago was placed over them because he had cherished in his heart a clearer idea of the holiness of the Word than was generally held, also that the Lord ought to be worshiped. I was permitted to talk with him, and he said that he worshiped the Lord alone, because He is God, and has all power in heaven and on earth, according to His words (Matt. 28:18). He said that the invocation of saints is an absurdity; he said also that he had intended when in the world to re-establish such a church, but was unable to do so, for reasons which he stated.
When the great northern city which contained both Papists and Reformers, was destroyed on the day of the last judgment, I saw him carried out on a litter and transferred to a place of safety. On the borders of the large society in which he exercises pontifical authority schools are established, where those go who are undecided about religion; and there they find converted monks who teach them about God the Savior Christ, and also about the holiness of the Word, leaving it to their own judgment whether they will turn their minds away from the methods of sanctification maintained in the Roman Catholic church. Those who receive instruction are introduced into a large society composed of those who have withdrawn from the worship of the pope and the saints; and when they enter that society they are like men who have been aroused from sleep and are fully awake, or like those who have come from the inclemency of winter into the sweetness of early spring, or like sailors who have just come to port, and are then invited by those there to feasts, and noble wine in crystal goblets is given them to drink. And angels, I have heard, sent down from heaven to the host a plate containing manna, in form and taste like that which fell upon the camps of the children of Israel in the desert, and this plate is carried around to all the company, and everyone is permitted to taste of its contents.