CHAPTER I.
THE OLD DOCTRINE.
"A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness."—Joel ii. 2.
The prevailing belief of the Christian Church hitherto, in regard to the state of infants after death, is a legitimate subject of inquiry, and one which we think may be pursued with profit. Not only so, but it is a subject in which all Christians might be expected to feel a common interest. And if the inquiry be prosecuted in a spirit of Christian candor and fairness, some valuable instruction may be gathered from it, and no one will have just cause of offense. Observe that our inquiry relates not to the prevailing belief on this subject among Christians now, but to the belief which had prevailed in the Church prior to Swedenborg's time, or to the revelations made through him. We are happy to believe that the old, and once popular doctrine of infant damnation, is looked upon with little or no favor in any respectable Christian communion of the present day. All who will, may see, and nearly all
