The Resurrection

We would also have to regard the One who performs these wise and generous acts, and bestows these merciful favors, as nothing more than a frivolous player or a cruel tyrant. Such an interpretation would turn all truths upside down. Yet the inversion of truth is impossible and unacceptable to every rational person. Only the sophists, who in their folly deny the existence of everything, could accept such a notion.

This shows that beyond this land there is another land where a court of ultimate judgment, a perfect justice, and an everlasting generosity exist. There, His mercy, wisdom, providence, and justice will manifest themselves in their fullest perfection.

The Twelfth Aspect

Come, let us now return to the present. We shall speak with the leading figures and officers of these communities and examine their equipment. We shall determine whether their equipment is intended merely for a brief stay in this land or for attaining a long and happy life in another land.

We cannot examine everyone's equipment and documents, so let us consider the personal documents of one officer as an example.

His documents list his rank, salary, duties, objectives, and instructions. Clearly, his rank has not been granted for only a few days, but for a much longer period. It is also written that he will receive his salary from the state treasury on a certain date. Yet that date will not arrive until long after this land has been vacated. Likewise, his duties are evidently not intended for this transient land, but for attaining an everlasting happiness in the presence of the ruler. His aspirations extend far beyond this temporary abode of a few days and are directed toward a long and blessed life. And the instructions clearly show that he is destined for another place and is working for it.

Look, his documents contain instructions for the use of his equipment and the responsibilities entrusted to him. If there were no exalted and everlasting realm beyond this temporary land, then these unmistakable documents would be entirely meaningless. Without such a realm, this respected officer, this highly honored commander, this distinguished leader would be more miserable, helpless, wretched, needy, weak, and humiliated than anyone else among the people.

Take this example and apply the same principle to everything. Wherever you look, and however you examine it, everything bears witness that beyond this transient land there is an everlasting land.

Listen, my friend! This land is like a field, a training ground, and a marketplace. It will most certainly be followed by a court of ultimate judgment and the greatest happiness. If you deny this, then you must also deny all the personal documents, records, equipment, and instructions of the officers. Indeed, you would have to deny the entire order of this land, all the activities carried out within it, and even the existence of the government itself. In that case, you could no longer be regarded as a rational or conscious human being. You would be even more foolish than the sophists.