819. Verse 12. And all the authority of the first beast he exerciseth before him, signifies the connection of the reasonings from the natural man with the sense of the letter of the Word, by which the religion of faith separate is strengthened. This is evident from the signification of "the beast coming up out of the earth," which exercised all the authority of the first beast before the dragon, as being confirmations from the sense of the letter of the Word in favor of faith separated from life, and the consequent falsifications of truth (See above, n. 815), also from the signification of "the first beast," as being reasonings from the natural man confirming the separation of faith from the life (See above, n. 774); also from the signification of "the dragon," before which this beast exercised all the authority of the first beast, as being in general, faith separated from the life of faith, which is charity. From this it can be seen that this beast's "exercising all the authority of the first beast before the dragon" signifies the connection of reasonings from the natural man with the sense of the letter of the Word, by which the religion of faith separate is confirmed.

[2] The connection of reasonings from the natural man with the sense of the letter of the Word is meant, because nothing false can ever be confirmed by the sense of the letter of the Word except by means of reasonings from the natural man. For the Word in the letter consists of appearances of truth and also of correspondences, and both of these in their bosom, that is, in their spiritual sense, contain genuine truths; consequently when any falsity is confirmed by the appearances of truth that correspond to genuine truths the Word is falsified; and the falsification of the Word can be effected only by reasonings from the natural man. This is why "the dragon," which signifies the heretical dogma of faith alone, is further described by two beasts, by the first of which reasoning from the natural man in favor of faith separated from its life, which is charity, is described; and by the other, confirmation from the sense of the letter of the Word, and thus corroboration of it, also the falsification of truth, are described; from which it is again evident that this beast's "exercising all the authority of the first beast before the dragon" signifies the connection of reasonings from the natural man with the sense of the letter of the Word. But these things shall be illustrated by examples.

1.

[3] The dogmatists who contend for faith alone pay no attention to any of those passages of the Word where "works," "deeds," "working," and "doing," are mentioned; and yet these are so plain as to admit of no contrary reasoning; nevertheless by reasonings they wrest these passages from their genuine meaning and bend and turn them away from the genuine truth that is in the heavens, and that is contained in their spiritual sense. For they reason by saying that faith alone includes deeds and works, because those who are in faith are also in these, thus they are wrought by faith; when in fact, faith without deeds or works is a dead faith, by which nothing can be wrought. If this is said to them they argue that deeds are nevertheless present by a secret Divine operation, although they exclude them from being a means of salvation, thus that they may be present and not be present, as can be seen from justification by instantaneous faith, and also in the hour of death, even in the case of evil men.

2. It is a reasoning from the natural man that faith separate from goods of life is also spiritual, and yet the goods that are of love are what give life to faith, and make it spiritual. For love is the very soul of faith, and love is doing, for what a man loves he wills, and what he wills he does. And this the Lord teaches in John:

He that hath My commandments and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me; but he that loveth Me not keepeth not My words (John 14:21, 24).

Thence it is clear that faith without works is not spiritual; for it is without its soul, and faith without its soul is a dead faith.

3. It is also a reasoning from the natural man that faith was made the means of salvation because man cannot do good of himself.

4. It is also a reasoning from the natural man that those who are merely in faith are in God and in a state of grace, even so that nothing can condemn them. From this it is believed by many that it is not necessary to live a Christian life, which is according to the Lord's commandments; for they say to themselves, Why should I give any thought to works, when good works do not save and evil works do not condemn? I have faith that the Lord suffered the cross for the sins of the world, and delivered us from the condemnation of the law; what more is necessary? 5. It is a reasoning from the natural man that faith alone is like a seed from which all kinds of salvation spring forth like shrubs and trees from seed in gardens; and yet in faith alone there is no seed of life except what is from the spiritual life of man.

6. Moreover, all those things that are taught by the learned dogmatists of this religious principle respecting the progression to justification through faith alone are reasonings from the natural man; as, that the trust of that faith must be acquired from the Word, from preaching, and from the authority of teachers, without intellectual sight; and if the understanding enters into it faith does not become spiritual. And yet when the intellectual sight is excluded man is blind, and before a blind man falsities can be confirmed as well as truths, and even better than truths, because with one who is blind fallacies which are darkness avail more than truths themselves which are in light. Shut up the understanding, bring forth reasonings, and cite confirmations from the sense of the letter of the Word, and you will persuade yourself of anything you wish, especially in theological matters that ascend into the interior of the rational mind.

[4] These are called reasonings from the natural man, because the natural man is in the delights of the love of self and of the world; and these delights, when they prevail, cause man to believe only such things as agree with them, which in themselves are falsities. They also induce darkness in everything spiritual, even to the extent that man shuns heavenly light, and thus rejects all enlightenment of the understanding. The reason is that the natural man, separated from the spiritual, regards only self and the world, and not the Lord and heaven; and thus he is conjoined to hell, which is the source of all falsities; and these can never be dissipated except by the prevalence of heavenly love and by genuine truths which are from that love. This, then, is why these are called reasonings from the natural man, and why reasonings from the natural man are what falsify the Word; for the Word cannot be falsified except by reasonings from the natural man.

774. Verse 1. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea, signifies reasonings from the natural man confirming the separation of faith from life. This is evident from the signification of "a beast coming up out of the sea," as being the things that belong to the natural man; for "beasts" signify in the Word the affections of the natural man, in both senses (See above, n. 650; and the "sea" signifies the various things of the natural man that have reference to its knowledges [scientifica] both true and false, and to thoughts and reasonings therefrom (See also above, n. 275, 342, 511, 537, 538, 600). Thence it is clear that "a beast coming up out of the sea" signifies reasonings from the natural man. It is evident that these are reasonings that confirm the separation of faith from life, because in this chapter the dragon is further described, "the beast coming up out of the sea," signifies the reasonings of the dragon from the natural man confirming the separation of faith from life, and "the beast coming up out of the earth" signifies the confirmations of the dragon from the sense of the letter of the Word, and the falsification of it (See below, from verse 13:11-18 the end of this chapter).

[2] That the dragon is further described in this chapter, and is also meant by the two beasts, is evident from its being said that "the dragon gave to the beast coming up out of the sea his power and his throne and great authority," and furthermore, that "they worshipped the dragon which gave authority unto the beast;" also that "the other beast that came up out of the earth spake as a dragon, and exercised all the authority of the first beast before the dragon." Thence it is clear that so far as those who separate faith from life (who are signified by "the dragon, ") confirm that separation by reasonings from the natural man, they are represented by "the beast coming up out of the sea;" while so far as they confirm that separation by the sense of the letter of the Word, and thereby falsify that sense, they are described by "the beast coming up out of the earth." That this is so can be fully seen from the description of each that follows.

[3] That reasonings from the natural man enter into the dogmas of those who make faith the only means of salvation, thus the very essential of the church, and so separate it from life or from charity, which they do not acknowledge as a means of salvation and as an essential of the church; this is but little seen, and consequently but little known, by the followers and those learned in that doctrine, because their thought is continually fixed on those passages of the Word by which they confirm that doctrine. And as the dogmas they confirm by the ultimate sense of the Word, which is the sense of the letter of the Word, are falsities, they must needs take their reasonings from the natural man, for without these it would not be possible to make falsities appear as truths. But this shall be illustrated by an example. That life or charity may be separated from faith, they contend 1. That by Adam's fall man lost all freedom to do good from himself; and 2. for this reason man is in no wise able to fulfill the law; and 3. without the fulfilling of the law there is no salvation; and 4. that the Lord came into the world that He might fulfill the law, and thus His righteousness and merit might be imputed to man, and by that imputation man might be loosed from the yoke of the law even to the extent that nothing condemns him; and 5. that man accepts the imputation of the Lord's merit by faith alone, and not at all by works. That these are mostly reasonings from the natural man confirming the assumed principle of faith alone and its connecting derivatives can be seen from a survey of these particulars in their order.

[4] 1. "By Adam's fall man lost his free will, which is a freedom to do good from himself." This reasoning is from falsities; for no man has or can have a freedom to do good from himself, since man is merely a recipient; consequently the good that man receives is not man's but is the Lord's with him. Nor do angels even have any good except from the Lord; and the more they acknowledge and perceive this the more they are angels, that is, higher and wiser than the others. Still less, therefore, could Adam, who was not yet an angel, be in a state of good from himself. His integrity consisted in a fuller reception of good and truth, and thus of intelligence and wisdom from the Lord, than his posterity enjoyed. This also was the image of God; for a man becomes an image by receiving the Lord, and he becomes an image in the measure of this reception. In a word, to do good from the Lord is freedom; and to do good from self is slavery. Thence it is clear that this reasoning originates in falsities that flow forth from fallacies, which are all from the natural man. Moreover, it is not in accordance with truth that hereditary evil was ingenerated in the whole human race by Adam's fall; its origin was from another source.

[5] 2. "From this it is that man is in no wise able to fulfill the law." This reasoning, too, is from the natural man. The spiritual man knows that doing the law and fulfilling it in external form does not save; but that so far as man does the law in the external form from the internal, it does save. The internal form, or the internal of the law, is to love what is good, sincere, and just; and its external is to do this. This the Lord teaches in Matthew:

Cleanse first the inside of the cup and the platter, that the outside of them may become clean also (Matthew 23:26).

Man fulfills the law so far as he does it from the internal, but not so far as he does it from the external apart from the internal. The internal of man is his love and will. But to love what is good, sincere, and just, and from love to will it, is from the Lord alone. Therefore to fulfill the law is to be led by the Lord. But this will be more fully illustrated in what follows.

[6] 3. "Without the fulfilling of the law there is no salvation." This involves that if man were able to fulfill the law of himself he would be saved, which yet in itself is false; and since it is false, and yet appears as if true because it is a received dogma, it must be confirmed by reasonings from the natural man. That it is false is clear from this, that man is unable to do anything good from self, but everything good is from the Lord; also from this, that no such state of integrity is possible that any good that is in itself good can be from man and be done by man, as has been said above respecting Adam. And as such a state of integrity never did and never can exist, it follows that the law must be fulfilled by the Lord, according to what has just been said above. Nevertheless, he who does not believe that man must do everything as of himself, although he does it from the Lord, is much deceived.

[7] 4. "The Lord came into the world that He might fulfill the law, and thus His righteousness and merit might be imputed to man; and by that imputation man is loosed from the yoke of the law, even to the extent that after justification by faith alone nothing condemns him." This, too, is reasoning from the natural man. It was not for this that the Lord came into the world, but that He might effect a judgment, and thereby reduce to order all things in the heavens and in the hells, and at the same time glorify His Human. By this have been saved, and are still saved all who have done good and do good from the Lord and not from self, thus not by any imputation of His merit and righteousness. For the Lord teaches:

I came not to destroy the law and the prophet; ¹ I came not to destroy but to fulfill. Whosoever shall break the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whosoever doeth and teacheth them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens (Matthew 5:17, 19, seq.).

[8] 5. "Man accepts the imputation of the Lord's merit by faith alone, and not at all by works." This is a conclusion deduced from the reasonings that precede; and as those reasonings are from the natural man, and not from the rational enlightened by the spiritual, and consequently are from falsities and not from truths, it follows that the conclusion drawn from them falls to the ground.

From this it can be seen that to confirm any principle that is in itself false there must be reasonings from the natural man, and confirmations from the sense of the letter of the Word, for reasonings will give an appearance of consistency to passages selected from the sense of the letter of the Word. This is why reasonings from the natural man are signified by "the beast out of the sea," and confirmations from the sense of the letter of the Word by "the beast coming up out of the earth."

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