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και θελω σε περιστρεψει και βαλει αγκιστρα εις τας σιαγονας σου, και θελω εκβαλει σε και πασαν την δυναμιν σου, ιππους και ιππεας, παντας τουτους εντελως ωπλισμενους, μεγα αθροισμα μετα θυρεων και ασπιδων, παντας τουτους μεταχειριζομενους μαχαιρας.
451. And the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions. This symbolizes their delusions with respect to faith alone, as though they had power.
Heads symbolize the fanciful and illusory ideas that these people have regarding faith alone, which are the subject here, and for which we use the single term delusions. Horses symbolize the reasonings in the interiors of their minds, which are of this character (no. 449). Lions symbolize power (no. 241). It is a power based on fallacies, because these people are sense-oriented, and sense-oriented people base their reasoning on fallacies, which they use to persuade and captivate (no. 424).
[2] That their arguments in defense of faith alone are fanciful and illusory is something everyone can see who elevates his mind to some degree. What is faith in practice or faith as a condition but something illusory according to their notion of them? Who among them knows anything about putting faith into practice? And what constitutes faith as a condition when nothing good enters from the person into a faith in practice?
What is an instantaneous forgiveness of sins and consequent salvation but an illusory idea of the imagination? It is the "fiery flying serpent" 1 in the church, as may be seen in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Providence 340.
An attribution of immunity, merit, righteousness, and sanctification by imputation - what are these but illusory notions? See The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord 18.
[3] What else is a Divine operation in someone's internal constituents without the person's cooperation as though of himself in external actions? For the idea that an internal condition can be divorced from its external expression, so that there is no conjunction of the two, is nothing but an illusory notion. See no. 606 below.
Faith divorced from charity is such an illusory notion, for charity expressed in works contains and supports faith. It is its soil and ground, its essence and life. In a word, faith arising from charity is the real person; but faith divorced from charity is a mirage, and a figment of the imagination, like a bubble floating in the air.
But perhaps someone will say, "If you detach the intellect from faith, you will not see any illusions." However, he should know that if he can detach the intellect from faith, he can also impose on any religious tenet a thousand illusory notions, as Roman Catholics have done for centuries.
Note a piè di pagina:
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The generation to come, your children who shall rise up after you, and the foreigner who shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses with which Yahweh has made it sick;
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[and that] the whole land of it is sulfur, and salt, [and] a burning, [that] it is not sown, nor bears, nor any grass grows therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:
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