CONTENTS

Introduction - 1

The Doctrinals of the Roman Catholics concerning Justification: from the Council of Trent. - 2-8

The Doctrinals of the Protestants Concerning Justification: From the Formula Concordiae. - 9-15

A Sketch of the Doctrinals of the New Church - 16

I. The Churches which separated themselves at the Reformation from the Roman Catholic Church dissent in various points, but they all agree on the Articles concerning a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, Original Sin from Adam, the Imputation of Christ's Merit, and Justification by Faith Alone. - 17-18

II. The Roman Catholics held exactly the same beliefs before the Reformation as the Reformed Church did after it concerning the four Articles mentioned above, namely, a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, Original Sin, the Imputation of Christ's Merit, and Justification by Faith therein: with the sole difference that they united that Faith with Charity or Good Works. - 19-20

III. The leading Reformers, Luther, Melanchthon and Calvin, retained all the dogmas concerning a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, Original Sin, the Imputation of Christ's Merit, and Justification by Faith, just as they were and had been with the Roman Catholics, but they separated Charity or Good Works from that Faith, and declared that they were not conjointly saving, in order that they might be completely severed from the Roman Catholics as to the very essentials of the Church, which are Faith and Charity. - 21-23

IV. Nevertheless, the leading Reformers adjoined Good Works, and even conjoined them, to their Faith, but in man as a passive subject; whereas the Roman Catholics did so in man as an active subject; and yet there is actually a conformity between the latter and the former as to Faith, Works and Merit. - 24-29

V. The whole theology of the Christian World at this day is founded on the idea of three Gods, arising from the doctrine of a Trinity of Persons. - 30-38

VI. The dogmas of the aforesaid theology are seen to be erroneous after the idea of a Trinity of Persons, hence of three Gods, has been rejected, and the idea of one God, in Whom is the Divine Trinity, received instead. - 39-40

VII. Then truly saving Faith, which is Faith in one God united with Good Works, is acknowledged and received. - 41-42

VIII. This Faith is Faith in God the Saviour Jesus Christ, which in its simplest form is as follows:

(1) There is One God in whom is the Divine Trinity, and He is the Lord Jesus Christ.

(2) A Saving Faith is to Believe On Him.

(3) Evil actions ought to be shunned because they are of the devil and from the devil.

(4) Good actions ought to be done because they are of God and from God.

(5) And these should be done by man as of himself, yet it ought to be believed that they are from the Lord, with Him and through Him. - 43-44

IX. The Faith of the present day has separated religion from the Church: for religion consists in the acknowledgment of One God, and in the worship of Him from the Faith of Charity. - 45-46

X. The Faith of the present Church cannot be united with Charity, or produce any fruits which are Good Works. - 47-50

XI. From the Faith of the present Church there flows forth a worship of the mouth and not of the life; when yet the worship of the mouth is accepted by the Lord only so far as it accords with worship which is of the life. - 51-52

XII. The doctrine of the present Church is bound together by many paradoxes which are to be embraced by faith; therefore its dogmas enter the memory only, and not into any part of the understanding above the memory, but merely into confirmations below it. - 53-57

XIII. The dogmas of the present Church cannot be learned without great difficulty, nor retained, since they slip from the memory, neither can they be preached nor taught without using great care and caution lest their nakedness appear, because sound reason neither perceives nor receives them. - 58-59

XIV. The doctrine of the Faith of the present Church ascribes to God human properties, as that He viewed man from anger, that He required to be reconciled, that He is reconciled through His love to the Son and by intercession, that He required to be appeased by the sight of His Son's misery, and thus to be brought back to mercy, that He imputes the righteousness of His Son to the unrighteous man who supplicates it from faith alone; and that thus from being an enemy He makes him into a friend, and from a son of wrath into a son of grace. - 60-63

XV. From the Faith of the present Church monstrous births have been produced, and may still be produced, such as, Instantaneous Salvation from Direct Mercy, Predestination, the notion that God does not attend to man's actions, but only to Faith, that there is no bond between Charity and Faith, that in conversion man is as a stock, with many other such enormities likewise concerning the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper, as to the principles of reason drawn from the doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone respecting the benefits they confer also as regards the Person of Christ. The heresies from the first period to the present day have flowed from no other source than the doctrine founded upon the idea of three Gods. - 64-69

XVI. The last state of the present Church, when it is at an end, is meant by the Consummation of the Age and the Advent of the Lord at that time. (Matthew 24:3). - 70-73

XVII. Infestation by falsities, thence the consummation of all truth, or desolation, in the Christian Churches at this day, is what is meant by the Great Affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the world, nor shall be. (Matthew 24:21). - 74-76

XVIII. That neither Love, nor Faith, nor the Cognitions of Good and Truth, exist in the last period of the Christian Church when it draws to its end, is meant by these words in the aforesaid chapter of Matthew:

After the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. (Matthew 24:29). - 77-81

XIX. Those who hold to the present belief in Justification by Faith Alone are meant by the he-goats in Daniel and Matthew. - 82-86

XX. Those who have confirmed themselves in the present belief in Justification by Faith Alone are meant in the Revelation by the Dragon, his two Beasts, and the Locusts: and this Faith, when confirmed, is meant there by the Great City, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where the Two Witnesses were slain also by the Pit of the Abyss from which the Locusts came forth. - 87-90

XXI. Unless a New Church is established ¹ by the Lord, no one can be saved: this is meant by these words:

Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. (Matthew 24:22). - 91-94

XXII. The exposure and rejection of the dogmas of the Faith of the present Church, and the revelation and reception of the dogmas of the Faith of the New Church, is meant by these words in the Revelation:

He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. (Revelation 21:5). - 95-98

XXIII. The New Church about to be established by the Lord is the New Jerusalem treated of in the Revelation, chapters 21 and 22, which is there called the Bride and Wife of the Lamb. - 99-101

XXIV. The Faith of the New Church cannot possibly be together with the Faith of the former Church for, if they were together, such a collision and conflict would ensue that everything of the Church with man would perish. - 102-104

XXV. Roman Catholics at this day know nothing of the Imputation of Christ's Merit, or of Justification by Faith therein, into which Faith their Church has been initiated, because this lies entirely concealed under their external forms of worship, which are numerous. Wherefore, if they recede even in part from the externals of their worship, and approach God the Saviour Jesus Christ direct, and also receive the Holy Eucharist in both elements, they may be brought into the New Jerusalem, that, is into the Lord's New Church, before the Reformed. - 105-108

About Imputation. - 109-113

Memorable experiences taken from The Apocalypse Revealed. - 114-115

APPENDIX.

The Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church in its universal form. - 116

The Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church in its particular form. - 117

Three memorable experiences taken from The Apocalypse Revealed. - 118-120

118. HERE FOLLOW THREE MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES TAKEN FROM THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED

The first Memorable Experience. ¹ When I was engaged on the explanation of chapter 20 of the Revelation, and was meditating on the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, a certain angelic spirit appeared before me and asked, "What are you thinking about?" I replied, "About the false prophet." Then he said, "I will lead you to the place where are those who are meant by the false prophet." He said that they are the same as those who are meant in chapter 13 by the beast out of the earth, which had two horns like a lamb, and spoke like a dragon. I followed him, and lo? I saw a crowd in the midst of which were prelates of the Church who taught that nothing else saves man but faith in Christ's merit; and that works are good, but not for salvation; yet that they are to be taught from the Word in order that the laity, especially the simple, may be kept more strictly in the bonds of obedience to the magistrates, and be constrained to exercise moral charity as if from religion, thus interiorly.

[2] Then one of them, seeing me, said, "Do you wish to see our place of worship in which is an image representative of our faith?" I approached and saw it; and behold, it was magnificent. And in the middle of it was the image of a woman clothed in a scarlet robe, and holding a gold coin in her right hand and a string of pearls in her left hand. But both the image and the temple were produced by phantasy; for infernal spirits can display magnificent objects by phantasies, by closing the interiors of the mind and opening only its exteriors. When, however, I perceived that such things were illusions, I prayed to the Lord, and suddenly the interiors of my mind were opened; and then, instead of a magnificent temple, I saw a house full of chinks from the roof to the foundations, in which nothing was connected. And, instead of a woman, I saw hanging up in that house an image, the head of which was like a dragon's, the body like a leopard's, the feet like a bear's, and the mouth like a lion's; thus, exactly like the beast out of the sea, described in the Revelation, chapter 13. And, instead of a floor, there was a marsh in which lay a multitude of frogs; and I was informed that beneath the marsh was a large hewn stone under which the Word lay entirely hidden.

[3] On seeing this I said to the illusionist, "Is this your place of worship?" He replied, "It is." Then suddenly his interior sight was opened also, so that he saw the same things that I did; whereupon he uttered a great cry, saying, "What and whence is this?" And I said, "This is from the light out of heaven which uncovers the quality of every form, and here is discovered the quality of your faith separate from spiritual charity." Then an east wind blew there and carried away the place of worship with the image, and also dried up the marsh, and so exposed the stone under which lay the Word. Afterwards there exhaled, as it were, a vernal warmth from heaven, and behold, in the same place there appeared a tent, simple in its outward form. And the angels who were with me said, "Behold the tent of Abraham such as it was when the three angels came to him and announced the birth of Isaac. It appears simple to the eye, nevertheless it becomes more and more magnificent according to the influx of light from heaven." And they were permitted to open the heaven which is the abode of spiritual angels who excel in wisdom; and then, from the light flowing in from there, the tent appeared like a temple similar to the one at Jerusalem. Then, on looking into it, I saw that the foundation stone under which the Word had been placed was set around with precious stones from which rays like lightning shot forth upon the walls, upon which were the forms of cherubs, beautifully variegating them with colours.

[4] As I was admiring these things, the angels said, "You shall see something still more wonderful." And they were allowed to open the third heaven which is the abode of celestial angels who excel in love; then, from the light flowing in from there, the whole of that temple disappeared, and in its place was seen the Lord alone, standing on a foundation stone which was the Word, in a form similar to that in which He appeared before John (Revelation 1). But as the interiors of the minds of the angels were then filled with holiness, by which they were impelled to fall prostrate upon their faces, suddenly the way of the light from the third heaven was closed by the Lord, and the way of the light from the second heaven was opened again, so that the former appearance of the temple returned, also of the tent, but within the temple. By this was portrayed the meaning of these words in the Revelation: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them. Revelation 21:3. And of these words: And I saw no temple (in the New Jerusalem), for the Lord God omnipotent and the Lamb are the temple of it. Revelation 21:22.

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