1. THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION

Containing THE UNIVERSAL THEOLOGY OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH

THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH

This faith is presented at the outset in its general and in its particular form. It is so presented that it may serve as a preface to the whole work which follows, as a gateway, as it were, by which entrance is made to a temple, and as an epitome in which the subsequent details are duly summarized. It is said to be "The Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church" because heaven, where angels are, and the Church, in which men are, act as one like the internal and the external with man. Hence it is that the member of the Church, who is in the good of love from the truths of faith, and in the truths of faith from the good of love, is an angel of heaven as to the interiors of his mind. Thus he enters into heaven after death, and there enjoys happiness according to the degree in which those principles are united in him. It should therefore be known that this faith in its summary form is the index and gateway of the new heaven now being formed by the Lord.

520. IV. MAN IS BORN TO EVILS OF EVERY KIND, AND UNLESS HE REMOVES THEM ON HIS PART BY REPENTANCE, HE REMAINS IN THEM; AND WHOEVER REMAINS IN THEM CANNOT BE SAVED.

It has been made known in the Church that every man is born to evils, and consequently that from his birth he is nothing but evil. This has been handed down by the councils and prelates of the various Churches teaching that the sin of Adam has been transmitted to all his posterity; and that, on account of this alone, every man after him as well as himself has been condemned; and that this is what is inherent in every man from birth. There are many other teachings of the Church based on this assertion; as that the washing of regeneration called baptism was instituted by the Lord to remove that sin; that this was the cause of His coming; and that faith in His merit is the means for its removal; besides the many other doctrines which the Church has based on the same assertion.

Hereditary evil, however, does not spring from that origin; for as may be evident from 466 and following Numbers Adam was not the first of men. Adam and his wife representatively describe the first Church on this earth; the Garden of Eden, its wisdom; the tree of life, its looking to the Lord who was to come; and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, its looking to itself and not to the Lord. That this Church is representatively described in the first chapters of Genesis has been proved by many parallel passages from the Word in the Arcana Caelestia, published in London. When these things are understood and accepted, the opinion hitherto entertained, that Adam's sin is the source of the evil innate in man from his parents, falls to the ground; for that evil has a different origin. In the chapter on Free Will it has been fully shown that the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which are in every man and which are said to have been placed in a garden, signified man's free will in turning to the Lord and away from Him.

23. (4) THE DIVINE BEING (Esse) AND EXISTING (Existere) IN ITSELF CANNOT PRODUCE ANOTHER DIVINE THAT IS BEING AND EXISTING IN ITSELF; CONSEQUENTLY THERE CANNOT BE ANOTHER GOD OF THE SAME ESSENCE.

It has been shown above that the one God, who is the Creator of the universe, is Being and Existing in itself, and thus God in Himself. Hence it follows that there cannot be a God from God, because the very Essential Divine, which is Being and Existing in itself, could not exist in another. It is the same thing whether the phrase "begotten of God" or "proceeding from Him" is used; it still implies that he is produced by God, and this differs little from being created by Him. Therefore to introduce into the Church the faith that there are three Divine Persons, each of whom singly is God and of the same Essence, and one born from eternity and the third proceeding from eternity, is to destroy utterly the idea of the unity of God, and with it all idea of Divinity, and so banish all spirituality from the rational mind. The consequence is that man is no longer man but merely a creature of nature, differing from the beast only in that he has the power of speech. He is also opposed to all that is spiritual in the Church, for the natural man calls it foolishness. This is the sole reason for the great heresies concerning God that have arisen; so that the separation of the Divine Trinity into Persons has brought upon the Church not only night but also spiritual death.

[2] That an identity of three Divine Essences is an offence to reason was made manifest to me from angels, who declared that they could not utter the expression "three equal divinities." Moreover, if any one were to approach them with the intention of uttering it, he would be forced to turn back; and if he were to utter it, he would become like a human log and be thrown down. He would then depart to join those in hell who acknowledge no God. The truth is that to implant in infants and young people the idea of three Divine Persons, with which is inevitably associated the idea of three Gods, is to deprive them of all spiritual milk, thereafter of all spiritual food, and finally of all spiritual reason, with the result that spiritual death is brought upon those who confirm themselves in such an idea. Those who in faith and heart worship one God, the Creator of the universe, and also the Redeemer and Regenerator, are as the city of Zion in the time of David, and as the city of Jerusalem in the time of Solomon after the Temple was built. The Church, however, which believes in three Persons, and in each as a distinct God, is like the city of Zion and Jerusalem after their destruction by Vespasian, ¹ and like the Temple there destroyed by fire. Further, the man who worships one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, becomes more and more alive and angelic; but he who confirms his belief in a plurality of Gods from a plurality of Persons becomes more and more like a lay-figure, fashioned with movable joints, within which stands Satan, speaking through its jointed mouth.

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