45. CHAPTER VIII ¹ . THE CONFIRMING OF A TRINITY OF PERSONS, EACH OF WHOM IS A GOD FROM ETERNITY, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE NICENE AND ATHANASIAN CREEDS, HAS FALSIFIED THE WHOLE WORD

1. Every heretic is able to confirm his heresy, and does confirm it, by the Word, this having been written by means of appearances and correspondences. On this account the Word is said by some to be "the book of all the heresies".

2. A man, after confirming his dogmas, sees no otherwise than that they are true, even when they are false.

3. It is possible to confirm a plurality of Gods by many things from the Word; also to confirm a faith that is imputative of Christ's merit, in which faith three Gods have each their separate part; and, further, that works of charity contribute nothing towards faith, and so nothing towards salvation.

4. A plurality of Gods can be confirmed from the following:

Trinity is mentioned by the Lord.

Trinity made its appearance when the Lord was baptized.

There are "three who bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit". [1 John 5:7.]

Jehovah God said, "Let us make man in our image and likeness". [Gen. 1:26.]

Before Abraham three angels, who are called Jehovah, made their appearance. [Gen. 17:2-3.]

In the New Word, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are mentioned many times by the Lord in the Gospels, and by the Apostles in the Epistles, and this without its being said that they are One.

Then, too, it can be confirmed that there is a faith by which there is imputation of Christ's merit, and that this faith is the only saving faith; also that the works of charity do not conduce to salvation. Let it be added that any reasoning mind can augment the above with contributions of its own, and strengthen them.

5. Not a single one of these can be seen to be false and so be dispelled, unless reason, enlightened by the Lord through the Word, confirm that God is One and that there is a conjunction of charity and faith.

6. When this is done, it is obvious that the theology based upon a Trinity of Persons, each one of whom is God, and upon a faith made applicable to each of them separately, and upon the worthlessness of charity for salvation, has falsified the whole Word; for the reason, chiefly, that these three, God, charity, and faith, are the universals of religion to which every single thing in the Word, and every single thing of heaven and the Church therefrom, has reference.

7. The result, with him who has confirmed this enormity, is that, wherever he reads of the Father, or of the Son, or of the Holy Spirit, indeed wherever he reads of Jehovah and God, he thinks of three Gods because he is thinking of one out of the three; further, wherever he reads of faith, he thinks of no other faith than of one by which there is imputation of Christ's merit; and wherever he reads of charity, he thinks of it as not contributing anything towards salvation, or else he thinks of that faith in its stead. Confirmation once impressed carries this with it.

Fusnotat:

7055. 'To the wilderness' means a situation prior to that in which no such thing - no such joining together - exists. This is clear from the meaning of 'the wilderness' as a situation in which there is as yet little of life, dealt with in 1927, thus where there is no good and consequently no truth, 4736, for these are what bring things to life. But the meaning here is a situation in which truth going forth directly from the Divine is not joined together with truth that goes forth in an indirect way. The fact that that was where a joining together was to be effected is meant by Aaron's going to meet Moses, to the wilderness. As regards that joining together, it should be recognized that truth which goes forth from the Divine in an indirect way may exist with a person, and yet not be joined to truth going forth directly from the Divine.

[2] But since this matter is very obscure let some examples be used to shed light on it. Take people who think and teach in accordance with the teachings of their Church which they have corroborated for themselves, but who do not know whether they are true on any grounds other than the fact that they form part of what the Church teaches and that they have been propounded by learned and famous men. Truth that goes forth from the Divine in an indirect way may exist with those people, yet for all that it is not joined to truth going forth directly from the Divine. For if it were so joined they would have an affection for knowing truth for its own sake and especially for the sake of the life they should lead. They would also as a consequence be endowed with a perception of whether matters taught by their Church were true before corroborating them for themselves, and would see whether the evidence corroborating each of those matters agreed with the truth itself.

[3] Take as another example the prophets through whom the Word was written. They wrote exactly as the spirit from the Divine dictated, for the actual words which they were to write were uttered in their ears. Truth with them was the kind that goes forth in an indirect way from the Divine, that is, through heaven; it was not therefore truth going forth directly from the Divine. For they had no perception of what the particular things they heard might mean in the internal sense because it is only when those two kinds of truth have been joined together that perception exists, as has been stated. The two kinds are rarely joined together with a person in this world, but they are so with all in heaven, above all with those in the inmost or third heaven. Nor are they joined together with a person in this world unless his regeneration has advanced so far that he can be raised from the level of the senses right up to the rational level of his mind and so be placed in the light of heaven where the angels are. With everyone influx from God does indeed come by both a direct and an indirect way, 6063, 7004; but no joining together of the two takes place except with those who have a perception of truth derived from good. For those with whom influx coming directly from God has been joined to that which comes indirectly allow themselves to be led by the Lord; but those with whom the two have not been joined together lead themselves and like to do so. From all this one may now see what 'the wilderness' is used to mean here, namely a situation in which no joining together exists.