114. To the above shall be added two memorable experiences taken from THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED. The first is as follows. ¹ I was once suddenly seized with an almost deadly disease. My whole head was oppressed, for a pestilential smoke had been let in from the great city which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, Revelation 11:8. Half-dead with severe anguish, I expected the end. I lay like this in bed for three and a half days, so greatly was my spirit affected, and from this my body. Then I heard around me the voices of people saying, "Lo he who preached repentance for the remission of sins, and the man Christ alone, lies dead in the street of our city." And they asked several of the clergy whether he was worthy of burial, as was said of the two witnesses slain in that city. Revelation 11:8-10. And they answered, "No, let him lie for a spectacle." And they passed to and fro, and mocked. All this truly happened to me when this chapter of the Revelation was being explained. Then grievous sayings were heard from them, especially these: "How can repentance be performed without faith? And how can Christ, a man, be adored as God? Whilst we are freely saved without any merit of our own, what need is there of anything apart from faith alone; the faith that God the Father sent the Son to take away the damnation of the law, so that He might impute His merit to us, and so justify us in His sight, and absolve us from our sins, and then give the Holy Spirit to operate every good work in us? Are not these things agreeable to Scripture and to reason?" The crowd standing by applauded these speeches.

[2] I heard all this, but could not reply, because I lay almost dead. But, after three and a half days my spirit revived, and I went forth in the spirit from the street into the city, and again I said "Repent, and believe on Christ, and your sins will be remitted, and you will be saved; if you do not do this, you will perish. Did not the Lord Himself preach repentance for the remission of sins, and that men should believe on Him? Did He not command His disciples to preach the same? Does not a complete disregard as to how life should be lived follow from the dogma of your faith?" But they said, "What idle talk! Has not the Son made satisfaction? And has not the Father imputed this, and justified us who have believed this? As we are thus led by the spirit of grace, what sin is there, then, in us, and what power has death over us? Dost thou comprehend this gospel, thou preacher of sin and repentance?" But then a voice came forth from heaven saying, "What is the faith of the impenitent but a dead faith? The end is come, the end is come upon you that are secure and blameless in your own eyes, justified by your own faith, you who are devils." And suddenly a deep gulf opened in the middle of the city, spreading itself far and wide; and house fell upon house, and they were swallowed up. And presently water bubbled up from a large whirlpool and overflowed the waste.

[3] When they were thus overwhelmed, and to all appearance drowned, I desired to know their condition in the abyss, and I was told from heaven, "You shall see and hear." And immediately the waters wherein they seemed to be drowned disappeared before my eyes; for waters in the spiritual world are correspondences, and consequently appear to surround those who are in falsities. And then they appeared to me to be in a sandy bottom where there were large heaps of stones, among which they ran, lamenting that they were cast out of their great city. And they called out, crying, "Why has this happened to us? Are we not clean, pure, just and holy, through our faith?" Others exclaimed, " Are we not cleansed, purified, justified and sanctified, through our faith?" And others cried, "Are we not through our faith made such that we are reputed and seen to be clean, pure, just and holy in the sight of God the Father, and before the whole Trinity? And are we not declared to be such in the presence of the angels? Are we not reconciled, propitiated, expiated, and thereby absolved, washed and cleansed from sins? And has not the damnation of the Law been taken away by Christ? Why, then, are we cast down hither as damned? We have been told by a bold preacher of sin in our great city, Believe on Christ, and do the work of repentance.' Have we not believed on Christ whilst we believed on His merit? And did we not do the work of repentance when we confessed ourselves sinners? Why, then, has all this befallen us?"

[4] But then a voice from near-by said to them, "Do you know any single sin of which you are guilty? Have you ever examined yourselves? Have you in consequence thereof shunned any evil as a sin against God? Yet whoever does not shun evil remains in it. Is not sin the devil? Wherefore, you are those of whom the Lord said: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets. But He shall say, I tell you, I know you not, whence ye are; depart from Me all ye workers of iniquity.Luke 13:26-27; Matthew 7:22-23. "Depart, therefore, everyone to his own place. You see the openings into the caverns; enter therein, and work shall be given each of you to do, and afterwards food in proportion to your work. If you do not obey, hunger will at length compel you to enter."

[5] Afterwards there came a voice from heaven to some on that territory who were outside that great city, and who are also described in Revelation 11:13, crying aloud, "Take heed to yourselves, take care lest you associate with people like them. Can you not understand that evils, which are called sins and iniquities, render man unclean and impure? How can man be cleansed and purified from them save by actual repentance and faith in the Lord God the Saviour? Actual repentance is to examine oneself, to know and acknowledge one's sins, to hold oneself guilty, to confess them before the Lord, to implore help and power to resist them, and thus to desist from them and lead a new life; and to do all this as of oneself. Practise this once or twice a year, when you approach the Holy Communion; and afterwards, when the sins whereof you accounted yourselves guilty recur, then say to yourselves, We will not entertain them because they are sins against God'; this is actual repentance.

[6] Who cannot understand that if a man does not examine himself and see his sins, he remains in them? For all evil is delightful to man from his birth. It is delightful to take revenge, to commit whoredom, to defraud, to blaspheme. And does not this delight blind you to the nature of these evils? Moreover, if perchance it is said that they are sins, do you not excuse them on account of that delight? Nay, do you not confirm them by false reasonings, and persuade yourselves that they are not sins? And so you remain in them, and commit them afterwards more than before; and this even till you do not know what sin is, or whether there is such a thing as sin. It is otherwise with everyone who actually practises repentance. He calls his evils, which he knows and acknowledges, sins; wherefore he begins to shun and detest them, and to feel their delights as undelightful. And in proportion as he does this he sees and loves what is good, and at length feels the delights of good, which are the delights of heaven. In a word, so far as anyone casts the devil behind him, so far he is adopted by the Lord, and taught and guided by Him, and withheld from evils and held in good. This is the way, and there is no other, from hell to heaven."

[7] It is remarkable that among the Reformed there is a certain deep-rooted opposition to, refusal of, and aversion for actual repentance, which is so great that they cannot force themselves to examine themselves and to see their sins, and to confess them before God. It is as if they are seized with horror whenever they consider doing this. I have enquired of very many of them in the spiritual world concerning actual repentance, and they have all said that it is beyond their power. When they heard that Papists do as much as this; that is, that they examine themselves and confess their sins openly in the presence of a monk, they were greatly astonished, and wondered also why the Reformed cannot do the same in private before God, when it is just as much enjoined on them before they approach the Holy Supper. Some of those who were there enquired into the reason for this, and they found that faith alone induced just such a state of impenitence and state of heart; and then it was given them to see that those Papists who approach and adore Christ, and do not adore, but only honour, the primates and priests of their Church, are saved.

[8] After this there was heard a sound like thunder, and a voice speaking from heaven, saying, "We are amazed. Say to the assemblage of the Reformed, 'Believe on Christ and do the work of repentance, and you will be saved.'" And I said so, and added, "Is not baptism a sacrament of repentance, and thereby an introduction into the Church? What else do the sponsors promise for the one who is to be baptized but that he will renounce the devil and his works? Is not the Holy Supper a sacrament of repentance, and thereby an introduction into heaven? Is it not declared to the communicants that they must certainly do the work of repentance before they come to the table? Is not the Decalogue, which teaches repentance, the doctrine of the whole Christian Church? Is it not said there, in the six precepts of the second table, Thou shalt not do this and that evil; and not said, Thou shalt do this and that good? Wherefore you may know that so far as anyone shuns evils, so far he loves good; and that before this he does not know what good or evil are."

Fusnotat:

531. To this I will append the following account:

I was suddenly seized with an almost fatal illness. My whole head was weighed down. A toxic smoke emanated from the Jerusalem called Sodom and Egypt. I was half-dead with the fierce pain. I awaited the end. In that state I lay in my bed for three and a half days. Thus was my spirit afflicted, and because of it my body.

And then I heard about me voices saying, "Look, there he lies dead in our city's street, the one who preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins and Christ alone, a man." And they asked some of the clergy whether they ought to bury him.

The clerics said, "No. Let him lie there for people to see."

The people went to and fro, scoffing.

In truth this happened to me when I was expounding this chapter of the book of Revelation.

I heard then the sober words of the people scoffing, especially the following:

"How can one repent apart from faith? How can Christ, a man, be worshiped as God? Since we are saved by grace apart from any merit of our own, what need do we have then of anything but simply a faith that God the Father sent His Son to take away the condemnation of the Law, to impute His Son's merit to us and thus justify us in His sight, to absolve us of our sins through His emissary the priest, and to grant us then the Holy Spirit to bring about any goodness in us? Does this not accord with Scripture, and also with reason?"

At that the crowd standing around applauded.

[2] I heard this, but could not reply, because I lay almost dead. But after three and a half days my spirit recovered, and in the spirit I went from the street into the city and said again, "Repent and believe in Christ, and your sins will be forgiven you and you will be saved. If you don't, you will perish. Didn't the Lord Himself preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and for people to believe in Him? Didn't He command His disciples to preach this, too? The dogma attending your faith - is it not followed by a lack of concern over the way you live?"

But they said, "What nonsense are you prattling on about? Did not the Son make satisfaction? Did the Father not impute this to us and justify those of us who believe it? We are led, therefore, by the spirit of grace. What then is sin in us? What then does death have to do with us? Do you not comprehend this gospel, you preacher of sin and repentance?"

However, a voice was heard from heaven then, saying, "What is the faith of an impenitent person but a lifeless one? The end is coming. The end is coming upon you so unconcerned, so blameless in your own eyes, so justified in that faith of yours, you who are devils."

Then suddenly a chasm opened at the center of that city and widened, and one after another their houses fell and were swallowed up. And shortly water bubbled up from that broad gulf and flooded the devastated land.

[3] When they were thus covered with water and seemingly drowned, I wished to know their fate at the bottom, and I was told from heaven, "You will see and hear it."

And before my eyes then the water vanished - the water in which they were seemingly drowned, because bodies of water in the spiritual world are correspondent forms, which appear therefore around people who are caught up in falsities - and I saw them then in the sandy bottom. There were heaps of piled up stones there, and the people were running among them, lamenting the fact that they had been cast down from their great city. They kept crying out and bawling, "Why has this happened to us? Thanks to our faith in the world, are we not pure, just, and godly?"

And others cried, "Has our faith not cleansed us, purified us, justified and sanctified us?"

And still others, "Has our faith not made us such that in the sight of God the Father we appear, seem, and are regarded as clean, pure, just and godly, and declared to be so in the eyes of angels? Have we not been reconciled, restored to favor, and atoned for, and so freed, washed and cleansed of any sins? Has Christ not taken away the condemnation of the Law? Why, then, have we been cast down here as though condemned?

"A brazen preacher of sin told us in our great city, 'Believe in Christ and repent.' Have we not believed in Christ, since we believed in His merit? And have we not repented, since we confessed ourselves sinners? Why, then, has this befallen us?"

[4] At that they then heard from one side a voice speaking to them. "Are you aware of any sin gripping you? Have you ever examined yourselves? Have you as a result refrained from any evil as being a sin against God? Anyone who does not, remains caught up in it. Is not sin the devil? You are therefore the kind of people about whom the Lord says,

Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.' But He will say, 'I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.' (Luke 13:26-27)

"And also the kind of people spoken of in Matthew 7:22-23. ¹

"Go, therefore, each to his own place. You will see caves opening into caverns. Go in, and there each of you will be given his own work to do, and food then commensurate with the work. If you don't want to go in, still hunger will drive you to."

[5] After that a voice from heaven addressed some people aboveground who were outside that great city - people also mentioned in Revelation 11:13 - saying loudly, "Beware! Beware of allying yourselves with people like that. Can you not understand that evils called sins and iniquities render a person unclean and impure? How can a person be cleansed and purified of those evils except by actual repentance and faith in Jesus Christ? Actual repentance is to examine oneself, to recognize and acknowledge one's sins, to make oneself guilty of them, to confess them before the Lord, to implore His aid and power in resisting them, and so to refrain from them and lead a new life, doing all this as though of oneself. Do this once or twice a year when you go to Holy Communion; and afterward, when the sins of which you have made yourself guilty recur, say to yourselves, 'We refuse to do them because they are sins against God.' That is actual repentance.

[6] "Who cannot understand that someone who does not examine himself and see his sins, remains caught up in them? For every evil is delightful from one's birth, inasmuch as it is delightful to take revenge, to be licentious sexually, to prey on others, to blaspheme, and most of all to dominate others from a love of self. Does delight not cause these to go unseen? And if by chance someone says they are sins, does not the delight you find in them cause you to excuse them, even to persuade you and by false arguments convince you that they are not sins, so that you remain caught up in them and go on doing them, afterward even more than before? And this until you do not know what sin is, indeed whether there is any such thing as sin.

"It is different with someone who repents actually. His evils that he recognizes and acknowledges, he calls sins, and therefore he begins to refrain from them and to be averse to them, and to feel the delight he had felt in them as undelightful. Moreover, to the extent that he does this, to the same extent he sees and loves goods, and finally feels delight in them, a delight which is one of heaven. In a word, to the extent someone casts the devil behind him, to the same extent he is adopted by the Lord and taught, led, withheld from evils by Him and kept in goods. This is the way, the only way, from hell to heaven."

[7] Surprisingly, it is a fact that the Protestant Reformed have a certain deep-seated resistance, opposition and aversion to actual repentance, which is so great that they cannot compel themselves to examine themselves and see their sins and confess them before God. It is as though a kind of horror besets them when they go to do it.

I have asked many of them in the spiritual world about this, and they have all said that it is beyond their power.

When they are told that Roman Catholics still do it, namely that they examine themselves and openly confess their sins to a monk, they are quite surprised, saying that the Protestant Reformed cannot do this in secret to God, even though they are likewise enjoined to do it before they take Holy Supper. Some of them there also inquired into why this was, and they found that faith alone produced in them such a state of impenitence and such a disposition.

They were then given to see, moreover, that Roman Catholics who worship the Christ and do not call on their saints, and who do not worship their so-called Vicar of Christ ² or any of his keepers of the keys, are saved.

[8] After that I heard what sounded like thunder and a voice speaking from heaven, saying, "We are astonished. Tell the company of the Protestant Reformed, 'Believe in the Christ and repent and you will be saved.'"

So I said that, and also added, "Is not Baptism a sacrament of repentance and thus an initiation into the church? What else do the sponsors promise for the one being baptized than to renounce the devil and his works?

"Is not Holy Supper a sacrament of repentance and thus an initiation into heaven? Are the communicants not told to thoroughly repent before they approach?

"Any catechism containing the universal doctrine of the Christian Church, is it not a document teaching repentance? Does it not say there in reference to the six commandments of the second table that you must not do this or that evil, and say that you must do this or that good?

"You may know from this that to the extent someone refrains from evil, to the same extent he loves good; and that before then you do not know what good is, nor even what evil is."

Fusnotat: