337. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Since the subject in this chapter is the degeneration of the Most Ancient Church - that is, the falsification of doctrine - and consequently the heresies and sects which the names of Cain and his descendants cover, it must be realized that nobody can begin to understand how doctrine was falsified, that is, understand the nature of the heresies and sects of that Church, unless he has a proper knowledge of the nature of the true Church. From the latter the nature of those heresies and sects can be recognized. The Most Ancient Church has been dealt with quite extensively already; and it has been shown that it was the celestial man, and that it acknowledged no other faith than faith that originated in love to the Lord and towards the neighbour. It was through that love from the Lord that they possessed faith, that is, a perception of everything that was a matter of faith. Consequently they were not even willing to mention faith for fear of separating it from love, as shown already in 200-203.

[2] Such is the nature of the celestial man, that nature being described also by means of representatives in David where the Lord is referred to as 'the King', and the celestial man as 'the King's son',

Give the King Your judgements, and the King's son Your righteousness. The mountains will bring peace to the people, and the hills, in righteousness. They will fear You with the sun and towards the face ¹ of the moon, a generation of generations. In his days the righteous man will flourish, and much peace, until the moon will be no more. Psalms 72:1, 3, 5, 7.

'The sun' means love, 'the moon' faith, 'mountains' and 'hills' the Most Ancient Church. 'A generation of generations' means the Church that came after the Flood. The statement 'until the moon will be no more' is made because faith will then be love. See also what is written in Isaiah 30:26.

[3] Such was the nature of the Most Ancient Church and such its doctrine. Nowadays things are altogether different, for now faith comes first. But by means of faith the Lord imparts charity, at which point charity becomes the chief thing. Consequently doctrine in most ancient times was falsified when people made profession of faith and in so doing separated faith from love. People who falsified doctrine in this way, or who separated faith from love, that is, made profession of faith alone, were at that time called 'Cain'; and such a thing with them was a gross error.

Примітки:

1844. 'In a land that is not theirs' means where there will be a Church which does not so to speak consist of people in whom charity and faith are present. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land' as the Church, dealt with in 566, 662, 1066, 1068. At the present day people speak of doctrinal matters of faith, these alone, as the things which make the Church; and it is on the basis of these that they distinguish the Lord's Churches from one another. They are not concerned about the kind of life people lead, whether or not they foment inner hatred and like wild animals tear one another apart, violently rob one another, deprive one another of reputation, position, and wealth, and at heart deny whatever is holy. The Church however does not exist in any way with people who are like this but with those who love the Lord and their neighbour as themselves, who have conscience, and who turn away from the kinds of hatred that have been mentioned. When the latter with whom the Church in fact exists are among the others described above they are like 'strangers', and they are subjected by these others to every possible insult and persecution, or are regarded by them as being simple, insignificant, and worthless. This then is what is meant by 'your seed will be strangers in the land'.