582. Think about it rationally and tell me what the whole human race would be like, if the faith of the present-day church were to endure, a faith which states that redemption is solely through the passion on the cross, and that those who are so granted the Lord's merit are not subject to the condemnation of the law. It also states that this faith, about which a person is so ignorant he does not know if he has it, forgives his sins and regenerates him, and if anyone were to cooperate in its action when it is granted and enters into him, he would ruin this faith, throwing away his salvation with it, since he would mix his own merit with Christ's. Think about it rationally, I say, and tell me whether this would not mean rejecting the whole of the Word, where the chief teaching is that regeneration takes place by means of a spiritual washing from sins and by practising charity. What then would become of the Ten Commandments, the starting-point of reformation? Would it be any better than the paper sold in shops and twisted into screws to wrap spices? What would religion be then but bewailing the fact of being a sinner and praying God the Father to have mercy on account of His Son's suffering, a merely oral prayer coming from the lungs, without any deed on the part of the heart?

[2] Redemption then would be nothing but a papal indulgence, or like the customary practice of flogging a monk on behalf of the whole community. If that faith alone could regenerate a person, and repentance and charity played no part, what would his internal man - the spirit which goes on living after death - be but a burnt-out city, the ruins of which makes up the external man? Or like a field or a plain devastated by caterpillars and locusts? That sort of person appears to angels as if he was warming a viper in his bosom and wrapping his clothes around it to prevent it being seen; or as if someone was sleeping like a sheep with a wolf; or someone lying under a beautiful blanket in a shift woven out of spiders' webs. Then life after death, when all are assigned their places in heaven depending on how their regeneration differs, or in hell depending on the different ways they have rejected regeneration, would be nothing but the life of the flesh, the sort a fish or a crab enjoys.

8819. 'And Mount Sinai was smoking, the whole of it' means the appearance of celestial good in the greatest obscurity. This is clear from the meaning of 'Mount Sinai' as celestial good, as immediately above in 8818; and from the meaning of 'smoking' as appearance in obscurity. Obscurity is used to mean the obscurity of faith such as those belonging to the spiritual Church possess when compared with those belonging to the celestial Church, 2708 (beginning), 2715, 2718, 2831, 2935, 2937, 3241, 3833, 6289. The greatest obscurity, meant by 'Mount Sinai was smoking, the whole of it' and by the statement just below that 'its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace', means the obscurity that clouded the understanding of the Israelite nation, before whom the appearance took place. For Jehovah or the Lord appears to everyone according to their true nature, 8788, 8814, so that He appears as love and the light of truth to those governed by good, but as an enemy and avenger to those ruled by evil. His appearance as such to the Israelite people is also clear from other places in Moses,

The appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain, before the eyes of the children of Israel. Exodus 24:16-17.

In the same author,

You came near and stood at the foot of ¹ the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire even to the heart of heaven; there was darkness and cloud and thick darkness. And Jehovah spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. Deuteronomy 4:11-12; 5:22.

And in the same author,

It happened, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to Me and said, Why should we die? For this great fire will devour us; if we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more we shall die. Deuteronomy 5:23-25.

[2] The reason why this should be so is that no person can help seeing God from such things as are present in himself. The person who is ruled by hatred, for example, sees Him from hatred; and one who is ruled by ruthlessness sees Him in ruthlessness. And on the other hand, the person who is governed by charity and mercy sees Him from these virtues and in them. It is like rays of light, which are converted into hideous colours when they fall on hideous forms, but into beautiful colours when they fall on beautiful forms. The meaning of 'smoke' as the obscurity of truth, and also as the thick darkness belonging to falsity, is clear in Isaiah 9:18-19; 34:9-10; Joel 2:30-31; Hosea 13:1, 3; Revelation 9:17-18; 18:2, 18; 19:3.

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