1. SUMMARIA EXPOSITIO DOCTRINAE NOVAE ECCLESIAE, QUAE PER NOVAM HIEROSOLYMAM IN APOCALYPSI INTELLIGITUR.

Postquam aliqua Opera et Opuscula de NOVA HIEROSOLYMA, per quam intelligitur NOVA Ecclesia a Domino instauranda, intra aliquot annos a me promulgata sunt, et postquam Apocalypsis revelata est, in animum induxi Doctrinam illius Ecclesiae in sua plenitudine, ita integram, in lucem edere: sed quia hoc aliquot annorum opus est, consultum duxi aliquam Sciagraphiam ejus emittere, propter causam, ut communis idea de illa Ecclesia et ejus Doctrina primum concipiatur; quoniam dum communia praecedunt, postea omnia et singula in sua latitudine exstantia in luce apparent, haec enim in communia intrant, sicut homogenea in sua receptacula. Attamen Breviarium hoc non subjicitur judiciis ventilandum, sed modo communicatur ad notitiam, quia hujus Contenta in ipso Opere plene demonstrabuntur. Sed praemittenda sunt Doctrinalia hodierna de Justificatione, propter sequentia de Discordantiis dogmatum Ecclesiae hodiernae et Ecclesiae novae.

118. (ii) BUT FOR THAT REDEMPTION NO PERSON COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED, NOR COULD THE ANGELS HAVE REMAINED UNHARMED.

It must first be stated what redemption is. To redeem means to free from damnation, to reclaim from everlasting death, to snatch from hell, and to release the captives and those in bondage from the hands of the devil. The Lord performed this by conquering the hells and founding a new heaven. The reason why people could not by any other means be saved was that the spiritual world is so closely integrated with the natural world that they are inseparable. This principally affects people's interiors, what is called their souls and minds; those of the good are linked with the souls and minds of angels, those of the wicked with the souls and minds of the spirits of hell. Their union is such that if a person were deprived of them, he would fall lifeless, like a block of wood. Likewise neither could angels and spirits remain in existence, if human beings were taken away from them. This will make it plain why redemption took place in the spiritual world, and why heaven and hell had to be brought into order before a church could be established upon earth. This is clearly stated in Revelation, where it is said that after the creation of a new heaven, the New Jerusalem, which is the new church, came down from that heaven (Revelation 21:1-2).