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166 DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG.
VI. They say, moreover, that good works, or the goods of charity, are the fruits
of this faith, whilst at the same time, not a single writer on theology has ever
yet found the connexion which this faith has with good works ;
yea, it is pos-
itively asserted, that good works cannot even preserve or support this faith,
and that they are only moral and civil actions, which do not in the least con-
tribute to the salvation of the soul, VII. That the saying of Paul, in Romans iii.
28, on which the theology of the present day, as to salvation, is founded, is
falsely understood, I have clearly demonstrated in The Apocalypse Revealed, 417.
"Besides these enormous errors, there are also an infinity of others, which I
omit to mention here, by which it clearly appears, that if any one produces the
fruits of such a faith, he really produces the ’ cockatrice’s eggs,’ mentioned in Isa.
lix. 5. For it is taught in the doctrines of the New Church that faith can never
produce the goods, or good works of charity, as a tree produces its fruits, but
that the truths which are called the truths offaith teach us how we ought to think of God,
and how we ought to act towards our neighbor, and that charity receives these truths in
good works, as the fruit receives the sap and juices of the tree ; consequently, the fruit,
or the good works, which are said to accompany the present faith, of which we
have been speaking, have no other sap or juices than those contained in the
confirmations of what is false, and these falsities are’contained in the supposed
good works which are said to accompany that faith ; of this, however, man is
ignorant, but the angels perceive and know it very well.—I have the honor to
be, &c.,
" Emanuel Swedenborg."
XXVIII.
SWEDENRORG’S LETTERS
TO
THE SWEDISH AMBASSADOR,
AND TO
THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
To his Excellency the [Swedish] Ambassador.
«« I passed the winter at Amsterdam, and during that period published an ex-
plication of St. John’s Revelation, entitled Apocalypsis Revelata, containing secrets
hitherto unrevealed. Messrs. Howen and Zoon are acquainted with the captain
who has the care of them. Of this work I have sent two copies to the Cardinal
de Rohan, two to the Royal Society of Sciences, two to our Secretary of State,
and one for the Royal Library. In the same work are inserted various memorable
relations of my intercourse with the spiritual world : they are separated from the
text of the work by asterisks, and are to be found at the end of the explication
of each chapter. As they contain several remarkable particulars, they may
probably excite the reader to their first perusal. Besides this, I have published
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