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Doc. 228.] 247
SWEDENBORG TO MENANDER.
two cannot be imputed to another; but by them He acquired
the power of saving those men who approach Him, who examine
themselves, and shun their evils as sins. Fourthly, That God
the Father should be approached in prayer, and be asked to
have mercy for the sake of the Son, and to send the Holy
Spirit, is an inverted way of worship, and also conveys a clear
idea of three gods, viz. that the Father is one, the Son an
other, and the Holy Spirit a third ; and if it is declared that
by the Son is understood His human nature, then the idea of
the Lord becomes that of two. Fifthly, That man is justified
by an oral profession of the above faith, provided it be done
with confidence and assurance, is false, see Romans ii, 10 ;
James i, 22. In such a faith there is neither truth nor good,
nor consequently anything of the church, nor of religion ; for
the truth of doctrine constitutes the church, and the good of
life religion. Sixthly, It is maintained that good works or the
goods of charity are the fruits of that faith; when yet the
nexus between that faith and good works has not yet been
discovered by the community of the church; nay, it is declared
that good works by no means preserve or retain faith ; and
that therefore there are no other works of that faith except
such as are of the Holy Spirit interiorly in man, concerning
which man himself knows nothing ; while any good works which
he may do himself, are simply moral and civil goods, which
contribute nothing whatever to man’s salvation. Seventhly,
That the saying of Paul, in Romans iii, 28, on which the
theology of the present day in respect to salvation is founded,
is falsely understood, has been clearly shown in the Apocalypsis
Revelata, no. 417. Besides these there are many other things
which I do not mention here, from which it may appear, that
if any one produces fruits from that faith, he produces those
eggs which are treated of in Isa. lix, 5. For it is taught in
the New Church that faith can never produce the goods of
charity, as a tree produces its fruits ; but that the truths which
are called the truths of faith teach how man ought to think
concerning God, and how he ought to act towards his neighbour,
and that charity receives these truths in its goods, as the
fruits receive their juices and their flavour from the tree ; and
that thus the juices and flavours of the fruits or good works
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