Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
458 TESTIMONY OF CONTEMPORARIES. [Doc. 256.
commanded us to deny ourselves, to follow Him, and to strive
to enter in at the strait gate ; yea, to conquer the kingdom of
heaven. ’Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the will
of My Father which is in heaven.’ Fire without light and
heat is a nonentity, and does not exist in nature, but is an
insipid thing of the imagination, and so it is with faith
without love and good works."
How well Cuno appreciated the result of a marriage of
goodness and truth, and how much, therefore, he was in favour
of one of the essential doctrines of the New Church, we can
see from the following description which he gives of a regenerate
Christian. "A regenerate Christian," he says, "who has once
pressed on to the life which is from God, and who walks in
His strength, whose grace is mighty even in the weak, does
not trouble himself much about the disputes of the learned.
Without compulsion he is diligent in the performance of good
works ; humility which is so very necessary, and inseparable
from all genuine Christianity, preserves him from that danger
ous fallacy of claiming reward on account of his own merit.
After having done all those things which it was his duty to
do, he regards himself as nothing more than ’ an unprofitable
servant.’ He still prostrates himself before God as a poor
sinner, not relying on his own righteousness, but solely on
God’s great mercy, and on the grace which has place through
Jesus Christ. "
The establishment of humility in the heart, and the acknow
ledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ as the source of all good
and truth is, according to Swedenborg, the effect which is
wrought in the human heart by regeneration. And Cuno says
that "such an honest man only," as is humble in heart, and
prostrates himself before God as a poor sinner, "is deserving
of the name of an ’Evangelical Christian.’ This also, and no
other," he says, "is the fundamental doctrine of the Evange
lical church, and if this is perverted, it is not the fault of the
church, but of our own foolish and indolent hearts."
Evangelical church, however, he understands the Lutheran.
By the
Swedenborg and Cuno, therefore, have the same end in
view. But Swedenborg says that, for the regeneration of
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
