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1106 NOTES TO VOLUME II.
....
called merit, thus nothing that can merit grace ; but that same merit
belongs to the Messiah Alone, by whom and from whom is all this
grace . . . . As the human race therefore could be admitted into
the sight of God, and thus be restored to heaven, only by pure
grace, and as the Messiah suffered death for the universal human
race, it follows that all in the whole world are called to His king
dom, which is called the kingdom of grace [see Diary of 1744, n. 17] ;
but only those are admitted into this kingdom who become righteous
by faith in the Messiah, and thus by the Messiah Himself; and yet
their justification is only the imputation of the righteousness of
Messiah Himself, and thus the application of His righteousness by
faith" (
Vol. I, nos. 619, 621, p. 416).
The efficacy of grace, and the necessity of man’s relying on the
grace of God for his salvation is inculcated almost on every page
of the Diary for 1744. We read there:
"This much have I learned in spiritual things, that there is
nothing for it but to humble oneself, and with all humility desire
nothing else but the grace of Christ . ... When any one has God’s
grace, he leaves himself to Christ’s pleasure, and acts according to
His pleasure ; a person is happiest when he is in God’s grace"
(no. 30).
"The only thing is-and I do not know any other-that man
must in all humility thank God for His grace, and pray for it, and
recognise his own unworthiness, and God’s infinite grace" (no. 36).
"The sum of all I found to be this, that the one thing needful
is to cast oneself in all humility on our Lord’s grace, to recognise
one’s own unworthiness, to thank God in humility for His grace :
for if there is a feeling of glorification contained in it, the tendency
of which is towards our own honour, whether it be a glorification
of God’s grace or of anything else, such a feeling is impure (no. 39).
"This is the sum of all : 1. That there is nothing but grace, by
which we can be saved. 2. Grace is in Jesus Christ who is the
seat of grace (the mercy seat). 3. Love to God in Christ promotes
salvation. 4. Man then allows himself to be led by the Spirit of
Jesus. 5. Everything that comes from ourselves is dead, and is nothing
but sin, and worthy of eternal damnation. 6. For good can come
from no other source except from the Lord" (no. 138).—
From the passages extracted thus far from the various works
which Swedenborg wrote between 1736 and 1747, it is easy to see
that the doctrine of three Divine persons, and the doctrines of the
vicarious sacrifice of Christ, and of justification by faith alone, which
were professed throughout the whole of Christendom at his time,
had still a considerable hold upon him. Yet if we examine the
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