2. That Jehovah God himself came down from heaven, and assumed human nature, for the purpose of removing hell from man, of restoring the heavens to order, and preparing the way for a new church upon earth ; and that herein con sists' the true nature of redemption, which was effected solely by the om nipotence of the Lord's divine humanity. But Swedenborg declares, that this divine humanity is from the Father, and is in itself like unto its divinity, and not like the humanity of another man ; for, " with the Lord, the former forms, which were from the maternal principle, were alto gether destroyed and extirpated, and divine forms received in their place ; for the divine love Both not agree with any Wilt a divine form ; all other forms it absolutely casts out ; hence it is, that the Lord, when glorified, was no longer the Son of Mary." 3. They hold the notion of pardon ob tained by a vicarious sacrifice, or atone ment, as a fundamental and fatal error ; but that repentance is the foundation of the church in man ; that it consists in a man's abstaining from all evils, because they are sins against God, &c. ; that it is productive of regeneration, which is not an instantaneous, but a gradual work, effected by the Lord alone, through charity and faith, during man's co-opera tion.
4. That man has free-will in spiritual things, whereby he may join himself by reciprocation with the Lord.
5. That the imputation of the merits and righteousness of Christ is a thing as absurd and impossible, as it would be to impute to any man the works of creation: for the merits and righteousness of Christ consist in redemption, which is as much the work of a divine and omnipotent Be ing, as creation itself. They maintain, however, that the imputation, which really takes place, is an imputation of good and evil ; and that this is according to a man's life.
6. That the doctrine of predestination and justification by faith alone is a mere human invention, and not to be found in the word of God.
7. That the two sacraments of baptism and the holy supper are essential institu tions in the New Church, the genuine and rational uses of which are now dis covered, together with the spiritual sense of the holy word.
8. That the sacred scripture contains a threefold sense, namely, celestial, spi ,ritual, and natural, which are united by correspondences ; and that in each sense it is divine truth, accommodated, re spectively to the angels of the three hea vens, and also to men on earth.
9. The Word is inspired, not only as to all the particular expressions, but also as to all the particular small Letters which compose every expression, and thus as to the smallest dot and tittle, and inwardly in itself, has stored up the arcana of hea ven, which do not appear in the letter, when set in each of those things, which the Lord himself spake when he was in the world, and which he before spake by the prophets ; there are things celestial, and altogether divine, and elevated from the sense of the letter ; and this not only in each of the expressions, but also in each of the syllables of the expressions, and in each of the apexes of every sylla ble. Hence the books of the word have
an internal sense, and are the following : the five books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, one and two, Kings, one and two, the Psalms, the Prophets, Isaiah, Jere miah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Ho sea, Jael, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zethariali, and Malachi ; and in the New Testament, the four Evangelists, Mat thew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the Revelations.
10. That in the spiritual world there is a sun distinct from that of the natural world, the essence of which is pare love from Jehovah. God, who is in the midst thereof; that the heat also proceeding from that sun is, in its essence; love ; and the light thence proceeding is, in its es sence, wisdom ; and by the instrumenta lity of that sun, all things were created. and continue to subsist, both iu the spi: ritual and in the natural world.
U. They maintain, that there is not in the universal heaven a single angel, that was created so at the first, nor a single de vil in all hell that had been created an an gel of light, and was afterwards cast out of heaven ; but that all both in heaven and hell are of the human race ; in hea ven such as had lived in the world in heavenly love and faith, and in hell such as lived in hellish love and faith.
12. That the material body never rises again ; but that man, immediately after his departure from this life, rises again as to his spiritual or substantial body, (which was inclosed in his material body, and formed for his predominant love, whether it be good or evil,) wherein he continues to live as a man in a perfect human form,. in all respects as before, save only the gross material body, which he puts off by death, and which is of no further use.
13. That the state and condition of man after death is according to his past life in this world ; and the predominant love, which he takes with him into the spiritual world, continues with him for ever, and can never be changed to all eternity ; but if evil, he abides in hell to all eternity.
14. That true conjugal love, which can only subsist between one husband and one wife, is a primary characteristic of the new church, being grounded in the marriage of goodness and truth, and cor responding with the marriage of the Lord and his church ; and therefore it is more celestial, spiritual, holy, pure, and clean, than any other love in angels or men.