The ancient Church which existed immediately after the Flood was, we are told, of this character, and so likewise was the primitive Christian Church. Thus we read

"All the members of the Church at that time lived one amongst another as brethren, and also called each other brethren, and mutually loved each other; but in process of time charity diminished, and at length vanished away; and as charity vanished, evils succeeded, and with evils falses also insinuated themselves, whence arose schisms and heresies. These would never have existed if charity had continued to live and rule; for in such case they would not have called schism by the name of schism, or heresy by the name of heresy, but they would have called them doctrinals agreeable to each person's particular opinion or way of thinking, which they would have left to every man's conscience, not judging or condemning any for his opinions, provided they did not deny fundamental principles, that is, the Lord, eternal life, and the Word, and maintained nothing contrary to Divine order, that is, contrary to the commandments of the Decalogue."1

From these remarks it is evident that, in matters of religion, every man is to be guided by the convictions of his own conscience, provided he does not deny fundamental principles. Swedenborg, however, has elsewhere informed us, that the Old Church does deny fundamental principles; that it makes God three, and the Lord two; that at the present day the faith of the Church has destroyed the Church; that there does not survive a single truth from the Word which is not falsified, nor a single good which is not adulterated; that the doctrines of substitution, imputation, justification by faith alone, etc., have made of no effect the commandments of the Decalogue; so that the faith of the New Church cannot be together with the faith of the Old; and if they were together, such a collision and conflict would arise that everything of the Church with man would perish.

From these statements it has been concluded, that there is nothing in common between the New Church and the Old; that between the two there is an impassable gulf; that we cannot sew pieces of new cloth to the old garments, or we should make the rent worse; or lastly, to use another illustration, that when a man orders a new suit of clothes, he does not mean that it shall be made out of the old materials, but out of materials entirely new. It is upon this ground that an absolute separation externally from the Old Church has been considered justifiable, and any other course declared to be inconsistent.

1 Arcana Cœlestia, art. 1834.

Now, upon subjects of this kind we have already seen, that every man must be left to act according to the convictions of his own conscience.

But what is conscience?

"Conscience is formed with man from the religious principle in which he is, according to its reception inwardly in himself.

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Conscience, with the man of the Church, is formed by the truths of faith from the Word, or from doctrine out of the Word, according to the reception thereof in the heart; for when a man knows the truths of faith, and apprehends them in his measure, and then willeth them and doeth them, in this case he hath conscience: reception in the heart denotes in the will, for the will of man is what is called the heart.

"Hence it is that they who have conscience speak from the heart the things which they speak, and do from the heart the things which they do. They have also a mind not divided; for according to what they believe to be true and good they do, and also according to what they understand hence a more perfect conscience may be given with those who are illustrated in the truths of faith above others, and who are in a clear perception above others, than with those who are less illustrated, and who are in obscure perception.

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They have conscience who have received a new will from the Lord, that will itself being conscience: wherefore to act contrary to conscience is to act contrary to that will. And whereas the good of charity makes the new will, the good of charity also makes conscience.

"Inasmuch as conscience is formed by the truths of faith, as also the new will and charity, hence it is that to act contrary to the truths of faith is to act contrary to conscience."1

Now, inasmuch as it is said that in the Old Church all the truths of faith have been corrupted, therefore to adhere to the Old Church is to act contrary to the truths of faith; and that inasmuch as all the good of the Church has been adulterated, therefore to be externally adjoined to that adulterated good, is to sanction the general corruption; the illustration is hence thought to be both apposite and just, that when we order a new suit of clothes, we do not mean that any part of it is to be made out of the old materials.

What appears, however, on the other hand, entirely to subvert this view of the subject, is the doctrine of REMAINS. A new suit of clothes is not made out of the remains of the old one, but a New Church is cer

1 Arcana Calestia. art. 9112, etc.

tainly made out of the remains in the Old Church; and hence it is, that non-separatists argue, that to separate from the Old Church is to separate from its REMAINS, and consequently from those very materials out of which the New Church is to be formed. The consequence is, an ignorance of the state of those REMAINS; nay, for the most part, of their very existence : the fields are already white for harvest, but the labourers are all gone away. A further consequence is, that by pursuing this course, so far from the New Church being assisted in its progress, it is, on the contrary, seriously retarded.

Thus far we have stated the argument on both sides of the question; and shall proceed to consider more particularly the relations of the New Church to the Old in regard to the principle of REMAINS.

What then is the nature of those Remains in the Old Church which are the materials out of which a New Church may be formed? It is evident that they must be such as shall be in agreement more or less with the fundamental principles of the New Church; and what are these? The answer is, they are those of the good of charity—"“Good is conjunction, because all good is of love to the Lord, and love towards the neighbour." 1

"It is a very common thing with those who have conceived an opinion respecting any truth of faith, to judge of others that they cannot be saved but by believing as they do; which nevertheless the Lord forbids (Matt. vii. 1, 2). Accordingly it hath been made known. to me by much experience, that persons of every religion are saved, if so be that by a life of charity they have received the remains of good and of apparent truth." 2

There is, moreover, a good which is called the good of ignorance, which is described "as appertaining to all who are principled in the good of charity, and are at the same time in ignorance of truth; as is the case with all within the Church who are principled in the good of charity, and do not know what the truth of faith is, whatsoever may be the cause of their ignorance; many of whom have holy thoughts about God, and are well disposed towards their neighbour." 3

As the good of charity conjoins, so doctrine alone disjoins, or separates. "There are two things which conjoin the men of the Church, viz., life and doctrine: when life conjoins, doctrine does not separate; but if only doctrine conjoins, as at this day is the case within the Church, then they mutually separate, and make as many Churches as there are doctrines; when yet doctrine is for the sake of life, and 1 Arcana Cœlestia, art. 4997. 2 Ibid. 2284. 3 Ibid. 2280.

life is from doctrine. That they separate themselves if only doctrine conjoins, is evident from this; that he who is of one doctrine condemns another person (of a different doctrine) sometimes to hell. But that doctrine doth not separate, if life conjoins, is evident from this; that he who is in goodness of life doth not condemn another who holds another opinion, but leaves it to his faith and conscience, and extends this rule even to those who are out of the Church; for he saith in his heart, that ignorance cannot condemn any, if they live in innocence and mutual love, as infants who also are in ignorance when they die." 1

Now, with regard to the Old Church we read, that at the time of its consummation it was neither in truth nor in good; and that the cause of its not being in truth was that it was not in good; and therefore the essential characteristic of the New Church must be, that it is in truth because it is in good; and in this respect, good, that is, the good of charity, would be the sign by which it would be conspicuously distinguished among other religious societies. There would be no undisciplined minds, no love of rule, no imperious temper, no self-seeking, hence no quarrelling, animosities, or dissensions of any kind: the conduct of all would be peaceable and gentle, and in case of any differences arising, all parties would be distinguished for their forbearance, and their forgiveness one of another. I do not stay to inquire how far this has been the case; for this can best be determined by the experience of its various members; but one thing is certain, that in so far as it is not the case, there is no such thing as a New Church; or, if there be at least professedly, it contains within itself the elements of its own dissolution; and this applies to all who profess the doctrines of the New Church, whether they be separatists or non-separatists.

For a New Church, presenting conditions of such a kind, would be nothing more than the same thing over again, the Old Church under a new name. Even though it retained for a while true doctrine, it would not be in truth, because not in good; and for the same reason there would be no guarantee for the retention even of true doctrine, inasmuch as the good of charity is the only trustworthy custodian of purity of faith, as is very evident in the case of the church of Ephesus.

The members of the New Church, whether separatists or nonseparatists, are not promised any special immunity from those trials

1 Arcana Calestia, art. 4468.

which befell the primitive Christian Church: the same truths are equally truths in the New Church as in the Old, as, for instance, when it is said

"Truth averts itself from good and has respect to doctrinals, when it is no longer concerned about the nature and quality of the life which the man of the Church lives, but about the nature and quality of the doctrine which he professes; when, nevertheless, it is a life according to doctrine which constitutes a man of the Church, but not doctrine separate from life; for when doctrine is separated from life, then, by reason of the vastation of good which appertains to life, there is a vastation also of truth which appertains to doctrine, that is, truth becomes a statue of salt." 1

"That truths, which are in themselves truths, with one person are more true, with another less true, with some altogether untrue, yea false, may appear almost from all things which in themselves are true; inasmuch as they vary with every man according to his affections." 2 "He who is in evil as to life, is in the false as to doctrine." 3 “He who believeth that they can be in the knowledges of the truth, who separate charity from faith, is much deceived; for they apprehend all things from themselves and nothing from heaven; and the things which a man apprehends from self and not from heaven, are falses, because he thinketh in darkness and not in the light: all light, in such things as appertain to the Church, must come from heaven." 4

We have thus far seen how evil of life causes truths to be falses : we next proceed to show, especially in regard to REMAINS, how good of life causes falses to be accepted as truths.

"Within the Church those are in falses and at the same time in good, who are in heresies and yet in the life of good; and all out of the Church, are in falses and at the same time in good, who are in good; but falses with these do not condemn, unless they be such falses as are contrary to good, and destroy the very life of good; but the falses which are not contrary to good, in themselves are indeed falses, but in respect to the good of life, which they are not contrary to, they almost put off the quality of the false, which is effected by application to good; for such falses can be applied to good and applied to evil; if they are applied to good, they become mild; but if to evil, they become hard; for falses can equally be applied to good, as truths to evil; for truths of every kind, by applications to evil, are falsified. 3 Ibid. art. 7577. 4 Apoc. Ex. art. 107.

1 Arcana Calestia, art. 2454.

2 Ibid. art. 2439.