The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
• Doctrinal Series •
THE CHURCH
(pt. 4)
Emanuel Swedenborg
• Doctrinal Series •
THE CHURCH
(pt. 4)
Everyone with whom the church exists, is saved; but everyone in whom it is not, is condemned.
- FROM THE ARCANA COELESTIA -
The church exists specifically where the Word is, and where the Lord is thereby known, and thus where Divine truths are revealed. Still they who are born where the Word is, and where the Lord is thereby known, are not of the church, but they who are regenerated by the Lord by the truths of the Word, that is, they who live the life of charity. They who are of the church, or in whom the church is, are in the affection of truth for the sake of truth, that is, they love truth because it is truth; and they examine from the Word whether the doctrinals of the church in which they were born are true. Otherwise the truth possessed by everyone would be derived from another, and from his native soil.The church of the Lord is with all in the whole world who live in good according to their religious principles. All who live in good wherever they are, and acknowledge one God, are accepted by the Lord and come into heaven; since all who are in good acknowledge the Lord, because good is from the Lord, and the Lord is in good. The universal church on earth before the Lord is as one man. As heaven is, because the church is heaven or the kingdom of the Lord on earth. But the church, where the Lord is known and where the Word is, is like the heart and lungs in man in respect to the other parts of the body, which live from the heart and lungs as from the fountains of their life. Hence it is, that unless there were a church where the Word is, and where the Lord is thereby known, the human race could not be saved. The church is the foundation of heaven.
The church is internal and external. The internal of the church is love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbor. Thence they who are in the affection of good and truth from love to the Lord and from charity towards the neighbor, constitute the internal church; and they who are in external worship from obedience and faith, constitute the external church. To know truth and good, and to act from thence, is the external of the church, but to will and love truth and good, and to act from thence, is the internal of the church. The internal of the church is in the worship of those who are of the external church, although in obscurity. The internal and external church make one church. Man has an internal and an external, an internal after the image of heaven, and an external after the image of the world; and therefore, in order that the man may be a church, his external must act in unity with his internal. The church is in the internal of man and at the same time in the external, but not in the external without the internal. The internal of the church is according to truths and their quality, and according to their implantation in good by life.
The church like heaven is in man, and thus the church in general consists of the men in whom the church is. In order that a church may exist, there must be the doctrine of life, that is, the doctrine of charity. Charity makes the church, and not faith separated from charity. Consequently, not the doctrine of faith separated from charity, but the doctrine of faith conjoined therewith, and a life conformable to it. The church is not with man, unless the truths of doctrine are implanted in the good of charity with him, thus in the life. There is no church with man, if he is only in the truths, which are called the truths of faith. How much good would be in the church, if charity were in the first place and faith in the second. And how much evil, if faith is in the first place. In the ancient churches charity was the principal and essential of the church. The church would be like heaven, if all had charity. If good were the characteristic of the church, and not truth without good, thus if charity were its characteristic, and not faith separate, the church would be one, and differences with respect to the doctrinals of faith, and external worship, would be accounted as nothing.
Every church begins from charity, but declines therefrom in process of time. Thus to falsities from evil, and at length to evils. A comparison of the church at its beginning and decline with the infancy and old age of man. And also with the rising and the setting of the sun. Concerning the successive states of the Christian Church even to its last state; wherein are explained the particulars which the Lord foretold concerning "the consummation of the age," and His "coming," in Matt. chap. 24 from the beginning to the end. The Christian church is at this day in its last states, there being no faith therein because there is no charity. The Last Judgment is the last time of the church. ... The consummation of the age and the coming of the Lord is the last time of the old church and the beginning of the new. When the old church is vastated, interior truths are revealed for the service of the new church which is then established.
(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 245-246)