THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 8)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE

for the

NEW JERUSALEM

FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

Emanuel Swedenborg

— Doctrinal Series —

(pt. 8)

ALL RELIGION IS OF THE LIFE, AND THE LIFE OF RELIGION IS TO DO THAT WHICH IS GOOD.

The reason why all religion is of the life, is that after death everyone is his own life, for the life stays the same as it had been in this world, and undergoes no change. For an evil life cannot be converted into a good one, nor a good life into an evil one, because they are opposites, and conversion into what is opposite is extinction. And, being opposites, a good life is called Life, and an evil one Death. This is why religion is of life, and why its life is to do what is good.

LIFE 8)

(That after death a man is such as had been his life in this world may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 470-484).

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 5-7)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE

for the

NEW JERUSALEM

FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

Emanuel Swedenborg

— Doctrinal Series —

(pt. 5-7)

ALL RELIGION IS OF THE LIFE, AND THE LIFE OF RELIGION IS TO DO THAT WHICH IS GOOD.

. . . The Exhortation read in England before the people who approach the Sacrament of the Supper, is as follows:

The way and means to be received as worthy partakers of that Holy Table is, first, to examine your lives and conversations by the rule of God's commandments; and whereinsoever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended, either by will, word, or deed, there to bewail your own sinfulness, and to confess yourselves to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life; and if ye shall perceive your offenses to be such as are not only against God, but also against your neighbors, then ye shall reconcile yourselves unto them, being ready to make restitution and satisfaction, according to the uttermost of your powers, for all injuries and wrongs done by you to any other, and being likewise ready to forgive others that have offended you, as ye would have forgiveness of your offenses at God's hand; for otherwise the receiving of the Holy Communion doth nothing else but increase your damnation. Therefore if any of you be a blasphemer of God, a hinderer or slanderer of His Word, an adulterer, or be in malice or envy, or in any other grievous crime, repent you of your sins, or else come not to that Holy Table; lest after the taking of that Holy Sacrament the devil enter into you as he entered into Judas, and fill you full of all iniquities, and bring you to destruction both of body and soul.

I have been permitted to ask some of the English clerk who had professed and preached faith alone (this was done in the spiritual world), whether while they were reading in church this Exhortation — which faith is not even mentioned — they believed it to be true; for example, that if people do evil things, and do not repent, the devil will enter into them as he did into Judas, and destroy them both body and soul. They said that in the state in which they were when reading the Exhortation they had no other knowledge or thought than that this was religion itself; but that while composing and elaborating their discourses or sermons they had a different thought about it, because they were then thinking of faith as being the sole means of salvation, and of the good of life as being a moral accessory for the public good.

Nevertheless it was incontestably proved to them that with them too there was that common perception that he who leads a good life is saved, and that he who leads an evil one is damned; and that they possess this perception when they are not in what is their Own.

LIFE (5-7)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 4)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE

for the

NEW JERUSALEM

FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

Emanuel Swedenborg

— Doctrinal Series —

(pt. 4)

ALL RELIGION IS OF THE LIFE, AND THE LIFE OF RELIGION IS TO DO THAT WHICH IS GOOD.

In the Christian Churches, however, there are many who teach that faith alone saves, and not any good of life, or good work, and they add that evil of life or evil work does not condemn those who have been justified by faith alone, because such are in God and in grace.

Wonderful to say, however, although they teach such things, they nevertheless acknowledge (in consequence of a perception from heaven common to all) that those who lead a good life are saved, and that those who live an evil one are damned. That they do acknowledge this is evident from the Exhortation which not only in England but also in Germany, Sweden, and Denmark is read in the places of worship before the people coming to the Holy Supper. As is well known, it is in these kingdoms that those are found who teach that faith alone.

(Life 4)