Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 3.djvu/136

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THE SWEDENBORG LIBRARY.

which form it approach nearer to the genuine truths of faith. (A. C. 2053.)


WHAT IS IT THAT DAMNS?

All the heresies which ever did or do still exist in Christendom, have sprung from this circumstance: that men have taken appearances of truth for genuine truths, and as such have confirmed them. Heresies themselves do not occasion a man's condemnation: but an evil life, together with confirmations of the falsities contained in any heresy by misapplication of the Word, and by reasonings that originate in the natural man, are what condemn him.

For every one by birth is introduced into the religion of his country or of his parents, is initiated into it from his earliest years, and afterwards continues in the same persuasion; nor is it in his power to extricate himself from its falsities, being prevented by his engagements in the world. But to live in evil, and to confirm falsities so as to destroy genuine truths, this it is which causes condemnation.

For he who simply abides in the religion of his country, who believes in God, and (in case he be of the Christian Church) believes in the Lord, esteems the Word holy, and lives according to the commandments of the decalogue from a religious motive; such an one does not bind himself to the falsities of the religion he professes. When, therefore, truths are proposed to him,

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