Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 3.djvu/137

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THE CAUSE OF HERESIES.
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and he perceives them according to the measure of light which he has attained, he has the ability to embrace them, and thus to be extricated from falsities.

But it is not so with him who has confirmed the falsities of his religion; these, when confirmed, are made permanent, and cannot be extirpated. For when a man has confirmed himself in what is false, he is as if he had sworn to maintain it; especially if self-love or the pride of his own understanding be engaged in its favor.

I have conversed in the spiritual world with some who lived many ages ago, and had confirmed themselves in the falsities of their particular religious persuasions; and I found that they still continued rooted in the same. I have likewise conversed, in that world, with others who had been of the same religious persuasion, and had entertained the same notions with the former, but yet had not confirmed their falsities in themselves; and I found that when they were instructed by the angels, they rejected falsities and received truths. The consequence was, that the latter were saved, but the former were not. (D. S. S. 92, 93.)


THE CAUSE OF HERESIES.

Since it is conformable to the laws of the Divine Providence that there should not be any immediate influx from heaven, but mediate through the Word, doctrines and preachings; and since the Word, that it might be divine, could not be written except by mere

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