Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 3.djvu/158

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SPIRITUAL FAITH.

IT was often said by the Lord when the sick were healed, that they should have faith, and that it should be done to them according to their faith The reason was, that the first thing of all is, to acknowledge that the Lord is the Saviour of the world. For without this acknowledgment no one can receive anything of good and truth from heaven, that is, anything of faith. And because it is the first and most essential thing of all, therefore, that the Lord might be acknowledged when He came into the world in healing the sick, He questioned them concerning their faith; and they who had faith were healed. The faith was, that He was the Son of God about to come into the world, and that He had the power of healing and of saving.

All healings also of diseases by the Lord when He was in the world, signified the healings of spiritual life, thus the things which belong to salvation. Inasmuch as the acknowledgment of the Lord is the first of all things of spiritual life, and the most essential thing of the church, and since without it no one can receive from heaven anything of the truth of faith and the good of love, therefore the Lord also often says, that whoso

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