Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 3.djvu/195

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IN BUT NOT OF THE CHURCH.
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Hence the spiritual church, or what is the same thing, the man of the church, first becomes a church when acting from a principle of charity, which is indeed the doctrine of faith itself. The commandments were given that men may live according to them, not that they may be acquainted with them; for it is thus that man obtains in himself the kingdom of the Lord, which consists solely in mutual love and the happiness thence derived. (A. C. 916.)

He who is not in spiritual good, that is, in the good of charity, and in spiritual truths, that is, in the truths of faith, is not of the church, notwithstanding his being born within the church. For the whole heavenly kingdom of the Lord is in the good of love and faith; and unless the church be in like good it cannot be a church, because it is not conjoined with heaven; for the church is the Lord's kingdom on earth.

That it is called the church is not from the circumstance of its having the Word and doctrines thence derived; nor from the circumstance of the Lord being known there, and of the sacraments being there administered. But it is the church from this: that the people composing it live according to the Word, or according to doctrine derived from it, and that this doctrine is the rule of life.

They who are not of this character, are not of the church, but are out of it. And they who live in evil, that is, who live contrary to doctrine, are further out of

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