838. Let every one, therefore, beware of this heresy, that MAN IS JUSTIFIED BY FAITH WITHOUT THE WORKS

OF THE LAW, for he who is in it, and does not fully recede from it before his life's end, after death consociates with infernal genii; for they are the goats, concerning whom the Lord says, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels," Matt. xxv. 42; for of the goats the Lord does not say, that they did evil, but that they did not do good; the reason why they did not do good, is, because they said to themselves, I cannot do good from myself, the law does not condemn me, the blood of Christ cleanses and delivers me, the passion of the cross takes away the sentence of sin, the merit of Christ is imputed to me through faith, I am reconciled to the Father, under grace, I am regarded as a son, and our sins he reputes as infirmities, which he instantly forgives for the sake of his Son, thus he justifies by faith alone, and unless this were the sole medium of salvation, no mortal could be saved; for what other end did the Son of God suffer on the cross and fulfill the law, but to remove the sentence of condemnation for our transgressions? Thus do they reason with themselves, and the good which is good they do not do ; for from this faith alone, which is nothing but a faith of knowledges, in itself an historical faith, thus only a science, no good proceeds; it being a dead faith, into which no life or soul enters, unless the man approaches the Lord immediately, and shuns evils as sins as of himself, in which case, the good which he does as of himself, is from the Lord, thus in itself good; on which subject it is thus written in Isaiah : "Ah! sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters: And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers I will not hear: Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well," then "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool," i. 4, 15-18. And in Jeremiah: "Stand in the gate of the house of Jehovah, and proclaim there this

word, trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, The temple of Jehovah, The temple of Jehovah are these" (the church of Gcd, the church of God, the church of God is where our faith is); "Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this house become a den of robbers? Behold, even I have seen it, saith Jehovah," vii. 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11.

839. I was looking into the world of spirits, and saw an army mounted on red and black horses; they who sat upon them appeared like apes, with their faces and breasts turned towards the loins and tails of the horses, and the hinder parts of their heads and their backs towards their necks and heads, and the bridles hung about the necks of the riders; and they cried out, "Let us fight against them who ride upon white horses;" but they held the bridles with both hands, so as to keep back the horses from the combat; and this they did continually. At this time two angels descended from heaven, and came near to me, and said, "What do you see?" and I told them that I saw this ludicrous company of horsemen, and asked what and who they were; and the angels answered, "They come from the place which is called Armageddon, Apoc. xvi. 16, where they were assembled to the number of some thousands, to fight against those who are of the Lord's New Church, which is called the New Jerusalem; in that place they talked of the church and of religion, and yet there was not any thing of the church among them, because there was not any spiritual truth among them; nor any religion, because there was not any spiritual good among them; they talked about both, indeed, with their mouths and lips, but only for the sake of the dominion they might obtain by their means. They learned in their youth to confirm the doctrine of faith alone, the trinity of God, and the quality of Christ; but when they arrived at eminent stations in the church, they retained these things only for a short time; for as they then began to think no longer about God and heaven, but about themselves and the world, thus not concerning eternal beatitude

and felicity, but concerning temporal eminence and opulence, they rejected the doctrinals they had acquired in their youth, from the interiors of the rational mind which communicate with heaven, and are thence in the light of heaven, into the exteriors of the rational mind which communicate with the world, and are therefore only in the light of the world, and at length they thrust them down into the natural sensual part; in consequence of which, the doctrinals of the church with them abide in their mouths only, and are no longer fixed in their thoughts by reasoning on them, and still less in their affection by loving them and since they have reduced themselves to such a state, they do not admit any genuine truth of the church, nor any genuine good of religion. The interiors of their mind are become comparatively like bottles filled with iron-filings mixed with powdered sulphur, into which, if water be poured, the mixture first grows warm, and afterwards inflames, and the bottles are burst in consequence. In like manner they, when they hear any thing concerning living water, which is the genuine truth of the Word, and the same enters in at their ears, are violently heated and inflamed, and reject it as though it were something that would burst their heads. These are they who appeared to you like apes, riding with their bodies reversed upon red and black horses with the bridles about their necks, because they who do not love the truth and good of the church, as derived from the Word, will not look at the fore-parts of any horse, but at his hinderparts; for a horse signifies the understanding of the Word; a red horse, the understanding of the Word destroyed as to good, and a black horse the understanding of the Word destroyed as to truth. The reason of their crying out to fight against those who ride on white horses, is, because a white horse signifies the understanding of the Word as to truth and good; and their appearing to keep back their horses, was owing to their being afraid of the combat, lest the truth of the Word should spread to many, and thus should come to light; this is the interpretation."

The angels further added, "We belong to a society in

heaven which is called Michael, and were commanded by the Lord to descend to the place called Armageddon, from whence the company of horsemen, which you beheld, came forth. By Armageddon, with us in heaven, is signified a state and inclination to fight, from falsified truths originating from the love of dominion and pre-eminence; and as we have perceived in you a desire to know something of that war, we will give you some account of it. On our descent from heaven, we went to that place which is called Armageddon, and saw there an assembly of some thousands; but we did not go into the assembly, for there were two houses on the south side of that place, where there were some boys with their masters, into which we entered and were kindly received; we were delighted with their company; their countenances were all beautiful from the life in their eyes, and the zeal that animated their discourse; the life in their eyes was derived from the perception of truth, and the zeal in their discourse from the affection of truth; for which reason a present had been made them from heaven of hats, the edges of which were ornamented with bindings of gold lace interspersed with pearls, and likewise of garments variegated with white and hyacinth. We asked them if they had looked into the neighboring place, called Armageddon; they said they had seen it through a window just below the roof of the house, and had observed a congregation there, but under various figures, appearing sometimes like tall men, and at others not like men, but like statues and graven images, and about them a great number on bended knees; these also appeared to us under various forms, at one time like men, at another like leopards, and sometimes like goats, the latter with horns bent downwards, with which they dug up the ground. We interpreted these changes to them, showing whom they represented and what they signified. But not to digress; when the assembly heard that we were entered into those houses, they said one to another, What have they to do with those children? Let us send some of our company to turn them out.' They, moreover, did send, and when they were come they said to us, 'Why did you enter into

6

6

these houses? Where do you come from? We are authorized to insist on your immediate departure; but we replied, You have no right to insist upon any such thing; you appear, indeed, in your own eyes as formidable as Anakims, and those who are here seem to you as helpless as children, but still you have no right or power here, unless possibly by cunning arts you derive it from your three houses of entertainment here, which, nevertheless, are of no avail to you; therefore, tell your companions that we are sent hither from heaven to visit you, to see whether there is any religion among you or not, and if not you are to be cast out of this place; wherefore propose to them this question, which involves the very essence of the church and consequently of religion; How do they understand these words in the Lord's Prayer? "Our Father who art in the heavens, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done as in heaven so on earth; on hearing which they said at first, What is this?' but afterwards they promised to propose the question. So they went and related to their companions all that had passed, who replied, 'To what end and purpose is this proposition?'" But they understood the reason of it, in that it was meant to determine the nature of their faith in God the Father; therefore they said, 'The meaning of the words is plain, that men ought to pray to God the Father, and since Christ is our Saviour, that we ought to pray to God the Father for the sake of the Son; and presently they determined, in a fit of passion, to come to us, and make this declaration to our faces, adding, at the same time, that they would pull our ears. They also departed from that place, and went into a grove that was near the two houses where the children were with their masters, in the middle of which grove was a piece of ground raised in the form of an amphitheatre, into which they entered hand in hand, and found us waiting there for them; there were in the place little mounds of earth raised like hillocks, upon which they seated themselves, for they said to one another, We will not stand in their presence, but will sit down.' And then one of them, who could assume the appearance of an angel of