form any part of the real church, however they may be members of some sect, or visible church organization.
Again Swedenborg says:—
"When a man is affected with truth for the sake of an end, which is that he may live according to it, then the kingdom of the Lord is in him; consequently he is α church, and together with those of a like character constitutes the church in general." (Arcana Cœlestia, 5862.)
"If the individual man were not a church, there would be no church in general. A congregation in general is what is commonly called a church; but in order that it may be a church, it is necessary that every individual in the congregation be a church." (Ibid. 4292.)
We shall be brought to the same conclusion if we consider who are not of the New Jerusalem, according to the testimony of Scripture. And in the Revelation it is written: "For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." And what does this mean? Swedenborg answers: "It means that no one will be received into the New Jerusalem who makes no account of the commandments of the Decalogue, and does not shun any of the evils there enumerated as sins, and consequently lives in them," The unavoidable inference from which is,
