behold all things are become new." (2 Cor. v. 17.) And by this inward spiritual renewal they become the true children of God. They receive a continual influx of his divine spirit—the spirit of gentleness, meekness, patience, love, forbearance, forgiveness, and heroic self-sacrifice for others' good. In their thoughts, dispositions and purposes, they resemble their Father in the heavens. They have their Father's name written in their foreheads. Thus Paul writes to the church at Ephesus: "That ye put off . . . the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." (iv. 22-24.)
In like manner Swedenborg, but more full and explicit:
"When man is regenerated, he becomes altogether another man, and is made new; therefore also when he is regenerated, he is said to be born again, and created anew. In this case, although his face is like what it was before, and also his speech, yet his mind is not like his former mind; for his mind when he is regenerated, is open towards heaven, and there dwells therein love to the Lord and charity towards his neighbor, together with faith. It is the mind which makes another and a new man. Change of state cannot be perceived in the body of man, but in his spirit, the body being only the covering of his spirit; and when it is put off, then his spirit appears, and this in altogether another form when he is regenerated; for it has then the form of love and charity in beauty inexpressible, instead of its pristine form, which was that of hatred and cruelty with a deformity also inexpressible. Hence it may be seen what
