Page:Swedenborg, Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church.djvu/216

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EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

of things seen and heard in the other world, especially of important discussions held in the world of spirits on the very points of doctrine considered in the chapters. We cannot better close this sketch of Swedenborg's theological works than with what he sets forth at the beginning of this last great work as "the face, gate, and summary" of this new Christian doctrine:—

"The faith of the New Heaven and the New Church in the Universal Form is this:—That the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, came into the world that He might subjugate the hells and glorify His Human; and that without this no mortal could have been saved; and that those are saved who believe in Him.

"It is said in the universal form because this is the universal of faith; and a universal of faith is that which will be in the whole and every part. It is a universal of faith that God is one in essence and in person, in whom is a Divine Trinity, and that He is the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ. It is a universal of faith that no mortal could have been saved unless the Lord had come into the world. It is a universal of faith that He came into the world that He might remove hell from man

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