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Swedenborg Emanuel THE CANONS of THE NEW CHURCH 1769 The Swedenborg Society London 1954
Swedenborg Emanuel THE CANONS of THE NEW CHURCH 1769 The Swedenborg Society London 1954
OR
BElNO A TRANSLATION Of
.. Canones Novae Ecclesiae seu Integra The%gia Novae
Ecclesiae" etc.
A POSTHUMOUS WORK
OF
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
.....
\'
INDEX OF GENERAL SUBJEcrS l
GOD
PAGE
1. The Unity of God .. 3
Wisdom .. 10
Highest are .. .. 20
Human .. .. .. .. 24
REDEMPTION
19. A Church declines successively from good to evil.. 28
to what is external .. .. .. .. .. 32
progression .. 33
37. Before the world was created, the Trinity did not
exist .. 54
38. The Trinity, after the world was created, came into
Nicene Cree<! 60
•
----_._.- .... __._
...
The Chapters marked with aD asterisk are misslng rram the text.
viii
THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH [1-2]
[1] PROLOGUE!
2At this day nothing but the self-evidencing
reason of love will restore [ihe Church], because
[menJ have fallen away.
The present=daYCliï.Irch is in error about God,
in error about faith, and in_errorâhout charity,
afso it knows nothing about eternal life; and so
it is in gross darkness.
The whole of religion is based upon the idea
held about God, and is in conformity with it.
This is the Church towards which all Churches
from the first have pointed as it were in a regular
series, and about which Daniel prophesied.
[2J This Work
contains
The Entire Theology of the New Church
meant by
the" New Jerusalem .. in the Revelation
(1) Sk. does not contain the statements printed on tbis page, but bu
tbe fol!owing at the heginning :
The reason tbe New Church could not be established before tbe last
judgment bad been accomplished was 50 tbat boly things should not be
profaned. Il bas been foretold that the spiritual sense of tbe Word is
to he disclosed tben. also that t~ Lord alonitis lhe Word wh~adve.nt
then takes l'lace.
- 'The réiSoii religion exislS with few at the present day is that :
1. Il is not known of the Lord, that ,He is God alone in person
and essence, and that the Trinity is in Him; wben yet ail religion is
foûnded upon a knowledge of God and upon tbe adoration an.d
worship of Him ;
2. It is not known lhaJ...f!!itl! is nothing but the truth, or whether
what they cal! faith isThetruïh or not ;
3. It is not known what charity is. nor what evil is, or good ;
4. It is not known wbat eternallife is.
In soSar as truths of life are made a matter of life, Uutbs of faith become
a mauer-of-faitb. not a fraction more nor a fraction less. Sorne trutbs
are maUers of knowledge. not matters of faitb.
(2) Tbe Latin of tbis setitence is elliptical-as follows :-
Quod bodie non aliud quam suisona ratio amoris instaurabit,
quia lapsi sunl.
~
[3] THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH
[3] SUMMARIES
treating of
GOD
1. THERE IS ONE GOD.
II. THAT ONE GOD IS BEING (Esse) ITSELF, WInCH
IS JEHOVAH.
III. THAT GOD HIMSELF IS FROM ETERNITY, AND
THEREFORE IS ETERNITY ITSELF.
IV. GOD, BECAUSE HE IS BEING (Esse) ITSELF, AND
IS FROM ETERNITY, IS THE CREATOR OF THE
UNIVERSE.
V. THAT ONE ONLY GOD IS LOVE ITSELF AND
WISDOM ITSELF, THUS LIFE ITSELF.
VI. HE CREATED THE UNIVI!RSE FROM DIVINE
LOVE, BY MEANS OF DIVINE WISDOM, OR WHAT
IS THE SAME THING, FROM DIVINE GOOD, BY
MEANS OF DIVINE TRUTH.
VII. WITH mM THE CREATION OF THE UNI VERSE
HAD AS AN END AN ANGELIC HEA VEN FROM
THE HUMAN RACE.
VIII. AND IN CONSEQUENCE, WITH MEN AND
ANGELS, THE COMMUNICATION AND CON
JUNCTION OF HIS LOVE AND WlSDOM, AND
THEREBY THEIR BLESSEDNESS AND HAPPlNESS
TO BTERNITY.
IX. THAT END WAS IN GOD THE CREATOR FROM
ETBRNITY, AND IS IN HlM TO ETERNITY, HENCE
THERE IS THE PRESERVATION OF THE CREATED
UNIVERSE BY HlM.
2
THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH [4J
X. By MEANS OF HIS DIVINE PROCEEDING GOD HAS
OMNIPOTENCE, OMNIPRESENCE AND OMNI-
SCIENCE. Apocalypse Revealed, n.31,1
[4] CHAPTER 1
THE UNITY OF GOD, OR THAT THERE IS ONE GOD
[5] CHAPTER II
TffiS ONE GOD IS BEING (Esse) ITSELF, AND THIS IS
JEHOVAH
or
[6J CHAPTER In
THE INFINITY OF GOD
I. Because God existed before the world, thus
before there were spaces and times, He is infinite.
2. Because God is and exists in Himself, and
all things in the world are and exist from Him,
He is infinite.
3. Because God, after the making of the world,
is in space apart from space and in time apart
from time, He is infinite.
4. Because God is the All in all things of the
world, and especially the All in all things of
heaven and the Church, He is infinite.
5. The Infinity of God, in relationship to spaces,
is termed Immensity; and in relationship to
times, termed Eternity.
6. Although the Immensity of God is in relation
ship to spaces, and His Eternity is in relationship
to times, still there is nothing of space in His
Immensity, and nothing of time in His Eternity.
5
[6J THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH
[7J CHAPTER IV
THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE BY THE ONE, INFINITE
GOD I
[8] CHAPTER V
[9] CHAPTER VI
THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE BY THE ONE INFINITE
DIVINE WISDOM
[l1J ALTERNATIVELY
1. Love is a spiritual conjoining.
True love cannot remain inactive in itself,
nor be restricted within its own confines; but it
desires to go out and embrace others in love.
3. True love desires to be conjoined to others
and to impart and give its own things to them.
({\ True love desires to dwell in others, and to
dwell in itself from others.
5. Divine love, which is love itself and God
Himself, desires to be in a subject that is an
image and likeness of Himself; consequently it
desires to be in man, and desires man to be in Hiril.
§. For this to be brought about, it follows frori!
the very.......e1>s-enceofthe love.-that.-EJn-OQd, l!.n~
h.~n~JQJ~n impelling r~a~.Q.!1, that a universe had
to be created by God, in which there should be
earths, upon which there should be men, and in
the men minds and souls with which a Divine love
can be conjoined.
7. All the things, therefore, that have been
created have regard to man as an end.
(I) In Ihe original MS., according to N., tbe three paragrapbs following.
numbered 8. 9 and 10. have a line deleting them. In Sk. this line is not
noted, and 8 and 9 make one paragraph. numbered 8, and what is here
numbered 10 is numbered 9.
8. That most universal end is tbe inmost and as it were tbe life
and soul, the force and effort, in evcry single created thing.
9. On account of this there is a binding connection between all
tbings in the created universe from the first to the last and from the
last to the first.
10. The preservation of the universe results from this end beinll
implanted in created things. in the whole and in the part.
13
[12] THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH
[13J SUMMARIES
treating of
GOD THE REDEEMER JESUS CHRIST,
AND REDEMPTIONl
[14J CHAPTER I
IN JEHOVAH GOD THERE ARE TWO TffiNGS OF THE
SAME ESSENCE, DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM,
OR DIVINE GOOD AND DIVINE TRUTH
[15J CHAPTER II
JEHOVAH GOD IN RESPECT OF DIVINE WISDOM OR \
DIVINE TR.UTH DESCENDED AND TOOK TO m~F \I)
A HUMAN IN THE VIRGIN MARY J
..-.::. -" -.::::=.
18
20
Divine Good.
[18] CHAPTER V
-
OF GOD SENT INTO THE WORLD" -
1. Jehovah God sent Himself into the world by
r.:D
-
taking to Himself a human.
21
tion.
2. The state of exinanition was also a state of
humiliation before the Father, but the state of
glorification. was a state of being united with the
Father.
3. The· Lord, when in the state of exinanition or
humiliation, prayed to the Father as to one
absent or far off, but when in the state of glorifica
tion or of being united He spoke with Himself
when He spoke with the Father; exactly as in the
case of man there are states of the soul and the
body before and after regeneration.
4. The Lord, when in the Divine Truth, separ
ately, was in the state of exinanition, inasmuch as
the Divine Truth could be attacked by the hells,
or by the devils there, and could be reviled by men ;
therefore the Lord when in the Divine Truth
separately could be tempted and could suffer.
5. On the other hand, however, the Lord when
in Divine Good conjointly could not, either by
devils in hell, or by men in the world, be tempted
or made to suffer; for the Divine Good cannot
be approached, still less assailed.
6. The Lord, in the world, was alternately in
those two states.
7. In no other way was it possible for the Lord
to become Righteousness and Redemption.
8. The like takes place with a man being
regenerated by the Lord.
9. This from experience, reason, and Sacred
Scripture.
(I) The term .. exinanition .. is used in the Latin Vulgate in Pbilipp.
ii 7... made himself of no reputation". The literal translation of tbe
Greek is .. emptied himself". Cr. Isa. lill 12... he pOured out his soul
unto deatb ". See also True Christian Religion. no. 104.
23
[20J THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH
[22] CHAPTER IX
JEHOYAH GOD SUCCESSIVELY PUT OFF THE HUMAN)
FROM THE MOTHER ~...f.UT ON THE HUMAN FROM
THE FATHER, AND IN THIS WAY HE MADE THAT
HUMAN DIVINE
in itself.
26
5....
- ')
.1
'--
r1."'k
1- ~
Tc~
(7
[23] CHAPTER X
JI
eternity had, to eternity will have, all power
ning and the End ", " who was, is, and is to come ",
27
REDEMPTIONl
~24) CHAPTER I
A CHURCH IN THE COURSE OF TIME TURNS AWAY
FROM THE GOOD OF CHARITY, AND WHILE DOING SO
TURNS TOWARDS FALSITIES OF FAITH, AND SO ~
~
1. There is a Church in the heavens and a
(I) It would appear from the copy made by Johansen that before
proceeding with this section Swedenborg made some notes in the MS.
A title for the section on .. The Holy Spirit" was written and scored out.
This was followed by a draft of chapter headings for that section, which
we have included in a footnote at the be~innins of that section. where it
evidently belongs. See p. 40. Then. Immediately after the heading
" Redemption", the following general observations are found in both
MS. copies. N. leaves them unnumbered and marks them as "Annota
tions in the Margin", while Sk. calls them" Summaries" and numbers
them aLhere :
~,Redemptio'!ltself consistedjn subjugating the hells and puttingJ
the hea'Vens iiitOoraer;ancrUiUspreparing for a new spiritual Church.
2. Without that redemption no man could have been saved, nor
could any angel have continued in his state of happiness.
3. The Lord redeemed not only men but angels as well.
4. Redemption was a work purely Divine.
5. This redemption could not have been effected except by God
Incarnate.
6. The passion of the cross was the final temptation whicb He
as the greatest Prophet endured, and by means of which also He
might truly subjugate the hells and glorify His Human; thus it
wa:; a means of redemption, but was not redemption.
n:--'rrhe belief) that the passion of the cross was redemptionl
it$e!f is arundameniill error 'of the Church.
-s:-'rbat error,-together with thc"etror about three Divine Persons
from eternity, has perverted the whole Church to such a degree that
there is no spiritual residue of it remaining.
T~errQrs that have ari~nJrom the present-day [~eJ:l-tbat
redemption IS the 'ii1iSSion-oT tlie cross al'e'115' bhnumerate ,
28 .~
THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH [24J
Church on earth, and they make' a one, like the
internal and the external with a man.
2. The Church in either world is together before
the Lord as one man, and appears so before
angels.
3. Hence a Church may be compared to a man
who is first an infant, then a youth, afterwards a
man, and finally an old man.
J While it is an infant a Church is in the good I
of charity, while a youth and a man it is in the
truths of faith from that good, and when an old
man it is in the marriage of charity and faith.
~ When a Church is such, and continues to be
such, it lasts for ever, but it is otherwise if it
recedes from tne-g-60"d of charity of its infancy.
6. If a Church recedes from the good of charity
of its infancy, it i$ in the dark about truths, and
falls into falsities as a blind man falls into pits.
7. The four essentials of a Church are the
recognition of God, the recognition of the goods
of charity, the recognition of the verities of faith,
and a life in accordance with them.
8. When a Church recedes from charity it
recedes also from those four essentials. At the
same time falsities in regard to God, charity, faith
and worship, flow in.
(2) These flow i!!.. into the/Church's leaders and
'ram g~§lJf&~ p~QPIe1 asJrom a le~to
'*' Itf"Eo y. '"
~There are two reasons why falsities flowing
into the leaders flow out again tUm.Lthem : oneis
the love of having dominion, arising from the love
29
[25J THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH
POWER OF HEAYEN
I
good from heaven descends, and where they meet.
7. Midway' in lhi§...iI!~~1 there is equilibrium
between good and evil.
8. It is from this equilibrium that the extent to
which good is prevailing against evil, or evil against
I good, is discerned.
9. There the Lord weighs it, as in a balance.
10. This equilibrium becomes raised ·towards
heaven as evil prevails against go<Xt,""iind is de-
\ It~1~ tow..a,r.d~-!lell as ,good prevails against eviT;
e acf6eing that good from heaven depresseS-it
and evil from hell raises it.
-11\ This equilibrium is as it were a footstool for
"the-angels of heaven into which their good comes
to a termination and upon which it rests-.--~
trIil the_ degretlhaJ Jhl~_e_qym9ri.!!mjsraised,
( the happiness of the angels of heaven, arismgTrom
their goods and the truths thence, is diminished.
13. When evil prevails against good onearth,
then at the same time hell prevails against heaven.
14. It is clear from the above that the end of the
Church is near, when the power-of evilprevarrs
over the power of good.
15. It is said "the power of good through
truths" and "power of evil through falsities"
31
[26J THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH
[27] CHAPTER IV
THE PROGRESSION OF A CHURCH TOWARDS ITS END,
AND THE END ITSELF, ARE DESCRIBED IN VERY MANY
P~ACES IN THE WORD
(1) s.elsa. xiii 10; Ezek. xxxii 7; Joelii 10, 31 ; iii 15; Amos viii 9 ;
Matt. xxiv 29; Mark xiii 24; Luke xxi 25, 26; Rev. vi 12, 13 ; viii 10, 12.
(2) In the margin of N. by anotber band are tbe words : But DOW
hardly one in the whole of Christendom wisbes to know.
4 33
[28J THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH
[28J CHAPTER V
[29J CHAPTER VI
JEHOYAH GOD, BY HIS COMING INTO THE WORLD,
HEAVENS
accordance-Wiffil)ivine Order. 1
or A marginal note here reads: See DOCTRINE OF THE LORD nos. IS,
16, 17 in reference to the representations by the proPMl~ the state
of the Church; as well as its being said four times ot$zc e that" he
bears the iniquities of the house of Israel"; and that t e Lord was
lied the ~eatest ProJ'het.
n
[33J CHAPTER I
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE DIVINE THAT PROCEEDS
[34J CHAPTER II
THE HOLY SPIRIT, BECAUSEl IT PROCEEDS FROM TB!!
ONI! GOD BY MEANS OF illS.HUMAN, IS IN ITS ESSENCE
THAT SAME GOD; BUT IN REFERENCE TO~_{)1l0RDINg13
TillNGS WH1CH ARE SPATIAL IT IS TO ALL APPEARANCE
THE HOLY SPIRIT
1. What God was before creation, such He is
after it ; and so, such as He has been from eternity,
such He is to eternity.
(1) N. here has qui (" who" or" which "), but Sk. has quia ("because").
. 43
[35] THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH
1);) J:,... • \
[35] CHAPTER III
j-....- j ''-''=-..
THE DIVINE CALLED THE HOLY SPIRIT, PROCEEDING
[36J CHAPTER IV
THENCE IT PASSES THROUGH MEN TO MEN, AND, IN
THE LAITY
seenoy everyone.
(I) The words .. Ibal sball lasl for ever" are omilled in Sk.
48
THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH [38J
[38J THE DIVINE TRINITY
1.1 The idea the common people have of the
Divine Trinity is that God the Father is seated on
high with His Son at His right hand, and that they
send the Holy Spirit to men.
2. The idea the clergy have of the Divine
Trinity is that there are three Persons, each one
of whom is God and Lord, and that these three
have one and the same essence.
3. The idea the wise among the clergy have is
that there are three communicable natures and
qualities; it is however three natures and qualities
not communicable that are meant by three Persons.
4. The existence of a Divine Trinity is demon-
strable from Sacred Scripture and from reason.
5. From a trinity of persons there results in-
evitably a trinity of Gods.
6. If God is One, there is of necessity2 a Trinity
belonging to God, and thus a trinity of the Person.
7. G,.Qd's Trinity, which is also a Trinity of the
Person, is from God Incarnate: it is Jesus Christ. 3
8. This is-esta15Iished from Sacred Scripture.
9. And from reason as well, in that there is a
trinity in every man.
& The ApostolkChJ.![ch had never any thought i;:gnAt I;
of a Trinity of Persons : shown by their Creed. {
(I) These statements, numbered but not set out in paragraphs, are
found here before chapter i. A venical line drawn down the margin of
N. suggests that perhaps they may be annotations, but Worcester in
the A.P. and P.S. Edition has supplied the title" Observanda" and
printed them in the text. In Sk. nos. 8 and 9 are incorporated with the
preceding number, and the subsequent paragraphs numbered accordingly.
(2) Sk. has recessoria, whereas N. had r«essoria subsequently altered
to necessaria, which is taken as correct.
(3) N. has U sit a Deo incarnato, seu Jesus Chrislus "t so underlined.
The Skara MS. has 11 in ., instead of" a ":- Worcester reads U in Deo
incarnato. seu Jesll Christo "t that is, ., in God Incarnate, or Jesus Christ ft.
49
[39J THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH
[39J CHAPTER I
A DIVINE TRINITY EXISTS, NAMELY, FATHER, SON,
AND HOLY SPIRIT
51
[40] THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH
mention the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit;
etc.
[40] CHAPTER II
THOSE THREE, FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT,
ARE THE THREE ESSENTIALS OF THE ONE GOD, BEING
~I A ONE IN THE SAME WAy AS SOUL, B_ODy,~b
• ACTIVITY, WITH MAN AR~ A O!'ffi
1. The Divine Trinity, which is at the same time a
Unity, cannot be comprehended by anyone in any
other way than as being like soul, body, and
activity, in the case of man; consequently in no
other way than that the Divine Itself called the
Father is the soul, the Human called the Son is
the body of that soul, and the Holy Spirit is the
activity proceeding. l
2. Everywhere in the Christian Church, there
fore, there is acknowledgement that in Christ God
and man, that is the Divine and the human, are
One Person, as are soul and body in man. This
acknowledgement is there due to the Athanasian
Creed.
3. Anyone, therefore, who has an understandi~
oUhe union of soul and body, and the resulting
activity, cJllllP.rehendLGod.l-.Trinjty, and at the
same time His Unity, in an obscure sort of way.
4. A rational man knows, or can know, that the
soul of a son is from his father, and that the soul
clothes itself with a body in the mother's womb,
and that afterwards all activity proceeds from
both.
(1) In N. the words ab ulroque• .. from both ". are added here by
another hand.
52
THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH [40J
5. Anyone who has a knowledge of the union
of soul and body, also knows, or can know, that
the life of the soul is in the body, and that the life
of the body is thus the soul's life.
6. Consequently, that the soul lives, and accord
ingly feels and is active, in the body and from it,
and the body lives, feels, and is active from itself,
yet all the while from the soul.
7. This is so, because all things of the soul are
the body's, and all things of the body are the
soul's. It is due to this and to nothing else that
there is union between them.
8. It is only an appearance that the soul acts
separately of itself through the body, the fact
being that it acts in the body and from the body.
9. From these things a rational man acquainted
with the intercourse between soul and body can
grasp the meaning of these words of the Lord:
that the Father and He are One; [John x 30)
that all things of the Father are His, and all His
vi 37)
that the Father hath given all things into the Son's
that he who sees and knows the Son, sees and knows
that they who are one in the Son, are one in the
that no one hath seen the Father, save the Son, who
Luke x 22)
53
[41J THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH
that no one cometh to the Father but by the Son;
[John xiv 6]
[42J CHAPTER IV
CHRIST
[43J CHAPTER V
ATRINITY OF PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD IS APRODUCT
OF THE NICENE COUNCIL, AND HAS BEEN DERIVED
THEREFROM IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND IN THE
CHURCHES AFTER IT. IT SHOULD THEREFORE BE
CALLED THE NICENE TRINI'I}', BUT A TRINITY OF GOD
!t! O~RSON/.J~-OOQ_THE SAVIOQR, IS OF
CHRIST HIMSELF, AND WAS THENCE IN THE APOSTOLIC
CHURCH, AND SHOULD THEREFORE BE CALLED THE
CHRISTIAN TRINITY. THIS TRINITY OF GOD IS THE
NEW CHURCH'S TRINITY
1. There are three summaries of the Christian
Church's doctrine concerning the Divine Trinity
(I) Tbese nos. are omitled in Sk.
60
THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH [43]
as well as Unity, which are called Creeds, the
Apostolic, the Nicene, and the Athanasian. The
Apostles' Creed was drawn up by men termed the
Apostolic .f~thers ; the Nicene Creed by an assem- ..
1-3 bly of bishops and priests summoned by Emperor
Constantine to the city of NicaeaJor the purpose ~
of dispelling the scandals of Arius inregard to his
having denied the Divinity of the Son of God;
and the Athanasian Creed by some person or J
persons immediatelyl after that Council. ~e
three Creeds have been aclmowledged and accepte
oy the Christian Church as oecumenical and
catholic, that is, as the universals of doctrine in
regard to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit.
2. The Apostles' Creed teaches thus :
I believe in God the Father Almighty, God 2 of
heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His Son,
our Lord, who was conceived from the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary ... I believe in the Holy
Spirit, etc.
The Nicene Creed teaches thus :
I believe in One God, the Father Almighty, Maker
of heaven and earth ....
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten
Son of God, begotten not made, of one substance
with the Father, by whom all things were made;
who came down from heaven and was incarnate
from the Holy Spirit out of the virgin Mary, and
was made Man ....
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life,
who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who
(I) The word statim (immediately) is not found in Sk.
(2) The word .. God" is here in both MSS. Worcester alters it to
H Creator H. which agrees with the usual form of the Creed. See para
graph 3 of this chapter.
61
[43] THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH
with the Father and the Son together is worshipped
and glorified; who spake by the Prophets . . . .
The Athanasian Creed teaches thus :
The Catholic Faith is this : That we worship one
God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity. That there
is one Person of the Father, another of the Son,
and another of the Holy Spirit . .. That Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit have one Godhead and co
eternal majesty. That the Father is uncreate,
immeasurable, eternal, almighty, God and Lord,
in like manner the Son, and in like manner the Holy
Spirit; nevertheless there are not three uncreates,
immeasurables, eternals, almighties, gods and lords,
but One. The Son is of the Father alone, not made
ni5'r'Created but begotten ; the Holy Spirit is from the
Father and the Son, not made, nor created, nor
begotten, but proceeding. In this Trinity none is
before or after ariOther, none is greater or less than
another, but the whole three Persons are co~eternal
and co-equal. But since we are compelled by Chris
tian verity to confess each Person by Himself to be
God and Lord, so are we forbidden by the Catholic
religion to say three Gods and three Lords.
Furthermore, in regard to the Lord Jesus Christ,
thus : -
That although He is God and Man, yet He is not
two but one Christ.
3. From the pronouncements in the three creeds
it may be gathered how God's Trinity in Unity
and Unity in Trinity is understood in each case.
For the Apostles' Creed declares in regard to
God the Father, that He is the Creator of the
Universe; in regard to His Son, that He was
conceived from the Holy Spirit and born of the
virgin Mary; and in regard to the Holy Spirit,
that it exists.
62
THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH [43J
The Nicene Creed, on the other hand, declares
in regard to God the Father, that He is the Creator
of the Universe; in regard to the Son, that He
was begotten before all ages and that He came
down and was incarnate; and in regard to the
Holy Spirit, that it proceeds from them both.
Whereas the Athanasian Creed declares in regard
to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that they are three
co-eternal and co-equal Persons, and that each
one of them is God; nevertheless there are not
three Gods, but one; and that although from
Christian verity each Person by Himself is God,
yet, from the Catholic religion, you may not say
three Gods.
4. It is evident from these three Creeds that two
Trinities have been handed down, one that came
into existence before the world was created, the
other that came into existence after that. A Trinity
before the world was created is in the Nicene and
Athanasian Creeds, whereas a Trinity after the
world was created is in the Apostle?-Cree"'d.
Consequently, the Apostolic Church knew nothing
of a " Son from eternity", but only of a Son born
in the world ; and so it is this Son that it invoked,
not one born from eternity. On the other hand,
the Church after the Nicene Creed, just as though
it was established afresh, acknowledged as God a
Son from eternity, but not the Son born in the
world.
5. Those two Trinities differ as much from each
other as evening and morning, or rather as night
and day; accordingly, 120th of them together
cannot possibly be affirmedas-rrue inarnemberof
the Church, becal}se with him religion mig~t
63
[43J THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH
64
THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH [43]
will He not give to another" [Isa. xlii 8 ; xlviii 11];
then that "the Holy Spirit is from Him" [John
xx 22J.
As, then, God is One and there is a Divine
Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, according
to the Lord's words, [Matt. xxviii 19J, it follows that
this Trinity is in OmL~son, and that it is in the
Person of Him who was conceived from God the
Father, and born of the virgin Mary, and called,
on that account, " Son of the Most High ", " Son
of God", "Only-begotten Son" [Luke i 31-35 ;
John i 18; xx 31 ; Matt. iii 17; xvi 16 ; xvii 5J.
It is obvious to both internal and external sight
that in all these places, and in those quoted above,
there is not meant any Son from eternity.
Accordingly, with this Divine Trinity, which is
indeed the " Fulness of the Godhead, dwelling in
Him bodily", [according to Paul],! being in the
Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ, it follows that
He alone is to be 1!p.Qroached, to be appealed to
for help, and to be worsrupped; and that, when
this is done, the Father is being approached at the
same time, and [the manJ receives the Holy Spirit;
for He teaches that He Himself is " the Way, the
Truth, and the Life" ; that no one cometh to the
Father except through Him; and that he that
does not by Him as the Door enter into the she~
fold_ (i~e . ..iliLChurch), is not a shepherd, but a
thief and a robbef"'[JOhn xiv 6; x 1-9J ; then too,
that they who believe on Him have eternal life, and
they who do not believe, shall not see life, [John iii
15, 16, 36; vi 40; xi 25, 26; I John v 20].
(I) The words, .. according to Paul ", are found here in N. but not in
Sk.
6 65
[44J THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH
[46] CHAPTER IX
[47J CHAPTER X
UNLESS A NEW CHURCH COMES INJ:.o EXIS.:rnNCE,
( ABOLISHING THE OLD CHURCH FAITH WHICH IS
LORD'S WORDS
72
THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH [47]
1. Where the Lord is speaking with the disciples
about the consummation of the age and of His
Coming, that is, about the end of the present-day
Church and the beginning of a new Church, He
tells them, after having described the" desolation"
and the" tribuation ", that :
Except those days should be shortened, there would
no flesh be preserved. [Matt. xxiv 21,22;]
that is, they would utterly perish in eternal death.
2. The reason no flesh would be preserved unless
that " tribulation " and " desolation" were taken
away, is because by means of the faith of the
present-day Church there is no conjunction with
God, and consequently no salvation, the latter
being entirely dependen"roirConjunction with
God; in fact it is that conjunction.
3. The reason there is no conjunction with God
by means of the faith of the present-day Church is
because that faith is faith in three Gods, and unless
a faith is faith in the One God it does not conjoin ;
then also, because that faith is in God the Father,
who is unapproachable, and also in a Son born
from eternity, who would likewise be unapproach-
able, being of the same essence as the Father, and
because it is at the same time a faith in the Holy
Spirit, and because there is not any Son nor any
Holy Spirit from eternity, faith in those two is
a faith in no Go~i. Add to this,that the present-
day faith cannot be united with charity; and a faith
not united to charity, thus faith alone, does not
conjoin. It follows therefrom that unless a new))
Church be- establIshed b~ the Lord, wfucb- will
abolJsh that faith, and tea n[ new o'newhicfi isa
raith in the One God, and unIted at the same time
73
[47] THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH
to charity, then no flesh could be preserved, that is,
not any man could be saved.
4. That the present-day faith has destroyed the
entire Church and falsified the whole Word was
shown above. On -that-accountunress-a new
( Church, rgtoring both the Church and the Word
t<L-their integn~y, IS estabhshed ~ the Lorg, no
flesh can be preserved.
'?' In THE ApOCALYPSE REVEALED it is shown
that those who are in the faith of the present-day
Church are meant by the "dragon" and the
" false prophet", and that the faith itself is meant
by " the pit of the abyss" out of which the locusts
came, as well as by " the great city which spiritually
is called Sodom and Egypt" where the two
witnesses were slain; and likewise it is shown
that by " the New Jerusalem" there a new Church
is meant. As it says there that after the dragon
and the false prophet had been cast into hell the
New Jerusalem cam>_Q.9wn from God out of
heaven, it is clear tha(~the faith of the present-)I
( day Church is condeiUnea, a new Church must
CO'iiie down out of anew Heaven from the Lord
and be founded. •
6. From these things it is clear that unless a new
Church comes into existence abolishing faith in
three Gods and recovering faitliih 5rreGod, thus
in the Lord Jesus Christ, conjoining this at TIle
same time with charity into a single form, no
flesh can be saved.
7. It may, too, be seen above, page 38, that
redemption could not have been effected, and
salvation thereby given, excepLby Go Incarnate,
thus by none other than God the eemer esus
74
THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH [47J
Christ, .for salvation is a perpetual redemption;
further, it may also be seen that God, faith, and
charity are the three essentials of the Church, and
that upon them the whole of theology, and thus
the Church, depends. Consequently where falsities
in respect of those three are pro"CIaimed and
-
imbibed, a man has no salvation.
7. Conclusion. No one henceforth can come
into heaven unless he is in the doctrine of the new
Church in respect of faith and life; the reason for
this is that the New Heaven now established by
the Lord is in a faith and life in accordance with
that doctrine. l
CHAPTER Xl
THE DIVINE TRINlTI IS IN THE LORD GOD THB SAVIOUR; AND ACCORDINGLY
TIlE LORD GOD THE SAVIOUR QUGKf ALONE TO BE APPROACHED THAT THERE
The Lord is the Head of the Church, and the Church is His body;
consequently it is He who is its Head who ought to be apprOaChed by
the body.
The word U Chapter" and the figure U XI " have been crossed out.
In Sk. the last of these" annotations" is altered slightly and appended
to the" Conclusion" of paragraph 7 above, reading, .. Because the
Lord is the Head· of the Church, etc." The second .. annotation" is
omitted in Sk.
75
INDEX OF REFERENCES TO SCRIPTURE
PASSAGES
GENESIS
JOEL
i 26 [45] 4
.~! 10,31.,. .. ,.. (27)
EXODUS
AMOS
xxxiii 20 [31] 8
viii 9 . [27)
PSALMS
MATTHEW
ii 7 [41] I
ISAIAH
~~~ 16, 17,. [39]7
III 17 .
ix 6 [41] I, [43] 6
[16) footnote, (43) 6
xlii 8 [43] 6
x~! 16 (43) 6
XVII 5 .
xliii 10-14 [43] 6
xliv 6 . .. . . . . .. . . [5)
[16] footnote, [43] 6
Ixiii 16 [43) 6
xxvi 64 .. [12) 12 footnote
xxiii 6. . . . . . . . . . .. [43] 6
MARK
EZEKIEL
i 10, 11 ... ,.,. [39]7
DANIEL
xvi 19 ... (12) 12, [21) 6
footnote
LUKE
77
i 70 [37] 6
xv 26 [37] 7, [39] 7
iii 22 [39]7
xvi 13,14 [37] 7
x 22 [40] 9
xvi 14-22........ [37] 7
JOHN
xvi 28. . . . . . . . . .. [21] 3
xvii 10 [40] 9
i [16]
xvii 21 [40] 9 (twice)
i 1,3,10....... [9]
xx 22 [39] 7, [43] 6
iii 15,16,36 .
REVELATION
[31] 14, [43] 6
v 26 [40] 9
vi 12,13........ [27]
v 37 [31] 8, [40] 9
viii 10, 11. . . . . . . . [27]
vi 37 [40] 9
xii, xiii [44] 6
vi 40 [43] 6
xv 4............ [17]
x 1-9 [43] 6
xviii 20. . . . . . . . . .. [37] 6
x 30 [40] 9, [43] 6
xxii 13........... [5]
x 38 [42] 6
xi 25,26 [43] 6
COLOSSIANS
xii 44 [43] 6
ii 9 .
xiii 3 ,. [40] 9
[40] 9, [43] 6, [44] 8
xiv 9 [43] 6
v 7 [39] 7, [45] 4
xiv 17 [37]7
[43] 6 (twice), [44] 8
78