1. THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH

A statement of faith, set out in both universal and particular terms, is placed at the beginning to serve as a preface to the book which follows, to be like a doorway leading into a church, and a summary presenting in a short compass what follows at more length. It is called the faith of the new heaven and the new church, because heaven, where the angels are, and the church among men form a single unit, just as the internal and external sides of the personality make up a single individual. This is why a member of the church who possesses the good of love which arises from the truths of faith, and possesses the truths of faith which arise from the good of love, is, so far as the interiors of his mind are concerned, an angel of heaven. Therefore too after dying he comes into heaven, and there enjoys happiness depending upon how far the good and truth are linked. It should be known that in the new heaven, which is at the present time being established by the Lord, this statement of faith serves as its preface, doorway and summary.

576. II. A new birth or creation can only be brought about by the Lord through charity and faith as the two means with the person's co-operation.

It follows from the proofs offered in the chapters on charity and faith that regeneration is brought about by the Lord through charity and faith; in particular, from the statement there that the Lord, charity and faith make one, just as do life, will and understanding; and if they are divided each of them perishes like a pearl collapsing into dust. These two, charity and faith, are called means, because they link a person with the Lord and make charity charity and faith faith. This is only possible if the person plays a part in his regeneration; this is why we say, with the person's co-operation. In previous sections the co-operation of a person with the Lord has been discussed several times. But because the human mind is so constituted that it cannot help perceiving this action as being effected by the person by his own ability, it needs to be illustrated again.

[2] Every motion, and so every action, contains an active and a passive principle. In other words, the agent acts, and the object acts as a result of the agent. So the two together produce an action. This may be compared to a mill driven by a wheel, a carriage pulled by a horse, a movement responding to an effort, an effect to a cause, inertia to energy, in general, an instrumental part responding to a principal one. Everyone knows that the two together perform a single action. In the case of charity and faith the Lord acts, and the person acts in response to the Lord, for the Lord's activity is in the person's passivity. Therefore the ability to act aright is from the Lord, so that the will to act is as if it were the person's. This is because he enjoys free will, so that he can act together with the Lord, and so link himself to Him, or he can act by the power of hell, which is outside him, and so cut himself off from the Lord. It is the person's action in harmony with the Lord's action which is meant here by co-operation. To render this even clearer, further comparisons will be supplied below.

196. (ii) THE SPIRITUAL SENSE IS PRESENT IN EVERY PART AND DETAIL OF THE WORD.

This can be seen by examples, such as the following. John says in Revelation:

I saw heaven open, and there was a white horse; and he who sat on it was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and fights. And his eyes were a flame of fire; and on his head were many diadems. He had a name written, which no one but he knows. And he was clothed in a garment dyed in blood; and his name is called The Word of God. His armies in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in white, clean linen. He has written on his garment and on his thigh his name: King of kings and Lord of lords. I saw further an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice, Come and gather for the great feast, to eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of strong men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all free men and slaves, both small and great, Revelation 19:11-18.

No one can see what all this means except from the spiritual sense of the Word; and no one can see this except by knowing the correspondences. For every word corresponds to something and not one is without meaning. A knowledge of correspondences shows the meaning of 'a white horse', 'him who sat on it', 'eyes like a flame of fire', the 'diadems' on his head, 'the garment dyed in blood', 'the white linen' worn by His army in heaven, 'the angel standing in the sun', 'the great feast' to which they were to come and gather, as well as 'the flesh of kings and captains' and many more, which they were to eat.

[2] The meaning in the spiritual sense of all these details has been expounded in My Apocalypse Revealed (820-838), and my short work THE WHITE HORSE, so it would be superfluous to expound them further. It was shown there that this is a description of the Lord as the Word. His eyes like a flame of fire mean the Divine wisdom of His Divine love. The diadems on His head and the name which no one but He knows mean the Divine truths in the Word which come from Him, and that no one sees what the Word is like in its spiritual sense except the Lord and those to whom He reveals it. A garment dyed in blood means the natural sense of the Word, that is, the literal sense, to which violence was done. It is quite plain that it is the Word which is so described, for it says 'His name is called The Word of God.' It is also quite plain that it is the Lord who is meant, for it says that the name of him who sat on the white horse was 'King of kings and Lord of lords', much as in Revelation 17:14, where it says: 'And the Lamb shall overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings'.

[3] The spiritual sense of the Word being laid bare at the end of the church is what is meant not only by what is said about the white horse and him who sat on it, but also by the great feast, to which the angel standing in the sun invited all to come, and to eat the flesh of kings and captains, etc.; this means making one's own all the kinds of good given by the Lord. All the expressions used there would be meaningless, devoid of life and spirit, if they did not inwardly contain a spiritual sense, just as the body contains a soul.