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in the place of actual repentance, after they had separated from the Roman Catholics, because it is founded on their imputative faith, which alone, without charity, and consequently without repentance, is said to produce remission of sins, and the whole of man's regeneration: it is founded also on this maxim, which is annexed inseparably to such faith, that in the act of justification there is no co-operation on man's part with the Holy Ghost; and on this, that no one enjoys free-will in spiritual things; and again on this, that every thing is an effect of immediate mercy, independent of any mediate mercy operating by and through man.

517. Many reasons might be assigned, why the mere lip-confession of being a sinner is not repentance; but it may be sufficient to mention one, which is this, that every man howsoever wicked, nay, even a very devil, may make such confession, and that with an external appearance of much devotion, whilst the torments of hell threaten him, and stare him in the face. But who doth not see, that such a confession, not proceeding from any internal principle of devotion, must needs be imaginative, and thus from the lungs, and not voluntary from the interior, and so not from the heart? For a wicked man and a devil, notwithstanding such confession, still burn inwardly with the lusts of the love of doing evil, by which they are agitated and impelled, like the sails of a mill in a violent storm; such a confession then, is nothing but a contrivance to deceive God, for the sake of deliverance, or to impose upon the simple. For what is more easy than to compel the lips to pour forth words, and to prepare the breath for that purpose, and to lift the eyes and hands upwards? This is what the Lord observes in Mark: "Well hath Esaias prophesied of you, hypocrites! This people honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me," chap. vii. 6; and in Matthew: "Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but

within they are full of rapine and excess: thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also," chap. xxiii. 25, 26; besides other passages in the same chapter.

518. The like hypocritical worship is practised by all those who have confirmed themselves in the faith now prevalent, that the Lord took away all the sins of the world by His passion on the cross; by which they understand the sins of every particular person, who doth but put up formulary prayers, regarding propitiation and mediation. Some persons of this character can even utter many holy sayings on repentance and charity, with a loud voice, and an apparent warmth of zeal, from the pulpit, and yet believe neither of any avail to salvation; for by repentance they mean nothing more than lip-confession, and by charity a mere outward morality in the common business of life; but the desire of popular favour is what influenceth them on such occasions. These are they whom our Lord describes in these words: "Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? And in Thy name have cast out devils and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity," Matt. vii. 22, 23: I once heard in the spiritual world a certain person praying thus: "I am full of infection, leprous all over, and defiled from my mother's womb; there is no part sound in me, from the crown of my head to the sole of my foot; I am not worthy to lift up my eyes towards God; death and eternal damnation are my deserved portion: have mercy on me for the sake of Thy Son; purify me by His blood: the salvation of all is according to Thy good pleasure; I implore thy mercy." They who stood by and heard these words asked, "How knowest thou that thou art such a one as thou hast described thyself to be?" He replied, "I know it, because I have been told so." He was then sent to the examining angels, to

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whom he repeated the same declarations; and they, after investigating his real state and character, reported, that all he had said of himself was true, but still that he was not acquainted with a single evil in himself, because he had never examined himself, and had fancied that evils, after lip-confession, were no longer evils in the sight of God, because He both turneth away His eyes from them, and His wrath is appeased. On this account he had never repented of any evil, although he was a deliberate adulterer, a robber, a deceitful detracter, and one who burnt with revenge against those who displeased him, and was such in will and heart, and consequently would have been such in words and actions had he not been restrained by fear of the law, and of the loss of reputation. After it was ascertained that this was his real character, he received sentence, and was cast down among the hypocrites in hell.

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519. The nature and quality of such persons may be illustrated by comparisons. They are like temples occupied only by spirits of the dragon, and by those described in the Revelation as locusts; they are like the pulpits in those temples, where the Word is not to be found, being buried under foot. They are also like walls covered over with plaister, beautifully painted in fresco, within which are seen owls, and horrid birds of night, flying in at the open windows. They are also like whitened sepulchres full of dead men's bones and they are like coins made of the lees of oil, or dried dung, and washed over with gold. They are further like the bark and rind about rotten wood: and like the garments of Aaron's sons about a leprous body: nay they are like sores and ulcers, which are supposed to be healed, but which nevertheless are full of corrupt matter, only covered over with a thin skin. How plain is it to every one, that external holiness and internal profaneness cannot agree together! Such persons also are above others fearful of self-examination, so that they have no more sense or perception of the vices within them, than of the foetid

unsavoury substances contained in the stomach and bowels, before they are cast out into the draught. It is to be observed however, that the persons whom we have been describing, are not to be confounded with those, whose actions and faith are unblamable, nor with those who repent of some particular sins, and make a like general confession with their lips when in worship, and more ardently in private prayer and meditation when under spiritual temptation; for such general confession both precedes and follows reformation and regeneration.

IV. THAT MAN IS BORN WITH A PROPENSITY TO EVILS

OF ALL KINDS, AND THAT UNLESS HE REMOVE THEM

IN PART BY REPENTANCE, HE REMAINS IN THEM, WHOSOEVER REMAINS IN THEM, CANNOT BE

AND

SAVED.

520. That every man is born with a propensity to evils, and consequently that from his mother's womb he is nothing but evil, is a truth known in the church, and the reason of its being known is, because a tradition has been handed down by the councils and prelates of the various churches, that the sin of Adam has been translated into all his posterity; that on this account, alone, every man after him, as well as himself, is sentenced to damnation; and that this is the sin inherent in every man from his birth. But besides this, several other doctrines of the church are grounded on this assertion: as that the washing of regeneration, which is called baptism, was instituted by the Lord to remove that sin; that this was the cause of His coming, and that faith in His merits is the means for its removal; not to mention other opinions built upon the same idea. But no hereditary evil springeth from that origin: for it was shewn above, n. 466, that Adam was not the first of men, but by Adam and his wife the first church established on this globe is representatively described; and by the garden of Eden, the wisdom of that church; and by the tree of life, its looking towards the Lord who was to come; and by the tree

of the knowledge of good and evil, its looking to itself and not to the Lord. That this church was representatively described in the first chapters of Genesis, hath been fully evinced and confirmed, by many parallel passages adduced from the Word, in the ARCANA CELESTIA, published at London. These things being understood, and granted, the opinion hitherto received and cherished, that the sin of Adam is the cause of that evil which is innate in man from his parents, will fall to the ground, and it will be seen that it originates not from this, but from a different cause. That the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil are in every man, and that their being said to be planted in a particular garden, signified the free-will which man enjoyeth of turning himself to the Lord, and of turning away from Him, has been fully proved in the chapter on FREE

WILL.

521. But, my friend, hereditary evil is derived solely from a man's parents, not indeed that very evil which he actually commits, but his inclination to it. That this is the case, must be obvious to every one who only reflects upon well known facts and common experience. Who cannot see that children by birth bear a general resemblance to their parents, as to their countenances, manners and dispositions ; and also that the likeness of an ancestor frequently returns in his descendants after an interval of several generations; so that the general resemblance affords a mark by which many persons can readily distinguish different families from each other, and also different nations, as Africans from Europeans, Neapolitans from Germans, Englishmen from Frenchmen, &c. How easy it is to discover a Jew by his face, eyes, speech and gestures! And if you could but perceive by sensation the sphere of life which exhales from the native disposition of every one, you would in like manner be convinced of the similitude of dispositions (animi), and minds (mentes). Hence it follows, that man is not born in evils

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