82. After this, a man from the northern quarter rushed up in a vehement mood and looked at me with a threatening countenance. Addressing me in an excited tone, he then said: "Are you the man who wishes to seduce the world by establishing a New Church, which you understand to be meant by the New Jerusalem about to come down from God out of heaven? and by teaching that to those who embrace the doctrinals of that Church, the Lord will grant love truly conjugial, the delights and felicity of which you exalt to heaven? Is not that a fiction? and do you not offer it as a bait and enticement for the acceptance of your novelties? But tell me briefly what those doctrinals of the New Church are, and I will see whether they are concordant or discordant." I replied: "The doctrinals of the Church which is meant by the New Jerusalem are these: I. That there is one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and that He is the Lord Jesus Christ. II. That saving faith is to believe in Him. III. That evils are to be shunned because they are of the devil and from the devil. IV. That goods are to be done because they are of God and from God. V. That these are to be done by man as of himself, but that he must believe that they are done by the Lord with him and through him."
[2] On hearing this, the man's fury abated for a few moments; but after some deliberation, he again looked at me with a grim countenance and said, "Are these five precepts the doctrinals of the faith and charity of the New Church?" and I answered, "They are."
He then asked sharply, "How can you demonstrate the first: That there is one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and that He is the Lord Jesus Christ?" I said: "I demonstrate it thus: Is not God one and indivisible? is there not a Trinity? If God is one and indivisible, is He not one Person? if one Person, is not the Trinity in that Person? That He is the Lord Jesus Christ, I demonstrate by the following: That He was conceived of God the Father (Luke 1:34, 35); that as to His soul He is God, and hence, as He himself says, that the Father and He are one (John 10:30); that He is in the Father and the Father in Him (John 14:10, 11); that he that sees Him and knows Him, sees and knows the Father (John 14:7, 9); that no one sees and knows the Father save He who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18); that all things of the Father are His (John 3:35; 16:15); that He is the way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man comes to the Father save by Him (John 14:6), thus by Him because He is in Him; and, according to Paul, that in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9). Furthermore we are taught that He has power over all flesh (John 17:2). and that He has all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18). From these passages it follows that He is the God of heaven and earth."
[3] He then asked me, "How do you demonstrate the second: That saving faith is to believe in Him?" I replied: "I demonstrate it by these words of the Lord Himself:
This is the will of the Father, that all who believe in the Son shall have everlasting life. John 6:40.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16.
He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3. 36.
[4] He then said, "Demonstrate also the third and those that follow." I answered: "What need is there to demonstrate that evils are to be shunned because they are of the devil and from the devil? that goods are to be done because they are of God and from God? and that these are to be done by man as of himself, yet that he must believe that they are done by the Lord with him and through him? That these three doctrinals are true, is confirmed by the whole Sacred Scripture from beginning to end; for in one sum, what else does the Scripture contain save the shunning of evils, the doing of goods, and the believing in the Lord God? Moreover, without these three, there is no religion. Is not religion a matter of life? and what is life but the shunning of evils and the doing of goods? and how can a man do the latter and shun* the former except as of himself? Therefore, if you remove these doctrinals from the Church, you remove the Sacred Scripture, and you also remove religion, and when these are removed from the Church, it is not a Church." On hearing this, the man withdrew and pondered. Yet he departed in indignation.
* The Latin is illa credere (believe the former), but the context indicates this should be illa fugere as in the translation.