451. All charity that is not conjoined with faith in one God in whom is a Divine trinity, is spurious like the charity of the present church, the faith of which is a faith in successive order in three persons of the same Divinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and being a faith in three persons, each one of whom is a self-subsistent God, it is a faith in three Gods. To such a faith charity may be joined (as has been done by its supporters), but never can be conjoined; and the charity that is only joined to faith is merely natural, and not spiritual, and is therefore a spurious charity. The same is true of the charity of many other heresies, as the charity of those who deny a Divine trinity and thus approach God the Father only, or the Holy Spirit only, or both of these apart from God the Savior. To the faith of such, charity cannot be conjoined, or when conjoined or joined to it it is a spurious charity. It is called spurious, because it is like the offspring of an illegitimate bed, or like the son of Hagar born to Abraham, who was cast out of the house (Gen. 21:10). Such charity is like fruit upon a tree where it has not grown, but has been fastened to it with a needle; and it is like a carriage to which horses are fastened only by the reins in the driver's hands, and when they spring forward, they drag the driver from his seat, and leave the carriage behind.