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《正信的基督教》 第137节

（周玉阳译，2026年8月）

137# 第四则灵界可记之事：

我听闻灵界曾召开一场大会，与会者皆是凭著作、学识闻名之辈，共论今世所持信仰，以及人如何借这份信仰蒙拣选、得称义。彼时我灵身亲临会场，亲眼见证全程。会场之内，分赞同、反对两派，皆为教职灵众。右侧立着古时使徒教父，皆生于尼西亚会议之前各世代；左侧乃是尼西亚会议之后历代名士，凭借刊印典籍、门生抄录文稿声名远扬。左侧众人大多无须，头戴女子发丝卷制假发，或配卷筒式领饰，或配翼形领饰；右侧教父皆生天然须发，面容古朴。两派前列立一位审判仲裁者，代表当世诸般著作；他手持权杖，敲击地面令众人安静，登坐高台座椅，一声长叹欲高声宣讲，叹息之气却将话语堵回喉间。

【2】良久，仲裁者方才开口言道：“诸位弟兄，此世何其悖乱！竟有一介平信徒兴起，无圣袍、冠冕与荣冠，将我辈赖以立身的信仰自天堂拉下，掷入冥河深渊。何其大罪！唯有这份信仰是我辈暗夜之星，如猎户座引路，如晨星破晓放光。那人年事已高，却全然不解信仰内中奥理，未曾剖开信仰真谛，不见主救主之义、祂居间代求与平息忿怒之功；不识此信仰使人称义的奇妙作为 —— 罪得赦免、重生、成圣、得着拯救。我辈所持满有救恩大能的信仰，根基立于三位神性位格，即完整之上帝，那人却将其狭隘归于第二位格，甚至不单归于第二位格，只归于祂的人性。我辈固然因自永恒之子道成肉身，称这份人性兼具神性，可世人心中多只视其为纯粹人性。长此以往，从中滋生的岂非彻头彻尾的属世主义？这般偏颇之信仰全无属灵实质，与敬奉代理主教、圣徒并无二致。诸位皆知加尔文当年如何评判这类信仰衍生的崇拜。敢问在场诸位，信仰究竟从何而来？岂非独独源自祂？一切救恩之功，尽皆蕴藏于祂里面。”

【3】左侧一众无须、头戴假发、颈佩领饰之人听罢，纷纷拍手称善，高声附和：“所言极是，见解通达！我辈深知，若非自天颁赐，人一无所获。便请那先知讲明，信仰源头何在，真正的信仰又是何物，若不是我辈所持这一套？世间绝无第二种真信仰，另寻信仰如同策马奔赴天际星宿，伸手摘星纳入衣袋带回，全然虚妄。” 他此番言语，意在怂恿同党讥讽一切新出教义。

【4】右侧须发天然的使徒教父听闻，无不愤然。其中一位老者起身，转瞬形貌化作青年；盖居于天堂者，年岁皆常存青春之态。他开口言道：“我已听闻你们大肆夸耀的这份信仰，究竟是何等模样？岂不正如主复活之后，彼拉多兵丁重新封死的坟墓？我若剖开墓门，内里除却术士行法的杖，一无所有，便是古时埃及术士用以施展幻术之物。你们眼中这份信仰看似黄金铸就、镶满珍宝的宝匣，可一旦开启，内里空空如也，角落唯剩教皇派圣物遗留的尘埃；彼辈所持信仰与你们本出同源，只是今日以外在圣洁虚饰遮掩内里虚空。再以譬喻言之，它又如古时维斯塔，圣火已然熄灭，自身深埋尘土之下。我直言相告，在天堂众灵眼中，这份信仰便如摩西登西奈山觐见雅威之时，以色列人环绕起舞膜拜的金牛犊。”

【5】“诸位不必因我这般譬喻而诧异，天堂众灵向来如此评判此等虚妄信仰。我辈从古至今、直至永世持守的真信仰，唯独倚靠主上帝救主；祂的人性自有神性，祂的神性寓于人性，方才契合世人接纳的尺度。借着祂，属灵神性之物与人的属世肉身相融，在属世载体之内生出属灵信仰；属世之物因信仰承载的属灵光明，得以通透澄澈。构筑这份信仰的真理，数目等同圣典经文，条条皆如星辰，借自身光明显明、成全这份信仰。人凭自身属世之资，自圣言领受初阶信仰，内里仅有知识、思虑与浅层确信；主却在凡信靠祂之人心中，将这份确信升华为全然信托、坚定倚靠，就此成为属灵而扎根肉身的活信仰，凭仁义存续不衰。这份真信仰在天堂之中，宛若满身珍宝的王后，宝石之数对应圣耶路撒冷城墙的尺寸。（启 21:17，20）

【6】“诸位切莫视我所言为夸大之词，心生轻慢。我今引数段圣言为证，便知我辈真信仰绝非倚靠孤立人位，而是敬拜完整真上帝，万有神性尽在祂里面。使徒约翰记：耶稣基督是‘真上帝，也是永生’。（约壹 5:20）保罗言道，基督之内‘神性一切的丰盛都有形有体地居住’。（西 2:9）《使徒行传》记载，保罗劝勉‘犹太人和希腊人当向上帝悔改，信靠我们的主耶稣基督’。（徒 20:21）主亲口宣告，‘天上地下所有权柄’尽皆赐给祂。（太 28:18）此处所引，不过经文冰山一角。”

【7】言毕，天使转首望向我，言道：“你熟知路德宗新教所持、或将要持守的救主相关见解，不妨摘取数段诵读，令众人知晓他们是否陷入迷妄，只视祂的人性为纯粹血肉；亦辨明他们是否承认祂分有神性，又是以何种方式承认。” 我当即当众取其正统典籍，即一七五六年莱比锡刊印之《协同信条》，摘录文字宣读如下：基督之内神性与人性合一，共成一个位格。（第 606，762 页）基督是真上帝亦是真人，居于不可分割的单一格位，永世不变。（第 609，673，762 页）在基督里面，上帝寓于人中，人寓于上帝之中。（第 607，765 页）基督的人性被高举，承受一切神性荣威，历代教父皆可佐证。（第 844-852，860-865，869-878 页）单就基督的人性而论，祂无所不在，充盈万有。（第 768，783-785 页）单就基督的人性而论，天上地下一切权柄尽归祂。（第 775，776，780 页）单就基督的人性而论，坐于父之右手。（第 608，764 页）人当向基督的人性呼求，书中所引经文皆为此作证。（第 226 页）《奥格斯堡信条》全然认可这般敬拜之理。（第 19 页）

【8】诵读完毕，我转向高台仲裁者，言道：“我辈皆知，此处每位灵众皆与尘世同心思之人相联结。敢问阁下，你知晓自身所联结者是谁？” 仲裁者神色庄重作答：“我知晓，我联结一位声名卓著之人，乃是教会属灵大军的统帅。” 见他语气郑重，我又问：“恕我冒昧，这位统帅居于何处？” 他答：“离路德墓不远之地。” 我闻言微微笑道：“你何以言墓？岂不知路德已然复活，且早已舍弃从前凭三位自永恒神性位格称义的谬误见解？如今他归入新天蒙福之列，见后世之人深陷迷妄，唯有付之一笑。” 仲裁者回应：“此事我自知，却与我何干？” 我便以同他一般凝重的语气言道：“烦请传话与你所联结的那位统帅：我恐他落笔行文之时，违背自家教会正统教义，暗自削去主身上的神性；或是撰文驳斥敬拜主救主之际，笔下无意犁出沟壑，撒下属世主义的种子。” 他答道：“此事我难以转达，我与他于此道心思相近；只是我不能全然领会他的心意，他却能洞悉我一切思虑。” 盖灵界之灵可感知尘世之人的心思，尘世之人却无从体察灵界，此便是灵与人彼此联结的常态。

【9】我既已同高台仲裁者交谈，便接续发问：“若蒙应允，尚有几问求教。路德宗新教正统典籍《协同信条》明明教导，基督之中上帝与人合一，神性、人性共存于不可分割的单一格位，永世不变。既然典籍如此明言，你与同党何以仍以属世主义玷污对主的敬拜？” 他答：“此理我似知非知。” 我便代为追问那位不在场的统帅，亦是向他发问：“我们主救主的灵魂从何而来？若答源自母亲，便是全然迷妄；若答源自约瑟，便是亵渎圣言；唯有答源自圣灵，方为正解 —— 此处所言圣灵，乃是生发、运行的神性本体，如此祂便是雅威上帝独生子。

【10】“再问：何谓本质合一？若答是两位独立存有一上一下并列共存，便是迷妄；这般说法，既能将主上帝救主割裂为二，亦能将独一上帝拆分为三位。唯有称其为位格合一，如同灵魂与肉身合为一人，方是正解；此说既契合你们自家典籍，亦合乎古时教父教导。可翻阅《协同信条》第 765-768 页，再参看《亚他那修信经》所载：‘纯正信仰乃是，我辈认信我们的主耶稣基督同为上帝与人；祂虽兼具神性人性，却非二位，乃是独一基督；全然合一，非因二性质地混杂，乃是因位格合一；正如理性灵魂与肉身共成一人，上帝与人也共成一位基督。’

【11】“尚有一问：亚流那当受定罪的异端究竟持何谬论？君士坦丁大帝为此召集尼西亚会议，岂非因他否认主的人性分有神性？再请诸位辨明，《耶利米书》这段经文指向何人：‘看哪，日子将到…… 我要给大卫兴起一个公义的苗裔；祂必作王掌权…… 祂的名必称为：耶和华我们的义。’（耶 23:5，6；33:15，16）若称此乃是自永恒而生之子，便是迷妄，祂未曾亲身成就救赎；唯有称其为道成肉身、时间之中降生的独生子，方为正解。（约 1:18，3:16）祂借着救赎成为义，你们却在此基础上生出割裂真理的虚妄信仰。亦请细读《以赛亚书》9:6，以及其余预表雅威亲自降世的经文。” 一番诘问过后，高台仲裁者默然不语，转身回避。

【12】论辩告终，仲裁者欲以祷告散会；忽有一人自左侧人群冲出，头戴三重冠，冠上复罩便帽。他抬手轻触帽檐，开口言道：“我亦与尘世一位身居高位之人联结，我深知此事，我所思所言，皆与那人相通，如同自身心意。” 我问：“那位高位之人居于何处？” 他答：“哥德堡。昔日我自他心中窥见一念：称你这套新教义沾染穆罕默德学说的气息。” 话音入耳，右侧一众使徒教父无不惊骇，神色骤变，心底的愤慨脱口而出：“何其大罪！此世何其悖乱！” 为平息众人正当的忿怒，我抬手示意，请众人静听分辨。众人应允后，我言道：“我知晓那位高官曾将这般妄语写入信函，信函后又付梓刊印；可他若早知此言何等亵渎，必定亲手撕毁，交付火神焚尽。这般污蔑，正如主当年斥责犹太人之语 —— 他们称基督行神迹不靠神性大能，反倒倚靠邪灵。（太 12:22-32）主同时言道：‘不与我相合的，就是敌我的；不同我收聚的，就是分散的。’（30 节）” 说完，那联结尘世高官的灵垂首无言，片刻抬眼言道：“今日听你言语，比往日一切训责更为严厉。” 我答道：“皆因‘属世主义’与‘穆罕默德主义’两句妄言，二者尽是邪恶谎言，刻意捏造的致命污名，意在动摇人的心意，恐吓众人远离对主的神圣敬拜。” 随后我转向那灵，嘱他：“若有机会，转告哥德堡那人，细读主在《启示录》3:18、2:16 的训言。”

【13】此番对答结束，全场喧哗四起；一道天光自天而降，喧嚣当即止息。借着这天光，左侧不少灵众移步归入右侧教父之列；仍留于原地者，一类终日空想虚妄，一味盲从凡师口中言语，一类只认主为纯粹凡人，不认祂内里神性。天光照射两类滞留之灵，光尽数折返；唯独归入正道的灵众，天光全然涌入其内心。

《真实的基督教》 第137节

（一滴水译，2026年修订）

137# 第四个记事：

我听说有一个宗教议会被召集，参会的是那些以撰写和研究当今信仰和选民由此称义而闻名的人。这发生在灵人界；我被允许在灵里出席。我看到参会者来自一群神职人员，既有具有相似信仰的人，也有具有不同信仰的人。那些在世上被称为使徒教父，生活在尼西亚议会时代之前的人站在右边；那些在后来的时代以印刷著作或手稿而闻名的人站在左边。后者中的许多人没有胡子，戴着女性假卷发；其中有些人戴着有褶边的领子，有些人则戴着尖领或翅领；而前者既长有胡须，也长有自然头发。在这两组人面前站着一个人，他是本世纪著作的评判员和批评家，手里拿着一根杖。他用杖敲了敲地面，让大家安静下来。然后，他登上讲坛的最高台阶，叹了口气，本想接着大喊一声，但叹息的气息却让他哽咽了。

最后，他恢复声音说：“我的弟兄们啊，这是个什么时代！从一群平信徒中兴起了一个没有长袍、冠冕和桂冠的人，他把我们的信仰从天上拖下来，把它扔进冥河或阴间。这是什么罪行！哦，太可怕了！然而，唯信是我们的明星，就像夜里的猎户星座、早晨的路西弗一样闪闪发光。那人虽然一把年纪了，却完全无视我们信仰的奥秘，因为他没有调查它，也没有在其中看到主我们救主的公义，以及祂的调解和挽回。由于他没有看到这些，所以他也没有看到祂称义的奇迹，即罪的赦免、重生、成圣和拯救。这个人夺走了我们的信仰及其卓越的拯救力量，因为我们的信仰指向三个神性位格，因而指向整个神；而他却把信仰转给第二个位格，甚至没有全部转给祂，而是转给祂的人身；我们的确因来自永恒的儿子道成肉身而称这人身为神性；但除了纯粹的人身外，没有人认为它是任何东西，或说人们只认为它是纯粹的人身。那么，除了产生自然主义的信仰外，从这个源头还能发出什么呢？这种信仰因不是属灵的，故与对教皇或圣徒的信仰几乎没有区别。你们知道加尔文在他那个时代对出于这种信仰的敬拜是怎么说的吗？请你们当中的某个人告诉我，信仰是从哪里来的？它不是直接来自神，因而拥有属于救恩的一切在里面吗？”

听到这些话，他左边那些没有胡子，戴着假卷发，脖子上戴着褶边领子的同伴们拍掌大喊：“你说得最有智慧！我们知道，若不是从天上赐给我们的，我们就不能得什么。如果这都不是信仰，那么就让那位先知告诉我们，信仰是从哪里来的，信仰到底是什么。它不可能是别的任何东西，或来自其它任何源头。除此之外，阐述真正为信仰的其它任何信仰，就像一个人骑马去天上的某个星座，从那里摘下一颗星星，藏在口袋里把它带下来一样不可能。”他们说这话，是为了让他们的同伴们嘲笑一切新的信仰。

听到这些话，右边那些长有胡子和自然头发的人很愤慨。他们中的一个人站起来，他是个老人，虽然后来看起来很年轻，因为他是来自天堂的一位天使，在天堂，变老就是变年轻；他说：“我听到了你们的信仰，就是你们的领袖在讲坛上如此高度颂扬的信仰，是何性质，或是什么。然而，这种信仰是什么呢？不就是我们的主复活后被彼拉多的兵丁再次封上的坟墓吗？我打开它，只看见埃及的术士用来行奇迹的杂耍棒。诚然，表面上看，在你们眼里，你们的信仰就像镶嵌着宝石的金箱子，但打开后却空空如也，除非它的角落里可能有教皇显贵遗物的一点灰尘，因为这些人或天主教会拥有同样的信仰；只是如今天主教徒给它包上了外在的神圣，或说把它藏在外在虔诚行为的背后。此外，若用对比，你们的信仰就像古人当中的维斯塔贞女，她因让圣火熄灭而被活埋。我可以向你们保证，在我眼中，你们的信仰就像金牛犊，当摩西离开，登上西乃山来到耶和华面前时，以色列人围着它跳舞（出埃及记32:1-20）。

“不要惊讶我在谈到你们的信仰时用这样的对比，因为我们在天上就是这么谈论它的。另一方面，我们的信仰现在是，过去是，将来永远都是对主神救主的信仰，祂的人身是神性，祂的神性是人身；因此，它适合接受，通过它，属灵神性或神性属灵之物与人的属世之物相结合，属灵信仰在属世层形成，然后属世之物可以说从我们的信仰所在的属灵之光中变得透明。构成我们信仰的真理和圣经里的经文一样多；这些真理都像星星，这些星星以自己独特的光芒使这信仰显现，并赋予它形式。人通过自己的属世之光从圣言中获得这种信仰；然而，在属世之光中，它只是知识、思维和说服。但对那些信主的人来说，主使它成为信念、信靠和信心；因此，信仰变成属灵-属世的，并通过仁爱变成活的。在我们中间，这种信仰就像一位女王，她妆饰的宝石和圣耶路撒冷城墙上的一样多（启示录21:17-20）。

“然而，为叫你们不要以为我所说的只是吹嘘，不值得重视，我会给你们念几段神圣的圣言经文，从中可以明显看出，我们的信仰不像你们所想的那样是对一个人的信仰，而是对真神的信仰，整个或一切神性都在祂里面。约翰说：

耶稣基督是真神，也是永生。（约翰一书5:20）

保罗说：

神本性一切的丰盛，都有形有体地居住在耶稣基督里面。（歌罗西书2:9）

使徒行传：

保罗向犹太人和希腊人传讲当向神悔改，信靠我们的主耶稣基督。（使徒行传20:21）

主自己说：

天上地上所有的权柄都赐给我了。（马太福音28:18）

这些只是其中的少数经文。”

此后，这位天使看着我说：“你知道那些被称为福音派的人对主救主都相信什么，或可能相信什么。请从他们的信经中读一些段落，好叫我们看看他们是否如此愚蠢，以至于认为主的人身只是人身，或他们是否把某种神性归给祂，如何归给。”然后，当着全体会众的面，我从1756年于莱比锡出版、被称为《协和信条》的标准正统著作中读了以下段落：在基督里，神性和人性如此合一，以至于构成一个位格（606，762页）；基督是在一个不可分割的位格里的真神和人，并且永远如此（609，673，762页）；在基督里，神为人，人为神（607，765页）；基督的人性被高举到所有神性威严，这从许多教父那里也得到了证明（844-852，860-865，869-878页）；就其人性而言，基督是全在的，充满一切（768，783-785页）；就其人性而言，基督拥有天上地上所有的权柄（775，776，780页）；就其人性而言，基督坐在父的右手边（608，764页）；就其人性而言，基督要被呼求，这一点还援引圣经来证明（226页）。《奥格斯堡信纲》尤其赞同这种敬拜（19页）。

读完这些段落，我转向主席说：“我知道，这里所有在场的人都与他们在自然界的同类有联系；请告诉我，你知道你和谁有联系吗？”他以严肃的语气回答说：“是的；我和一个名人有联系，他是教会杰出人物军队中的队伍领袖或首领。”

由于他以如此严肃的语气来回答，所以我说：“请原谅，你是否知道这个名人或著名领袖住在哪里？”他回答说：“我知道；他住在离路德的坟墓不远的地方。”对此，我笑着说：“你为什么说路德的坟墓？难道你不知道路德已经复活了，并且现在已经放弃了他关于因信仰来自永恒的三个神性位格而称义的错误观念吗？因此，他被转移到新天堂里蒙福的人当中，看到并嘲笑那些疯狂追随他的人。”他回答说：“我知道，但这跟我有什么关系？”于是，我以类似他自己的严肃语气对他说：“请向与你有联系的这个名人转达我的担忧，即：他违背了自己教会的正统信仰，肆无忌惮地剥夺了主的神性，或当写下反对敬拜主我们救主的文字时，他就让自己的笔犁出了一道深沟，草率地在这沟里播下自然主义的种子。”对此，他回答说：“我不能这样做，因为在这个问题上，他和我几乎意见一致；但我所说的，他不理解；而他所说的一切，我都完全明白。”这是因为灵界进入自然界，并在那里感知到人们的思维，但反过来不行；这就是灵人和世人之间联系的性质。

我开始与议会主席交谈，所以继续说：“如果允许的话，我想再问一个问题，你是否知道，在被称为《协和信条》的福音派教会手册中，福音派的正统教义教导说，在基督里，神为人，人为神，祂的神性和人性是，并永远都是一个不可分割的位格？那么，他和你怎能用自然主义来玷污对主的敬拜呢？”对此，他回答说：“我知道，但也不知道。”因此，我继续问道：“让我来问他，或你代他回答，因为他不在场，主我们的救主从谁那里获得祂的灵魂？如果你说从母亲那里获得，那么你是不理智的；如果你说从约瑟那里获得，那么你就亵渎了圣言；如果你说从圣灵那里获得，那么你说的是真的，只要你所说的圣灵是指发出并运作的神性，因此祂是耶和华神的儿子。

“我再问一次，什么是位格合一？如果你回答说，它是如同两个人之间那样的合一，一个上级和一个下级，或一个在上，一个在下，那么你是不理智的；因为这样你就把神救主分成两个人，就像你把神分成三个人样。但如果你说它是一个位格合一，就像灵魂和身体的合一一样，那么你就说对了；这与你的教义是一致的，与教父们的教义也是一致的。查阅一下《协和信条》（765-768页），以及《亚他那修信经》，其中说到：‘依真正信仰，我等信认我等之主耶稣基督，为神，又为人；彼虽为神，亦为人，然非为二，乃为一基督，合为一，非由二性相混，乃由于位格为一；如理性之灵与身成为一人，神与人成为一基督。’

“我还请问，君士坦丁大帝是因阿里乌斯的可憎异端而召开尼西亚议会的，这异端不就是否认主人身的神性吗？此外，请告诉我，你认为耶利米书中的这些话说的是谁：

看哪，日子将到，我要给大卫兴起一个公义的枝子，祂必掌权为王，这是祂的名，耶和华我们的义。（耶利米书23:5，6; 33:15，16）

如果你说从永恒出生的儿子，那么你是不理智的；那不是救赎主；如果你说生在时间中的儿子，祂是神的独生子（约翰福音1:18; 3:16），那么你就说对了。祂通过救赎成为公义，你们将你们的信仰建立在这公义之上。请同时读一下以赛亚书9:6，以及其它预言耶和华将亲自降世的经文。”听到这些话，主席沉默不语，转过脸去。

当这一切结束时，主席想以祷告来结束这次议会。但就在这时，有一个人突然从左边的队伍里跳出来，他头上包着头巾，头巾上戴着一顶帽子；他用手指碰了碰帽子，说：“我也和你们世界上一个身居要职的人有联系；我知道这一点，因为我从他那里说话，就像从我自己那里说话一样，或我能说出他的想法，就像说出我自己的想法一样。”我问这个知名人士住在哪里。他回答说：“在歌德堡。我偶尔从他的思维中了解到，或说我从他那里一度认为，你的新教义带有伊斯兰教的味道。”听到这话，我看到右边，就是使徒教父们所站之处的所有人，都惊呆了，脸色也变了；我听见从他们的心智通过他们的口发出这样的惊呼：“哦，太可怕了！”“哦，这是什么时代！”为了平息他们的义愤，我举手请求被倾听。得到允许后，我说：“我知道你所描述的那个杰出人物在一封信中写过这类东西，后来这封信被印刷出来。但他当时若知道这是多么严重的毁谤，肯定会把它撕成碎片，扔进火里。主对犹太人说的话就是指这样的毁谤，当时犹太人说，基督行神迹是靠着别的力量，而不是神性力量（马太福音12:22-32）；除此之外，在那里，主还说：

不跟我一起的，就是反对我；不与我一起收聚的，就是分散的。（马太福音12:30）”

听到这些话，这个有关联的灵人沉下脸来；但很快，他抬起头来说：“我现在从你那里听到的话，比以往任何时候都更糟糕。”但我继续说：“在针对我的情况中，有两项指控，即：自然主义和伊斯兰教。这些是邪恶的谎言和狡猾的编造，是两个致命刺伤或耻辱，旨在把人们的意愿引入歧途，使他们远离对主的神圣敬拜。”然后，我转向后一个有关联的灵人，说：“如果可以的话，请告诉那个在哥德堡的人，读一下主在启示录（3:18; 2:16）中说的话吧。”

听到这些话，一片哗然；但它被从天上降下来的光平息了；由于这光，左边的许多人转到右边的人当中；左边只剩下那些肤浅地思考，因而仰赖某个大师所说的话之人，以及那些认为主只是人身的人。从天上降下来的光似乎从这两类人那里被反弹回来，但却落到了那些从左边转到右边的人身上。

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True Christianity #137 (Rose, 2010)

137. The fourth memorable occurrence. I heard that a council had been summoned that was made up of those who were famous for writing and research on the modern-day faith and on the justification of the elect by that faith.

This was in the world of spirits. I was allowed to attend in spirit. I saw that the participants were from the clergy. There were some who agreed and some who disagreed. To the right stood people who in the world had been called the apostolic fathers, who had lived in the centuries before the Council of Nicaea. To the left stood men from after those centuries who were well known for their printed works or works their followers had copied in manuscript form. Many in the latter group had clean-shaven faces and wore curled wigs of women's hair. Some of them had collars with ruffs; some had collars with bands. The former group, however, were bearded and wore no wigs.

Before both groups stood a man who had been a judge and critic of the writers of this century. With the staff in his hand, this chairman banged on the floor and brought about silence. He stepped up onto the dais where the central chair was and uttered a groan. After groaning he intended to shout out loud, but the breath expended in groaning made the shout catch in his throat.

[2] Finally, when he was able to speak, he said, "Friends, what times we live in! Someone has risen out of the herd of the laity. He has no gown, no cap, no laurel. Yet he has pulled our faith down from heaven and thrown it into the river Styx. What a crime! Yet that faith is our only star. It shines like Orion during the night and like Lucifer in the morning. That man, although well advanced in years, remains completely blind to the mysteries of our faith because he has not opened our faith and seen in it the justice of the Lord our Savior, as well as the Lord's mediation and appeasement. And since he hasn't seen these aspects of our faith, he has also missed the wonders of justification by that faith. These wonders are the forgiving of sins, regeneration, sanctification, and salvation.

"Instead of accepting our faith, which is supremely effective for one's salvation because it is a faith in three divine persons and therefore in the whole of God, this man has redirected belief toward the second Person - in fact, not even the whole second Person, but just his human manifestation. That human manifestation we do indeed call divine, because it was the incarnation of the Son from eternity; but who thinks of it as anything other than something merely human? What faith can we have in that except one that gushes materialist philosophy like a fountain? Since that kind of faith is not spiritual, it is virtually the same as faith in a substitute or a saint. You all know what Calvin said in his day about worship from a faith like that. Any one of you, tell us, please, where faith comes from. Doesn't it come directly from God? That is why it contains all the means of salvation. "

[3] At that the chairman's colleagues on the left side (the men with clean-shaven faces, curly wigs, and ruffs around their necks) burst into applause and shouted, 'Very wisely said! We know that we cannot receive anything that is not given us from heaven!"

[Then the chairman continued,] "That prophet should tell us where faith comes from and what faith is if it isn't this. It is impossible for faith to be different or to come from any other source. Revealing another true faith besides this one is as impossible as riding a horse to some constellation in the sky, grabbing one of its stars, hiding it in your coat pocket, and bringing it back with you!"

He included this last comment to make his friends laugh at any new faith.

[4] The men on the right side, though, who were bearded and wore no wigs, were upset when they heard this. One of them, an old man, stood up. (Later, however, he looked like a young adult, because he was an angel from heaven, where people of every stage of life become young adults.)

The old man said, "I have heard the nature of the faith you all have - the faith the chairman praised just now. But that faith is nothing but the tomb of our Lord after the resurrection, locked up again by Pilates soldiers. I have opened that faith but found nothing inside it except magicians' wands used by the sorcerers in Egypt for doing miracles. To your eyes, your faith looks like a treasure chest made of gold and encrusted with precious stones; but when it is opened, the chest is empty, except perhaps for some dust from papal relics left in the corners. Papists have the same faith, you see, except that they are hiding it now behind external acts of piety.

"To use a simile, your faith is also like the Vestal virgin in ancient times who was buried alive for extinguishing the sacred fire. In fact, I can state it directly: to my eyes your faith looks just like the golden calf around which the children of Israel danced after Moses had left to go up to Jehovah on Mount Sinai [].

[5] Don't be surprised that I have spoken about your faith in these analogies - this is the way we who are in heaven speak about it.

"Our faith, on the other hand, is, was, and will be to eternity a belief in the Lord God the Savior, whose humanity is divine and whose divinity is human. It is a faith, then, that is adapted for reception. It is a faith that unites what is divine and spiritual to what is human and earthly. It becomes a spiritual faith on an earthly plane. What is earthly then becomes transparent from the spiritual light of our faith.

"The truths that constitute our faith are as many as the verses in the sacred tome. These truths are all like stars, whose light reveals, and shows the shape of, our faith. People acquire this faith from the Word by means of their earthly light - the light of knowledge, thought, and persuasion; but if people believe in the Lord, he turns this faith into conviction, trust, and confidence. Through this process their faith comes to be spiritual as well as earthly, and enlivened by goodwill. To us this faith is like a queen decorated with as many precious stones as could be seen in the wall of the Holy Jerusalem (Revelation 21:17-20).

[6] "So that you won't think the words I am saying are exaggerated and discount them as a result, I will read you something from the Holy Word that will make it clear that our faith is not faith in a human being, as you think it is; it is faith in the true God in whom everything divine exists. John says, 'Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life' (1 John 5:20). Paul says, 'All the fullness of divinity dwells physically in Christ' (Colossians 2:9). In the Acts of the Apostles it says of Paul, 'To both Jews and Greeks he preached repentance before God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ' (Acts of the Apostles 20:21). The Lord himself says that all power in heaven and on earth has been given to him (Matthew 28:18); but these are just a few passages. "

[7] After that the angel looked at me and said, "You know what the beliefs of the so-called Evangelicals are or should be about the Lord the Savior. Recite a few of them so that we may know whether they foolishly believe that the Lord's human manifestation is merely human, or whether they ascribe anything of divinity to that human manifestation, and if so, how. "

I then read out loud excerpts from the book of Evangelical orthodoxy called the Formula of Concord, printed in Leipzig in 1756. I read the following: "In Christ the divine nature and the human nature are so united that they are one Person" (pages 606, 762). "Christ is truly God and a human being in an individual Person; he remains so to eternity" (pages 609, 673, 762). "In Christ God is human and a human is God" (pages 607, 765). "Christ's human nature has been exalted to all divine majesty" (with quotes from many of the apostolic fathers, pages 844-852, 860-865, 869-878). "In his human nature Christ is omnipresent and fills all things" (pages 768, 783, 784, 785). "In his human nature Christ has been given all power in heaven and on earth" (pages 775, 776, 780). "In his human nature Christ sits at the right hand of the Father" (pages 608, 764). "We are to call on Christ in his human nature" (page 226; this statement is supported there by Scriptural passages). The Augsberg Confession completely supports this worship (page 19).

[8] After I read these things out loud, I turned to the chairman and said, "I know that all who are here are associated with people on earth who are like them. Tell me, if you would: do you know whom you are associated with?"

He answered in a solemn tone, "I do know. I am associated with a famous man, a commander of battalions in the church's army of the enlightened. "

Because he answered in such a solemn tone, I said, "Forgive my asking if you know where that famous commander lives. "

"I do know," he said. "He lives not far from where Luther is buried. "

Smiling at this I said, "Why do you say where Luther is buried? Don't you know that Luther has risen, and that he has now recanted his errors regarding justification by faith in three divine Persons from eternity? Surely you know that because of this he has been transferred to join the blessed in the new heaven, and that he laughs when he looks upon his insane followers. "

"I know," he retorted, "but what difference does that make to me?"

Then in the same tone he had used, I addressed him and said, "Pass on to the famous person you are associated with that I am concerned that on a recent occasion he went against the orthodoxy of his own church and took away the Lord's divinity. He let his pen plow a furrow and carelessly sowed materialist philosophy in it when he wrote against the worship of our Lord the Savior. "

"I can't do that," the chairman replied, "because on this topic he and I are more or less of one mind. Besides, he doesn't understand the things I tell him, although all the things he tells me I understand very clearly. The spiritual world enters the material world and perceives the thoughts of people there, but it doesn't work the other way around. These are the present conditions of interaction between spirits and people. "

[9] Since the chairman and I were already conversing, I added: "If possible I'd like to digress to some other questions. Do you know that the orthodoxy of the Evangelicals, presented in their church handbook called the Formula of Concord, teaches that in Christ, God is human and a human is God and that his divinity and humanity exist in one individual person and remain so to eternity? If so, how then could he, and how can you, befoul the worship of the Lord with materialist philosophy?"

To that he replied, "Do I know that? Yes and no. "

Therefore I went on to say, "I ask your associate, although he is absent, or else you in his place: where did the soul of the Lord our Savior come from? If you say it came from Mary, you are insane. If you say it came from Joseph, you desecrate the Word. But if you say it came from the Holy Spirit you have the right answer, provided that by the Holy Spirit you mean the Divinity emanating and having an effect, which means that the Lord is the Son of Jehovah God.

[10] "Again I ask, what is the hypostatic union [in the Lord our Savior]? If you reply that it is a union between two entities, one above and the other below, you are insane, because in that case you could view God our Savior as two entities just as you have viewed the Godhead as three entities. If you say that it is a personal union like the partnership between the soul and the body, you have the right answer. This follows your doctrine and the doctrine of the church fathers. See the Formula of Concord pages 765 to 768.

"Also check the Athanasian Creed where it says, 'Proper faith is for us to believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is both God and a human being. Yet although he is both God and a human being, still he is one Christ, not two. He is one in every way, not by a mixing of substance but by a oneness of person. For as the rational soul and the flesh is one human being, so God and a human being is one Christ. '

[11] "Still further I ask, what was the damnable heresy of Arius that caused Emperor Constantine the Great to call the Council of Nicaea? Wasn't it the denial of the divinity of the Lord's human manifestation?

"For another thing, tell me whom you see as the subject of the following words in Jeremiah: 'Behold, the days are coming when I will raise up for David a righteous offshoot who will rule as king; and this is his name: Jehovah is our Justice' (Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16). If you say 'the Son from eternity,' you are insane. He was not the Redeemer. If you say 'the Son born in time, who was the only begotten Son of God' (John 1:18; 3:16), you have the right answer. By redeeming us, he became the justice on which you base your faith. Also read Isaiah 9:6 and the other passages predicting that Jehovah himself was going to come into the world. "

At this the chairman looked away in silence.

[12] The presiding officer then wanted to end the council with a prayer but suddenly a man in the left-hand group interrupted. He had a cloth head-covering on with a hat on top of it. He touched his hat with one finger and said, "I too am associated with a man in your world. He has been appointed to a highly exalted position. I know this because I speak on his behalf as on my own. "

I asked him where that eminent man lives. He answered, "In Goteborg. From him I once got the impression that your new doctrine smacks of Muhammadanism. "

I saw that all the spirits on the right where the apostolic fathers were standing were shocked when they heard that word, and their faces fell. I heard them crying, both in thought and out loud, "What an outrage! What times we live in!"

To calm their understandable wrath I lifted my hand and asked for their attention. When they gave it to me, I said, "I am aware that a man of stature wrote some such accusation in a letter; later the letter was printed. If he had known at that point, however, what blasphemy it was, he would surely have torn it to pieces with his own fingers and given it to Vulcan to consume. The Lord responded to a similar attack when the Jews said that Christ was doing miracles with something other than divine power (Matthew 12:22-32). Among other things, the Lord says in that response, 'Whoever is not with me is against me. Whoever is not gathering with me is scattering' (Matthew 12:30). "

At this, the chairman, his ally, lowered his face. Soon, however, he lifted it again and said, "Now I have heard harder things than ever from you!"

I countered, "There are two doctrines behind these proceedings: materialist philosophy and Muhammadanism - lies invented by treachery, two deadly stabs aimed at turning and deterring the human will from the holy worship of the Lord. "

I turned to the man from the left-hand group and said, "Tell your man in Goteborg, if you can, to read what the Lord has said in Revelation 3:18 and also in Revelation 2:16. "

[13] When I said that, a riot broke out, but it was calmed by light sent down from heaven. As a result of the light, many on the left crossed over to join those on the right. Two groups who stayed on the left were those spirits whose thoughts were without purpose and who would therefore hang on the sayings of any authority, and those spirits who saw the Lord as only a human being. The light sent down from heaven seemed to be repelled by these latter two groups, but it seemed to flow into the spirits who crossed from left to right.

True Christian Religion #137 (Chadwick, 1988)

137. The fourth experience.

I was told that a council had been summoned, made up of people famous for their books and learning, to discuss the present state of faith, and how the chosen are made righteous by it. This took place in the world of spirits, and I was allowed to be present at it in the spirit. I saw a gathering of clergy, composed of both those who agreed and those who disagreed with this. On the right stood those who in the world were called the Apostolic Fathers, and lived in the period before the Council of Nicaea ¹ . On the left stood men who since that time had been famous for their books, either, printed or copied in manuscript by apprentices. Many of these were clean-shaven and wore wigs made of curly women's hair; some of them had rolled collars, some winged collars. The other party, however, had beards and their own hair.

In front of the two parties stood a man who was a judge and reviewer of worldly writings. He rapped for silence on the ground with a staff he held in his hand. Then he went up the steps to his chair of office, and uttered a groan; he intended to follow it with a loud cry, but the groan choked his breath back in his throat.

[2] At length he was able to speak as follows: 'Brothers, what an age is this we live in! A person has arisen from the throng of laymen, one without the cap and gown of learning nor honoured with academic laurels, and has dislodged our faith from its place in heaven, and hurled it into the river Styx. What a dreadful crime! Yet that faith alone is our guiding star, shining like Orion by night, and like the Morning Star at dawn. For all his years that man is totally blind to the mysteries of our faith, because he has not opened it up to see in it the righteousness of our Lord and Saviour, and His mediation and propitiation; and not seeing these, he has failed too to see the wonders of how He makes us righteous, the remission of sins, regeneration, sanctifying and salvation. This man has taken away our faith with its outstanding saving power, because it is directed to three Divine Persons, and so to God in His totality, and concentrated it upon the Second Person - and not even all of that, but upon His Human. We do of course call this Divine as the result of the incarnation of the Son from eternity, but no one thinks of it as anything but purely human. And what then can come from this but a faith which is a plentiful source of nature-worship? That sort of faith, lacking spirituality, is little different from faith in the Vicar of Christ, or in a Saint. You know what Calvin in his time said about worship founded on that sort of faith. Will one of you please tell me, what is the source of faith? Surely it comes directly from God, in whom lies everything needed for our salvation?'

[3] At this his companions on the left, the party without beards, who wore curly wigs and a rolled collar about their necks, clapped their hands and shouted: 'Most wisely spoken! We know that we cannot receive anything which is not given to us from heaven. Let that prophet tell us the source of faith, and what else faith is. It is impossible for it to be other or of other origin. It is as impossible to present any other faith, which truly is a faith, as it is to ride to some constellation in the sky, catch a star, and bring it back stored in one's coat pocket.' This speech was designed to make his companions laugh at any new sort of faith whatever.

[4] On hearing this the party on the right, who wore beards and had their own hair, became angry. One of them got up, an old man, though afterwards he appeared young, because he was an angel from heaven, where people of any age grow young again. He spoke and said: 'I have heard what sort of faith you have, the faith that was so highly praised by the man who holds the chair of office. But what is that faith but our Lord's tomb after the resurrection, when it was sealed again by Pilate's troops? I opened it up and I could see nothing in it but some conjurers' wands, which the wise men of Egypt used to perform their miracles. Rather, your faith is outwardly in your eyes like a bookcase of solid gold, set with precious stones, which when opened is empty, except perhaps for a little dust from the relics of Roman Catholics in its corners. For they have the same faith as you, only it is nowadays wrapped up in outward displays of holiness. To go on with comparisons, it is like the Vestal Virgin of antiquity, who allowed the sacred fire to go out, and was buried alive. I can assure you that in my eyes your faith is like the golden calf around which the Children of Israel danced, when Moses had gone away to climb Mount Sinai to Jehovah.

[5] 'You need not be surprised at my using such comparisons to speak of your faith, because that is how we speak of it in heaven. On the other hand, our faith is, has been, and ever will be in the Lord God the Saviour, whose Human is Divine and whose Divine is Human. This makes it easy for us to accept, as uniting the Divine spiritual to the natural of men. So it becomes a spiritual faith at the natural level, and this makes the natural as it were translucent, as the result of the spiritual light which illuminates our faith. The truths of which it is made up are as numerous as the verses in Holy Writ; all its truths are like stars, which by their light show it forth and give it form. A person acquires faith from the Word by means of his own natural powers of enlightenment, which are based upon knowledge, thought and false belief. But with those who believe in the Lord, He turns these into conviction, trust and confidence. This makes the natural faith spiritual, and charity gives it life. This faith appears to us like a queen decked out with as many jewels as the wall of the Holy Jerusalem (Revelation 21:17-20).

[6] 'But to prevent you believing that my words are mere exaggeration and consequently not to be taken seriously, I will read you some passages from the Holy Word, which will show plainly that our faith is not in a man, as you think, but in the true God, in whom is all that is Divine. John says:

Jesus Christ is the true God and everlasting life. 1 John 5:20.

Paul says:

In Christ all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily, Colossians 2:9.

In the Acts of the Apostles:

Paul preached both to Jews and Greeks repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, Acts of the Apostles 20:21.

The Lord Himself said that to Him was given "all power in heaven and upon earth" (Matthew 28:18). These are but a few quotations.'

[7] After this the angel looked at me and said: 'You know what those who call themselves Evangelical believe, or should believe, about the Lord the Saviour. Recite some of their tenets, so that we can know whether they are so foolish as to believe that His Human is purely human, or whether they attribute any Divinity to it, and, if so, how.'

Then in front of the whole assembly I read out the following statements from the handbook of orthodoxy called 'The Formula of Concord,' published in Leipzig in 1756:

In Christ the Divine and the Human natures are so united as to make one Person. (pp. 606 762). Christ is truly God and Man in one undivided Person, and remains so for ever. (pp. 609 673, 762). In Christ God is Man and Man is God. (pp. 607, 765).

Christ's human nature was raised to fully Divine majesty; this is also said by many of the Fathers. (pp. 844-852, 860-865, 869-878).

Christ as to His human nature is omnipresent and fills all space. (pp. 768, 783-5.)

Christ as to His human nature has all power in heaven and on earth. (pp. 775-776, 780).

Christ as to His human nature sits at the right hand of the Father. (pp. 608, 764).

Christ as to His human nature is to be invoked; this is proved by quotations from Scripture (p. 226).

The 'Confession of Augsburg' gives the highest degree of approval to that mode of worship (p. 19).

[8] After reading these statements I turned to the man in the chair of office and said: 'I know that everyone here is paired with someone like him in the natural world; please tell me whether you know who your colleague is.'

He answered in a solemn tone: 'Yes. I am paired with a famous man ² who is a leader of the noble troops of the church militant.'

Since he spoke in such a solemn tone, I said: 'Forgive my asking, but do you know where this famous leader lives?'

'Yes,' he said, 'not far from Luther's tomb.'

I smiled at this and said: 'Why do you say "his tomb"? Do you not know that Luther has risen again, and has now renounced his erroneous doctrines about justification by faith in three Divine Persons from eternity, and has therefore been transferred to live with the blessed of the new heaven, where he sees and laughs at those who follow him in this madness?'

'I know this,' he replied, 'but how does it concern me?'

So then I addressed him in equally solemn tones: 'Put the idea,' I said, 'into the mind of your famous man who is paired with you, that I am afraid that contrary to the orthodoxy of his own church, he then for the moment took His divinity away from the Lord, or allowed his pen to plough a furrow, in which he unwittingly planted the seeds of nature-worship, when he wrote an attack on the worship of the Lord our Saviour.'

To this he answered: 'I cannot do this, because he and I are of almost one mind on this subject; but he does not understand what I say, while I have a clear understanding of everything he says.' This was because the spiritual world enters into the natural world and perceives the thoughts of people there, but not the reverse. This is the nature of the association between spirits and men.

[9] Since I had now begun a dialogue with the holder of the chair, I said: 'If I may, I should like to put in another question or two. Do you not know that Evangelical orthodoxy, as stated in their church's handbook called 'The Formula of Concord', teaches that in Christ God is Man and Man is God, and that His Divine and His Human are in one undivided Person, and so remain for ever? How then could he, and how can you, defile the worship of the Lord with nature-worship?'

To this he answered: 'This I know, and yet I do not know.'

So I went on and said: 'I put the question to him, absent as he is, or to you in his place, what was the source of the soul of the Lord our Saviour? If you answer that it was from His mother, you are mad; if that it was from Joseph, you are doing violence to the Word; but if that it was from the Holy Spirit, you are right, so long as by the Holy Spirit you understand the Divine coming forth and working, so that He is the Son of Jehovah God.

[10] 'I ask you again, what is the meaning of hypostatic union? If you answer that it is like a union between two, one of whom is above and the other below, you are mad, for in this way you could have made God the Saviour into two, just as you make God into three. But if you say that it is a union in one person, as between the soul and the body, you are right. This too is in accordance with your doctrine and that of the Fathers: see The Formula of Concord, pp. 765-768. See also the Athanasian Creed, which contains these words:

The correct belief is that we should believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is God and Man; and though He is God and Man, there are not two, but there is one Christ. He is in every way one, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of Person. For just as the reasoning soul and the flesh make one man, so God and Man make one Christ.

[11] I ask yet further, what else was the abominable heresy of Arius, which led to the calling of the Council of Nicaea by the Emperor Constantine the Great, but a denial of the divinity of the Lord's Human? Tell me further, whom you understand by these words in Jeremiah:

Behold, the days will come, when I shall raise up for David a righteous shoot, who will reign as King, and this will be his name, Jehovah our righteousness, Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16.

If you say the Son from eternity, you are mad; He was not the Redeemer. But if you say the Son born in time, who was the only-begotten Son of God (John 1:18; 3:16), you are right. He by His redeeming act became righteousness, on which you base your faith. Read too Isaiah 9:6 and other passages, which predict that Jehovah Himself was to come into the world.'

The holder of the chair kept silence at this and turned away his face.

[12] When this was over, the presiding officer intended to close the meeting with prayer, but from the party on the left there suddenly sprang out a man, who had a cap on his head and a hat on top of it. He put his finger to his hat and said: 'I too am paired with a man in your world, who occupies a high position there. ³ I know this because I can speak his mind like my own.'

'Where,' I asked, 'does this eminent person live?'

'At Goteborg,' he replied. 'I have on occasion gathered from his thoughts that your new doctrine smacks of Mohammedanism.'

At this I saw all the party on the right, where the Apostolic Fathers were standing, amazed and crestfallen, and heard exclamations rising from their minds to their lips: 'What an abominable thing! What an age we live in!'

To allay their righteous anger I held up my hand and requested to be heard. When permission was given, I said: 'I know that a man of the eminence you describe has written something of the sort in a letter, which was subsequently printed. But if he had then known what a grave slander it is, he would surely have torn it in pieces, and consigned it to the flames. That is the same sort of insult as was meant by the Lord's words to the Jews, when they said that Christ performed His miracles by some other power than God's (Matthew 12:22-32). In addition, the Lord also says there:

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters, Matthew 12:30.

When I said this, his colleague lowered his gaze, but after a little raised it again to say: 'I have never heard you speak so harshly.'

'The reason,' I replied, 'is the two dogmas of nature-worship and Mohammedanism, which are criminal lies cunningly invented, and two lethal blows designed to lead men's wills astray and repel them from the holy worship of the Lord.' I then turned to the second colleague and said: 'Tell the man in Goteborg if you can, to read the Lord's words in Revelation 3:18, and also the passage at Revelation 2:16 of that book.'

[13] When I said that, uproar broke out; but it was quelled by a light which shone down from heaven. This induced many of the party on the left to cross over to those on the right. But those remained on the left whose thoughts were entirely vacuous, and who therefore hang on the lips of any teacher, as well as those who think of the Lord as wholly human. The light streaming down from heaven seemed to be reflected off both these last two groups, but to flow into those who crossed over from left to right.

Footnotes:

True Christian Religion #137 (Ager, 1970)

137. Fourth Memorable Relation:

I heard that a synod had been convoked of those celebrated for their writings and learning in respect to the faith of the present day and the justification of the elect thereby. This was in the world of spirits; and it was granted me to be present in spirit; and I saw an assembly of the clergy, both those of like belief and those of differing beliefs. On the right stood those who were called in the world the Apostolic Fathers, who had lived in the centuries preceding the Nicene Council; on the left stood men renowned in the succeeding centuries for their printed or manuscript works. Many of these latter had no beards, and wore curled wigs made of women's hair; and some of them wore ruffled collars with points; while the former had beards and wore their natural hair.

In front of them all stood a man (a judge and a critic of the writings of the present century), with a staff in his hand. He struck the floor and caused silence. He then ascended the upper step of the pulpit and breathed out a sigh, and wished to follow it up by a loud exclamation; but the sighing breath kept back the sound in his throat.

[2] At length he spoke and said, "O what an age, my brethren! There has risen up from the herd of the laity one having neither gown, tiara, nor laurel, who has plucked our faith from heaven and hurled it into the Styx. O horrible! And yet that faith alone is our star, shining like Orion in the night, and like Lucifer in the morning. That man, though advanced in years, is wholly blind to the mysteries of our faith, because he has not investigated it and seen in it the righteousness of the Lord our Savior and His mediation and propitiation; and as he has not seen these neither has he seen the wonders of its justification, which are the remission of sins, regeneration, sanctification, and salvation. This man, in place of our faith-which, being a faith in three Divine persons and therefore in the whole Deity, is saving to the utmost has transferred faith to the second person; yet not even to Him, but to His Human which we call Divine because of the incarnation of the Son from eternity; but is there anyone who thinks of it as any thing more than merely human? From this what else can result but a faith from which naturalism flows as from a fountain? And such a faith, not being spiritual, differs but little from faith in a pope or in a saint. You know what Calvin said in his time about worship from that kind of faith. And pray tell me, anyone of you, whence comes faith. Must it not be directly from God to thus have in it all things of salvation?"

[3] At this his companions on the left, who had shaven faces, curly wigs, and collars about their necks, clapped their hands and shouted, "You have spoken most wisely. We know that we can take nothing that is not given us from heaven. If this is not faith, let that prophet tell us where faith comes from, and what it is. It cannot be any thing else or from any other source. To set forth any faith that is a faith, other than this, is as impossible as for one to ride on horseback to some constellation in heaven, and to take a star from it and hide it in his pocket and bring it down." This they said to make their companions laugh at any new belief.

[4] Hearing this, the men on the right, who had bearded chins and wore their natural hair, were indignant. And one of them rose up (an old man, although he afterwards looked like a young man, for he was an angel from heaven, where those of all ages become youthful); and he spoke and said, "I have heard what your faith is, which the man in the pulpit has so magnified; but what is such a faith but our Lord's sepulchre after the resurrection, when it had been closed again by Pilate's soldiers? I have explored it and have seen nothing in it but the juggler's rods with which the magicians in Egypt wrought miracles. Indeed, externally your faith in your eyes is like a shrine of molten gold set with precious stones, but when opened it is found empty, except, perhaps, for a little dust in the corners from Papal relics, since that church has the same faith; only with them at the present day it is overlaid with external sanctities. Your faith, if I may indulge in further comparisons, is like a vestal virgin among the ancients who has been buried alive for letting the sacred fire go out. And I can assure you that in my eyes it is like the golden calf around which the children of Israel danced when Moses had gone away, and had ascended Mount Sinai to Jehovah.

[5] Be not surprised that I use such comparisons in speaking of your faith; for so we speak of it in heaven. Our faith on the other hand is, was, and for ever will be, a faith in the Lord God the Savior, whose Human is Divine and whose Divine is Human; thus it is adapted to reception, and by it the Divine spiritual is united to the natural of man, and a spiritual faith is formed in the natural, and from the spiritual light in which our faith is the natural becomes as it were transparent. The truths of which our faith consists are as many as the verses in the sacred Volume; thee truths are all like stars, which by their light make the faith manifest and give it form. Man acquires this faith from the Word by means of his natural light, in which light it is knowledge, thought, and persuasion; but the Lord causes it, in those who believe in Him, to become conviction, trust, and confidence; thus faith becomes spiritual-natural, and by means of charity becomes living. With us this faith is like a queen adorned with precious stones, as numerous as those in the wall of the holy Jerusalem (Revelation 21:17-20).

[6] But lest you may look upon what I have said as mere boasting, and worthy of little regard, I will read to you some passages from the Holy Word, from which it will be evident that our faith is not faith in a man, as you suppose, but in the true God, in whom is the entire Divine. John says that:

Jesus Christ is the true God, and eternal life (1 John 5:20). Paul says that:

In Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity bodily (Colossians 2:9); and in the Acts of the Apostles:

That he preached both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (20:21). And the Lord Himself says:

That there was given to Him all power in heaven and in earth (Matthew 28:18).

These are but a few of such passages."

[7] After this the angel looked at me and said, "You know what those who are called Evangelical believe, or are expected to believe, about the Lord the Savior. Recite some of these things, that we may see whether they are so foolish as to believe that His Human is merely human, or whether they attribute to Him something of the Divine, and how."

And then, in the presence of those assembled, I read the following passages from their standard work called the Formula Concordioe, published at Leipsic in 1756: In Christ the Divine and the Human Natures are so united as to make one person (pp. 606, 762). Christ is truly God and Man in one undivided person, and so remains for ever (pp. 609, 673, 762). In Christ God is Man, and Man is God (pp. 607, 765). Christ's Human Nature is exalted to all Divine Majesty; this also from many of the Fathers (pp. 844-852, 860-865, 869-878). As to His Human nature Christ is omnipresent, and fills all things (pp. 768, 783-785). In Christ, as to His Human nature, resides all power in heaven and on earth (pp. 775-776, 780). As to His Human nature Christ sits at the right hand of the Father (pp. 608, 764). Christ, as to His Human nature, is to be invoked; there proved by quotations from the Scriptures (p. 226). The Augustan Confession especially endorses this doctrine (p. 19).

[8] When I had read these passages I turned to the president and said, "I know that all here present are associated with their like in the natural world; tell me, I pray, do you know with whom you are associated?"

He answered in a grave tone, "I do; I am associated with a celebrated man, a leader of a host in the army of illustrious men in the church."

As he answered in so grave a tone I said, "Pardon me if I ask whether you know where that celebrated leader lives."

He answered, "I do; he lives not far from the tomb of Luther."

At this I smiled and said, "Why do you mention the tomb? Do you not know that Luther has risen, and has now renounced his erroneous ideas of justification by faith in three Divine persons from eternity, and therefore has been placed among the blessed in the new heaven, and sees and laughs at those who run mad after him?"

He replied, "I know, but what is that to me?"

I then addressed him in a grave tone like his own, saying, "Inspire your celebrated man with whom you are associated with this, Whether there is not reason to fear that in writing as he did against the worship of our Lord and Savior, he at the same time robbed the Lord of His Divinity, contrary to the orthodoxy of his church, or allowed his pen to plough a furrow in which he thoughtlessly sowed naturalism."

To this he replied, "That I cannot do, because he and I in that matter are almost of one mind; but what I say he does not understand, while all that he says I understand clearly." This is because the spiritual world enters into the natural and perceives the thoughts of men there, but not the reverse; such is the condition of association of spirits and men.

[9] As I had begun to talk with the president I continued, "If I may be permitted I will throw in still another query, Whether you are aware that the orthodoxy of the Evangelicals, in the manual of their church called the Formula Concordioe, teaches that in Christ God is Man, and Man is God, and that His Divine and Human are and will for ever remain one undivided Person? How then could he and how can you defile the worship of the Lord with naturalism?"

To this he replied, "I know that, and yet I do not know it." I therefore continued, "Let me ask him, or you in his place, since he is absent, from whom did the Lord our Savior derive His soul? If you say from the mother, you are irrational; if from Joseph, you profane the Word; if from the Holy Spirit, you say truly, provided that by the Holy Spirit you mean the proceeding and operating Divine, thus that He is the Son of Jehovah God.

[10] Again, I ask, What is the hypostatic union? If you reply that it is a union as between two persons, a superior and an inferior, you are irrational; for thus you might make God the Savior two persons, as you make God three; but if you say that it is a personal union like that of soul and body, you say rightly: and this is in harmony with your doctrine, also with that of the Fathers. Consult the Formula Concordioe (pp. 765-768), also the Athanasian creed, where this is said, 'The correct faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is God and Man; who although He be God and Man, yet is not two, but is one Christ, one altogether, not by confusion of substance but by unity of Person; for as the reasonable soul and flesh are one man, so God and Man is one Christ. '

[11] I ask still further, What else was the damnable heresy of Arius, on account of whom the Nicene Council was convened by the Emperor Constantine the Great, than his denial of the Divinity of the Lord's Human? Tell me, moreover, whom you understand by these words in Jeremiah:

Behold, the days come that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as King, and this is His name, Jehovah our Righteousness (23:5, 6; 33:15, 16). If you say a Son born from eternity, you are irrational; that was not the Redeemer; but if you say the Son born in time, who was the only-begotten Son of God (John 1:18; 3:16), you say rightly; He through redemption became the righteousness upon which you build your faith. Read also Isaiah 9:6, besides other passages in which it is foretold that Jehovah Himself would come into the world."

At this the president was silent, and turned away.

[12] When all this had occurred the president wished to dismiss the synod with a prayer; but just then a man started up from the company on the left, with a turban on his head and a cap over the turban; and he touched his cap with his finger, and said, "I also am associated with a man in your world, who there occupies a position of great honor; this I know because I speak from him as from myself."

I asked where that eminent man lived.

He answered, "At Gottenburg; and from him I at one time thought that your new doctrines favored of Mohammedanism."

I saw that on hearing this all those on the right, where the Apostolic Fathers stood, were thunderstruck, and their countenances changed, and I heard such exclamations as these issuing from their minds through their mouths, "O horrible!" "O what an age!"

But to calm their just indignation I stretched forth my hand begged a hearing; which being granted I said, "I know that a man of that eminence wrote something of the kind in a letter which was afterwards printed; but if he had then known what blasphemy it was he would certainly have torn the letter to pieces and thrown it into the fire. A slander like that is meant by the Lord's words to the Jews, when they said that Christ wrought miracles by other than Divine power (Matthew 12:22-32); and in addition to this the Lord there says:

He that is not with Me is against Me, and be that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad" (verse30).

At these words the countenance of the associate spirit fell; but presently he looked up and said, "I have now heard worse things from you than ever."

But I continued, "There are two items in this charge-naturalism and Mohammedanism-Which are wicked lies and crafty inventions; and two deadly stigmas, designed to turn aside the wills of men and to deter them from the holy worship of the Lord." And I turned to the latter associate spirit and said, "Tell the man at Gottenburg, if you can, to read what is said by the Lord in Revelation 3:18 and also in 2:16."

[13] At these remarks a tumult arose; but it was quieted by light sent down from heaven, in consequence of which many of those on the left passed over to those on the right, those only remaining who thought superficially, and therefore depended on the word of some master, also those who thought of the Word as merely human. From both of these classes the light went down from heaven appeared to be thrown back, but to fall upon those who had passed over from the left to the right.

True Christian Religion #137 (Dick, 1950)

137. ¹ The fourth experience. I heard that a council had been convened of those celebrated for their writings and learning in the faith of the present day, and the consequent justification of the Elect. This was in the world of spirits, and I was permitted to be present in the spirit. I saw assembled there members of the clergy from both established and dissenting Churches. On the right stood those who in the world were called Apostolic Fathers, and who lived before the time of the Council of Nice; and on the left stood those renowned in succeeding ages for their works printed or still in manuscript. Many of the latter were beardless, and wore curled wigs of women's hair, some being in fluted and some in pointed collars; while the former were bearded, and wore their own hair. In front of both parties stood one who was judge and critic of the writings of this period, having a staff in his hand, with which he struck the ground and imposed silence. Mounting the highest step of the pulpit he uttered a deep groan, and then proceeded to speak in a loud voice, but the groan choked his voice in his throat.

[2] At length, regaining his voice, he said: "O my brethren, what an age is this! There has risen up from the company of the laity one having neither gown, mitre, nor laurel wreath, who has dragged down our faith from heaven and cast it into the infernal regions. What a crime is this! and yet that faith alone is our star which shines like Orion in the night and like Lucifer ² in the morning. That man, although advanced in years, is utterly blind to the mysteries of our faith, because he has not examined it, and seen in it the righteousness of the Lord the Savior, His mediation and His propitiation. Since he has not seen these neither has he seen the wonders of His justification, which are, the remission of sins, regeneration, sanctification and salvation. This man, instead of acknowledging faith as we hold it, which is saving to the utmost, because it is a faith in three Divine Persons, and thus in the whole Deity, has transferred it to the second Person, and not even to Him, but to His Human, which we indeed call Divine because of the incarnation of the Son from eternity; but no one considers that as anything more than merely human. What then can proceed from such a source but a faith which gives rise to naturalism? and such a faith, because it is not spiritual, differs little from a faith in a Pope or a saint. You know what Calvin ³ in his time used to say of worship from this faith; and, pray, will some one of you declare whence faith comes? Is it not directly from God, and so has in it all that belongs to salvation?"

[3] At this his companions on the left, who were beardless and wore curled wigs and had ruffled collars round their necks, clapped their hands and called out: "You have spoken most wisely. We know that we cannot receive anything which is not given us from heaven. Let that prophet tell us whence faith comes, and what else faith means; it is impossible that there should be any other, or have any other source. To produce any other faith, which really is faith, than this is as impossible as it is to ride to one of the constellations in the heavens, take a star from it, pocket it and carry it off." This he said in order that he might bring into ridicule among his companions every new faith.

[4] On hearing this the men on the right, who were bearded and wore their own hair, were indignant. Then one of them stood up, an old man, but who later appeared to be young: for he was an angel from heaven, where to grow old is to grow young, and he said: "I have heard the nature of your faith which your leader in the pulpit has so extolled. What is that faith, however, but the tomb of our Lord after His resurrection, closed again by the soldiers of Pilate? I have opened it, and seen nothing but jugglers' rods, with which the magicians in Egypt performed miracles. Truly that faith of yours is to all outward appearance like a chest constructed of gold, and set with precious stones; but when opened it is empty, unless perchance there is in its corners the dust of relics of pontifical dignitaries; for these have the same faith, only by them at the present day it is overlaid with external sanctities. Moreover, to use comparisons, it is like a vestal virgin among the ancients who was buried alive for having let the sacred fire go out; and I can assure you that in my eyes it is like the golden calf, around which the Children of Israel danced after the departure of Moses when he ascended Mount Sinai to Jehovah.

[5] Do not be surprised that I have used such comparisons in speaking of your faith, for so we speak of it in heaven. But our faith is, was, and ever shall be, in the Lord God the Savior, whose Human is Divine and whose Divine is Human. It is a faith accommodated to man's reception, and by it the spiritual Divine is united to what is natural in man; and it becomes a spiritual faith in the natural, in consequence of which the natural becomes as it were illuminated from the spiritual light in which our faith is. The truths which constitute this faith are as numerous as the several verses in the sacred Volume; and all those truths are like stars which by their own peculiar lights give manifestation and form to the faith. A man acquires this faith from the Word by the light (lumen) of his own natural intelligence, in which, however, it is only knowledge, thought, and persuasion. But the Lord, with those who believe on Him, causes this faith to become conviction, trust and confidence; thus natural faith becomes spiritual, and is made living by means of charity. Amongst us this faith is like a queen adorned with as many precious stones as the wall of the holy Jerusalem, Revelation 21:17-20.

[6] Do not suppose, however, that what I have said is mere boasting; and, that it may not be thus lightly regarded, I will read out some passages from the Holy Word, from which it will be evident that our faith is not, as you suppose, in a man, but in the true God, in whom resides all Divinity. John says,

that Jesus Christ is the true God, and eternal life. 1_John 5:20;

Paul says,

that in Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.Colossians 2:9;

and in the Acts of the Apostles it is written,

that he testified both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20:21;

and the Lord Himself says,

All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Matthew 28:18.

But these are only a few passages."

[7] Thereupon the angel looked towards me and said: "You know what the Evangelical Protestants, so called, believe, or are likely to believe, concerning the Lord the Savior. Read out some passages from their creed that we may know whether they are so foolish as to believe that His Human is merely human, or whether they ascribe any Divinity to Him, and in what manner." Then in the presence of all the assembly I read the following passages from several collected from their standard orthodox work, called the Formula Concordia, ⁴ published at Leipzig, ⁵ in the year 1758:

In Christ the Divine and Human Natures are so united as to make one Person, pp. 806, 762.

Christ is truly God and Man in one indivisible Person, and remains so for ever, pp. 609, 673, 762.

In Christ God is Man, and Man is God, pp. 607, 765.

Christ's Human Nature is exalted to all Divine Majesty, proved also from many of the Fathers, pp. 844-852, 860-865, 869-878.

Christ as to His Human Nature is omnipresent, and fills all things, pp. 768, 783-785.

Christ as to His Human Nature has all power in heaven and in earth, pp. 775-776, 780.

Christ as to His Human Nature sits on the right hand of the Father, pp. 608, 764.

Christ as to His Human Nature is to be invoked, proved by many quotations from Scripture, p. 226.

The Augustan Confession very highly approves of that worship, p. 19. ⁶

[8] After reading these passages I turned to the President and said: "I know that all here present are associated with their like in the natural world; tell me, I pray, do you know with whom you are associated?" He replied in a solemn tone of voice: "I do. I am associated with a famous man, ⁷ a leader of battalions in the army of the Church's famous men." As he replied in a tone of such solemnity I said: "Pardon me, if I ask whether you know where that famous man lives," and he said: "I do. He lives not far from Luther's ⁷ tomb." Upon this I said, with a smile, "Why do you speak of his tomb? Do you not know that Luther has risen, and has now renounced his errors concerning justification by a faith in three Divine Persons from eternity? He has, therefore, been transferred to the company of the blessed in the new heaven, and he smiles as he sees his followers still holding these absurd views." He replied: "I know it; but what is that to me?" Thereupon, speaking in the same solemn tone in which he had addressed me, I said: "Please convey to the celebrated person with whom you are associated my fear that contrary to the orthodoxy of his own Church he has incontinently robbed the Lord of His Divinity; or he has suffered his pen to plough a furrow in which he has thoughtlessly planted the seed of naturalism, by writing against the worship of the Lord our Savior." To this he replied: "I cannot do this. While he and I are almost of one mind on this matter, what I say he does not understand, but all that he says I understand perfectly. For the spiritual world penetrates the natural world, and perceives the thoughts of men there; but this is not reciprocal: such is the nature of the association between spirits and men."

[9] As I had now entered into conversation with the President, I said: "If I may be permitted, I will ask another question. Do you know that the orthodoxy of the Evangelicals, in the manual of their Church called the Formula Concordiae, teaches that in Christ God is Man and Man God, and that His Divine and His Human are, and will remain for ever, in one indivisible Person? How then could you and he defile the worship of the Lord with naturalism?" To this he replied: "I know it, and yet I do not know it." I therefore continued: "I ask your friend, although he is absent, or you in his place, from whom had the Lord our Savior His soul? If you answer, from His mother, you talk foolishly; if from Joseph, you profane the Word; but if from the Holy Spirit, you speak truly, provided that by the Holy Spirit you mean the Divine, proceeding and operating; and therefore that the Lord is the Son of Jehovah God.

[10] Again I ask, what is meant by hypostatic union? If you say it is like that between two persons, one superior and one inferior, you talk foolishly; for thus you could make God the Savior two Persons as you make God three. If, however, you say it is a personal union, like that of soul and body, you say rightly; and this is in agreement with your own doctrine and also with that of the Fathers, as you may see by consulting the Formula Concordiae, pp. 765-768; and also the Athanasian Creed, ⁸ where it is said:

The right faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ is God and Man; who, although He is God and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ: one altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of Person; for as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ.

[11] I ask, moreover, what was the damnable heresy of Arius, ⁹ on account of whom the Council of Nice was summoned by the Emperor Constantine the Great, ¹⁰ but that he denied the Divinity of the Lord's Human? Further, tell me who do you suppose is meant by these words in Jeremiah:

"Behold, the days come... that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a king shall reign... and this is His name... JEHOVAH our Righteousness" 23:5, 8; 33:13, 16.

If you say, the Son from eternity, you talk foolishly, for He was not the Redeemer; but if you say, the Son born in time, who was the only-begotten Son of God, John 1:18; 3:16, you say rightly, for He by redemption became the righteousness of which you make your faith consist. Read also Isaiah 9:6, as well as other passages, where it is foretold that Jehovah Himself would come into the world." At these words the President was silent, and turned away.

[12] After these proceedings the President was about to close the council with prayer, when suddenly a man started up from the company on the left, having on his head a mitre and over that a cap. He touched the cap with his finger, and said: "I also am associated with a man in your world, who is held in high honor there. This I know, for I speak from him as from myself." I then inquired where that eminent person ¹¹ lived. He replied: "At Gottenburg; and from him I once got the idea that this new doctrine of yours savors of Mohammedanism." ¹²

On hearing this, I observed that all those on the right, where the Apostolic Fathers stood, were astounded, and their countenances changed; and I heard them expressing what was in their minds by their exclamations: "What a crime is this! What an age!" However, to appease their just indignation, I stretched forth my hand, and begged for a hearing. This was granted, and I said: "I know that a person of that eminence wrote something of the kind in a letter which he afterwards published; but if he had known at the time what a blasphemous charge this is, he would certainly have torn the letter up with his fingers, and thrown it into the fire. Such a slander as that is meant by the Lord's words to the Jews, when they said that Christ wrought miracles by some other than Divine power, Matthew 12:22-32; to which the Lord adds in the same place:

"He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad" Matthew 5:30.

At these words the associated spirit looked down, but soon looked up again and said: "I have heard things from you harder than ever." But I continued: "In the case against me there are two charges, Naturalism and Mohammedanism. These are wicked lies, craftily devised, and two deadly stigmas, designed to prejudice the desires of men, and deter them from the holy worship of the Lord." I then turned to the associated spirit who had just spoken, and I said: "Tell your friend at Gottenburg, if you can, to read what the Lord says in Revelation 3:18, and also in Revelation 2:16.

[13] When I said this an uproar arose; but it was calmed by a light sent down from heaven, which caused many of those on the left to cross over to those on the right, those only remaining who did not think deeply, and who therefore relied on the word of some teacher; as well as those who believed that the Lord is merely human. From both of these the light sent down from heaven appeared as it were to be thrown back, and to fall upon those who passed over from the left to the right.

Footnotes:

Vera Christiana Religio #137 (original Latin,1770)

137. Quartum Memorabile. ¹ "Audivi quod convocatum sit Synedrium ex famigeratis in Scriptis et eruditione de Fide hodierna et de justificatione electorum per illam; hoc erat in Mundo spirituum, et dabatur mihi in spiritu adesse praesens, et vidi convocatos ex Clero consentientes et dissentientes; a parte dextra stabant illi, qui in Mundo vocati sunt Patres Apostolici, et vixerunt in saeculis ante Concilium Nicaenum; et a sinistra parte stabant viri post illa saecula incluti ex membranis typo impressis aut exscriptis a tironibus; multi ex his erant mento calvo et tecti capillitiis ex crine muliebri cincinnatis, et quidam horum in collariis ex volvulis, et quidam in collariis ex alis; illi autem erant mento barbato, et in capillis nativis; ante hos et illos stetit Vir Judex et Arbiter scriptorum hujus saeculi cum scipione in manu, qui pulsavit solum, et induxit silentium; hic ascendit ² gradum superiorem Cathedrae et exspiravit gemitum, et ex illo voluit clamare alte, sed halitus gemens retraxit clamorem retro in guttur, at tandem loquutus dixit;

[2] Fratres, oh quale saeculum, surrexit ex caterva Laicorum unus, cui non pallium, tiara, et laurus, et fidem nostram detraxit e Coelo, et projecit in Stygem; ³ oh facinus, et tamen illa sola est Stella nostra, quae lucet sicut Orion in noctibus, et sicut Lucifer in matutis; ille vir tametsi annosus, prorsus caecutit in mysteriis Fidei nostrae, quia non aperuit illam, et vidit in illa justitiam Domini Salvatoris, et ejus mediationem et propitiationem, et cum haec non vidit, nec vidit justificationis ejus mirabilia, quae sunt remissio peccatorum, regeneratio, sanctificatio et salvatio; hic vir loco nostrae Fidei summe salvificae, quia in tres Personas Divinas, ita in totum Deum, transtulit in Secundam Personam, nec in illam, sed in Humanum illius, quod quidem dicimus Divinum ex incarnatione Filii ab aeterno, sed quis de illo cogitat aliud quam mere Humanum, et quid tunc inde aliud quam fides, ex qua ut ex fonte scaturit Naturalismus; et talis fides, quia non est spiritualis, parum differt a fide in Vicarium, aut in Sanctum; nostis quid Calvinus suo tempore de Cultu ex hac fide dixerat: et, quaeso, dic unus ex vobis, unde est Fides; numne immediate a Deo, cui sic omnia salutis insunt.

[3] Ad haec sodales sinistri lateris, qui mento calvo, in capillitiis ⁴ cincinnatis, et in cinctura coronali circum collum erant, comploserunt palmas, et vociferati, sapientissime fatus es, nos scimus quod non possimus quicquam sumere, quod non datur e Coelo; dicat nobis ille propheta, unde fides, et quid fides nisi illa; impossibile est, ut alia et aliunde sit; aliam fidem, quae fides, quam hanc expromere, tam impossibile est, ut est equitare ad quendam asterismum in Coelo, et inde captare stellam, ac illam recondere in bursa togae, et deportare; hoc dixit, ut consocii ad omnem novam fidem riderent.

[4] His auditis, indignati sunt Viri lateris dextri, qui mento barbato et in capillis nativis erant; et surrexit unus ex illis, Senex, sed usque visus ut juvenis postea, erat enim Angelus e Coelo, ubi omnis aetas juvenescit; ille loquens dixit, audivi qualis est vestra fides, quam Vir cathedralis ita magnificavit; sed quid illa fides, nisi sepulchrum Domini nostri post resurrectionem, iterum clausum a militibus Pilati; aperui illam, nec vidi quicquam quam baculos praestigiatorum, per quos magi in Aegypto fecerunt miracula; imo est fides vestra extrinsecus in oculis vestris sicut scrinium conflatum ex auro, et obsitum lapidibus pretiosis, quod dum aperitur, est vacuum, nisi forte in angulis ejus sit pulvis ex reliquiis Pontificiorum, nam his illa eadem est, modo quod hodie ab his obtecta sit sanctitatibus externis; est quoque, ut similitudinibus utar, sicut Vesta antiquorum, quae exstinxit ignem sacrum, infossa terrae; et asseverare possum, quod illa coram meis oculis sit sicut vitulus aureus, circum quem filii Israelis, postquam Moses abivit et ascendit in montem Sinai ad Jehovam, saltaverunt:

[5] ne miremini quod loquutus sim de Fide vestra per tales comparationes, quia ita loquimur de illa nos in Coelo. Nostra ⁵ autem Fides est, fuit ⁶ et erit in aeternum, in Dominum Deum Salvatorem, cujus Humanum est Divinum et Divinum est Humanum, ita accommodata receptioni, et ex qua Divinum spirituale unitur hominis naturali, et fit fides spiritualis in naturali, unde naturale fit sicut diaphanum ex luce spirituali in qua nostra fides est; veritates ex quibus consistit, sunt totidem quot versiculi in sacro Codice; veritates illae sunt omnes sicut stellae, quae lucibus suis manifestant et conformant illam; homo assumit illam ex Verbo medio naturali suo lumine, in quo est scientia, cogitatio et persuasio, sed Dominus apud illos qui in Ipsum credunt, facit ut fiat convictio, fiducia, et confidentia, ita fit spiritualis naturalis, et per charitatem viva; Fides haec apud nos est sicut Regina ornata lapidibus pretiosis, quot murus sanctae Hierosolymae, Apocalypsi 21:17-20.

[6] Sed ne credatis, quod haec, quae dixi, sint solum verba exaltationis, quae ne ideo floccipendantur praelegam aliqua ex sancto Verbo, ex quibus patebit, quod Fides nostra non sit in Hominem, ut vos creditis, sed in verum Deum, in quo est omne Divinum; Johannes dicit, Jesus Christus est verus Deus, et Vita aeterna, I Epist. 5:20. ⁷ Paulus, In Christo habitat omnis plenitudo Divinitatis corporaliter, Colossenses 2:9 et in actis Apostolorum, Quod praedicaverit et Judaeis et Graecis poenitentiam in Deum, et fidem in Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, ⁸ 20:21 et Ipse Dominus, quod Ipsi data sit omnis potestas in Coelo et in Terra, ⁹ Matthaeus 28:18 sed haec pauca sunt.

[7] Post haec, Angelus me inspexit, et dixit, tu scis quid Evangelici ita dicti credunt aut credituri sunt de Domino Salvatore, recita aliqua ut sciamus Numeri in illa fatuitate sint, ut credant quod Humanum Ipsius sit mere Humanum, et num aliquid Divini Illi adscribunt, aut quomodo; et tunc coram Caetibus, ex collectis e Libro Orthodoxiae eorum, FORMULA CONCORDIAE vocato, et Lipsiae An. 1756 excuso, praelegi haec sequentia; Quod in Christo Divina et Humana Natura ita unitae sint, ut faciant unam Personam, pag. ¹⁰ 606, 762. Quod Christus vere Deus et Homo in indivisa Persona sit, et maneat in aeternum, pag. 609, 673, 762. Quod in Christo Deus sit Homo, et Homo Deus, pag. 607, 765. Quod Humana Natura Christi ad omnem Majestatem Divinam exaltata sit, hoc etiam ex multis Patribus, pag. 844-852, 860-865, 869-878. Quod Christus quoad Humanam Naturam Omnipraesens sit et impleat omnia, p. 768, 783-785. Quod Christo quoad Humanam Naturam omnis potestas sit in Coelo et in Terra, pag. 775-776, 780. Quod Christus quoad Humanam Naturam ad dextram Patris sedeat, pag. 608, 764. Quod Christus quoad Humanam Naturam invocandus sit, confirmatum ex dictis Scripturae ibi, pag. 226. Quod Augustana Confessio illum Cultum maxime probet, pag. 19.

[8] Postquam haec praelecta sunt, converti me ad Virum cathedrae, et dixi, scio quod omnes hic consociati sint cum similibus sui in Mundo naturali; dic, precor, num scis cum quo tu es; respondit tono gravi, scio, consociatus sum cum Viro incluto, Praetore phalangum ab Exercitu illustrium Ecclesiae; et quia tono tam gravi respondit, dixi, ignosce quod interrogem, num scis ubi Praetor ille inclutus habitat, et dixit, scio, habitat non procul a busto Lutheri; ad haec subridens dixi, cur dicis bustum; scisne quod Lutherus resurrexerit, et quod hodie abdicaverit sua erronea de justificatione per fidem in tres Personas Divinas ab aeterno, et ideo translatus sit inter Novi Coeli felices, et quod videat et rideat insanientes post se; et regessit, scio, sed quid hoc ad me: et tunc tono simili, quo ille, alloquutus sum, dicens, inspira tuo Incluto cum quo consociatus es, quod verear quod contra Orthodoxiam Ecclesiae suae illo instanti subtraxerit Domino Divinum Ipsius, aut passus sit calamum suum arare sulcum, in quem improvise inseminavit Naturalismum, quando contra cultum Domini Salvatoris nostri scripsit: ad haec respondit, hoc non possum, quia ego et ille quoad hanc rem paene unam mentem facimus, sed illa quae ego dico, ille non intelligit, sed omnia quae ille, perspicue intelligo; Mundus enim spiritualis intrat in Mundum naturalem, et percipit cogitata hominum ibi, sed non vicissim, hic status consociationis ¹¹ spirituum et hominum est.

[9] Nunc quia incepi loqui cum Viro cathedrae, dixi, interpolabo, si licet, adhuc aliqua interrogatione, num scis, quod Orthodoxia Evangelicorum in Libro manuali Ecclesiae eorum FORMULA CONCORDIAE appellato, doceat, quod in Christo Deus sit Homo et Homo Deus, et quod Divinum et Humanum Ipsius in indivisa Persona sit et maneat ¹² in aeternum; quomodo tunc ille potuit ac tu potes foedare cultum Domini naturalismo; ad quae respondit, illud scio et tamen non scio, quare continuavi dicendo; illum, tametsi ¹³ absens est, aut te loco ejus, interrogo, unde Anima Domini Salvatoris nostri; si respondetis ¹⁴ quod a Matre, insanitis; si a Josepho, profanatis Verbum; si vero a Spiritu sancto, recte dicitis, modo per Spiritum Sanctum intelligitis Divinum procedens et operans, ita quod sit Filius Jehovae Dei.

[10] Iterum interrogo, quid Unio hypostatica; si respondetis ¹⁵ quod sit sicut inter duos, unum supra et alterum infra, insanitis, sic etenim potuissetis facere Deum Salvatorem duos, sicut Deum tres; at si dixeritis, quod sit unio personalis, sicut est Animae et Corporis, recte dicitis; hoc quoque est secundum Doctrinam vestram, tum etiam Patrum; consule FORMULAM CONCORDIAE, pag. 765-768. Et consule SYMBOLUM ATHANASII, ubi haec, Est Fides recta, ut credamus et confiteamur, quod Dominus noster Jesus Christus, Deus et Homo sit; Qui licet Deus est et Homo, non duo tamen, sed unus est Christus, unus omnino, non confusione substantiae, sed unitate Personae: nam sicut anima rationalis et caro unus est homo, ita Deus et Homo est unus Christus.

[11] Interrogo adhuc, quae fuit damnabilis Haeresis ARII, propter quem Concilium Nicaenum ab Imperatore Constantino Magno convocatum est, aliud quam quod negaverit Divinitatem Humani Domini. Porro dicite, Quem intelligitis per haec apud Jeremiam, Ecce dies venient, cum suscitabo Davidi Germen justum, qui regnabit Rex, et hoc Nomen Ipsius JEHOVAH JUSTITIA NOSTRA, Jeremias 23:5-6; 33:15-16; si dicitis Filium ab aeterno, insanitis; ille non fuit Redemptor, si autem dicitis Filium natum in tempore, qui Unigenitus Filius Dei fuit, Johannes 1:18; 3:16, recte dicitis; Hic per redemptionem factus est Justitia, ex qua facitis Fidem vestram. Legite etiam Esaias 9:5, ¹⁶ praeter alia loca, in quibus praedicitur, quod Ipse Jehovah in mundum venturus esset. Ad haec Vir cathedrae siluit et avertit se.

[12] Postquam haec peracta sunt, voluit Praeses oratione finire Synedrium, sed subito tunc Vir e sinistro Caetu erupit, cui tiara super capite, et pileus super illa, et tetigit digito pileum, et loquutus dixit, ego etiam consociatus sum Viro in Mundo tuo, qui ibi in eminente honore constitutus est; hoc scio, quia loquor ex illo sicut ex me; et quaesivi, ubi Eminens ille commoratur; respondit, Gothoburgi, et ex illo quondam cogitavi, quod nova tua Doctrina sapiat Mahumedismum; ex qua voce audita vidi omnes a dextris, ubi stabant Patres Apostolici, attonitos et mutatos facies, ¹⁷ et audivi ex mentibus illorum per ora illorum exclamatas voces, oh facinus, o quale saeculum; sed ad sedandum justam excandescentiam illorum, exporrexi manum, et petivi auscultationem, qua data, dixi, scio quod vir istius eminentiae tale quid impinxerit Epistolae, quae postea typo impressa est, sed si tunc scivisset, qualis illa blasphemia est, sane discerpsisset illam digitis, et tradidisset Vulcano ad comburendum; talis contumelia illa est, quae intelligitur per Domini verba ad Judaeos dicentes, quod Christus ex alia potestate quam ex Divina fecerit miracula, Matthaeus 12:22-32; praeter illa ibi etiam dicit Dominus, Quisquis non est Mecum, contra Me est; et quisquis non congregat Mecum, dispergit, Vers. 30: his edictis, consociatus ejus demisit vultum, sed mox sustulit illum, et dixit, duriora a te audivi quam usquam; sed regessi, in causa sunt duae formulae, Naturalismus et Mahumedismus, quae sunt Mendacia nefaria astu inventa, et duo stigmata mortifera ad avertendum voluntates et deterrendum a Sancto Cultu Domini: et converti me ad posteriorem consociatum, et dixi, dic illi in Gothoburgo, si potes, ut legat illa quae a Domino dicta sunt in Apocalypsi 3:18, et quoque illa, quae Cap. 2:16, ibi.

[13] His dictis, factus est strepitus; sed hic sedatus est per lucem e Coelo demissam, ex qua plures ex illis qui a sinistris erant, transiverunt ad illos qui a dextris, remanentibus illis, qui non cogitant nisi vana, et ideo pendent ab ore cujusvis magistri, et quoque illis, qui non nisi quam Humanum de Domino credunt; ab his et illis Lux e Coelo demissa, visa est sicut repercuti, ac influere in illos qui transiverunt a parte sinistra ad partem dextram.

Footnotes:

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