AC 4672 - the beginnings of a church

AC 4672 [2]
The church which begins from faith has nothing to direct it but the understanding, and the understanding nothing but what is hereditary in a person, that is to say, the love of self and of the world. These persuade the understanding to search for things from the Word that will confirm them, and to explain away what is not confirmatory.

It is otherwise with the church which begins from charity: good is its director, and in good the Lord; for between the Lord and faith there intervenes the good of charity and of love, and without this intervention there can be no spiritual communication, for there is no influx without an intermediate. If evil is in the place of good, it drives away the Lord, and either rejects or perverts all things that are of Him, thus all that are of faith, for faith is from Him through good.