AE 893 [4]
. . . "to follow the Lord and to take up the cross"
have the same signification as above,
namely, to acknowledge the Lord's Divine,
and the Lord as the God of heaven and earth;
for without that acknowledgment
no one can abstain from evils and do good
except from self and as meritorious good,
for the good that is good in itself
and that is not meritorious good
is solely from the Lord;
consequently he cannot be saved
unless the Lord is acknowledged,
and it is acknowledged that all good is from Him.
And yet before anyone can act from the Lord
he must undergo temptations,
for the reason that the internal of man,
by which he is conjoined with heaven,
is opened by means of temptations.
And because no one can do the commandments
apart from the Lord,
therefore the Lord said,
"Yet one thing you lack;
sell all that you have and follow Me,
taking up the cross;"
that is, the Lord must be acknowledged
and temptations must be endured.
AE 895 [2]
. . . it would be better to give up the use of the term "faith"
and to use the expression "the truth" in its stead.
And yet what is believed
and is not seen
may be called faith,
although such a faith is mere knowledge.
But as soon as a person becomes spiritual,
(and he becomes so when his internal
which communicates with heaven is opened),
then that which is known, which is called faith,
becomes truth,
for it is then seen from the light of heaven.
It is to be known
that all angels and all good spirits see the truths of heaven
as the bodily eye sees the objects of the world,
for the objects of heaven are truths
to those who are spiritual,
for the reason that their understanding is their spiritual sight.
The term truth should be used in place of faith,
because all intelligence and all wisdom
exists by means of truths,
while all ignorance, that is, in spiritual things,
exists by means of faith,
especially faith separated (from good/charity);
consequently the angels of the higher heavens
turn themselves away when they hear faith mentioned,
because their mind is turned away from
what is thought by them;
which thought is that the understanding
should be held captive in obedience to faith;
also because not to see truths
would be to extinguish the light of heaven,
in which those angels are and which is in them.
Moreover, they are surprised
that some believe that the faith that understands
is not spiritual faith,
when in fact such faith is truth;
while a faith that is destitute of understanding
is historical faith,
because it is from another,
and this regarded in itself is mere knowledge.
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