AC 2915 - The First State of a Church That Is New; AC 2917 - When the Lord Rises With a Person

AC 2915

I am a sojourner and a dweller with you.
(Genesis 23:4)

. . . here a new church is treated of,
and in this verse its first state,
which is such that first of all
the Lord is unknown to them;
and yet because they live in the good of charity,
and in what is just and equitable
as to civil life,
and in what is honorable and becoming
as to moral life,
they are such that the Lord can be with them;
for the Lord's presence with a person is in good,
and therefore in what is just and equitable,
and further in what is honorable and becoming
(what is honorable being
the complex of all the moral virtues;
and what is becoming being simply its form);
for these are goods which succeed in order,
and are the planes in a person
on which conscience is founded by the Lord,
and consequently intelligence and wisdom.
But with those who are not in these goods
(that is to say from the heart or affection),
nothing of heaven can be implanted;
for there is no plane or ground,
thus there is no recipient;
and as nothing of heaven can be implanted,
neither can the Lord be present there.
The Lord's presence
is predicated according to the good,
that is, according to the quality of the good;
the quality of the good is according to
the state of innocence, of love, and of charity,
in which the truths of faith have been implanted
or can be implanted.

AC 2917

. . . the Lord comes forth and rises with a person,
when He is acknowledged.
. . . He rises again with every one
who is being regenerated.