Brief Exposition (Stanley) n. 108

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108. The first reason why Roman Catholics may be brought into the New Jerusalem, that is, the New Church, before the Reformed is because the faith of justification by the imputation of Christ's merit, which is an erroneous faith that cannot be together with the faith of the New Church (see nos. 102-4), is with them obliterated, yea, utterly erased; whereas, it is as it were engraven upon the Reformed, inasmuch as it is the principal tenet of their Church. A second reason is that with the Roman Catholics, more than with the Reformed, there is the idea of Divine majesty in the Lord's Human, as is clearly evident from their most holy veneration of the Host. A third reason is that with Roman Catholics charity, good works, repentance and attention to a new life, are the essentials of salvation; these are also the essentials of the New Church. It is otherwise with the Reformed who are confirmed in faith alone; with them the above-mentioned activities do not enter into faith either as essentials or as formalities, and consequently contribute nothing to salvation. These are the three reasons why Roman Catholics, if they approach God Himself, the Saviour, not mediately but directly, and likewise receive the holy eucharist in both kinds, receive a living faith instead of a dead faith before the Reformed, and are brought by the Lord, by means of angels, to the gates of the New Jerusalem or New Church, and are introduced into it with the utmost rejoicing.


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