No one can be
regenerated unless he knows such things as are of the new life, that
is, of spiritual life; for man is introduced into this life by means
of regeneration. The things which are of the new life, or of
spiritual life, are truths which must be believed, and goods which
must be done; the former are of faith, the latter of charity.
No one can know
these things from himself, for man apprehends only those things
which have been obvious to his senses; from these he has procured
for himself a light which is called natural light, by virtue of
which he sees nothing else than what belongs to the world and to
himself, and not what belongs to heaven and to God; these he must
learn from revelation.
For example, that
the Lord, who was God from eternity, came into the world to save the
human race; that He has all power in heaven and in earth; that
everything of faith and everything of charity, thus everything of
truth and good is from Him; that there is a heaven, and that there
is a hell; that man will live to eternity, in heaven if he has done
well, in hell if he has done evil.
These things and
more are of faith, which must be known by the man who is to be
regenerated; for he who knows them can think them, then will them,
and lastly do them, and thus have new life.
On the other hand,
he who does not know that the Lord is the Savior of the human race,
cannot have faith in Him, worship Him, love Him, and thus do good
for His sake. He who does not know that all good is from Him, cannot
think that his own righteousness and his own salvation are from Him,
still less can he will it to be so, thus he cannot live from Him. He
who does not know that there is a hell, and that there is a heaven,
nor that there is eternal life, cannot even think about the life of
heaven, nor apply himself to receiving it; and so in all other
things.
From all this it can
be seen what the quality of the life of a regenerate person is, that
it is a life of faith; and also that it cannot be given to a man
until he is in such a state as to be able to acknowledge the truths
of faith, and insofar as he acknowledges them, to will them.
(Continuation
respecting THE DOCTRINE OF CHARITY−
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