Page:A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/181

Rh the creation of the universe to some supreme Being, or Deity, or God, yet in their hearts ascribe it to nature. Such persons, inasmuch as by denial they have dissolved all bond of conjunction with the Lord, cannot be otherwise than separated from heaven, and conjoined to hell. The reason why to adulterate the real goods and to falsify the real truths of the Word is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which cannot be remitted, is because by the Holy Spirit the Lord is meant as to Divine truth as it is in the heavens, thus the Word as it is in the spiritual sense, as was said above. In the spiritual sense are genuine goods and genuine truths; but in the natural sense the same are as it were clothed, and only here and there are naked. They are therefore called goods and truths in appearance, and these are what are adulterated and falsified. And they are said to be adulterated and falsified when they are interpreted contrary to genuine goods and truths, for then heaven removes itself and man is severed from it; because, as was said, genuine goods and truths constitute the spiritual sense of the Word, in which the angels of heaven are:—For example, if the Lord and His Divinity be denied, as was done by the Pharisees, who said that the Lord performed miracles from Beelzebub, and had an unclean spirit; in consequence of which denial they were said to commit sin and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, because against the Word, as may be seen in the preceding verses of that chapter. Hence also it is that Socinians and Arians, who although they do not deny the Lord yet deny His Divinity, are out of heaven, and cannot be received by any angelic society. Take also for example those who exclude the goods of love and the works of charity from the means of salvation, and assume faith exclusive of them as the one only means, and confirm this not only in doctrine but also in life, saying in their heart,—Good works do not save me, nor evil condemn, because I have faith. These also blaspheme the Holy Spirit, for they falsify the genuine good and truth of the Word, and this in a thousand places where love and charity and deeds and works are mentioned. (A. E. n. 778.)

In the Word of the Old Testament the Holy Spirit is nowhere mentioned, but the Spirit of holiness,—and only in three places; once in David (Ps. li. 13), and twice in Isaiah (lxiii. 10, 11). But in the Word of the New Testament it is frequently mentioned,—in the Evangelists, as well as in the Acts of the Apostles, and in their Epistles. The reason is, that then—when the Lord came into the world,—there first was the Holy Spirit; for it goes forth out of Him from the Father. (T. C. R. n. 158.)