Page:The Judgment Day.pdf/127

 sonally one; and on the other hand, the human mind being so constituted, that it has no capacity for loving or thinking of him under any other form, it is manifest that heaven can be received, only by receiving Jehovah our God, as Jesus Christ our Lord. This brings us to the conclusion, just, rational and true, that heaven is formed by loving the Lord and his commandments; and by loving to live according to the divine order of heaven. This corresponds with what the Lord often teaches us in the Divine Word, as in John, xv. 4. 5;—"Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches:—He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing."

It may not be inappropriate in this place, to call the reader's attention to the fact, that the New Church loses nothing in rejecting the doctrine of salvation through the atonement of Christ, as that doctrine is commonly held, in what is called its orthodox form. It will be admitted, without controversy, that the essential principle of this doctrine is, that 'Christ was made a sacrifice upon Calvary, to satisfy the requirements of divine justice, and that by virtue of faith in the efficacy of the sacrifice then and there made, sin is remitted, and those who were before the objects of the divine wrath, become recipients of the divine mercy, and are made heirs of an eternal life in heaven.'

A very obvious objection to this doctrine, is, that it necessarily directs the attention to more than one Divine Person, thereby distracting the mind in regard to who or what is the true object of worship. It also presents God the Father, in the attitude of an unjust sovereign, in permitting an innocent being to suffer the penalty of sins which were committed by others. And in the end, it only gives us something to quiet our natural dread of punishment, and to excite our selfish hopes of happiness. The man is led to believe that the sufferings which Christ endured upon Calvary are