Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 1.djvu/142



The angels grieve that these same persons do not know that faith alone cannot exist with any one; since faith without its origin which is love, is merely science, and with some a kind of persuasion which has the semblance of faith; which persuasion is not in the man's life, but out of it, for it is separated from the man if it does not cohere with his love.

They further said, that they who are in such a principle concerning the essential medium of salvation with man, cannot do otherwise than believe in immediate mercy; because they comprehend from natural lumen, and likewise from the experience of sight, that faith alone does not constitute a man's life, since they who lead an evil life can think and persuade themselves in like manner as others. Hence it comes to be believed that the wicked can be saved as well as the good, provided they speak with confidence at the hour of death concerning intercession, and mercy procured thereby.

The angels confessed that they had never yet seen any one received into heaven by an act of immediate mercy, who had lived an evil life, however he had spoken in the world from that trust or confidence, which is understood by faith in an eminent sense. On being questioned concerning Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David, and concerning the apostles, whether they were not received into heaven from immediate mercy, they replied, Not one of them; and declared