Athanasian Creed · 1 of 9

Preface

1.Preface (Here introduce what the Lord spoke in Matthew, concerning the last time of a church; the words themselves, and their explanation as given in Heaven and Hell, n. 1.)

2.That that [revelation] is the coming of the Lord, and that it is in consequence of this that the arcana concerning heaven and hell, concerning man’s life after death, concerning the Word, concerning the Last Judgment, have been opened by the Lord - this is the doctrine of the church. All these things have been written out in the Latin language, and they have been sent to all the archbishops and bishops of this kingdom [Great Britain], and to some of the nobility; and still not a word has been heard - a sign that they do not interiorly care for the things of heaven and of the church, and that it is now the very end of the church, and indeed that the church is not; for the church is where the Lord is worshiped, and the Word is read with enlightenment, and there are yearly examinations from the assembly. (Summaries of the truth as presented in the little works just referred to, may be seen at the end of this work.)

3.[ARGUMENTS WHICH ARE TO BE EXPANDED] Because there is one Divine, it is the same Divine (let this be confirmed from the Word); thus not equal to, but the same as the Father.

4.Who cannot see that there are mere contradictions there, and that are under examination therefrom, and that these are many? Thus that things are to be believed which can never be seen by faith, and comprehended. But they are to some extent excusable, because they are from the sense of the letter of the Word, and the spiritual sense was not yet known, nor did they know that there is a spiritual sense. The spiritual sense has therefore been disclosed, through which it may now be known why the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are named; and that it is because “the Father” signifies the Divine Itself, “the Son” the Divine Human, and “the Holy Spirit” the proceeding Divine.

5.One who believes in three can in no wise be saved, but they are saved who believe in one God. (Let this be taken from Athanasius.) Why there is not salvation.

6.If one thinks of the Divine of the Lord in His Human, and not of another Divine which they call the Father, the idea of the thought, and thence the faith, does not fall to the left of the Lord, and thus outside of the Lord, but in the Lord; and with the idea is the perception that no one cometh to the Father except through Him, thus through His Divine Human. Examine yourselves, ye who think of three Persons; do they not think of another Divine than that of the Lord Himself, and thus outside of that when the Father is named?