"5. That man is not life, but is only a recipient of life from the Lord, who, as he is love itself, and wisdom it- self, is also life itself, which life is communicated by in- flux to all in the spiritual world, whether belonging to heaven or to hell, and to all in the natural world, but is received differently by every one, according to his quality and consequent state of reception.
"C. That man, during his abode in the world, is, as to his spirit iu the midst between heaven and hell, acted upon by influences from both, and thus is kept in a state of spiritual equilibrium between good and evil, in conse- quence of which he enjoys free-will, or freedom of choice, in spiritual things as well as in natural, and possesses the capacity of either turning himself to the Lord and his kinirdom, or turning hiniself away from the Lord, and connecting himself with the kingdom of darkness; and that, unless man had such freedom of choice, the Word would be of no use, the Church would be a mere name, man would possess nothing by virtue of which he could be conjoined to the Lord, and the cause of evil would be chargeable on God himself.
"7. That man at this day is born into evil of all kinds, or with tendencies towards it : that, therefore, in order to his entering the kingdom of heaven, he must be regener- ated or created anew, which great work is eflfected in a progressive manner by the Lord alone, by charity and faith as mediums daring man's co-operation: that as all men are redeemed, all are capable of being regenerated and consequently saved, every one according to his stale; and that the regenerated man is in communion with the angels of heaven, and the unregenerate with the spir- its of hell : but that no one is condemned for hereditary evil any fiu'ther than as he niaUes it his own by actual life; whence all who die in infancy are saved, special means being provided by the Lord "in the other life for that purpose.
"8. Tluit repentance is the first beginning of the Church in man, and that it consists iu a man's examining him- self, both iu regard to his deeds and his inlentiijus, in knowini; and acknowledging his sins, confessing them before the Lord, supplicating him fur aid, and beginning a new life : that to this end all evils, whether of affection, of thought, or of life, are to be abhorred and shunned as sins against God, and because they proceed from infernal spirits, who, in the aggregate, are called the Devil and Satan ; and that good afl"ections, good thoughts, and good actions are to be cherished and performed, because they are of God and from God: that these things are to be done by man as of liir.iself ; nevertheless, under the ac- knoxvled^nient and belief that it is from the Lord oper- ating in him and by him: that so far as man shuns evils as sins, so far they are removed, remitted, or forgiven ; so far also he does good, not from himself, but from the Lord ; and in the same degree he loves truth, has faith, and is a s|)iritual man ; and that the Decalogue teaches what evils are sins.
"9. That charity, faith, and good works are unitedly necessary to man's salvation, since charity without faith is not spiritual but natural, and faith without charity is not living but dead, and both charity and faith without good works are meiely mental and perishable thiuirs, be- cause without use or fikeduess ; and that nothing of faith,
of charity, or of good works is of man, but that all is of the Lord, and all the merit is his alone.
"10. That Baptism and the Holy Supper are sacraments of divine institution, and are to be perniauenlly observed — baptism being an external medium of introduction into the Church, and a sign representative of man's purifica- tion and regeneration, and the Holy Supi)er being an ex- ternal medium, to those who receive it worthily, of intro- duction as to spirit into heaven, and of conjunction with the Lord, of which also it is a sign and seal.
" 11. That immediately after death, which is only a put- ting off of the material body never to be resumed, man rises again in a spiritual or substantial body, in which he continues to live to eternity, iu heaven if his ruling aflec- tions and thence his life have been good, and in hell if his ruling aft'ections and thence his life have been evil.
"V2. That now is the time of the second advent of the Lord, which is a coming, not in person, but in the power and glory of his holy Word : that it is attended, like his tirst coming, with the restoration to order of all things iu the spiritual world, where the wonderful divine operation, commonly expected under the name of the Last Judg- ment, has in consequence been performed, and with the preparing of the way for a new Church on the earth— the first Christian Church having spiritnally come to its end or consummation through evils of life and errors of doc- trine, as foretold by the Lord in the Gospels; and that this uew or second Christian Church, which will be the crown of all churches, and will stand forever, is what was representatively seen by John when he beheld the holy city. New Jerusalem, descending from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."