776. He who does not know what is signified by "gold," "silver," "precious stone," "pearl," "fine linen," "purple," "silk," "scarlet," "thyine wood," "an ivory vessel," "precious wood," "brass," "iron," "marble," and "a vessel," may wonder that such things are enumerated, and may think that they are only words multiplied for the exaltation of the subject. But it may be evident from the explanations, that not a single word is unmeaning, and that by them it is fully described, that they who have confirmed themselves in the dogmas of that religious persuasion have not a single truth; and if not a single truth, they have not a single good which is a good of the church. [2] I have spoken with those who have confirmed themselves in that religious persuasion, also with some who were delegates in the Councils of Nice, of the Lateran, and of Trent, who in the beginning believed that what they had decreed were pure and holy truths, but after instruction and enlightenment then given from heaven, confessed that they did not see one truth; but because they had then confirmed themselves in them more than others, after the enlightenment, which they themselves extinguished, they returned to their former faith. They especially believed that what they had sanctioned concerning Baptism and Justification were truths. But still, when they were in enlightenment, they saw, and from enlightened sight confessed, that no one has original sin from Adam, but from his own parents successively; and that this is not taken away by the imputation and application of the Lord's merit in baptism; then that the imputation and application of the Lord's merit is a human fiction, because impossible; and that faith is never infused into any suckling, because faith is of one who thinks. [3] Still they saw that baptism is holy and a sacrament, because it is a sign and a memorial that man can be regenerated by the Lord through truths from the Word, a sign for heaven, and a memorial for man. Also that by it a man is introduced into the church, as the sons of Israel by the crossing of the Jordan were introduced into the land of Canaan, and as the inhabitants of Jerusalem were prepared for the reception of the Lord by the baptism of John, for without that sign in heaven before the angels, the Jews could not have subsisted and lived at the coming of Jehovah, that is, the Lord, in the flesh. Similar to these were the things which they sanctioned concerning justification. That the imputation of the Lord's merit neither is, nor is given, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord (n. 18). And that hereditary evil, which is called original sin, is not from Adam, but from parents successively, see in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence (n. 277). What "Adam" means in the Word, see n. 241 there.