1109. And that ye receive not her plagues, signifies and thus come into the falsities of evil, and consequently into destruction. This is evident from the signification of "plagues," as being such things as destroy man's spiritual life (see above, n. 584), here falsities from evil, because these destroy that life. The appearance is that the evils themselves destroy man's spiritual life, but they do not destroy it of themselves, but by means of falsities, and for the reason that evils without falsities do not enter the thought; for evils belong wholly to the will, and anything that belongs to the will and not at the same time to the thought cannot destroy, because it is without reason, and then man does not know that it is an evil. But when man confirms evils by the thought they do destroy, for they then are man's. Confirmations of evils by the thought are falsities. "Plagues" here signify falsities, because "sins," which are mentioned just before, mean evils of the love of self and of the world, and in the Word wherever evil is treated of falsity is also treated of. Now as evils destroy spiritual life by means of falsities, and "plagues" signify falsities from evil, so "plagues" signify destruction.
(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith)
[2] It was from the Divine providence that each and every thing of the Athanasian doctrine respecting the Trinity and respecting the Lord is a truth and is harmonious, when in place of three Persons one Person in whom is the Trinity is understood, and it is believed that the Lord is that Person. For at that time, if the Trinity of Persons had not been accepted, they would have become either Arians or Socinians, and consequently the Lord would have been acknowledged as a mere man and not as God; and by this the Christian church would have been destroyed, and heaven would have been closed to the man of the church; for no one is conjoined with heaven, and after death admitted into heaven, unless in the idea of his thought he sees God as Man, and at the same time believes God to be one both in essence and in Person, for it is by this that the Gentiles are saved; also unless he acknowledges the Lord, His Divine and His Human, for by this a man of the Christian church is saved, provided he lives at the same time as a Christian. [3] It was by Divine permission that the doctrine respecting God and the Lord, which is the primary of all doctrines, was so conceived by Athanasius; for it was foreseen by the Lord that in no other way would the Roman Catholics have acknowledged the Divine of the Lord, and for the same reason even to this day they separate His Divine from His Human. Neither would the Reformed have seen the Divine in the Human of the Lord, for those who are in faith separated from charity do not see this. Nevertheless both of them acknowledge the Divine of the Lord in a Trinity of Persons. And yet this doctrine that is called the Athanasian Faith was by the Lord's Divine providence so written that all things in it are truths, provided that in place of three Persons one Person in whom is a trine is recognized, and it is believed that the Lord is that Person. Moreover, it was from providence that they are called Persons, for a person is a man, and a Divine Person is God who is Man. This has been revealed at this day for the sake of the New Church, which is called the Holy Jerusalem.
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