341. AS SOON AS CAUSES OR MEANS ARE DISCLOSED OR [SPIRITS] BELIEVE THAT THEY HAVE BEEN DISCLOSED TO THEM, FAITH PERISHES It has sometimes been observed that as soon as [spirits] know or suppose they know, the cause, faith perishes. Those had to acknowledge this who had at once doubted concerning the power of God Messiah, as soon as they apperceived some cause, as that it was effected by means of angels, or by means of heaven; wherefore it was shown to them it was effected without those means, because God Messiah is the All in all, and Omnipotent. But nevertheless, when they have apperceived the causes once or twice, it remains fixed in their mind that there is yet a cause - a mediating cause - which lies concealed, and so also faith perishes. This also is the reason why, as soon as they suppose that they have investigated the cause of anything, they reject all faith. This is also the reason that faith is destroyed by human philosophy, because men want to investigate the cause of everything in their own way, and by their own philosophy. 1747, Dec. 14.