6065. THOSE WHO ARE IN FAITH SEPARATE: ALSO, WHAT THAT FAITH IS. MELANCTHON, AND THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.* Melancthon was let out of his cell, and incited to assemble those spirits who, in the world, confessed faith alone, and with whom this was the chief thing of religion. They were assembled to the number of many thousands, and then were sent thence to a field where they might be separated, each according to his life. When they were assembled, a communication was made to them out of heaven, that that faith saves no one, for the reason that there is neither life nor truth in it. Wherefore, they inquired what truth is, and what life is. [2] It was then replied, that truth and life are to live according to the commands of the decalog: for instance, not to steal, or act insincerely and unjustly; which is the 7th** commandment. The truth, in this case, is, that to act insincerely is a sin; that to live unjustly is a sin also, that living sincerely and acting justly is truth: thus, truth and life make one. Truth is to know evil and it is to know good;*** and truth is man's when he shuns evil and loves good. In like manner as regards the sixth commandment, to shun adulteries, to love the chastity of marriage: truth is, to know that adulteries are sins and it is truth that chastity is heavenly. Hence life causes truth to be; and truth is when there is also life. It is similar with not to kill, cherish hatred or take revenge. If this be shunned, a man comes to have charity. Similarly as regards the 8th, Not to witness falsely, etc. [3] From these things it is manifest that life and truth are one and so far as man does**** falsities, which consist in believing and doing those evils, so far the truth is not in him. So far, also, as he lives according to those [commandments], so far is he in truth, and so far he loves truth, and desires to know what sincerity, justice, chastity, charity and truth are; and, inasmuch as he is then led by the Lord, it is granted him to know what evil and good are, and what those specific [evils and goods]. [4] These things, therefore, are truth, which is faith. Faith, apart from these, is a sounding word, and has nothing of articulation, or voice, in the sound.*** It is sound inarticulated, consequently, not a word. [5] In this, and no other way, is he able to believe that God is, that the Lord is the Savior of the world, why He came into the world, why He suffered the cross, what is meant by His having borne the sins of the world, and many other things; for, so far as a man practices those precepts which belong to the second table, which was the covenant on man's part, so far does the Lord grant him to believe that God is, which is the covenant of the first table, which is on the part of God. That the decalog is the complex of all things of truth and good, is hence plain, and also from the fact that it was promulgated with such a miracle and with such solemnity, that the ten commandments were written by the finger of God, that they are called ten from the fact that they are all, and that they were placed in the ark, upon which was the mercy-seat, and above that, the cherubim. The mercy-seat is the Lord; and the cherubim were the Word in the letter - also the veil placed in front and it was called the Holy of Holies. Outside these, were all things of heaven and the Church in a representative image. There, was the table with the shew-bread; there, was the golden altar of incense there, was the candlestick with the lamps: by all which were represented all things belonging to heaven. That Church, also, was a representative one and, inasmuch as the Divine Law in its whole complex was in it, therefore there was a fire there by night, and a cloud by day. The fire signified love, and the cloud truth. Hence it was, that all the Levites, together with Aaron, pitched their tents round the ark, and that Aaron ministered there; likewise, that the ark showed them the way when they went forward;*** for the very truth, which is of faith, when it is living, leads. Afterwards, that ark divided the Jordan, by which is meant, entrance into the Church: the land of Canaan signifies the church. And afterwards, also, it wrought miracles, and was introduced into the city of David, by which is signified the Church in which Divine Truth reigns. The pattern of it was seen and exhibited in heaven, and the Lord there spoke, between the Cherubim, with Moses and Aaron. [6] When I know these things, then I know what faith is, what love, what religion, and what the Church and heaven in man. Otherwise, not. [7] This, therefore, is to think about God in the life, since [no one is able] to think about God in the life in any other way; and this, also, is to love God. This, too, is to begin from life and to receive faith thus; and thus faith is from life and according to it. This, likewise, is love to God and love towards the neighbor. Hence is plain what the conjunction of love and faith is. * In the margin: "What the Mercy-seat is, and what the Cherubim." ** The Latin edition of Dr. Immanuel Tafel here reads, "the 5th"; but, inasmuch as the 5th, according to the Lutheran division, which was the one Swedenborg uniformly employed, is, "Thou shalt not commit murder," and is moreover referred to later on in this very paragraph, whereas the one here under consideration is, "Thou shalt not steal," which is the 7th in the Lutheran enumeration, we have substituted 7 for 5 in the text. There is no doubt whatever that the 7th - which is the 8th in the Church of England division - is the one meant. *** In the margin: "N.B." **** The Editor of the Latin reads fugit, in this place, and inserts (non) to supply the manifest sense of the passage. We prefer to read facit; which gives the sense perfectly without any addition. -TR.