Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 369

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369. So then, the meaning of the statements 'when they were in the field' and 'Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him' is this: When these two, faith and charity, existed from the doctrine of faith, faith separated from love inevitably regarded charity as being worthless and so annihilated it - like those people nowadays who assert that faith alone accomplishes salvation whether or not they perform any work of charity. This very supposition in itself annihilates charity, even though they know and profess with their lips that faith does not effect salvation unless love is present.


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