21. VII. This Divine work taken together is called redemption, without which no man can be saved, because not regenerated. That the redemption accomplished by the Lord when He was in the world, was the subjugation of the hells, the arrangement of the heavens in order, and by these a preparation for a new spiritual church, may be seen in the work, The True Christian Religion (n. 115-117; and likewise from n. 118-133). But inasmuch as this is new, and has lain hidden for ages, like the wreck of a ship with its valuable wares at the bottom of the sea, and nevertheless the doctrine of redemption is as it were the treasury of all the spiritual riches, or the dogmas of the New Church, therefore, in the last section of this volume, the mystery of redemption shall be treated of, where the following propositions will be unfolded and presented in the light:
I. Deliverance from enemies is what in the Word is called redemption. II. Consequently, it is a deliverance from evils and falsities; which, since they are from hell, are spiritual enemies; for they kill souls, as natural enemies do bodies III. Hence it becomes evident that the first of the redemption accomplished by the Lord was the separation of the evil from the good, and the elevation of the good to Himself into heaven, and the removal of the evil from Himself into hell, for thus the good are freed from the evil. This first of redemption is the Last Judgment (which has been treated of above, n. 10-13). IV. The second of redemption was the coordination of all things in the heavens, and the subordination of all things in hell, by which the good were still more distinctly separated and freed from the evil; and this is the new heaven and the new hell (which has been treated of above, n. 14-17). V. The third of redemption was a revelation of truths out of the new heaven, and thereby the raising up and establishment of a new church on earth; by which means the good were still further separated and freed from the evil, and are separated and freed for the future (this third has also been treated of above, n. 18-20). VI. The final cause of redemption was the possibility that the Lord, from His Divine omnipotence, might regenerate and thereby save man; for, unless a man be regenerated, he cannot be saved (John 3:3). VII. The regeneration of a man, inasmuch as it is a separation and deliverance from evils and falsities, is a particular redemption by the Lord, existing from His general redemption. VIII. With those who are being regenerated, evils are first of all separated from goods, and this is similar to the judgment: afterwards, goods are collected together into one, and arranged in a heavenly form, and this is similar to the new heaven; and, lastly, a new church is implanted and produced thereby, the internal of which is heaven; and the external from the internal, consequently both together, with man, are called the church. IX. All are redeemed, since all who reject the falsities of the former church, and receive the truths of the New Church, can be regenerated; but still the regenerated are properly the redeemed. X. The goal of redemption, and the prize of the redeemed, a spiritual peace. XI. A redemption has also been accomplished by the Lord at this day, because at this day is His Second Coming according to prophecy; by which, having been an eye-witness thereof I have been made certain of the truth of the foregoing arcana. But these are only summaries, which must be unfolded one by one, and set forth in both spiritual and natural light, at the end of this volume, where the mystery of redemption is to be treated of.
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