d; and yet when asked whether they know it, they reply
that they do not know it and have not known it. The reason is that they
have paid no attention to it, and most say they have thought only about
faith and salvation by faith alone. I have also marveled that "faith
alone" has closed their eyes so that those who have confirmed themselves
in it do not see anything in the Word when they read it about love,
charity and works. It is as though they spread "faith" all over the Word,
as red lead is spread over writing so that nothing underneath shows; if
anything does show, it is absorbed by faith and declared to be faith.

VIII. IT IS A LAW OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT MAN SHALL BE LED AND TAUGHT
BY THE LORD OUT OF HEAVEN BY MEANS OF THE WORD AND DOCTRINE AND PREACHING
FROM IT, AND THIS TO ALL APPEARANCE AS OF HIMSELF

154. The appearance is that man is led and taught by himself; in reality
he is led and taught by the Lord alone. Those who confirm the appearance
in themselves and not the reality at the same time are unable to remove
evils from themselves as sins, but those who confirm the appearance and
at the same time the reality can do so; for evils are removed as sins
apparently by the man, but really by the Lord. The latter can be
reformed, but the former cannot.

[2] All who confirm the appearance in themselves and not the reality
also, are idolaters inwardly, for they are worshipers of self and the
world. If they have no religion they become worshipers of nature and thus
atheists; if they have some religion they become worshipers of men and of
images. Such are meant now in the first commandment of the Decalog under
those who worship other gods. Those, however, who confirm in themselves
the appearance and also the reality become worshipers of the Lord, for He
raises them out of what is their own, in which the appearance is,
conducts them into the light in which the reality is and which is the
reality, and gives them to perceive inwardly that they are not led and
taught by themselves but by Him.

[3] The rational capacity of the two may seem much the same to many, but
it differs. In those who are at once in the appearance and the reality,
it is a spiritual reasoning ability, but in those in the appearance but
not at the same time in the reality it is a natural reasoning ability;
this can be likened to a garden in winter light, and the spiritual
reasoning capacity to a garden in springtime light. But If these things
more