THE ULTIMATE GOAL

Were it received as a principle, that love to the Lord and charity to

the neighbor are what the whole Law hangs on and are what all the

Prophets speak of, and thus are the essentials of all doctrine and

worship, then the mind would be enlightened in innumerable things in

the Word, which otherwise lie hidden in the obscurity of a false

principle. In fact, heresies would be scattered then, and out of many

one Church would come to be, however the doctrines flowing therefrom

or leading thereto, and the rituals, might differ. Were the case so,

all men would be governed as a single human being by the Lord; for all

would be as members and organs of one body, which, dissimilar in form

and function though they are, still have relation to one heart only,

whereon they each and all depend. Then, in whatever doctrine or

outward worship one might be, he would say of another, "This man is my

brother. I see that he worships the Lord, and that he is a good man."

--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 2385

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