There are two things by which heaven is shut to the men of the Church; one is, the denial of the Divinity of the Lord, and the other is the denial of the holiness of the Word. The reason is, because the Lord's Divine is the all in all of heaven; and Divine truth, which is the Word in its spiritual sense, makes heaven. Hence it is evident, that he who denies either the one or the other, denies that which is the all of heaven, and from which heaven is and exists; and thereby he deprives himself of all communication and thence conjunction with heaven. To profane the Word is the same with blaspheming the Holy Spirit, which is a sin not remitted to any one, wherefore it is added to this Commandment, that he shall not be left unpunished who profanes the name of God "(or, as expressed in our translation, "God will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain").[1]
It may thus be seen that one of the most dangerous forms of taking God's name in vain, is to profane his Word. What will have become, then, of such men as Paine and Voltaire, who openly assaulted, contemned, and opprobriously treated that Divine Word which fills all heaven with its light, and which is the medium of conjunction with heaven? Though we are forbidden to pronounce upon any one's final state, yet we may presume that the effect must have been to shut heaven against them, and to cut them off from its communion. Let us beware, then, of any such practices.
Of that degree of profanation, indeed, we are not likely to be guilty. But there is a minor degree of
- ↑ Ap. Ex., n. 960.
