776. He who does not know what is signified by 'gold', 'silver', precious stone', 'pearl', 'fine-linen', 'purple', 'silk', 'scarlet', 'thyme wood', 'bronze', 'iron', 'marble' and 'a vessel' may wonder that such things have been enumerated and suppose that the words have been accumulated for the exaltation of the subject. But from the things expounded it can be established that not a single word is empty, and that by their means is fully described that those who have confirmed themselves in the dogmas of that form of religion do not have a single truth; and if there is not one truth, there is not one good that is a good of the Church. [2] I have spoken with those who have confirmed themselves in that form of religion, even with some who were delegates in the Nicene Council, the Lateran Council, and the Council of Trent. At first they believed that the things they had decreed were pure and holy truths (veritas), but after instruction and the enlightenment then given out of heaven they confessed that they did not see a single truth. But because they had then confirmed themselves in them more than others, after the enlightenment, which they themselves extinguished, they went back to their former faith. They believed especially that the tenets that they sanctioned on BAPTISM and JUSTIFICATION were truths (veritas). Nevertheless, while they were in the enlightenment they saw, and as a result of enlightened vision, confessed, that no one has original sin derived from Adam but from his own parents in succession, and that this is not taken away in Baptism by the imputation and application of the Lord's merit. They also saw that the imputation and application of the Lord's merit is a human fiction because it is impossible, and that faith is never infused into any suckling because faith is [a matter] of thinking. [3] They saw further that Baptism is holy and a sacrament because it serves for a sign and a memorial that a man can be regenerated by the Lord by means of truths derived from the Word, a sign for heaven and a memorial for the man. Also that by it the man is introduced into the Church, just as the sons of Israel [were introduced] into the land of Canaan by the crossing of the Jordan, and as the inhabitants of Jerusalem [were prepared] for the reception of the Lord by the baptism of John; for without that sign in heaven before the angels the Jews could not have continued in existence and lived at the coming of Jehovah, that is, the Lord, in the flesh. Similar to these were the things that they sanctioned concerning justification. That the imputation of the Lord's merit neither exists nor is given may be seen in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE LORD (n. 18). And that the hereditary evil that is called original sin is not from Adam but from parents in succession, in ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING DIVINE PROVIDENCE (n. 277). What 'Adam' in the Word means [may be seen in] n. 241 there.