17. 1 The churches that separated from Roman Catholicism during the Reformation disagree with each other on many points of theology, but there are four points on which they all agree: there is a trinity of persons in the Divine; original sin came from Adam; Christ’s merit is assigned to us; and we are justified by faith alone.
Survey of Teachings of the New Church # 90
90. The dragon means adamant supporters of the modern-day view that faith is what justifies us. To make me convinced and certain of this, I was given the opportunity to see thousands and thousands of such people gathered into an assembly. From a distance they looked like a dragon with a long tail, which was covered with spikes like a bramble bush; the spikes symbolize falsities.
On another occasion I saw a dragon that was even larger. With its back lifted up, it reached its tail toward heaven in an effort to drag the stars down. The stars in that world symbolize truths.
