Charity and Good Works (pt. 56)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 56)
v Doctrinal Series v

XVIII. THE CONJUNCTION OF LOVE TO GOD
AND LOVE TOWARDS THE NEIGHBOR

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It is known that the Law promulgated from Mount Sinai was written upon two tables, one of which related to God and the other to men; that in the hands of Moses they were one table, the writing on the right side of which related to God, and that on the left to men; and that when so presented to the eyes of men the writing on both sides was seen at the same time, thus one side was in view of the other, like Jehovah talking to Moses and Moses to Jehovah, face to face, as it is written. This was done in order that the tables so united might represent the conjunction of God with men, and the reciprocal conjunction of men with God; and this is why the written law was called a Covenant and a Testimony, "covenant" signifying conjunction, and "testimony" life according to the compact.

These two tables so united exhibit the conjunction of love to God with love towards the neighbor. The first table includes all things pertaining to love to God, which are, primarily, that man should acknowledge the one God, the Divinity of His Human, and the holiness of the Word, and that God is to be worshiped through the holy things that proceed from Him. ...

The second table includes all things pertaining to love towards the neighbor, its first five commandments all things pertaining to action, which are called works, and the last two all things pertaining to the will, thus to charity in its origin; for in these it is said, "Thou shalt not covet," and when man does not covet what belongs to his neighbor, he wishes well to him. ...

(True Christian Religion 456)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 55a)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 55a)
v Doctrinal Series v

XVII. THE FRIENDSHIP OF LOVE AMONG THE EVIL
IS INTESTINE HATRED OF EACH OTHER

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Among those confirmed in evil, such as thieves, robbers, and pirates, friendship is intimate so long as they are with one mind bent on acquiring plunder; for they then embrace each other like brothers, enjoy themselves with feasting, singing, and dancing, and conspire to destroy others; yet each one within himself regards his companion as one enemy regards another; this, too, is what a cunning robber sees and fears in his fellow. Evidently, therefore, among such there is no friendship, but intestine hatred.

Any man who has not openly connected himself with evildoers and committed robberies, but has led a civil moral life for the sake of various uses as ends, and yet has not curbed the lust residing in his internal man, may suppose that his friendship is not of such a nature. Nevertheless, from many exemplifications in the spiritual world, it has been granted me to know with certainty that it is such, in different degrees, with all who have rejected faith and despised the holy things of the church, regarding those as nothing to them, but only for the common herd. In some of these the delights of infernal love have lain hidden like fire in smoldering logs covered with bark; in some like coals under ashes; in some like waxen torches that blaze up when fire is applied to them; and in others in other ways. Such is every man who has rejected from his heart the things of religion. The internal man of such is in hell; but being ignorant of this because of their pretended morality in externals so long as they live in the world they acknowledge no one as their neighbor except themselves and their own children; they regard others either with contempt and then they are like cats lying in wait for birds in their nests or with hatred, and then they are like wolves when they see dogs that they may devour. These statements are made to show from its opposite what charity is.

(True Christian Religion 455 Ibid)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 55)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 55)
v Doctrinal Series v

XVII. THE FRIENDSHIP OF LOVE AMONG THE EVIL
IS INTESTINE HATRED OF EACH OTHER

---

What the evil man is as to his internal man, and what the good man is as to his, may be seen from the following brief description of hell and heaven, for the evil man's internal is conjoined with the devils in hell, and the good man's with angels in heaven.

Hell from its loves is in the delights of all evils, that is, in the delights of hatred, revenge, murder, plunder and theft, of railing and blasphemy, of denial of God and profanation of the Word. Such delights lurk in lusts upon which man does not reflect. These lusts blaze in these delights like lighted torches; and are what is meant in the Word by infernal fire.

But the delights of heaven are the delights of love towards the neighbor and of love to God.

Inasmuch as the delights of hell are opposite to the delights of heaven, there is between them a great interspace, into which the delights of heaven flow from above, and those of hell from beneath. While man is living in the world he is in the middle of this interspace, in order that he may be in equilibrium, and thus in a state of freedom to turn either to heaven or to hell. This interspace is what is meant by "the great gulf fixed" between those who are in heaven and those who are in hell (Luke 16:26).

From this it can be seen what the friendship of love is among the evil, namely, that in their external man it is posturing and mimicry and pretenses of morality, in order that they may spread their nets and discover opportunities for gratifying their loves' delights, with which their internal man is on fire. Nothing but fear of the law and consequent fears for their reputation and life withholds them and restrains their actions. Consequently their friendship is like a spider in sugar, a viper in bread, a young crocodile in a cake of honey, or a snake in the grass.

Such is the friendship of the evil with everyone.

(True Christian Religion 455)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 54)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 54)
v Doctrinal Series v

XVII. THE FRIENDSHIP OF LOVE AMONG THE EVIL IS INTESTINE HATRED OF EACH OTHER

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It has been shown [in the previous articles] that every man has an internal and an external, and that his internal is called the internal man and his external the external man. To this may be added, that the internal man is in the spiritual world, and the external in the natural world.

Man was so created in order that he might be associated with spirits and angels in their world, and might thereby be able to think analytically, and after death be transferred from his own world to another.

By the spiritual world both heaven and hell are meant. As the internal man is in company with spirits and angels in their world, and the external man with men, it is evident that man can be affiliated both with the spirits of hell and with the angels of heaven. By this capacity and power man is distinguished from beasts.

Man is essentially [in se] such as he is in his internal man, not such as he is in his external — for the internal man is his spirit, and this acts through the external. The material body with which his spirit is clothed in the natural world, is an accessory for the sake of procreation and for the sake of the formation of the internal man; for the internal man is formed in the natural body as a tree in the soil, or as seed in fruit.

(True Christian Religion 454)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 53)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 53)
v Doctrinal Series v

XVI. THERE IS SPURIOUS CHARITY, HYPOCRITICAL CHARITY, AND DEAD CHARITY

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Dead charity is the charity of those whose faith is dead; since the charity is such as the faith is. ... That the faith of those who are without works is dead, appears from the Epistle of James (2:17, 20).

Furthermore, faith is dead in those who do not believe in God; but believe in living and dead men, and who worship images as holy in themselves, as the gentiles formerly did. The offerings of those who are in such a faith, which for the sake of salvation they bestow upon their miracle-working images, as they call them, including these offerings among works of charity, are precisely like the gold and silver that are put in the urns and monuments of the dead; they are even like the meat given to Cerberus, or the fee paid to Charon for ferriage to the Elysian fields.

But the charity of those who believe that there is no God, but only nature instead, is neither spurious, hypocritical, nor dead; it is no charity at all, because it is not joined to any faith, and cannot be called charity, since the quality of charity is determined by faith. Such charity, viewed from heaven, is like bread made of ashes, a cake made of fishes' scales, or fruit made of wax.

(True Christian Religion 453)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 52)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 52)
v Doctrinal Series v

XVI. THERE IS SPURIOUS CHARITY, HYPOCRITICAL CHARITY, AND DEAD CHARITY

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Hypocritical charity is the charity of those who in their churches and private dwellings humble themselves almost to the floor before God, devoutly pour forth long prayers, put on a holy expression of countenance, kiss images of the cross and the bones of the dead, and kneel beside sepulchres and there with their mouths mutter words of holy veneration for God, and yet in their heart they are thinking of being themselves worshiped and seeking to be adored as divinities. It is such as these whom the Lord describes in the following words:

When thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites, who love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men (Matt. 6:2, 5).

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven before men; for ye enter not in yourselves, neither do ye suffer those to enter who wish to enter. Woe unto you, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte and when he is made, ye make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are filled with extortion and excess (Matt. 23:13, 15, 25).

Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you, hypocrites, saying, This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me (Mark 7:6).

Woe unto you, hypocrites! For ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them know it not (Luke 11:44).

Beside other passages. Such are like flesh without blood, like crows and parrots taught to repeat the words of a psalm, and like birds taught to sing the tune of a sacred hymn; and the sound of their voice is like that of a bird-catcher's whistle.

(True Christian Religion 452)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 51)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 51)
v Doctrinal Series v

XVI. THERE IS SPURIOUS CHARITY, HYPOCRITICAL CHARITY, AND DEAD CHARITY

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All charity that is not conjoined with faith in one God in whom is a Divine trinity, is spurious like the charity of the present church — the faith of which is a faith in successive order in three persons of the same Divinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and being a faith in three persons, each one of whom is a self-subsistent God, it is a faith in three Gods. To such a faith charity may be joined (as has been done by its supporters), but never can be conjoined; and the charity that is only joined to faith is merely natural, and not spiritual, and is therefore a spurious charity.

The same is true of the charity of many other heresies, as the charity of those who deny a Divine trinity and thus approach God the Father only, or the Holy Spirit only, or both of these apart from God the Savior. To the faith of such, charity cannot be conjoined, or when conjoined or joined to it it is a spurious charity. It is called spurious, because it is like the offspring of an illegitimate bed, or like the son of Hagar born to Abraham, who was cast out of the house (Gen. 21:10).

Such charity is like fruit upon a tree where it has not grown, but has been fastened to it with a needle; and it is like a carriage to which horses are fastened only by the reins in the driver's hands, and when they spring forward, they drag the driver from his seat, and leave the carriage behind.

(True Christian Religion 451)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 50)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 50)
v Doctrinal Series v

XVI. THERE IS SPURIOUS CHARITY, HYPOCRITICAL CHARITY, AND DEAD CHARITY

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There is no genuine, that is, living charity, except that which makes one with faith, and the two look conjointly to the Lord; for these three, the Lord, charity, and faith, are the three essentials of salvation, and when they make one, charity is charity, and faith is faith; and the Lord is in them and they are in the Lord. On the other hand,

when these three are not conjoined, charity is either spurious, or hypocritical, or dead.

In Christianity since its establishment there have been various heresies, even down to the present day, in each of which these three essentials, God, charity, and faith, have been and still are acknowledged; for apart from these three, there is no religion.

As to charity in particular, it may be joined to any heretical belief, as with that of the Socinians, the Enthusiasts, the Jews, and even to the faith of idolaters; and they may all believe it to be charity, since it appears like it in the external form. Nevertheless, the quality of charity is changed in accordance with the faith to which it is joined, as may be seen in the chapter on Faith.

(True Christian Religion 450)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 49)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 48)
v Doctrinal Series v

XV. A FRIENDSHIP OF LOVE,
CONTRACTED WITH A MAN
WITHOUT REGARD TO HIS SPIRITUAL QUALITY,
IS DETRIMENTAL AFTER DEATH

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It is wholly different with those who love the good in another, that is, who love justice, judgment, sincerity, and benevolence arising from charity, and especially with those who love faith in the Lord and love to Him.

Because these love the things within man apart from the things without, when they do not discover the same things in the person after death, they at once withdraw from the friendship and are associated by the Lord with those who are in like good.

It should be said that no one is able to explore the interiors of the mind of those with whom he associates or deals; and this is not necessary; only let him guard against a friendship of love with anyone.

External friendship for the sake of various uses does no harm.

(True Christian Religion 449)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 48)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 48)
v Doctrinal Series v

XV. A FRIENDSHIP OF LOVE,
CONTRACTED WITH A MAN
WITHOUT REGARD TO HIS SPIRITUAL QUALITY,
IS DETRIMENTAL AFTER DEATH

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Friendship of love is detrimental after death, can be seen from the state of heaven, of hell, and of man's spirit in relation to them.

As to the state of heaven, it is divided into innumerable societies according to all the varieties of affections of the love of good; while hell, on the other hand, is divided according to all the varieties of affections of the love of evil; and after death, man, who is then a spirit, is at once adjudged, according to his life in the world, to the society where his ruling love prevails - to some heavenly society, if love to God and love towards the neighbor has formed the head of his loves, and to some infernal society, if love of self and the world has formed the head of his loves.

Immediately after his entrance into the spiritual world, which is effected through the death of the material body and its rejection to the sepulchre, man for some time undergoes a preparation for the society to which he has been adjudged, which preparation is effected by the rejection of such loves as are not in accord with his chief love. Thus one is then separated from another, friend from friend, dependent from patron, also parent from children, and brother from brother; and each one of these is connected with those interiorly like himself, with whom he is to live to eternity a life in common with them and yet properly his own. Nevertheless, during the first period of the preparation they all come together, and converse in a friendly way, as in the world. But little by little they are separated, and in ways they are not sensible of.

But those who in the world have contracted with each other friendships of love cannot be separated like others in accordance with order, and adjudged to societies correspondent to their lives — for they are bound together interiorly as to the spirit, nor can they be torn apart, because they are like scions ingrafted into branches. Consequently, if one as to his interiors is in heaven, and the other as to his interiors in hell, they stick together much as a sheep tied to a wolf, or a goose to a fox, or a dove to a hawk; and he whose interiors are in hell breathes his infernalism into the other whose interiors are in heaven. For among the things well known in heaven is this, that evils may be breathed into the good, but not goods into the evil; and for this reason that everyone is in evils by birth; and in consequence, the interiors of the good, who are thus joined fast to the evil, are closed, and both are thrust down to hell, where the good spirit suffers severely, but finally, after a lapse of time, he is released, and only then begins his preparation for heaven.

It has been granted me to see spirits so bound together, especially brothers and relatives, also patrons and their dependents, and many with flatterers, the two having contrary affections and diverse inclinations. I have seen some who were like kids with leopards, who were kissing each other and swearing to maintain their former friendship; and I then perceived that the good were absorbing the delights of the evil, holding each other by the hand and entering caves where crowds of the evil appeared in their hideous forms, although to themselves, owing to the illusions of phantasy, they seemed lovely. But after a while I heard from the good cries of fear, as if they were in snares, and from the evil rejoicings, like those of enemies over spoils; besides other sad scenes; and I was told that when the good had been released they were prepared for heaven by means of reformation, but not so easily as others.

(True Christian Religion 447 - 448)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 47)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 47)
v Doctrinal Series v

XV. A FRIENDSHIP OF LOVE,
CONTRACTED WITH A MAN
WITHOUT REGARD TO HIS SPIRITUAL QUALITY,
IS DETRIMENTAL AFTER DEATH

---

A friendship of love means interior friendship, which is such that not only is the man's external man loved but his internal also, and this without scrutiny into the quality of his internal or spirit, that is, into his mind's affections, as to whether these spring from love towards the neighbor and love to God, and are thus adapted to association with angels of heaven, or whether they spring from a love opposed to the neighbor and a love opposed to God, and are thus adapted to association with devils.

Such friendship is contracted in many instances from various causes and for various purposes.

It is distinct from external friendship, which relates only to the person and exists for the sake of various bodily and sensual delights, and for the sake of mutual interaction in various ways. This kind of friendship may be formed with anyone, even with the clown who jokes at the table of a nobleman. This is called friendship simply; but the former is called the friendship of love, because friendship is natural conjunction, while love is spiritual conjunction.

(True Christian Religion 446)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 46)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 46)
v Doctrinal Series v

XV. A FRIENDSHIP OF LOVE, CONTRACTED WITH A MAN WITHOUT REGARD TO HIS SPIRITUAL QUALITY, IS DETRIMENTAL AFTER DEATH

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Viewing moral life in its essence, it can be seen that it is a life that is in accordance both with human laws and with Divine laws; therefore he who lives in accordance with these two laws as one law is a truly moral man, and his life is charity. Anyone, if he will, can understand from external moral life the nature of charity. Only transfer external moral life, such as prevails in civil communities, over into the internal man, so that in its will and thought there may be a likeness and conformity to the acts in the external, and you will see charity in its true image.

(True Christian Religion 445)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 45)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 45)
v Doctrinal Series v

XIV. WHEN MORAL LIFE IS AT THE SAME TIME SPIRITUAL, IT IS CHARITY

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Moral life, when it is also spiritual, is a life of charity, because the practices of a moral life and of charity are the same; for charity is willing rightly towards the neighbor, and consequently acting rightly towards him; and this is also moral life. The spiritual law is this law of the Lord:

All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets (Matt. 7:12).

This same law is the universal law of moral life. But to recount all the works of charity, and to compare them with the works of moral life, would fill many pages; let the six commandments of the second table of the Decalogue serve for illustration. It is evident to everyone that these are precepts of moral life. That they include everything relating to love to the neighbor... That charity is the fulfilling of all these precepts, is evident from the following in Paul:

Love one another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment it is summed up in this word, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Charity worketh no ill to his neighbor; charity is the fulfilling of the law (Rom. 13:8-10).

He who thinks from the external man only, cannot but wonder that the seven commandments of the second table were promulgated by Jehovah on Mount Sinai with so great a miracle; when yet these same precepts, in all the kingdoms of the world, consequently also in Egypt whence the children of Israel had lately come, were the precepts of the law of civil justice, for without them no kingdom can continue to exist. But they were promulgated by Jehovah, and were, moreover, written by His finger on tables of stone, in order that they might be not only the precepts of civil society, and therefore of natural-moral life, but also the precepts of heavenly society, and therefore of spiritual-moral life; so that acting contrary to them would be not only acting in opposition to men, but also to God.

(True Christian Religion 444)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 44)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 44)
v Doctrinal Series v

XIV. WHEN MORAL LIFE IS AT THE SAME TIME SPIRITUAL, IT IS CHARITY

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Every man is taught by his parents and teachers to live morally, that is, to act the part of a good citizen, to discharge the duties of an honorable life (which relate to the various virtues that are the essentials of an honorable life), and to bring them forth through the formalities of an honorable life, which are called proprieties; and as he advances in years he is taught to add to these what is rational, and thereby to perfect what is moral in his life. For in children, even to early youth, moral life is natural, and becomes afterwards more and more rational. Anyone who reflects well upon it can see that a moral life is the same as a life of charity, and that this is to act rightly towards the neighbor, and to so regulate the life as to preserve it from contamination by evils... And yet, in the first period of life, a moral life is a life of charity in outermosts, that is, it is merely the outer and foremost part of it, not the inner part.

For there are four periods of life through which man passes from infancy to old age; the first is when he acts from others according to instructions; the second, when he acts from himself, under the guidance of the understanding; the third, when the will acts upon the understanding, and the understanding regulates the will; and the fourth, when he acts from confirmed principle and deliberate purpose. But these periods of life are the periods of the life of a man's spirit, not in like manner of his body; for the body can act morally and speak rationally while its spirit is willing and thinking opposite things. That this is the nature of the natural man is obvious in the case of pretenders, flatterers, liars, and hypocrites. These evidently enjoy a double mind, that is, their minds are divided into two discordant minds. It is otherwise with those who will rightly and think rationally, and consequently act rightly and talk rationally. These are meant in the Word by the "simple in spirit;" they are called simple, because they are not double-minded.

From all this it can be seen what is meant specifically by the external man; also that, from the morality of the external man, no one can form any conclusion as to the morality of the internal, since this may be turned in an opposite direction, and may hide itself as a tortoise hides its head within its shell, or as a serpent hides its head in its coil. For such a so-called moral man is like a robber in a city and in a forest, acting the part of a moral person in the city, but of a plunderer in the forest.

It is wholly otherwise with those who are moral inwardly or in the spirit, which they become through regeneration by the Lord. These are meant by the spiritually-moral.

(True Christian Religion 443)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 43)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 43)
v Doctrinal Series v

XIII. IN THE EXERCISES OF CHARITY
MAN DOES NOT PLACE MERIT IN WORKS
SO LONG AS HE BELIEVES THAT ALL GOOD IS FROM THE LORD

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It must be well understood that charity and faith in the Lord are closely conjoined, consequently, such as the faith is such is the charity. That the Lord, charity, and faith make one, like life, will, and understanding [in man], and if they are divided each perishes like a pearl reduced to powder... and that charity and faith are together in good works...

From this it follows that such as faith is, such is charity, and that such as charity and faith are together, such are works.

If then there is a faith that all the good that a man does as if of himself is from the Lord, man is the instrumental cause of that good, and the Lord the principal cause, which two causes appear to man to be one, and yet the principal cause is the all in all of the instrumental cause. From this it follows that when a man believes that all good that is good in itself is from the Lord, he does not ascribe merit to works; and in the degree in which this faith is perfected in man, the fantasy about merit is taken away from him by the Lord. In this state man enters fully into the exercise of charity with no anxiety about merit, and at length perceives the spiritual delight of charity, and then begins to be averse to merit as a something harmful to his life.

The sense of merit is easily washed away by the Lord with those who become imbued with charity by acting justly and faithfully in the work, business, or function in which they are engaged, and towards all with whom they have any dealings... But the sense of merit is removed with difficulty from those who believe that charity is acquired by giving alms and relieving the needy; for when they do these things, in their minds they desire reward, at first openly and then secretly, and draw to themselves merit.

(True Christian Religion 442)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 42)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 42)
v Doctrinal Series v

XIII. IN THE EXERCISES OF CHARITY
MAN DOES NOT PLACE MERIT IN WORKS
SO LONG AS HE BELIEVES THAT ALL GOOD IS FROM THE LORD

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It is wholly different with those who regard reward as the essential end in their works. These are like such as form friendships for the sake of gain, and who make presents, perform services, and profess love seemingly from the heart, but when they fail to obtain what they hoped for, they turn about, renounce their friendship, and devote themselves to the enemies of their former friends and to those who hate them. They are also like nurses who suckle infants merely for wages, and in presence of their parents kiss and fondle them; but as soon as they cease to be fed with delicacies and rewarded just as they wish, they turn against the infants, treat them harshly, beat them, and laugh at their cries.

They are also like those whose regard for their country springs from love of self and the world, and who say that they are willing to give their property and their lives for it; and yet, if they do not acquire honors and riches as rewards, they speak ill of their country and connect themselves with its enemies. They are also like shepherds who care for sheep merely for hire, and if the hire is not given when they wish it, drive the sheep with their crook from the pasture to the desert. Like these again are priests who discharge the duties of their office solely for the sake of the emoluments attached to them, and who, evidently, regard as of little account the salvation of the souls over whom they have been placed as guides.

It is the same with magistrates who look only to the dignity of their office and its revenues; and when they do right, it is not for the sake of the public good, but for the sake of the delight in the love of self and the world, which delight they breathe in as the only good. It is the same with all the rest; the end in view carries every point, and the mediate causes pertaining to the function are renounced if they do not promote the end.

And the same is true of those who demand reward on the ground of merit in matters of salvation. Such after death confidently demand heaven; but when it has been found that they have no love to God or love towards the neighbor, they are sent back to those who can instruct them concerning charity and faith; and if they repudiate their instructions, they are sent away to their like, among whom are some who are enraged against God because they do not obtain rewards, and who call faith a mere figment of reason. Such are meant in the Word by "hirelings," who were allotted service of the lowest kind in the outer courts of the temple. At a distance they appear to be splitting wood.

(True Christian Religion 441)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 41)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 41)
v Doctrinal Series v

XIII. IN THE EXERCISES OF CHARITY MAN DOES NOT PLACE MERIT IN WORKS
SO LONG AS HE BELIEVES THAT ALL GOOD IS FROM THE LORD

---

[T]o think about getting into heaven, and that good ought to be done for that reason, is not to regard reward as an end and to ascribe merit to works; for thus do those also think who love the neighbor as themselves and God above all things; so thinking from faith in the Lord's words,

• That their reward should be great in the heavens (Matt. 5:11, 12; 6:1; 10:41, 42; Luke 6:23, 35; 14:12-14; John 4:36);

• That those who have done good shall possess as an inheritance a kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world (Matt. 25:34);

• That everyone is rewarded according to his works (Matt. 16:27; John 5:29; Rev. 14:13; 20:12, 13; Jer. 25:14; 32:19; Hosea 4:9; Zech. 1:6 and elsewhere).

Such do not trust to reward on the ground of their merit, but have faith in the promise from grace. With such the delight of doing good to the neighbor is their reward. This is the delight of the angels in heaven, and it is a spiritual delight which is eternal, and immeasurably exceeds all natural delight. Those who are in this delight are unwilling to hear of merit, for they love to do, and in doing they perceive blessedness. They are sad when it is believed that they work for the sake of recompense. They are like those who do good to friends for the sake of friendship, to brethren for the sake of brotherhood, to wife and children for the sake of wife and children, and to their country for their country's sake; thus from friendship and love. Those who do acts of kindness also say and give evidence that they are doing this not on their own behalf, but on behalf of the others.

(True Christian Religion 440)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 40)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 40)
v Doctrinal Series v

XIII. IN THE EXERCISES OF CHARITY MAN DOES NOT PLACE MERIT IN WORKS
SO LONG AS HE BELIEVES THAT ALL GOOD IS FROM THE LORD

---

To ascribe merit to works that are done for the sake of salvation is harmful because evils lie concealed in so doing of which the doer is wholly ignorant. There also lies hid in it a denial of God's influx and operation in man; also a confidence in one's own power in matters of salvation; faith in oneself and not in God; self-justification; salvation by one's own abilities; a reducing of Divine grace and mercy to nought; a rejection of reformation and regeneration by Divine means; especially a limitation of the merit and righteousness of the Lord God the Savior, which such claim for themselves; together with a continual looking for reward, which they regard as the first and last end; a submersion and extinction of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; a total ignorance and lack of perception of the delight of heavenly love as being without merit, and a sense only of self-love.

For those who put rewards in the first place and salvation in the second, and who value salvation for the sake of the reward, invert order and immerse the interior desires of the mind in what is their own [proprium], and defile them in the body with the evils of the flesh. This is why the good that claims merit appears to the angels as rust, and the good that does not claim merit as purple. That good ought not to be done for the sake of reward, the Lord teaches in Luke:

If ye do good to them who do good to you, what thank have ye? But rather love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and then your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High for He is kind unto the unthankful and the evil (Luke 6:33-35).

And that man cannot do good that in itself is good, except from the Lord, He teaches in John:

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, so neither can ye except ye abide in Me; for apart from Me ye can do nothing (15:4, 5).

And again,

A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven (John 3:27).

(True Christian Religion 439)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 39)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 39)
v Doctrinal Series v

XII. THE FIRST THING OF CHARITY IS TO PUT AWAY EVILS;
AND THE SECOND IS TO DO GOODS THAT ARE OF USE TO THE NEIGHBOR

---

At the present day it is believed that charity is simply doing good, and that then one does not do evil; consequently that the first thing of charity is to do good, and the second not to do evil. But it is wholly the reverse; the first thing of charity is to put away evil, and the second to do good; for it is a universal law in the spiritual world and from that in the natural world also, that so far as one does not will evil he wills good; thus that so far as he turns away from hell from which all evil ascends, so far he turns towards heaven from which all good descends; consequently also, that so far as anyone rejects the devil he is accepted by the Lord. One cannot stand with his head vibrating between the two, and pray to both at once; for of such the Lord says:

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; would that thou wert cold or hot. So because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spit thee out of My mouth (Apoc. 3:15-16).

Who can skirmish with his troop between two armies, favoring both? Who can be evilly disposed towards the neighbor, and at the same time well disposed towards him? Does not evil then lie hidden in the good? Although the evil that so hides itself does not appear in the man's acts, it manifests itself in many things when they are reflected upon rightly. The Lord says:

No servant can serve two masters. . . . Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Luke 16:13).

But no one is able to purify himself from evils by his own power and his own abilities; yet neither can it be done without the power and abilities of man as if these were his own. If these were not as if they were his own, no man would be able to fight against the flesh and its lusts, which everyone is commanded to do; he would not even be able to think of any combat, thus his mind would be opened to evils of every sort, and would be restrained from them as deeds only by the laws of justice established in the world, and their penalties; and thus he would be inwardly like a tiger, a leopard, or a serpent, which never reflect at all upon the cruel delights of their loves. From this it is clear that as man, in contrast with wild beasts, is rational, he ought to resist evils by the power and abilities given him by the Lord, which in every sense appear to him to be his own; and this appearance has been granted by the Lord to every man for the sake of regeneration, imputation, conjunction, and salvation.

(True Christian Religion 437 - 438)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 38)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 38)
v Doctrinal Series v

XII. THE FIRST THING OF CHARITY IS TO PUT AWAY EVILS;
AND THE SECOND IS TO DO GOODS THAT ARE OF USE TO THE NEIGHBOR

---

... Man himself ought to purify himself from evils [and not wait for the Lord to do this without his cooperation].

Otherwise he would be like a servant, going to his master, with his face and clothes befouled with soot or dung, and saying, "Master, wash me."

Would not his master answer him, "You foolish servant, what are you saying? See, here are water, soap, and a towel; have you not hands of your own and the power to use them? Wash yourself." 

And so the Lord God will say, "These means of purification are from Me; and your ability to will and do are also from Me; therefore use these My gifts and endowments as your own, and you will be purified."

(True Christian Religion 436)

Charity and Good Works (pt. 37)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 37)
v Doctrinal Series v

XII. THE FIRST THING OF CHARITY IS TO PUT AWAY EVILS;
AND THE SECOND IS TO DO GOODS THAT ARE OF USE TO THE NEIGHBOR

---

In the doctrine of charity this holds the first place, that the first thing of charity is not to do evil to the neighbor; and to do good to him holds the second place. This tenet is like a door to the doctrine of charity. It is admitted that evil is firmly seated in every man's will from his birth; and as all evil has relation to man both nearly and remotely, and also to society and one's country, it follows that inherited evil is evil against the neighbor in every degree. A man may see from reason itself, that so far as the evil resident in the will is not put away, the good that he does is impregnated with that evil; for evil is then inside the good, like a kernel in its shell or like marrow in a bone; therefore although the good that is done by such a man appears to be good, still intrinsically it is not good; for it is like a healthy-looking shell containing a worm-eaten kernel, or like a white almond rotten within, with streaks of rottenness extending even to the surface.

Willing evil and doing right are two essentially opposite things; for evil belongs to hatred towards the neighbor and good belongs to love towards the neighbor, or evil is the neighbor's enemy and good is his friend. These two cannot exist in the same mind, that is, evil in the internal man and good in the external; if they do, the good in the external is like a wound superficially healed, within which there is putrid matter. Man is then like a tree with a decayed root, which still produces fruit that outwardly looks like well-flavored and useful fruit, but is inwardly offensive and useless. He is also like rejected scoria, which, being bright on the surface and beautifully colored, may be sold for precious stones; in a word, he is like an owl's egg, which men are made to believe to be a dove's egg.

Man ought to know that the good that a man does by means of his body proceeds from his spirit, or out of his internal man, the internal man being the spirit which lives after death. Therefore when the man [above described] casts off the body which formed his external man, all there is of him is in evils and takes delight in them, and is averse to good as something inimical to his life.

That until evil has been put away man cannot do good that is good in itself the Lord teaches in many places:

Men do not gather the grape from thorns or figs from thistles. A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit (Matt. 7:16-18).

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside of them may become clean also (Matt. 23:25-26).

And in Isaiah:

Wash you, put away the evil of your doings, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment. Then although your sins have been as scarlet, they shall become as white as snow; although they have been red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa. 1:16-18).

(True Christian Religion 435)

Charity and Good Works (pt. 36)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 36)
v Doctrinal Series v

XI. THE DIVERSIONS OF CHARITY ARE DINNERS, SUPPERS, AND SOCIAL GATHERINGS

---

As to social gatherings, they were composed in the primitive church of such as called themselves brethren in Christ; they were therefore assemblies of charity, because there was spiritual brotherhood. They were also a consolation in the adversities of the church, seasons of rejoicing on account of its increase, recreations of mind after study and labor, and at the same time opportunities for conversation on various subjects; and as they flowed from spiritual love as from a fountain, they were rational and moral from a spiritual origin. There are at this day assemblies of friendship, which regard as an end the delights of sociability, the exhilaration of the mind by conversation, the consequent expansion of the feelings and the liberation of imprisoned thoughts, and thus the rekindling of the sensual faculties and the renewal of their state. But as yet there are no gatherings of charity; for the Lord says,

In the end of the age (that is, at the end of the church), iniquity will be multiplied and charity will grow cold (Matt. 24:12).

This is because the church has not yet acknowledged the Lord God the Savior as the God of heaven and earth, and gone to Him directly, from whom alone genuine charity goes forth and flows in. But social gatherings where friendship emulating charity does not bring minds together, are nothing but pretenses of friendship, deceptive attestations of mutual love, seductive insinuations into favor, and sacrifices offered to the delights of the body, especially the sensual, whereby people are carried away like ships by sails and favoring currents, while sycophants and hypocrites stand in the stem and hold the helm.

(True Christian Religion 434)

Charity and Good Works (pt. 35)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 35)
v Doctrinal Series v

XI. THE DIVERSIONS OF CHARITY ARE DINNERS, SUPPERS, AND SOCIAL GATHERINGS

---

It is known that dinners and suppers are everywhere customary, and are given for various purposes, and that with most they are given for the sake of friendship, relationship, enjoyment, gain, and remuneration; also that they are employed for corrupting men and drawing them over to certain parties; and that among the great they are given for the sake of honor, and in kings' palaces for splendor. But dinners and suppers of charity are given only among those who are in mutual love from similarity of faith.

With the Christians of the primitive church dinners and suppers had no other object; they were called Feasts, and were given both in order that they might heartily enjoy themselves, and at the same time be drawn together.

In the first state of the establishment of the church suppers signified consociation and conjunction, because evening, when they took place, signified that state. But in the second state, when the church had been established, there were dinners, for morning and day signified that state. At table they conversed on various subjects, both domestic and civil, but especially on such as pertained to the church. And because they were feasts of charity, whatever subject they talked about, charity with its delights and joys was in their speech.

The spiritual sphere that prevailed at those feasts was a sphere of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor, which cheered the mind of everyone, softened the tone of every voice, and from the heart communicated festivity to all the senses. For there emanates from every man a spiritual sphere, which is a sphere of his love's affection and its thought therefrom, and this interiorly affects his associates, especially at feasts. This sphere emanates both through the face and through the respiration. It is because dinners and suppers, or feasts, signified such association of minds that they are so frequently mentioned in the Word, and nothing else is there meant by them in the spiritual sense; and the same is meant in the highest sense by the paschal supper among the children of Israel, also by their banquet at other festivities, and by their eating together of the sacrifices near the tabernacle. Conjunction itself was then represented by the breaking and distribution of bread, and by drinking from the same cup and handing it to another.

(True Christian Religion 433)

Charity and Good Works (pt. 34)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 34)
v Doctrinal Series v

X. THERE ARE DUTIES OF CHARITY, SOME PUBLIC, SOME DOMESTIC, AND SOME PRIVATE

---

The private duties of charity are also numerous, such as the payment of wages to workmen, the payment of interest, the fulfillment of contracts, the guarding of securities, and so on, some of which are duties enforced by statute law, some by common law, and some by moral law. These duties also are discharged by those who are in charity from one state of mind, and by those who are not in charity from another state of mind.

Those who are in charity perform them justly and faithfully; for it is a precept of charity that everyone should act justly and faithfully toward all with whom he has any business or dealing (on which above, n. 422-425). But those who are not in charity discharge these same duties very differently.

(True Christian Religion 432)

Charity and Good Works (pt. 33)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 33)
v Doctrinal Series v

X. THERE ARE DUTIES OF CHARITY, SOME PUBLIC, SOME DOMESTIC, AND SOME PRIVATE

---

The domestic duties of charity are those of the husband toward the wife, and of the wife toward the husband, of fathers and mothers toward their children, and of children towards their fathers and mothers, also the duties of masters and mistresses towards servants, male and female, and of the latter towards the former. These duties, because they are the duties of education and management at home, are so numerous that if recounted they would fill a volume. To the discharge of these duties everyone is moved by a love different from that which moves him to discharge the duties of his employment; husbands and wives are moved to their duties towards each other by marriage love and according to it; parents towards their children by the love implanted in everyone, called parental love; and children towards their parents by and according to another love which is closely connected with obedience from a sense of duty. But the duties of masters and mistresses towards their servants, male and female, have their source in the love of governing, and this love is according to the state of each one's mind.

But marriage love and the love of children, with the duties of these loves and the practice of these duties, do not produce love to the neighbor as the practice of the duties in one's employment does; for the love called parental love exists equally with the bad and the good, and is sometimes stronger with the bad; moreover, it exists in beasts and birds, in which no charity can be formed. It is known that it exists with bears, tigers, and serpents, as much as with sheep and goats, and with owls as much as with doves.

As to the duties of parents to children in particular, they are inwardly different with those who are in charity and those who are not, although externally they appear alike. With those who are in charity, that love is conjoined with love towards the neighbor and love to God; for by such children are loved according to their morals, virtues, good will, and qualifications for serving the public. But with those who are not in charity, there is no conjunction of charity with the love called parental love; consequently, many such parents love even wicked, immoral, and crafty children more than the good, moral, and discreet; thus they love those who are useless to the public, more than those who are useful.

(True Christian Religion 431)

Charity and Good Works (pt. 32)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 32)
v Doctrinal Series v

X. THERE ARE DUTIES OF CHARITY, SOME PUBLIC, SOME DOMESTIC, AND SOME PRIVATE

---

The public duties of charity are especially the payment of tribute and taxes, which ought not to be confounded with official duties.

Those who are spiritual pay these with one disposition of heart, and those who are merely natural with another.

The spiritual pay them from good will, because they are collected for the preservation of their country, and for its protection and the protection of the church, also for the administration of government by officials and governors, to whom salaries and stipends must be paid from the public treasury. Those, therefore, to whom their country and also the church are the neighbor, pay their taxes willingly and cheerfully, and regard it as iniquitous to deceive or defraud.

But those to whom their country and the church are not the neighbor pay them unwillingly and with resistance; and at every opportunity defraud and withhold; for to such their own household and their own flesh are the neighbor.

(True Christian Religion 430)

Charity and Good Works (pt. 31)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 31)
v Doctrinal Series v

X. THERE ARE DUTIES OF CHARITY, SOME PUBLIC, SOME DOMESTIC, AND SOME PRIVATE

---

The benefactions of charity and the duties of charity are distinct, like the things done from choice and the things done from compulsion.

But by the duties of charity official duties in a kingdom or state are not meant, as the duties of a minister to minister, of a judge to judge, and so on, but the duties of everyone whatever his employment may be. Thus these duties are from a different origin, and flow forth from a different will, and are therefore done from charity by those who have charity, and on the other hand from no charity by those who have no charity.

(True Christian Religion 429)

Charity and Good Works (pt. 30)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 30)
v Doctrinal Series v

IX. THE BENEFACTIONS OF CHARITY ARE
GIVING TO THE POOR AND RELIEVING THE NEEDY
BUT WITH PRUDENCE

---

At this day these benefactions are believed to be those proper acts of charity that are meant in the Word by good works, because charity is often described in the Word as giving to the poor, helping the needy, and caring for widows and orphans. But hitherto it has not been known that the Word in its letter makes mention only of the outer things of worship, even the outermost things, and that these signify spiritual things, which are internal (as may be seen above, in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture, n. 193-209). From all this it is plain, that by the poor, the needy, the widows and orphans there mentioned, such persons are not meant, but those who are spiritually such. That the "poor" mean those who are without knowledges of truth and good, may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 209) and that "widows" mean those who are without truths and yet desire them (n. 764); and so on.

Those who are by nature compassionate, and do not make their natural compassion spiritual by putting it in practice in accordance with genuine charity, believe that charity consists in giving to every poor person, and relieving everyone who is in want, without first inquiring whether the poor or needy person is good or bad; for they say that this is not necessary, since God regards only the aid and alms. But after death these are clearly distinguished and set apart from those who have done the beneficent works of charity from prudence; for those who have done them from that blind idea of charity, then do good to bad and good alike, and with the aid of what is done for them the wicked do evil and thereby injure the good. Such benefactors are partly to blame for the injury done to the good. For doing good to an evil-doer is like giving bread to a devil, which he turns into poison; for in the hands of the devil all bread is poison, or if it is not, he turns it into poison by using good deeds as allurements to evil. It is also like handing to an enemy a sword with which he may kill someone; or like giving the shepherd's staff to a wolfish man to guide the sheep to pasture, who, after he has obtained it, drives them away from the pasture to a desert, and there slaughters them; or like giving public authority to a robber, who studies and watches for plunder only, according to the richness and abundance of which he dispenses the laws and executes judgments.

(True Christian Religion 427 - 428)

Charity and Good Works (pt. 29)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 29)
v Doctrinal Series v

IX. THE BENEFACTIONS OF CHARITY ARE
GIVING TO THE POOR AND RELIEVING THE NEEDY
BUT WITH PRUDENCE

---

It is known that some who perform these benefactions which present to the world an image of charity, entertain the opinion and belief that they have practiced works of charity, and look upon them as many in popedom regard indulgences, as means whereby they are purified from sins, and that they are worthy, as if regenerated, to have heaven bestowed upon them, and yet they do not regard adultery, hatred, revenge, fraud, and in general the lusts of the flesh, in which they indulge at pleasure, as sins.

But in that case what are these good works but painted pictures of angels in company with devils, or boxes made of lapis lazuli containing hydras?

It is wholly otherwise when these benefactions are done by those who shun the evils above mentioned as hateful to charity.

Nevertheless, these benefactions are advantageous in many ways, especially giving to the poor and to beggars; for thereby boys and girls, servants and maids, and in general all simple-minded persons, are initiated into charity, for these are its externals whereby such are trained in the practice of charity, for these are its rudiments, and are then like unripe fruit.

But with those who are afterwards perfected in right knowledges respecting charity and faith, these acts become like ripe fruit, and then they look upon those former works, which were done in simplicity of heart, merely as what they owed to others.

(True Christian Religion 426)

To be continued ...

Charity and Good Works (pt. 28)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 28)
v Doctrinal Series v

IX. THE BENEFACTIONS OF CHARITY ARE
GIVING TO THE POOR AND RELIEVING THE NEEDY
BUT WITH PRUDENCE

---

We must distinguish between the obligations of charity and its benefactions.

By the obligations of charity those exercises of it that proceed directly from charity itself are meant. These, as has just been shown, relate primarily to one's occupation. But benefactions mean such acts of assistance as are given apart from these obligations. These are called benefactions because doing them is a matter of free choice and pleasure; and when done they are regarded by the recipient simply as benefactions, and are bestowed according to the reasons and intentions that the benefactor has in mind.

In common belief charity is nothing else than giving to the poor, relieving the needy, caring for widows and orphans, contributing to the building of hospitals, infirmaries, asylums, orphans' homes, and especially of churches, and to their decorations and income. But most of these things are not properly matters of charity, but extraneous to it. Those who make charity itself to consist in such benefactions must needs claim merit for these works; and although they may profess with their lips that they do not wish them to be considered meritorious, still a belief in their merit lurks within. This is clearly evident from the conduct of such after death, when they recount their works, and demand salvation as a reward. But the origin of their works and the resulting quality of them is then inquired into, and if it is found that they proceeded from pride or a striving for reputation, or from bare generosity, or friendship, or merely natural inclination, or hypocrisy, from that origin the works are judged, for the quality of the origin is within the works.

But genuine charity proceeds from those who are imbued with charity because of the justice and judgment in the works, and they do the works apart from any remuneration as an end, according to the Lord's words in Luke (14:12-14*). They also call such things as are mentioned above, benefactions as well as duties, although they pertain to charity.

(True Christian Religion 425)

---

* Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. Luke 14:12-14

To be continued ...

Charity and Good Works (pt. 27)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 27)
v Doctrinal Series v

VIII. CHARITY ITSELF IS
ACTING JUSTLY AND FAITHFULLY IN THE OFFICE, BUSINESS, AND EMPLOYMENT
IN WHICH A MAN IS ENGAGED,
AND WITH THOSE WITH WHOM HE HAS ANY DEALINGS.

---

Charity itself is acting justly and faithfully in the office, business, and employment in which a man is engaged, because all that such a man does is of use to society, and use is good; and good in a sense abstracted from person is the neighbor. (That not a single man only, but also a lesser community, and even a man's country, is the neighbor, has been shown previously.)

This is charity itself, because charity may be defined as doing good to the neighbor daily and continually, not only to the neighbor individually, but also to the neighbor collectively; and this can be done only through what is good and just in the office, business, and employment in which a man is engaged, and with those with whom he has any dealings; for this is one's daily work, and when he is not doing it it still occupies his mind continually, and he has it in thought and intention.

The man who thus practises charity, becomes more and more charity in form; for justice and fidelity form his mind, and the practice of these forms his body; and because of his form he gradually comes to will and think only such things as pertain to charity. Such at length come to be like those of whom it is said in the Word, that they have the law written on their hearts. Nor do they place merit in their works, because they do not think of merit but of duty-which it behooves every good citizen to perform.

But a man can by no means of himself act from spiritual justice and fidelity; for every man inherits from his parents a disposition to do what is good and just for the sake of himself and the world; but no man inherits a disposition to do it for the sake of what is good and just; consequently, only he who worships the Lord, and acts from Him when acting from himself, attains to spiritual charity, and becomes imbued with it by the practice of it.

There are many who act justly and faithfully in their occupation, and thus promote works of charity, and yet do not possess any charity in themselves. But in these the love of self and the world predominates, and not the love of heaven; or if, perchance, the love of heaven is present, it is beneath the former love, like a servant under his master, a common soldier under his officer, or a doorkeeper standing at the door.

(True Christian Religion 423 - 424)

To be continued ...