Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
The goods of works, such as are with the Gentiles
The Gentiles are said to be aside, or in collateral good, because they are outside of the church. Those within the church who are in truth and good are not in a collateral line, but in the direct line, for they have the Word, and through the Word they have direct communication with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; but not so the Gentiles, for these have not the Word, and know not the Lord. For this reason they are said to be aside. Those Gentiles are meant who are in the goods of works, that is, who are in externals within which there is the good of charity. These are what are called the "goods of works," but not "good works;" for good works may exist without having goods within, but not so the goods of works.
• Such truth and the derivative worship as exists with the Gentiles
Although the Gentiles know nothing about the Word, and accordingly nothing about the Lord, they nevertheless have external truths such as Christians have. As for instance:
• that the Deity is to be worshiped in a holy manner
• that festivals are to be observed
• that parents are to be honored
• that we must not steal
• must not commit adultery
• must not kill
• must not covet the neighbor's goods
thus such truths as those of the Decalogue; which also are for rules of life within the church. The wise among them observe these laws not only in the external form, but also in the internal. For they think that such things are contrary not only to their religious system, but also to the general good, and thus to the internal duty which they owe to man, and that consequently they are contrary to charity, although they do not so well know what faith is. They have in their obscurity somewhat of conscience, contrary to which they are not willing to act, and in fact some of them cannot do so. From this it is evident that the Lord rules their interiors, although they are in obscurity; and thus that He imparts to them the faculty of receiving interior truths, which they do also receive in the other life. (See what has been shown respecting the Gentiles, n. 2589-2604.)
It has at times been given me to speak with Christians in the other life concerning the state and lot of the Gentiles outside of the church, in that they receive the truths and goods of faith more easily than do Christians who have not lived according to the precepts of the Lord; and that Christians think cruelly about them, in assuming that all who are out of the church are damned, and this from the received canon that without the Lord there is no salvation. This indeed, as I have said to them, is true; but the Gentiles who have lived in mutual charity, and have done from a kind of conscience what is just and equitable, receive faith and acknowledge the Lord more easily in the other life than those within the church who have not lived in such charity.
Moreover, Christians are in what is false, in believing that heaven is for them alone, because they have the book of the Word, written on paper but not in their hearts; and because they know the Lord, and yet do not believe that He is Divine as to His Human; but acknowledge Him only as a common man in respect to His other essence, which they call His human nature, and therefore when left to themselves and their own thoughts, they do not even adore Him. Thus it is they who are out of the Lord, for whom there is no salvation.
—• Those who are in simple good as to life, and thence in natural truth as to doctrine
They who are within the church and have confirmed themselves against Divine truths, especially against these - that the Lord's Human is Divine, and that the works of charity contribute to salvation - if they have confirmed themselves against them, not only by doctrine but also by life, they have reduced themselves to such a state as to their interiors that afterwards they cannot possibly be brought to receive them, for what is once confirmed by doctrine, and at the same time by life, remains to eternity.
Those who do not know the interior state of man may suppose that anyone, no matter how he has confirmed himself against these truths, can yet easily accept them afterwards, provided he is convinced. But that this is impossible has been granted me to know by much experience in regard to such persons in the other life.
• whatever is confirmed by doctrine is absorbed by the intellectual part
• what is confirmed by life is absorbed by the will part
• that which is inrooted in both man's lives - the life of his understanding and the life of his will - cannot be rooted out.
The very soul of man which lives after death is formed thereby, and is of such a nature that it never recedes therefrom. This is also the reason why the lot of those within the church with whom this is the case, is worse than the lot of those who are out of the church; for those who are out of the church, who are called Gentiles, have not confirmed themselves against these truths, because they have not known them; and therefore such of them as have lived in mutual charity, easily receive Divine truths, if not in the world, yet in the other life.
For this reason when any new church is being set up by the Lord, it is not set up with those who are within the church, but with those who are without, that is, with the Gentiles. These things are often treated of in the Word. This much is premised in order that it may be known what is involved in Joseph's being cast into the pit by his brethren, and in his being drawn out thence by the Midianites, and sold to the Ishmaelites. For by Joseph's brethren are represented those within the church who have confirmed themselves against Divine truth, especially against the two truths - that the Lord's Human is Divine, and that works of charity contribute to salvation - and this not only by doctrine, but also by life; while by the Ishmaelites are represented those who are in simple good, and by the Midianites those who are in the truth of this good; the latter are they drew Joseph out of the pit; and of the former that they bought him.
(from Arcana Coelestia 4189, 4190; 4747)