Charity and Good Works (pt. 14)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 14)
v Doctrinal Series v

III. EVERY MAN INDIVIDUALLY IS THE NEIGHBOR WHO IS TO BE LOVED,
BUT ACCORDING TO THE QUALITY OF HIS GOOD.
(Continued)

What it is to love the neighbor shall be explained.

To love the neighbor is not alone to wish well and do good to a relative, a friend, or a good man, but also to a stranger, an enemy, or a bad man. But charity is to be exercised toward the latter in one way and toward the former in another; toward a relative or friend by direct benefits; toward an enemy or a bad man by indirect benefits, which are rendered by exhortation, discipline, punishment, and consequent amendment.

This may be illustrated thus: A judge who punishes an evil-doer in accordance with law and justice, loves his neighbor; for so he makes him better, and consults the welfare of the citizens that he may not do them harm.

Everyone knows that a father who chastises his children when they do wrong, loves them, and that, on the other hand, he who does not chastise them therefore, loves their evils, and this cannot be called charity.

Again, if a man repels an insulting enemy, and in self-defense strikes him or delivers him to the judge in order to prevent injury to himself, and yet with a disposition to befriend the man, he acts from a charitable spirit. Wars that have as an end the defense of the country and the church, are not contrary to charity. The end in view declares whether it is charity or not.

(True Christian Religion 407)

To be continued ...

Charity and Good Works (pt. 13)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 13)
v Doctrinal Series v

III. EVERY MAN INDIVIDUALLY IS THE NEIGHBOR WHO IS TO BE LOVED,
BUT ACCORDING TO THE QUALITY OF HIS GOOD.
(Continued)

Man is born not for the sake of himself but for the sake of others; that is, he is born not to live for himself alone but for others; otherwise there could be no cohesive society, nor any good therein. It is a common saying that every man is a neighbor to himself; but the doctrine of charity teaches how this is to be understood, namely,-

that everyone should provide for himself the necessaries of life, as food, clothing, a dwelling, and other things which are necessarily required in the social life in which he is, and this not only for himself, but also for his family, nor for the present alone, but also for the future. For unless a man acquires for himself the necessaries of life, he is not in a condition to exercise charity, since he is in want of everything.

But how every man ought to be a neighbor to himself may be seen from the following comparison:

Every man ought to provide his body with food; this must be first, but the end should be that he may have a sound mind in a sound body; and every man ought to provide his mind with food, namely, with such things as pertain to intelligence and judgment; but the end should be that he may thereby be in a state to serve his fellow-citizens, society, his country, the church, and thus the Lord. He who does this provides well for himself to eternity.

From this it is plain what is first in time, and what is first in end, and that the first in end is that to which all things look. It is also like building a house; first the foundation must be laid; but the foundation must be for the house, and the house for a dwellingplace. He who believes himself to be a neighbor to himself in the first place or primarily, is like one who regards the foundation, not the dwelling, as the end; and yet the dwelling is itself the first and the last end, and the house with its foundation is only a means to the end.

(True Christian Religion 406)

To be continued ...

Charity and Good Works (pt. 12)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 12)
v Doctrinal Series v

II. THESE THREE LOVES
(THE LOVE OF HEAVEN, THE LOVE OF THE WORLD, AND THE LOVE OF SELF)
WHEN RIGHTLY SUBORDINATED, PERFECT MAN,
BUT WHEN NOT RIGHTLY SUBORDINATED,
THEY PERVERT AND INVERT HIM.
(Continued)

[W]hen love of self or love of ruling constitutes the head, the love of heaven passes down through the body to the feet; and as that love increases, the love of heaven descends through the ankles to the soles, and if it increases still further, it passes to the heels and is trodden upon. There is a love of ruling arising from love of the neighbor, and a love of ruling arising from love of self. Those who are in the love of ruling from love of the neighbor seek dominion to the end that they may perform uses to the public and to individuals; and to such, therefore, dominion is entrusted in the heavens.

Emperors, kings, and noblemen, who have been born and brought up to positions of authority, if they humble themselves before God, are sometimes less in that love than those who are of humble origin and who from pride are more eager than others for places of pre-eminence. But to those who are in the love of ruling from love of self, the love of heaven is like a bench on which, to please the people, they place their feet, but which, when the people are out of sight, they toss into a corner or out of doors. This is because they love themselves alone, and consequently immerse their wills and the thoughts of their minds in what is their own [proprium], which viewed in itself is inherited evil, and this evil is diametrically opposed to the love of heaven.

The evils of those who are in the love of rule from love of self, are in general as follows:

Contempt of others, envy, enmity against those who do not favor them; consequently hostility, hatred, revenge, unmercifulness, ferocity, and cruelty;

and where such evils prevail, there is also contempt of God and of Divine things, which are the truths and goods of the church; or if they honor these it is with the lips only, lest they should be denounced by the church authorities and censured by others.

But this love is one thing with the clergy and another with the laity. With the clergy it climbs upward, when the reins are given to it, even until they wish to be gods; but with the laity until they wish to be kings; to such an extent do the hallucinations of that love carry their minds away.

Since in the perfect man the love of heaven holds the highest place, and forms, as it were, the head of all that follows from it, the love of the world being beneath it like the chest beneath the head, and the love of self beneath this like the feet, it follows, that if love of self were to form the head, the man would be completely inverted. He would then appear to the angels like one lying bent over, with his head to the ground and his back toward heaven; and when worshiping, he would appear to be frolicking on his hands and feet like a panther's cub. Furthermore, such men would appear under the forms of various beasts with two heads, one head above having the face of a wild animal, and the other below having a human face, which would be constantly thrust forward by the upper one and compelled to kiss the earth. All these are sensual men, and are such as were described above.

(True Christian Religion 405)

To be continued ...