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 . . .