THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 73)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 73)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE
SHUNS MURDERS OF EVERY KIND AS SINS
IN THE SAME PROPORTION
HE HAS LOVE TOWARD THE NEIGHBOR.

The Lord teaches the good of love in many places in the Word. He teaches it in Matthew by what He says about reconciliation with the neighbor:

If thou art offering thy gift upon the altar, and there remember that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Be well-minded to thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him; lest the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt not come out thence, till thou hast paid the last farthing (Matt. 5:23-26).

To be "reconciled to one's brother" is to shun enmity, hatred, and revenge; that it is to shun them as sin is evident. The Lord also teaches in Matthew:

All thing whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets (7:12);

thus that we should not do evil. He teaches the same in many other places. The Lord also teaches that to be angry with one's brother or the neighbor rashly, and to hold him as an enemy, is also to commit murder (Matt. 5:21-22).

(LIFE 73)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 72)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 72)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE
SHUNS MURDERS OF EVERY KIND AS SINS
IN THE SAME PROPORTION
HE HAS LOVE TOWARD THE NEIGHBOR.

When a man is no longer in the evil of murder, but in the good of love toward the neighbor, whatever he does is a good of this love, and therefore it is a good work.

• A priest who is in this good does a good work whenever he teaches and leads, because he acts from the love of saving souls.
• A magistrate who is in this good does a good work whenever he delivers a decision or a judgment, because he acts from the love of taking care of his country, of the community, and of his fellow-citizen.
• The same with a trader: if he is in this good, everything of his trading is a good work; there is in him the love of the neighbor; and his country, the community, his fellow-citizen, and also the members of his household, are the neighbor whose welfare he has care for in providing for his own.
• A workman also who is in this good, works faithfully from it, for others as for himself, fearing his neighbor's loss as he would his own.

The reason why the doings of these men are good works, is that in proportion as anyone shuns evil, in the same proportion he does good, ... and he who shuns evil as sin, does good not from himself but from the Lord. The contrary is the case with him who does not regard as sins the various kinds of murder, which are enmities, hatred, revenge, and many more.

Whether he be priest, magistrate, trader, or workman, whatever he does is not a good work, because every work of his partakes of the evil that is within him; for his internal is what gives it birth. The external may be good, but only as regards others, not as regards himself.

(LIFE 72)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 70-71)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 70-71)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE
SHUNS MURDERS OF EVERY KIND AS SINS
IN THE SAME PROPORTION
HE HAS LOVE TOWARD THE NEIGHBOR.

As evil and good are two opposite things, precisely as are hell and heaven, or as are the devil and the Lord, it follows that if a man shuns evil as sin, he comes into the good that is opposite to the evil. The good opposite to the evil that is meant by "murder," is the good of love toward the neighbor.

As this good and that evil are opposites, it follows that the latter is removed by means of the former. Two opposites cannot be together, even as heaven and hell cannot; if they were together there would be lukewarmness, of which it is said in Revelation:

I know that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot; but because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth (3:15, 16).

(LIFE 70-71)