The Signs of Charity

Selection from The Doctrine of Charity ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The signs of charity are all things that pertain to worship.

All things of charity have regard to looking to the Lord and shunning evils as sins, and doing the goods of use that pertain to one's calling. But all things of worship are externals, of the body and of the mind. The externals of the body are performed by acts and by words; and the externals of the mind are those that are performed by the will and the thought, which cohere with the externals of the body.

The externals of the body which pertain to worship are:
(1) Frequenting temples.
(2) Listening to sermons.
(3) Devoutly singing, and praying on the knees.
(4) Partaking the Sacrament of the Supper.

And at home:
(1) Prayer morning and evening, and at dinners and suppers.
(2) Conversing with others about charity and faith, and about God, heaven, eternal life, and salvation.
(3) And in the case of priests, preaching, and also private instruction.
(4) And with everyone, the instruction of children and servants in such matters.
(5) Reading the Word, and books of instruction and of piety.

The externals of the mind which pertain to worship are:
(1) Thought and meditation concerning God, and concerning heaven, eternal life, and salvation.
(2) Reflection upon one's thoughts and intentions, as to whether they are evil or good, and that the evil are from the devil, and the good from God.
(3) Aversion of one's mind from impious, obscene, and filthy language.
(4) Besides thoughts, there are also affections which come to the sight and sense of a man.

These are called externals because they cohere and make one with the externals of the body. That such things are externals of worship, and that the externals of worship are signs of charity.

Charity itself is in the internal man, and its sign is in the external.

That there is an internal and an external man is known; and that the internal man is called the spirit, and the external the flesh, is also known. For it is said and it is known by some that there is a conflict between the spirit and the flesh. The spirit which contends against the flesh is the internal man, who is charity.

The quality of the internal man cannot manifest itself to a man except by the external. It manifests itself when there is a conflict with the external; especially it manifests itself when a man examines himself, sees his evils, and from knowledge confesses them and thinks about repentance, and then resists his evils and sets about living a new life.

If a man does not do these things his internal man is evil; but if he does them his internal man is good. For through the internal man the Lord operates into the external; and as evil is then residing in the external, a conflict arises. For into the external man, which is called the flesh, spirits from hell are admitted, who are called the devil; and the Lord in man fights against him. And if, as of himself, the man also fights, he conquers; and as far as the devil is conquered, so far there is place for goods from the internal man to enter. Thus he gradually becomes a new man and is regenerated.

Whatever the internal man produces and presents to sight and sense in the external is called a sign. If charity is in the internal it leads a man to reflect upon the evils within him, and actually to take cognizance of and know them, and so on. If he does not do this his external is not a sign of charity; and if yet his external is in worship and piety, it is not a sign of charity, but is external charity without internal charity, which is not charity.

By a sign is meant an indication and evidence that it exists; for it expresses and signifies and indicates and bears witness of it.

There is no internal without its sign and indication. If charity is in the internal man, or in the spirit, and this does not fight against the external man and his flesh, then charity perishes. It is as a fountain of pure water; if there is no outlet it stagnates and then it either ceases its flow or by stagnation the water becomes putrid. In another place there will be many confirmations of these things from the Word.

(from Doctrine of Charity 173-183)

Why Evils are Permitted

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The worshiper of himself and of nature confirms himself against Divine providence when he reflects that wars are permitted, and the consequent slaughter of so many men, and the plundering of their wealth.

It is not from the Divine providence that wars exist, for they are connected with murders, plunderings, violence, cruelties, and other terrible evils, which are directly opposed to Christian charity; and yet they must needs be permitted, because, since the time of the most ancient people, meant by Adam and his wife, the life's love of man has become such that it wills to rule over others, and finally over all; also to possess the wealth of the world, and finally all wealth. These two loves cannot be kept bound, for —

it is according to the Divine providence that everyone be allowed to act from freedom in accordance with reason; furthermore, without permissions man cannot be led from evil by the Lord, and thus be reformed and saved.

For unless evils were permitted to break out man would not see them, and therefore would not acknowledge them, and thus could not be led to resist them.

For this reason evils cannot be prevented by any providence; for if they were they would remain shut-in, and like the diseases called cancer and gangrene would spread about and consume all that is vital in man.

For man from birth is like a little hell, between which and heaven there is perpetual discordance.

No man can be withdrawn from his hell by the Lord unless he sees that he is in hell and wishes to be led out; and this cannot be done without permissions, the causes of which are laws of the Divine providence.

For this reason there are wars, lesser and greater, the lesser between the possessors of estates and their neighbors, and the greater between the rulers of kingdoms and their neighbors. Between the lesser and greater there is no difference, except that the lesser are kept within bounds by the laws of the nation, and the greater by the laws of nations; also that while both the lesser and greater wish to transgress their laws, the lesser cannot, and the greater can, although not beyond its abilities.

There are many other reasons stored up in the treasury of Divine wisdom why the Lord does not check the greater wars, with their kings and commanders, connected as they are with murders, depredations, violence, and cruelties, neither in their beginning nor in their progress, but only at the close, when the power of one or the other has become so reduced that he is in danger of destruction. Some of these reasons have been revealed to me, and among them is this:

that all wars, however much they may belong to civil affairs, represent in heaven the states of the church, and are correspondences.

Such were all the wars described in the Word, and such also are all wars at this day. The wars described in the Word are those that the children of Israel waged with various nations, as the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Philistines, the Syrians, the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the Assyrians; and when the children of Israel, who represented the church, departed from their commandments and statutes and fell into the evils signified by those nations, they were punished by some nation, because each nation with which the children of Israel waged war signified some particular kind of evil.  For example, when they profaned the holy things of the church by foul idolatries they were punished by the Assyrians and Chaldeans, because "Assyria" and "Chaldea" signify the profanation of what is holy. ...

Like things are represented by the wars of the present day, wherever they occur; for all things that take place in the natural world correspond to spiritual things in the spiritual world, and everything spiritual has relation to the church. It is not known in this world what kingdoms in Christendom answer to the Moabites and Ammonites, what to the Syrians and Philistines, or what to the Chaldeans and Assyrians, and the others with whom the children of Israel waged war; and yet there are those that do answer to them.

Moreover, what the quality of the church upon earth is and what the evils are into which it falls, and for which it is punished by wars, cannot be seen at all in the natural world; because in this world externals only are evident, and these do not constitute the church; but this is seen in the spiritual world, where internals are manifest, in which the church itself is; and there all are conjoined in accordance with their various states. The conflicts of these in the spiritual world correspond to wars; which are governed by the Lord on both sides correspondentially, in accordance with His Divine providence.

That in this world wars are governed by Divine providence the spiritual man acknowledges, but the natural man does not, except when a festival is appointed on account of a victory that he may return thanks on his knees to God that He has given the victory, also by a few words before going into battle. But when he returns into himself he ascribes the victory either to the prudence of the general or to some measure or occurrence in the midst of the battle, which they had not thought of, from which nevertheless came the victory.

That the Divine providence that is called fortune is in the least particulars of even trivial things; and if in these you acknowledge the Divine providence you must certainly acknowledge it in the affairs of war. Also, the successes and favorable occurrences of war are called in common language the fortune of war; and this is Divine providence, especially in the plans and preparations of the general, even although he then and afterwards may ascribe it all to his own prudence. And let him do this if he will, for he is in full liberty to think in favor of the Divine providence or against it, and even in favor of God and against Him; but let him know that no part whatever of the plan or preparation is from himself; it all flows in either from heaven or from hell, - from hell by permission, from heaven by providence.

(Divine Providence 251)

The Essential of the Church

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

They who are not being regenerated say absolutely that faith is in the first place, that is to say, that it is the essential of the church, because in this way they can live as they desire, and still say that they have hope of salvation.

At this day charity has so disappeared that the nature of it is known to scarcely anyone, and consequently so has faith, for the one is not possible without the other.

If charity were in the first place, and faith in the second, the aspect of the church would be different; for then no others would be called Christians than those who live a life according to the truth of faith, that is, a life of charity; and they would then also know what charity is. Then too they would not make a number of churches by making a distinction among them according to opinions about the truths of faith; but they would say that there is one church, in which are all who are in the good of life, not only those within the region where the churches are, but also those who are outside of it. In this manner the church would be an illustration about such things as belong to the Lord's kingdom; for charity enlightens, and never faith without charity — and the errors that are brought in by means of faith separated would be clearly seen.

Hence it is evident how different an aspect the church would have if the good of charity were in the first place, that is, were the essential, and the truth of faith in the second, that is, it's formal. The aspect of the church would then be like that of the Ancient Church, which made the church consist in charity, and had no other doctrinals of the church than those of charity: from this they had wisdom from the Lord. The quality of that church is described in these words in Moses:

Jehovah led him about, He instructed him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, He took him, He bare him upon His wings; Jehovah alone did lead him, neither was there any strange god with him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and fed him with the increase of the fields; He made him suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flint of the rock; butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs, and of rams the sons of Bashan, and of he-goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and of the blood of the grape thou drinkest pure wine (Deut. 32:10-14).

Wherefore they who were of that church are in heaven, and in all happiness and glory there.

(from Arcana Coelestia 6269)