Doing For The Sake Of Salvation

Selection from Apocalypse Revealed ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
A Memorable Relation

THOSE WHO HAD CONFIRMED THEMSELVES IN THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE
THOSE WHO BELIEVED THAT CHARITY AND FAITH ARE A ONE

I saw in the spiritual world two flocks, one of goats and the other of sheep; I wondered who they were, for I knew that animals, seen in the spiritual world, are not animals, but correspondences of the affections and thence of the thoughts of those who are there. Wherefore I approached nearer, and as I drew near, the likenesses of animals disappeared, and instead of them were seen men. And it was shown, that —

• they who constituted the flock of goats, were those who had confirmed themselves in the doctrine of justification by faith alone

• they who constituted the flock of sheep, were those who believed that charity and faith are a one, as good and truth are a one.

And then I spoke with those who had been seen as goats, and said, "Why are you thus assembled?" They consisted chiefly of clergy, who gloried in their fame for erudition, because they knew the arcana of justification by faith alone. They said that they were assembled to sit in council, because they had heard that what is said by Paul (Romans 3:28), that man is justified by faith without the works of the Law, was not rightly understood, because Paul by the works of the Law meant the works of the Mosaic law, which was for the Jews; which we also clearly see from his words to Peter, whom he rebuked for Judaizing when yet he knew that no one is justified by the works of the Law (Galatians 2:14-16) Also, that he distinguishes between the law of faith and the law of works. and between Jews and Gentiles, or circumcision and uncircumcision, meaning by circumcision, Judaism, as everywhere else, and likewise from his summing up with these words: Do we then abrogate the law through faith? Not so, but we establish the Law (Rom. 3:31). He says all these things in one series (Romans 3:27-31), and he also says in the preceding chapter: For not the hearers of the Law are justified by God, but the doers of the Law shall be justified (Rom. 3:13). God will render to every man according to his deeds (Rom. 2:6). We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, whether they be good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10). Besides many other things from him; from which it is evident that Paul rejects faith without good works, equally with James:

Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (2:17-26)

That the works of the Mosaic law, which were for the Jews, were meant by Paul, we are additionally confirmed in by this consideration, that all the statutes for the Jews in Moses are called "the Law," thus "the works of the Law," which we perceive from these passages: This is the law of the meal-offering (Lev. 6:9 seq.). This is the law of the sacrifice (Lev. 7:1). This is the law of the sacrifice of the peace-offering (Lev. 7:7, 11 seq.). This is the law of the burnt offering, of the meal-offering, of the sacrifice for sin and guilt, for the consecration (Lev. 7:37). This is the law of the beast and of the bird (Lev. 11:46 seq.). This is the law for her that bringeth forth a son or a daughter (Lev. 12:7). This is the law of leprosy (Lev. 13:59; 14:2, 32, 54, 57). This is the law of him that hath an issue (Lev. 15:32). This is the law of jealousy (Num. 5:29-30). This is the law of the Nazarite (Num. 6:13, 21). This is the law of cleansing (Num. 19:14). This is the law concerning the red heifer (Num. 19:2). The law for the king (Deut. 17:15-19). Yea, the whole book of Moses is called: The book of the law (Deut 31:9, 11-12, 26; also in the evangelists, Luke 2:22; 24:44; John 1:45; 7:22-23; 8:5; and other places). To this they added also what they had seen in Paul, that the law of the Decalogue was to be lived, and that it is fulfilled by charity, which is love towards the neighbor (Romans 13:8-11); thus not by faith alone. They said that this was the reason of their being convened.

But that I might not disturb them, I retired; and then they again appeared, at a distance, like goats, and sometimes as lying down, and sometimes as standing; but they turned themselves away from the flock of sheep. They appeared as if they were lying down, when deliberating, and as standing up, when they came to a conclusion. But, keeping my eyes fixed upon their horns, I wondered on seeing that the horns on their foreheads sometimes appeared to extend forward and upward, then to be bent backward, and at last to be thrown back entirely. And then they all suddenly turned round to the flock of sheep, but still appeared as goats. Wherefore I drew near to them again, and inquired, What now? They replied, that they had come to this conclusion, that faith alone produces the goods of charity, which are called good works, as a tree produces fruit. But then thunder was heard, and lightning seen from above; and presently there appeared an angel standing between the two flocks, who cried to the flock of sheep, —

"Do not hearken to them; they have not receded from their former faith, which is, that God the Father hath compassion for the sake of the Son; which faith is not faith in the Lord; neither is faith a tree, but man is a tree; but do the work of repentance, and look to the Lord, and you will have faith; faith before that, is not a faith in which there is anything living."

Then the goats, whose horns were directed backward, wished to approach the sheep; but the angel standing between them, divided the sheep into two flocks, and said to those on the left, "Join yourselves to the goats; but I say to you, that a wolf will come, which will snatch them away; and you with them."

But after the two flocks of sheep had separated, and they on the left hand had heard the threatening words of the angel, they looked at one another, and said, "Let us confer with our former associates." And then the left-hand flock spoke to the right, saying, "Why have you receded from your pastors? Are not faith and charity a one, as a tree and its fruit are one? For the tree by its branch is continued into the fruit. Tear away anything from the branch which flows by continuity into the fruit, and will not the fruit perish? Ask our priests if it is not so." And then they asked, and the priests looked around to the rest, who winked with their eyelids to intimate that they had spoken well. And then they replied that it was so, that faith is preserved by the fruit; but they would not say faith is continued in the fruit.

But then one of the priests, who was among the sheep on the right hand, rose up and said, "They have answered you that it is so, but they have told their companions that it is not so; for they think otherwise." Wherefore they inquired, "How, then, do they think? Do they not think as they teach?"

He said, "No; they think that every good of charity, which is called a good work, done by man for the sake of salvation or eternal life, is not good but evil, by reason that man desires to save himself by his own works, by claiming to himself the justice and merit of the only Savior; and that it is so with every good work, in which man feels his own will. Therefore among themselves they call good works from man, not blessed, but cursed; and say that they merit hell rather than heaven."

But the flock on the left hand said, "You speak falsehoods against them; do they not preach manifestly before us charity and its works, which they call the works of faith?"

He replied, "You do not understand their preachings; only a clergyman, who is present, attends and understands. They think only of moral charity, and its civil and political goods, which they call the goods of faith, which yet are not at all so. For a man may be an atheist, and perform these works in the same manner, and under the same form. Wherefore they are unanimous in saying that no one is saved by any works, but by faith alone; but this shall be illustrated by comparisons. An apple tree produces apples; but if a man does what is good for the sake of salvation, as the tree produces apples by continuity, then those apples are rotten within, and full of worms. They say, also, that a vine produces grapes; but that if a man were to do spiritual goods as a vine grapes, he would produce wild grapes."

But then they asked, "What is the nature of their goods of charity or works, which are the fruits of faith?"

He replied, "They are inconspicuous, being inwardly in man from the Holy Spirit, concerning which man knows nothing."

But they said, "If a man knows nothing concerning them, there must surely be some conjunction, or how could they be called works of faith? perhaps those insensible goods are then insinuated into the voluntary works of man by some mediating influx, as by some affection, aspiration, inspiration, incitation, and excitation of the will, by a tacit perception in thought and thence exhortation, contrition, and thus by conscience, and thence by impulse and obedience to the Decalogue and the Word, as an infant, or as a wise man, or by something else of a similar nature."

But he replied, "No; and if they say it is effected by such means because by faith, still they bury them with words in their discourses in such a manner that the result after all is, that they do not proceed from faith; some, however, do maintain such things, but as the signs of faith, but not as its bonds with charity. Some have nevertheless thought of a conjunction by the Word."

And then they said, "Is there not thus conjunction, when man voluntarily acts according to the Word?"

But he replied, "This is not what they think; they ascribe it solely to the hearing the Word, thus not to the understanding of the Word, lest anything should manifestly enter by the understanding into the thought and will of man; since they assert that everything voluntary in man is meritorious, and that in spiritual things, man cannot begin, will, think, understand, believe, operate, and cooperate anything, any more than a stock; but yet it is different with the influx of the Holy Spirit by faith into the speech of the preacher, because these are acts of the mouth, and not acts of the body; likewise because man acts by faith with God, but by charity with men."

But when one of them heard that it was done merely by hearing the Word, and not by understanding the Word, being indignant, said, "Is this through the understanding of the Word, by the Holy Spirit alone, whilst man, throughout the church service, turns himself away, or sits deaf as a post, or while he is sleeping, or only from an exhalation from the volume of the Word? What is more ludicrous?"

After this a certain man of the flock of the right hand, who excelled the rest in judgment, requested to be heard, and said, "I heard a certain person say, 'I have planted a vineyard, now will I drink wine even to intoxication.' But another asked, 'Will you drink the wine out of your own cup by your own right hand?' And he said, 'No; but out of an inconspicuous cup from an inconspicuous hand.' And the other replied, 'Of a certainty then you will not be intoxicated.'"

Presently the same man said, —

"But hear me, I beseech you; I say unto you, drink wine from the Word understood. Do you not know that the Lord is the Word? Is not the Word from the Lord? Is he not therefore in it? If then you do good from the Word, do you not do it from the Lord, from his mouth and will? And if you at the same time look to the Lord, he will also lead you, and will cause you to do it, and this he will do through you, and you as from yourselves. Who can say, when doing anything from a king, from his mouth and will, 'I do this from myself, from my own mouth or command, and from my own will?'

After this he turned to the clergy, and said, "Ye ministers of God, seduce not the flock."

On hearing these things, the greater part of the flock on the left hand receded, and joined themselves with the flock on the right; some of the clergy also then said, "We have heard what we have not heard before; we are shepherds; we will not leave the sheep." And they receded along with them, and said,

"That man spoke a true word. Who can say, when he does anything from the Word, thus from the Lord, from His mouth and will, I do this from myself? Who that does anything from the mouth and will of a king, says, 'I do this from myself'"?

Now we see Divine providence, why a conjunction of faith and works has not been discovered, which has been acknowledged by the ecclesiastical body. It could not be found, because no such conjunction can be given, for theirs is not a faith in the Lord, who is the Word, and therefore neither is it a faith from the Word.

But the other priests went away, flourishing their caps, and crying out, "Faith alone! faith alone, it will live still."

(Apocalypse Revealed 417)

Sensual Men

Selection from New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
THE SENSUAL MAN, WHO IS THE LOWEST DEGREE NATURAL

He whose internal is so far external, that he believes nothing but what he can see with his eyes and touch with his hands, is called a sensual man; this is the lowest natural man, and is in fallacies concerning all the things which are of the faith of the church.

The sensual is the ultimate of the life of man, adhering to and inhering in his corporeal. He who judges and concludes concerning everything from the bodily senses, and who believes nothing but what he can see with his eyes and touch with his hands, saying that these are something, and rejecting all things else, is a sensual man. Such a man thinks in outmosts, and not interiorly in himself. His interiors are shut, so that he sees nothing of truth therein. In a word, he is in gross natural light, and thus perceives nothing which is from the light of heaven. Consequently he is interiorly against the things which are of heaven and the church. The learned, who have confirmed themselves against the truths of the church, are sensual.

Sensual men reason sharply and shrewdly, because their thought is so near their speech as to be almost in it, and because they place all intelligence in discourse from the memory alone. But they reason from the fallacies of the senses, with which the common people are captivated.

Sensual men are more crafty and malicious than others. The avaricious, adulterers, the voluptuous, and the deceitful especially are sensual. Their interiors are foul and filthy. By means thereof they communicate with the hells. They who are in the hells are sensual in proportion to their depth. The sphere of infernal spirits conjoins itself with man's sensual from behind. They who reasoned from the sensual, and thereby against the truths of faith, were called by the ancients serpents of the tree of knowledge. ...

Sensual things ought to be in the last place, not in the first, and with a wise and intelligent man they are in the last place and subject to the interiors; but with an unwise man they are in the first place, and have dominion; these are they who are properly called sensual. If sensual things are in the last place, and are subject to the interiors, a way is opened through them to the understanding, and truths are refined by a kind of extraction.

The sensual things of man stand nearest to the world, and admit things that flow from the world, and as it were sift them. The external or natural man communicates with the world by means of those sensuals, and with heaven by means of rationals. Thus sensual things administer those things which are serviceable to the interiors of man. There are sensual things ministering to the intellectual part, and likewise to the will part.

Unless the thought is elevated from sensual things, man possesses but little wisdom. A wise man thinks above the sensual. Man, when his thought is elevated above sensual things, comes into a clearer light [lumen], and at length into heavenly light [lux]. Elevation above sensual things, and withdrawal from them, was known to the ancients. Man with his spirit may see the things which are in the spiritual world, if he can be withdrawn from the sensual things of the body, and elevated by the Lord into the light of heaven. The reason is, because the body does not feel, but the spirit in the body; and so far as the spirit perceives in the body, so far is the perception gross and obscure, consequently in darkness; but so far as not in the body, so far is the perception clear and in the light.

The ultimate of the understanding is the sensual scientific, and the ultimate of the will the sensual delight. What is the difference between the sensual things that are common with beasts, and those that are not common with them.

The natural of man is external, middle, and internal; the external of the natural communicates with the world, and is called the external sensuous; the internal natural is what communicates with the internal man, which is in heaven; the middle natural is that which conjoins the two; for where there are an external and an internal, there must be a conjoining intermediate.

By the sensuous, which is the ultimate of the natural, is properly meant that which is called the "flesh," and which perishes when man dies, thus what has served man for his functions in the world; as the sensuous of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. That this sensuous is the ultimate plane, in which the life of man terminates, and on which it reposes as a base, is evident, for it stands forth directly in the world, and through it as the outermost the world enters, and heaven departs. But this sensuous is common to man with brute animals, whereas the external sensuous which man has not so much in common with them, and yet is an external sensuous, is that which man has in his memory from the world, and is constituted of merely worldly, bodily, and earthly things there. The man who thinks and reasons from these things alone, and not from interior things, is called a sensuous man. This sensuous remains with man after death, but is quiescent; and this external sensuous is what is properly signified by the "base."

The nature of this sensuous was represented by the bases of the ten lavers, which were set near the temple, and which are thus described:

Solomon made the ten bases of brass; four cubits the length of each base, and four cubits the breadth; three cubits the height. Upon the closures that were between the flights of steps were lions, oxen, and cherubs; and upon the flights of steps in like manner above. Moreover, each base had four wheels and tables of brass; and its four corners had shoulders: beneath the laver were the shoulders molten. The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel; their hands, and their backs, and their tires, and their spokes, were all molten. After this manner he made the ten bases; all of them had one casting, one measure, one proportion. Then he made the ten lavers of brass; each laver contained forty baths; each laver was four cubits   (1 Kings 7:27-39).

The nature of the external sensuous in man is here described by representatives, and especially the protection of the Lord lest man should enter into the things of heaven or of the church from his sensuous, thus from the world, because this is contrary to Divine order. For the world cannot enter into heaven, but heaven can enter into the world, which comes to pass when the Lord inflows through heaven with man, and enlightens him, teaches him, and leads him, by means of the Word. That to enter from the world into the things of heaven is contrary to Divine order, can be seen from those who enter from their sensuous, thus from the memory-knowledges which enter from the world, in that they believe nothing whatever.

What the sensuous man is, may again be briefly told. He is called a sensuous man who thinks only from such things as are in the memory from the world, and who cannot be raised toward interior things; such especially are they who believe nothing about heaven and the Divine because they do not see them, for they trust solely in the senses; and what does not appear before the senses they believe to be nothing. Such people closely approach the nature of brute animals, which also are led solely by the external senses; nevertheless they are cunning and skilful in acting and reasoning; but they do not see truth from the light of truth. Such were formerly called serpents of the tree of knowledge, and such for the most part is the infernal crew.

(New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 45; 50; AC 10236)

Truth With or Without Perception

Selections from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

It is surprising that man does not as yet know that his intellectual mind is in a certain light that is altogether different from the light of the world; but such is the condition that to those who are in the light of the world the light of heaven is as it were darkness, and to those who are in the light of heaven the light of the world is as it were darkness. This arises principally from the loves, which are the heats of the light. They who are in the loves of self and of the world, thus only in the heat of the light of the world, are affected solely by evils and falsities, and these are the things which extinguish truths, which are of the light of heaven. But they who are in love to the Lord and in love toward the neighbor, thus in spiritual heat, which is of the light of heaven, are affected with goods and truths, which extinguish falsities; but still with these persons there exists a correspondence.

Spirits who are only in the things which are of the light of the world, and are thence in falsities derived from evils, have indeed light from heaven in the other life, but such a light as is fatuous, or as that which issues from a lighted coal or firebrand; but on the approach of the light of heaven this light is at once extinguished, and becomes thick darkness. They who are in this light are in phantasies, and the things which they see in phantasies they believe to be truths, nor to them is anything else truth. Their phantasies are also closely bound to filthy and obscene objects, with which they are most especially delighted; thus they think like persons who are insane and delirious. In regard to falsities, they do not reason whether these be so or not, but they instantly affirm them; whereas in regard to goods and truths they carry on a continual ratiocination*, which terminates in what is negative.

For truths and goods, which are from the light of heaven, flow into the interior mind, which with them is closed; wherefore the light flows in around and outside of this mind, and becomes such that it is modified solely by the falsities which appear to them as truths. Truths and goods cannot be acknowledged, except with those whose interior mind is open, into which the light from the Lord may inflow; and so far as this mind is open, truths and goods are acknowledged. This mind is open only with those who are in innocence, in love to the Lord, and in charity toward their neighbor; but not with those who are in the truths of faith, unless they are at the same time in the good of life.

~~~

THOSE WHO ARE SOLELY IN THE DOCTRINAL THINGS OF FAITH, AND AS TO LIFE ARE IN GOOD, BUT IN THE GOOD OF TRUTH, WHICH DOCTRINAL THINGS HAVE SOME CONJUNCTION WITH THE INTERNAL SENSE, THUS WITH THE LORD.

They who are solely in the doctrinal things of faith, and in a life according to them, are in a certain conjunction, but a remote one, for the reason that they do not know from any affection what charity toward the neighbor is, and still less what love to the Lord is, but only from a certain idea of faith; thus neither are they in any perception of good, but in a species of persuasion that what their doctrinal things dictate is true and thus good, and when they are confirmed in these doctrinal things, they may be in what is false equally as in what is true; for nothing but good confirms a man in regard to what is truth.

Truth indeed teaches what good is, but without perception; whereas good teaches what truth is from perception.

Everyone may know how this is, and also what is the nature and quality of the difference, merely from this common precept of charity:

All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them (Matt. 7:12).

He who acts from this precept does indeed do what is good to others, but because it is so commanded, thus not from the affection of the heart; and whenever he does it, he begins from himself, and also in doing good thinks of merit; whereas he who does not act from precept, but from charity, that is, from affection, acts from the heart, and thus from freedom; and whenever he acts, he begins from really willing what is good, thus for the reason that it is delightful to him; and as he has recompense in the delight, he does not think of merit.

From this then can be seen what the difference is between doing good from faith, and doing good from charity; and that those who do good from faith are more remote from good itself which is the Lord than those who do it from charity; neither can the former be easily introduced into the good of charity so far as to have a perception of it, because they are but little in truths; for no one can be introduced into this good unless things not true are first eradicated, which is impossible while such things are inrooted even to persuasion.

~~~

THERE ARE INTERIOR TRUTHS IN ALL THE DOCTRINAL THINGS THAT ARE DRAWN FROM THE LITERAL SENSE OF THE WORD, BECAUSE THE LITERAL SENSE OF THE WORD IS LIKE A WELL THAT CONTAINS WATER; FOR IN EACH AND EVERY THING OF THE WORD THERE IS AN INTERNAL SENSE, WHICH IS ALSO IN THE DOCTRINAL THINGS THAT ARE FROM THE WORD

As regards the doctrinal things that are from the literal sense of the Word, the case is this:

When a man is in them, and at the same time in a life according to them, he has a correspondence in himself; for the angels who are with him are in interior truths, while he is in exterior ones, and thus through the doctrinal things he has communication with heaven, but according to the good of his life.

As for example, when in the Holy Supper he thinks in simplicity of the Lord from the words then used, "This is My body, and this is "My blood," the angels with him are in the idea of love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor; for love to the Lord corresponds to the Lord's body, and to bread; and charity toward the neighbor corresponds to the blood, and the wine; and because there is such a correspondence, there flows an affection out of heaven through the angels into that holy state in which the man then is, which affection he receives in accordance with the good of his life.

For the angels dwell with everyone in his life's affection, thus in the affection of the doctrinal things according to which he lives; but in no case if his life disagrees therewith -

for if the life disagrees, as for instance if he is in the affection of gaining honors and riches by means of doctrinal things, then the angels retire, and infernals dwell in this affection, who either infuse into him confirmations of the doctrinal things for the sake of self and the world, thus a persuasive faith-which is such that it is regardless whether a thing is true or false provided it captivates the minds of others-or else they take away all faith, and then the doctrine of his lips is only a sound excited and modified by the fire of these loves.

(from Arcana Coelestia 3224; 3459; 3463; 3464 )

* ratiocination: the process of exact thinking - REASONING - a reasoned train of thought