Charity and Good Works (pt. 25)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 25)
v Doctrinal Series v

VII. CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS ARE TWO DISTINCT THINGS,
LIKE WILLING WELL AND DOING WELL

---

[From what was said in the previous article] it can be seen how it is to be understood that charity and good works are distinct, like willing well and doing well; that is to say, formally they are distinct, as the mind--which thinks and wills--is distinct from the body through which the mind speaks and acts; while essentially they are distinct because of the distinction in the mind itself which has an inner region that is spiritual, and an outer that is natural ... so that when works proceed from the spiritual mind, they proceed from its good will, which is charity; but when they proceed from the natural mind, they proceed from a good will that is not charity. For even when it appears in the external form like charity, it is not charity in the internal form. In fact, charity in external form merely presents the show of charity, but does not possess its essence.

This may be illustrated by a comparison with seeds in the ground. Each seed produces a plant, whether useful or useless, according to the nature of the seed. So is it with spiritual seed, which is the truth of the church derived from the Word; from this seed doctrine is formed--useful if from genuine truths, useless if from truths falsified.

It is the same with charity that springs from good will, whether the good will is for the sake of self and the world or for the sake of the neighbor in a limited or in a broad sense

if for the sake of self and the world, it is spurious charity, but if for the sake of the neighbor, it is genuine charity

...

(True Christian Religion 421)

To be continued ...

Charity and Good Works (pt. 24)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 24)
v Doctrinal Series v

VII. CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS ARE TWO DISTINCT THINGS,
LIKE WILLING WELL AND DOING WELL

---

In every man there is an internal and an external. His internal is what is called the internal man, and his external what is called the external man. But one who does not know what the internal man and the external man are, may suppose that it is the internal man that exercises thought and will, and the external that speaks and acts. These latter belong, indeed, to the external man, and the former to the internal; yet they are not what essentially constitute the external and internal man.

In common perception indeed man's mind is his internal man, but the mind is itself divided into two regions; the one region which is higher and more internal is spiritual; and the other which is lower and more external is natural.

The spiritual mind looks mainly to the spiritual world, and has for its objects the things that are there, either such as are in heaven or such as are in hell; for both are in the spiritual world. But the natural mind looks mainly to the natural world, and has for its objects the things that are there, whether good or evil.

All of man's action and speech proceeds from the lower region of the mind directly, and indirectly from its higher region, since the lower region of the mind is nearer to the bodily senses, and the higher region more remote from them. There is this division of the mind in man, because he was so created as to be both spiritual and natural, and thus a man and not a beast.

All this makes clear that the man who looks primarily to himself and the world is an external man, because he is natural, not only in body but also in mind; while the man who looks primarily to the things of heaven and the church is an internal man, because he is spiritual both in mind and body.

He is spiritual even in body, because his actions and words proceed from the higher mind, which is spiritual, through the lower, which is natural. For it is known that effects proceed from the body, and the causes that produce the effects proceed from the mind; also that the cause is everything in the effect.

That the human mind is so divided is clearly evident from the fact that a man can act the part of a dissembler, a flatterer, a hypocrite, or an actor; and that he can assent to what another says and yet laugh at it; doing one from the higher mind and the other from the lower.

(True Christian Religion 420)

To be continued ...

Charity and Good Works (pt. 23)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 23)
v Doctrinal Series v

VI. TO LOVE THE NEIGHBOR, VIEWED IN ITSELF,

IS NOT TO LOVE THE PERSON,
BUT THE GOOD THAT IS IN THE PERSON

---

Good is the neighbor, because good belongs to the will, and the will is the being [esse] of man's life.

The truth of the understanding is also the neighbor, but only so far as it proceeds from the good of the will; for the good of the will take form in the understanding, and makes itself visible there is the light of reason.

That good is the neighbor is evident from all experience.

Who loves a person except from the quality of his will and understanding, that is, from what is good and just in him?

For example, who loves a king, a prince, a general, a governor, a consul, any magistrate or judge, except for the judgment from which they act and speak? Who loves a primate, a minister of the church, or a canon, except for his learning, his integrity of life, and his zeal for the salvation of souls? Who loves the general of an army or any officer over him, except for bravery combined with prudence? Who loves a merchant except for his honesty? Who loves a workman or a servant, except for his fidelity? Nay, who loves a tree except for its fruit, the soil except for its fertility, a precious stone except for its value? and so on.

And what is remarkable, it is not only the upright man who loves what is good and just in another, the man who is not upright does so also, because with him he is in no fear of losing reputation, honor, or wealth. But the love of good in one who is not upright, is not love of the neighbor; for he loves another interiorly only so far as he is of service to him. But loving what is good in another from the good in oneself is genuine love to the neighbor; for the goods then kiss and mutually unite with each other.

The man who loves good because it is good, and truth because it is truth, loves the neighbor eminently, because he loves the Lord who is good itself and truth itself. There is no love of good and love of truth from good, that is, love to the neighbor, from any other source. Love to the neighbor is thus formed from a heavenly origin. It is the same thing whether you say use or good; therefore performing uses is doing good; and according to the quantity and quality of the use in the good so far in quantity and quality the good is good.

(True Christian Religion 418 - 419)

To be continued ...

Charity and Good Works (pt. 22)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 22)
v Doctrinal Series v

VI. TO LOVE THE NEIGHBOR, VIEWED IN ITSELF, IS NOT TO LOVE THE PERSON,
BUT THE GOOD THAT IS IN THE PERSON

---

Who does not know that a man is not a man because of his having a human face and a human body, but because of the wisdom of his understanding and the goodness of his will? As the quality of these ascends, he becomes the more a man.

At birth man is more a brute than any animal, but he becomes a man through instruction of various kinds by receiving, which his mind is formed, and from his mind and according to it, man is a man.

There are some beasts whose faces resemble the human face, but these enjoy no faculty of understanding or of doing anything from the understanding; but they act from the instinct which their natural love excites. The difference is that a beast expresses by sounds the affections of its love, while man speaks them as they are formulated in thought; also, a beast with his face downward looks upon the ground, while man with his face raised beholds heaven all about him.

From all this it may be inferred that man is a man so far as he speaks from sound reason, and looks forward to his abode in heaven; while so far as he speaks from perverted reason, and looks only to his abode in the world, so far he is not a man. Yet even such are men potentially, though not actually; for every man enjoys the ability to understand truth and to will what is good; but so far as he has no wish to do good or understand truth, he can only counterfeit man in externals and play the ape.

(True Christian Religion 417)

To be continued ...

Charity and Good Works (pt. 21)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 21)
v Doctrinal Series v

V. THE CHURCH IS THE NEIGHBOR WHO IS TO BE LOVED IN A STILL HIGHER DEGREE,
AND THE LORD'S KINGDOM IN THE HIGHEST DEGREE.

---

The Lord's kingdom is the neighbor that is to be loved in the highest degree, because the Lord's kingdom means the church throughout the world, which is called the communion of saints; also heaven is meant by it; consequently he who loves the Lord's kingdom loves all in the whole world who acknowledge the Lord and have faith in Him and charity towards the neighbor; and he loves also all in heaven.

Those who love the Lord's kingdom love the Lord above all things, and are consequently in love to God more than others, because the church in the heavens and on earth is the body of the Lord, for those who are in it are in the Lord and the Lord in them. Therefore love towards the Lord's kingdom is love towards the neighbor in its fullness; for those who love the Lord's kingdom, not only love the Lord above all things, but also love the neighbor as themselves; for love to the Lord is a universal love, and consequently is in each thing and all things of spiritual life, and in each thing and all things of natural life; for that love has its seat in the highest things in man, and things highest flow into lower things and vivify them, as the will flows into all things of intention and of action therefrom, and the understanding into all things of thought and of speech therefrom. Therefore the Lord says:

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you (Matt. 6:33).

That the kingdom of the heavens is the Lord's kingdom is evident from these words in Daniel:

Behold, there was coming with the clouds of heaven one like unto the Son of Man; and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; and all peoples, nations, and languages shall worship Him. His dominion is a dominion of ages, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Dan. 7:13-14).

(True Christian Religion 416)

To be continued ...

Charity and Good Works (pt. 20)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 20)
v Doctrinal Series v

V. THE CHURCH IS THE NEIGHBOR WHO IS TO BE LOVED IN A STILL HIGHER DEGREE,
AND THE LORD'S KINGDOM IN THE HIGHEST DEGREE.

---

Since man was born for eternal life, and is introduced into it by the church, the church is to be loved as the neighbor in a higher degree, because it teaches the means which lead to eternal life and introduces man into it, leading to it by the truths of doctrine and introducing into it by goods of life. This does not mean that the priesthood should be loved in a higher degree, and the church because of the priesthood; but it means that the good and truth of the church should be loved, and the priesthood for the sake of these. The priesthood merely serves, and is to be honored so far as it serves.

The church is the neighbor that is to be loved in a higher degree, thus even above one's country, for the reason also, that by his country, man is initiated into civil life, but by the church into spiritual life, and by that life man is separated from a merely animal life. Moreover, civil life is a temporary life, which has an end and which is then as if it had not been; while the spiritual life is eternal, having no end; therefore of the latter may be predicated being [esse] but of the former non-being. The distinction is like that between the finite and the infinite, between which there is no ratio; for the eternal is the infinite as to time.

(True Christian Religion 415)

To be continued ...

Charity and Good Works (pt. 19)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 19)
v Doctrinal Series v

IV. THE COLLECTIVE MAN,
THAT IS, A COMMUNITY SMALLER OR GREATER
AND THE COMPOSITE MAN FORMED OF COMMUNITIES,
THAT IS, ONE'S COUNTRY
IS THE NEIGHBOR THAT IS TO BE LOVED.

---

The difference between love to the neighbor and the exercise of it when directed towards man as an individual and towards the collective man or a community, is like that between the duty of a private citizen and the duty of a civil officer or a military officer, or like that between the one who traded with two talents and the one who traded with five (Matt. 25:14-30*); or it is like the difference between the value of a shekel and that of a talent, or between the product from a vine and that from a vineyard, or between the product from an olive tree and that from an olive yard, or the product from a tree and that from an orchard. Moreover, love to the neighbor in man ascends more and more interiorly, and as it ascends he loves a community more than an individual, and his country more than a community. Since, then, charity consists in right willing and right doing therefrom, it follows that it ought to be exercised towards a community in much the same way as towards the individual, but in one way towards a community of good men and in another way towards a community of evil men. Towards the latter charity is to be exercised according to natural equity; towards the former according to spiritual equity. But on these two kinds of equity something will appear elsewhere.

One's country is more a neighbor than a single community, because it consists of many communities, and consequently love towards the country is a broader and higher love. Moreover, loving one's country is loving the public welfare. One's country is the neighbor, because it is like a parent; for one is born in it, and it has nourished him and continues to nourish him, and has protected and continues to protect him from injury. Men ought to do good to their country from a love for it, according to its needs, some of which are natural and some spiritual. Natural needs relate to civil life and order, and spiritual needs to spiritual life and order. That one's country should be loved, not as one loves himself, but more than himself, is a law inscribed on the human heart; from which has come the well-known principle, which every true man endorses, that if the country is threatened with ruin from an enemy or any other source, it is noble to die for it, and glorious for a soldier to shed his blood for it. This is said because so great should be one's love for it. It should be known that those who love their country and render good service to it from good will, after death love the Lord's kingdom, for then that is their country; and those who love the Lord's kingdom love the Lord Himself, because the Lord is the all in all things of His kingdom.

(True Christian Religion 413 - 414)

To be continued ...

---

* For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 25:14-30