Charity and Good Works (pt. 43)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 43)
v Doctrinal Series v

XIII. IN THE EXERCISES OF CHARITY
MAN DOES NOT PLACE MERIT IN WORKS
SO LONG AS HE BELIEVES THAT ALL GOOD IS FROM THE LORD

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It must be well understood that charity and faith in the Lord are closely conjoined, consequently, such as the faith is such is the charity. That the Lord, charity, and faith make one, like life, will, and understanding [in man], and if they are divided each perishes like a pearl reduced to powder... and that charity and faith are together in good works...

From this it follows that such as faith is, such is charity, and that such as charity and faith are together, such are works.

If then there is a faith that all the good that a man does as if of himself is from the Lord, man is the instrumental cause of that good, and the Lord the principal cause, which two causes appear to man to be one, and yet the principal cause is the all in all of the instrumental cause. From this it follows that when a man believes that all good that is good in itself is from the Lord, he does not ascribe merit to works; and in the degree in which this faith is perfected in man, the fantasy about merit is taken away from him by the Lord. In this state man enters fully into the exercise of charity with no anxiety about merit, and at length perceives the spiritual delight of charity, and then begins to be averse to merit as a something harmful to his life.

The sense of merit is easily washed away by the Lord with those who become imbued with charity by acting justly and faithfully in the work, business, or function in which they are engaged, and towards all with whom they have any dealings... But the sense of merit is removed with difficulty from those who believe that charity is acquired by giving alms and relieving the needy; for when they do these things, in their minds they desire reward, at first openly and then secretly, and draw to themselves merit.

(True Christian Religion 442)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 42)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 42)
v Doctrinal Series v

XIII. IN THE EXERCISES OF CHARITY
MAN DOES NOT PLACE MERIT IN WORKS
SO LONG AS HE BELIEVES THAT ALL GOOD IS FROM THE LORD

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It is wholly different with those who regard reward as the essential end in their works. These are like such as form friendships for the sake of gain, and who make presents, perform services, and profess love seemingly from the heart, but when they fail to obtain what they hoped for, they turn about, renounce their friendship, and devote themselves to the enemies of their former friends and to those who hate them. They are also like nurses who suckle infants merely for wages, and in presence of their parents kiss and fondle them; but as soon as they cease to be fed with delicacies and rewarded just as they wish, they turn against the infants, treat them harshly, beat them, and laugh at their cries.

They are also like those whose regard for their country springs from love of self and the world, and who say that they are willing to give their property and their lives for it; and yet, if they do not acquire honors and riches as rewards, they speak ill of their country and connect themselves with its enemies. They are also like shepherds who care for sheep merely for hire, and if the hire is not given when they wish it, drive the sheep with their crook from the pasture to the desert. Like these again are priests who discharge the duties of their office solely for the sake of the emoluments attached to them, and who, evidently, regard as of little account the salvation of the souls over whom they have been placed as guides.

It is the same with magistrates who look only to the dignity of their office and its revenues; and when they do right, it is not for the sake of the public good, but for the sake of the delight in the love of self and the world, which delight they breathe in as the only good. It is the same with all the rest; the end in view carries every point, and the mediate causes pertaining to the function are renounced if they do not promote the end.

And the same is true of those who demand reward on the ground of merit in matters of salvation. Such after death confidently demand heaven; but when it has been found that they have no love to God or love towards the neighbor, they are sent back to those who can instruct them concerning charity and faith; and if they repudiate their instructions, they are sent away to their like, among whom are some who are enraged against God because they do not obtain rewards, and who call faith a mere figment of reason. Such are meant in the Word by "hirelings," who were allotted service of the lowest kind in the outer courts of the temple. At a distance they appear to be splitting wood.

(True Christian Religion 441)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 41)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 41)
v Doctrinal Series v

XIII. IN THE EXERCISES OF CHARITY MAN DOES NOT PLACE MERIT IN WORKS
SO LONG AS HE BELIEVES THAT ALL GOOD IS FROM THE LORD

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[T]o think about getting into heaven, and that good ought to be done for that reason, is not to regard reward as an end and to ascribe merit to works; for thus do those also think who love the neighbor as themselves and God above all things; so thinking from faith in the Lord's words,

• That their reward should be great in the heavens (Matt. 5:11, 12; 6:1; 10:41, 42; Luke 6:23, 35; 14:12-14; John 4:36);

• That those who have done good shall possess as an inheritance a kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world (Matt. 25:34);

• That everyone is rewarded according to his works (Matt. 16:27; John 5:29; Rev. 14:13; 20:12, 13; Jer. 25:14; 32:19; Hosea 4:9; Zech. 1:6 and elsewhere).

Such do not trust to reward on the ground of their merit, but have faith in the promise from grace. With such the delight of doing good to the neighbor is their reward. This is the delight of the angels in heaven, and it is a spiritual delight which is eternal, and immeasurably exceeds all natural delight. Those who are in this delight are unwilling to hear of merit, for they love to do, and in doing they perceive blessedness. They are sad when it is believed that they work for the sake of recompense. They are like those who do good to friends for the sake of friendship, to brethren for the sake of brotherhood, to wife and children for the sake of wife and children, and to their country for their country's sake; thus from friendship and love. Those who do acts of kindness also say and give evidence that they are doing this not on their own behalf, but on behalf of the others.

(True Christian Religion 440)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 40)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 40)
v Doctrinal Series v

XIII. IN THE EXERCISES OF CHARITY MAN DOES NOT PLACE MERIT IN WORKS
SO LONG AS HE BELIEVES THAT ALL GOOD IS FROM THE LORD

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To ascribe merit to works that are done for the sake of salvation is harmful because evils lie concealed in so doing of which the doer is wholly ignorant. There also lies hid in it a denial of God's influx and operation in man; also a confidence in one's own power in matters of salvation; faith in oneself and not in God; self-justification; salvation by one's own abilities; a reducing of Divine grace and mercy to nought; a rejection of reformation and regeneration by Divine means; especially a limitation of the merit and righteousness of the Lord God the Savior, which such claim for themselves; together with a continual looking for reward, which they regard as the first and last end; a submersion and extinction of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; a total ignorance and lack of perception of the delight of heavenly love as being without merit, and a sense only of self-love.

For those who put rewards in the first place and salvation in the second, and who value salvation for the sake of the reward, invert order and immerse the interior desires of the mind in what is their own [proprium], and defile them in the body with the evils of the flesh. This is why the good that claims merit appears to the angels as rust, and the good that does not claim merit as purple. That good ought not to be done for the sake of reward, the Lord teaches in Luke:

If ye do good to them who do good to you, what thank have ye? But rather love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and then your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High for He is kind unto the unthankful and the evil (Luke 6:33-35).

And that man cannot do good that in itself is good, except from the Lord, He teaches in John:

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, so neither can ye except ye abide in Me; for apart from Me ye can do nothing (15:4, 5).

And again,

A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven (John 3:27).

(True Christian Religion 439)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 39)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 39)
v Doctrinal Series v

XII. THE FIRST THING OF CHARITY IS TO PUT AWAY EVILS;
AND THE SECOND IS TO DO GOODS THAT ARE OF USE TO THE NEIGHBOR

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At the present day it is believed that charity is simply doing good, and that then one does not do evil; consequently that the first thing of charity is to do good, and the second not to do evil. But it is wholly the reverse; the first thing of charity is to put away evil, and the second to do good; for it is a universal law in the spiritual world and from that in the natural world also, that so far as one does not will evil he wills good; thus that so far as he turns away from hell from which all evil ascends, so far he turns towards heaven from which all good descends; consequently also, that so far as anyone rejects the devil he is accepted by the Lord. One cannot stand with his head vibrating between the two, and pray to both at once; for of such the Lord says:

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; would that thou wert cold or hot. So because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spit thee out of My mouth (Apoc. 3:15-16).

Who can skirmish with his troop between two armies, favoring both? Who can be evilly disposed towards the neighbor, and at the same time well disposed towards him? Does not evil then lie hidden in the good? Although the evil that so hides itself does not appear in the man's acts, it manifests itself in many things when they are reflected upon rightly. The Lord says:

No servant can serve two masters. . . . Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Luke 16:13).

But no one is able to purify himself from evils by his own power and his own abilities; yet neither can it be done without the power and abilities of man as if these were his own. If these were not as if they were his own, no man would be able to fight against the flesh and its lusts, which everyone is commanded to do; he would not even be able to think of any combat, thus his mind would be opened to evils of every sort, and would be restrained from them as deeds only by the laws of justice established in the world, and their penalties; and thus he would be inwardly like a tiger, a leopard, or a serpent, which never reflect at all upon the cruel delights of their loves. From this it is clear that as man, in contrast with wild beasts, is rational, he ought to resist evils by the power and abilities given him by the Lord, which in every sense appear to him to be his own; and this appearance has been granted by the Lord to every man for the sake of regeneration, imputation, conjunction, and salvation.

(True Christian Religion 437 - 438)

To be continued . . .

Charity and Good Works (pt. 38)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 38)
v Doctrinal Series v

XII. THE FIRST THING OF CHARITY IS TO PUT AWAY EVILS;
AND THE SECOND IS TO DO GOODS THAT ARE OF USE TO THE NEIGHBOR

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... Man himself ought to purify himself from evils [and not wait for the Lord to do this without his cooperation].

Otherwise he would be like a servant, going to his master, with his face and clothes befouled with soot or dung, and saying, "Master, wash me."

Would not his master answer him, "You foolish servant, what are you saying? See, here are water, soap, and a towel; have you not hands of your own and the power to use them? Wash yourself." 

And so the Lord God will say, "These means of purification are from Me; and your ability to will and do are also from Me; therefore use these My gifts and endowments as your own, and you will be purified."

(True Christian Religion 436)

Charity and Good Works (pt. 37)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 37)
v Doctrinal Series v

XII. THE FIRST THING OF CHARITY IS TO PUT AWAY EVILS;
AND THE SECOND IS TO DO GOODS THAT ARE OF USE TO THE NEIGHBOR

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In the doctrine of charity this holds the first place, that the first thing of charity is not to do evil to the neighbor; and to do good to him holds the second place. This tenet is like a door to the doctrine of charity. It is admitted that evil is firmly seated in every man's will from his birth; and as all evil has relation to man both nearly and remotely, and also to society and one's country, it follows that inherited evil is evil against the neighbor in every degree. A man may see from reason itself, that so far as the evil resident in the will is not put away, the good that he does is impregnated with that evil; for evil is then inside the good, like a kernel in its shell or like marrow in a bone; therefore although the good that is done by such a man appears to be good, still intrinsically it is not good; for it is like a healthy-looking shell containing a worm-eaten kernel, or like a white almond rotten within, with streaks of rottenness extending even to the surface.

Willing evil and doing right are two essentially opposite things; for evil belongs to hatred towards the neighbor and good belongs to love towards the neighbor, or evil is the neighbor's enemy and good is his friend. These two cannot exist in the same mind, that is, evil in the internal man and good in the external; if they do, the good in the external is like a wound superficially healed, within which there is putrid matter. Man is then like a tree with a decayed root, which still produces fruit that outwardly looks like well-flavored and useful fruit, but is inwardly offensive and useless. He is also like rejected scoria, which, being bright on the surface and beautifully colored, may be sold for precious stones; in a word, he is like an owl's egg, which men are made to believe to be a dove's egg.

Man ought to know that the good that a man does by means of his body proceeds from his spirit, or out of his internal man, the internal man being the spirit which lives after death. Therefore when the man [above described] casts off the body which formed his external man, all there is of him is in evils and takes delight in them, and is averse to good as something inimical to his life.

That until evil has been put away man cannot do good that is good in itself the Lord teaches in many places:

Men do not gather the grape from thorns or figs from thistles. A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit (Matt. 7:16-18).

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside of them may become clean also (Matt. 23:25-26).

And in Isaiah:

Wash you, put away the evil of your doings, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment. Then although your sins have been as scarlet, they shall become as white as snow; although they have been red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa. 1:16-18).

(True Christian Religion 435)