The Draperies of God

Selection from The Heavenly Doctrines ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The entire Holy Scripture, and all the doctrines therefrom of the churches in the Christian world, teach that there is a God and that He is one.

The entire Holy Scripture teaches that there is a God, because in its inmosts (the Holy Scripture) it is nothing but God, that is, it is nothing but the Divine that goes forth from God; for it was dictated by God; and from God nothing can go forth except what is God and is called Divine. This the Holy Scripture is in its inmosts.

But in its derivatives, which are below and from these inmosts, the Holy Scripture is adapted to the perception of angels and men. The Divine is likewise in these derivatives, but in another form, in which it is called the celestial, spiritual, and natural Divine. These are simply the draperies of God; for God Himself, such as He is in the inmosts of the Word, cannot be seen by any creature. For He said to Moses, when Moses prayed that he might see the glory of Jehovah, that no one can see God and live. This is equally true of the inmosts of the Word, where God is in His very Being and Essence.

Nevertheless, the Divine, which forms the inmost and is draped by things adapted to the perceptions of angels and men, beams forth like light through crystalline forms, although variously in accordance with the state of mind that man has formed for himself; either from God or from himself. Before everyone who has formed the state of his mind from God the Holy Scripture stands like a mirror wherein he sees God; but everyone in his own way. This mirror is made up of those truths that man learns from the Word, and that he appropriates by living in accordance with them. From all this it is evident, in the first place, that the Holy Scripture is the fullness of God.

That the Holy Scripture teaches not only that there is a God, but also that God is one, can be seen from the truths which, as before stated, compose that mirror, in that they form a coherent whole and make it impossible for man to think of God except as one. In consequence of this, every person whose reason is imbued with any sanctity from the Word knows, as if from himself, that God is one, and feels it to be a sort of insanity to say that there are more. The angels are unable to open their lips to utter the word "gods," for the heavenly aura in which they live resists it. That God is one the Holy Scripture teaches, not only thus universally, as has been said, but also in many particular passages, as in the following:

Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah (Deut. 6:4; also Mark 12:29).

Surely God is in thee, and beside Me there is no god (Isa. 45:14)

Am not I Jehovah? and there is no god besides me? (Isa. 45:21).

I am Jehovah thy God and thou shalt acknowledge no god beside Me (Hosea 13:4).

Thus saith Jehovah, the king of Israel, I am the First and the Last, and beside Me there is no god (Isa. 44:6).

In that day Jehovah shall be king over all the earth; in that day Jehovah shall be one and His name one (Zech. 14:9).

(True Christian Religion 6)

~~~

And behold the glory of Jehovah was seen in the cloud

That this signifies the presence of the Lord in truth accommodated to the perception, is evident from the signification of "the glory of Jehovah," as being the presence and the advent of the Lord; and from the signification of "the cloud," as being the literal sense of the Word, thus truth accommodated to the perception, for the Word in the letter is such truth. But "the glory which is in the cloud" denotes Divine truth which is not so accommodated to the perception, because it is above the fallacies and appearances of the senses, thus it also denotes the internal sense of the Word.

That "glory" denotes the internal sense of the Word, is because in this sense the Lord's church and kingdom are treated of, and in the supreme sense the Lord Himself, in which sense also is the veriest Divine truth.

Truth Divine is not of one degree, but of many.

Truth Divine in the first degree, and also in the second, is that which proceeds immediately from the Lord; this is above the angelic understanding. But truth Divine in the third degree is such as is in the inmost or third heaven; this is such that it cannot in the least be apprehended by man. Truth Divine in the fourth degree is such as is in the middle or second heaven; neither is this intelligible to man. But truth Divine in the fifth degree is such as is in the ultimate or first heaven; this can be perceived in some small measure by man provided he is enlightened; but still it is such that a great part of it cannot be expressed by human words; and when it falls into the ideas, it produces the faculty of perceiving and also of believing that the case is so.

But truth Divine in the sixth degree is such as is with man, accommodated to his perception; thus it is the sense of the letter of the Word. This sense, or this truth, is represented by the cloud, and the interior truths are represented by the glory in the cloud. This is the reason why Jehovah (that is, the Lord) so often appeared to Moses and to the sons of Israel in a cloud (see Exod. 24:15, 16; 40:34, 35; 1 Kings 8:10, 11; Matt. 24:30; and other places). The appearing of the Lord is by means of Divine truth, and moreover is Divine truth. That a "cloud" denotes truth accommodated to the perception, is from the representatives in the other life, where angelic speech of the higher heavens appears to those who are beneath as light, and also as the brightness from light; whereas the speech of the angels of a lower heaven appears as a bright cloud, in form various, and in density or rarity according to the quality of the truths.

From all this it can be seen that by "the glory of Jehovah seen in the cloud" is signified the presence of the Lord in truth accommodated to the perception.

(Arcana Coelestia 8443)

The Divine Omnipotence — The Finger of God

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
— A MEMORABLE RELATION —

At the present day most of those who believe in a life after death, also believe that in heaven their thoughts will be nothing but devotions, and their words nothing but prayers; and that all these, together with the expressions of the face and the actions of the body, will be nothing but glorification of God, thus their houses will be houses of worship or sacred chapels, and they themselves will all be priests of God.

But I can affirm that the holy things of the church do not occupy the minds or homes of men there any more than in the world where God is worshiped, although worship there is purer and more interior; while the various matters pertaining to civil prudence and to rational learning are to be found there in their excellence.

One day I was taken up to heaven, and was conducted to a certain society there, where the Sophi were who in ancient times excelled in learning because of their deep reflection and meditation upon such subjects as were both rational and useful, and who were now in heaven, because they had believed in God and now believed in the Lord, and loved their neighbor as themselves. Afterwards I was introduced into an assembly of these, and was there asked where I came from; and I explained to them that in body I was in the natural world, but in spirit in their world.

Hearing this, those angels were delighted, and asked, "In the world where you are in body what do they know and understand about influx?"

When I had recalled to mind what I had gathered on that subject from the discourses and writings of celebrated men, I replied, that as yet they knew nothing about any influx from the spiritual world into the natural, but only of the influx of nature into her subjects, as of the sun's heat and light into living bodies, and also into trees and shrubs, which are all thereby made to live; and, on the other hand, of the influx of cold into the same objects, whereby they are deprived of life; and furthermore, of influx of light into the eye, from which comes sight, of sound into the ear, from which comes hearing, of odor into the nostrils, from which comes smell; and so on.

As to anything beyond this, the learned of this age reason diversely about the influx of the soul into the body and of the body into the soul, and about this they are divided into three parties,

• one holding that there is an influx of the soul into the body, which they call occasional influx, because of its occurring whenever anything strikes the bodily senses;
• another, that there is an influx of the body into the soul, which they call physical influx, because the objects fall upon the bodily senses, and therefrom upon the soul;
• the third, that there is a simultaneous and instantaneous influx into the body and soul together, which they call pre-established harmony.

Nevertheless, each one thinks that the kind of influx he advocates takes place within nature.

• Some believe the soul to be a particle or drop of ether,
• some that it is a little ball or spark of light,
• others that it is some entity that hides itself in the brain.

But this or that which they think the soul to be, while they indeed call it spiritual, yet by spiritual they mean nothing more than a purer natural; for they know nothing about the spiritual world, or its influx into the natural; and therefore they remain within the sphere of nature. In this sphere they go up and down, and lift themselves up into it like eagles in the air; and those who thus abide in nature are like the inhabitants of some island in the sea who are unaware that there is any land beyond their own, or are like fishes in a stream which do not know that there is air above their waters. When therefore they hear any mention made of a world distinct from their own, where angels and spirits dwell, and are told that all influx into men is from that world, as well as the interior influx into trees, they stand amazed as if they were listening to some visionary reports of ghosts, or to the nonsense of astrologers.

In the world where I am when in the body, with the exception of the philosophers, our people do not think about or mention any influx but that of wine into cups, of food and drink into the stomach, of taste into the tongue, and also, perhaps, of the influx of the air into the lungs, and so on; and if they hear anything said about an influx of the spiritual world into the natural, they say, "Let it flow in if it will; what advantage or use is there in knowing it?" And they go away; and if they afterwards speak about what they have heard respecting that influx, they play with it as some play with pebbles between their fingers.

Afterwards I talked with these angels about the wonderful effects that spring from the influx of the spiritual world into the natural, such as the turning of grubs into butterflies, and the wonders relating to bees and drones, and silk-worms, and also spiders; and I said that the inhabitants of the earth attribute these things to the light and heat of the sun; thus to nature; and, what I have often wondered at, they confirm themselves by means of these in favor of nature, and by these confirmations bring sleep and death upon their minds, and become atheists.

I then related some wonderful things about plants, as that they all progress in proper order from seed to new seed again, just as if the earth knew how to conform and adapt its elements to the prolific principle of the seed, and from this to bring forth the germ, to expand the germ into a stem, from this to send forth branches and clothe them with leaves, then to embellish them with flowers to form the interiors of the flowers to form the rudiments of the fruit and bring it forth, and through the fruit, in order that it may be born again, to produce seed like offspring. But because these things from being seen continually and from their yearly recurrence, have become familiar, usual, and common, men do not regard them as anything wonderful, but as mere effects of nature; and they so think solely for the reason that they do not know that there is any spiritual world, and that it operates from within and actuates each and all things that come forth and take form in the world of nature and on the natural earth, operating as the human mind operates upon the senses and motions of the body; and that the particular things in nature are like tunics, sheaths, and clothing which engirdle spiritual things, and proximately produce effects correspondent to the end designed by God the Creator.

~~~

Additions to no. 695

[The subject treated of in the published part of this memorable relation, is influx. Swedenborg states there, in an assembly of wise men in the spiritual world, that men at the present day know nothing of an influx from the spiritual into the natural world. Afterwards he called the attention of the angels to some of the wonders that are produced by this influx, and then continues in the unpublished manuscript as follows:]

Afterwards we discussed various other subjects, and I remarked in connection with hell, that none of all the things which are in heaven, are seen in hell; but that opposite things only appear there, because the affections of the love which prevails there, which are lusts of evil, are opposed to the affections of that love in which the angels of heaven are. In hell, therefore, there appear generally deserts, and in these, birds of night, dragons, owls, bats, and in addition, wolves, tigers, leopards, rats, and mice, and all kinds of poisonous serpents and crocodiles; and where there is an appearance of grass, it is found to consist of briars, thorns, thistles, and of some poisonous plants, which breathe a deadly odor into the air; and in another direction there are heaps of stones, and stagnant pools in which are croaking frogs. All these are likewise correspondences; but, as said above, they are correspondences of the affections of an evil love, and thus lusts. But these things are not created by God; nor are they created by Him in the natural world, where similar things exist; for all things created by God are good. On the earth they were created at the same time that hell was created; and this exists from men who, BY AVERTING THEMSELVES FROM GOD became devils and satans. As these terrible things, however, wounded the ears, we turned our thoughts away from them, and directed them to those things which we had seen in heaven.

In respect to miracles I told them that all things which appear in the three kingdoms of nature are produced by an influx from the spiritual into the natural world, and, considered in themselves, are miracles, although, on account of their familiar aspect and their annual recurrence, they do not appear as such. I told them further that they should know that the miracles which are recorded in the Word likewise took place by an influx out of the prior into the posterior world, and that they were produced by an introduction of such things as are in the spiritual world into corresponding things in the natural world; for example, that the manna which every morning descended upon the camp of the children of Israel, was produced by bread from heaven being introduced into the recipient vessels of nature; that in like manner bread and fishes were thus introduced into the baskets of the apostles, which they distributed to so many thousands of men; again, that wine out of heaven was instilled into the water in the pots at the wedding where the Lord was present; further, that the fig-tree withered, because there was no longer any influx into it of spiritual nutriment, by which it was fed from the roots; and finally that such was the case with the other miracles, and that they were not produced, according to the insane notions of some of the learned in the present day, by causes summoned from all parts of nature. Miracles therefore are the effects of the Divine Omnipotence, and take place according to the influx of the spiritual into the natural world, with this difference only, that such things as actually exist in the spiritual world are actually introduced into such things in the natural world as correspond. And I finally concluded, that the cause of such things being done and being possible, is due to the Divine Omnipotence, which is meant by the finger of God, by which the Lord produced His miracles. After I had finished my explanation, the angels kissed me for what I told them, and said they would occasionally invite me to their assemblies. I thanked them, and promised to return, whenever the Lord would grant me permission to do so.

All things of nature are like sheaths around spiritual things, and like tunics around muscular fibers. This is the cause of all the wonders and miracles in nature.

(True Christian Religion 695)

The State of the World and of the Church Hereafter

Selection from The Last Judgment ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The state of the world hereafter will be altogether similar to what it has been heretofore, for the great change which has taken place in the spiritual world, does not induce any change in the natural world as to the external form; so that after this there will be civil affairs as before, there will be peace, treaties, and wars as before, with all other things which belong to societies in general and in particular, The Lord said that:

In the last times there will be wars, and then nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places (Matt. 24:6, 7).

This does not signify that such things will exist in the natural world, but that the things corresponding with them will exist in the spiritual world: for the Word in its prophecies does not treat of the kingdoms on earth, nor of the nations there, thus neither concerning their wars, nor of famines, pestilences, and earthquakes there, but of such things as correspond to them in the spiritual world; what these things are, is explained in the Arcana Coelestia, ...

But as for the state of the church, this it is which will be dissimilar hereafter; it will be similar indeed as to the external appearance, but dissimilar as to the internal. As to the external appearance divided churches will exist as heretofore, their doctrines will be taught as heretofore; and the same religions as now will exist among the Gentiles.

But henceforth the man of the church will be in a more free state of thinking on matters of faith, thus on the spiritual things which relate to heaven, because spiritual freedom has been restored to him. For all things in the heavens and in the hells are now reduced into order, and all thought concerning Divine things and against the Divine inflows from thence; from the heavens all thought which is in harmony with Divine things, and from the hells all which is against Divine things. But man does not observe this change of state in himself, because he does not reflect upon it, and because he knows nothing of spiritual freedom and of influx; nevertheless it is perceived in heaven, and also by man himself after his death. Because spiritual freedom has been restored to man, therefore the spiritual sense of the Word has now been disclosed, and by it interior Divine truths have been revealed; for man in his former state would not have understood them, and he who would have understood them, would have profaned them. That man has freedom by means of the equilibrium between heaven and hell, and, that man cannot be reformed except in freedom.

I have had various conversations with angels, concerning the state of the church hereafter. They said that they know not things to come, for the knowledge of things to come belongs to the Lord alone; but they know that the slavery and captivity in which the man of the church was formerly, has been taken away, and that now, from restored freedom, he can better perceive interior truths, if he wills to perceive them; and thus be made more internal, if he wills to become so; but that still they have slender hope of the men of the Christian church, but much of some nation far distant from the Christian world, and therefore removed from infesters, which nation is such that it is capable of receiving spiritual light, and of being made a celestial-spiritual man, and they said, that at this day interior Divine truths are revealed in that nation, and are also received in spiritual faith, that is, in life and heart, and that they adore the Lord.

(The Last Judgment 73 - 74)

The Animal Mind — The Human Mind

Selection from Doctrine of Life ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
A NATURAL MIND — A SPIRITUAL MIND

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. (Matt. 7:22-27)

Man has a natural mind and a spiritual mind: the natural mind is beneath, and the spiritual mind is above. The natural mind is his worldly mind, and the spiritual mind is his heavenly mind. The natural mind may be called the animal mind, and the spiritual mind the human mind. Man is also distinguished from the animal by this circumstance, that he has a spiritual mind, by which he is capable of being in heaven while he is in the world. By virtue of this mind also man lives after death.

As to his understanding a man may be in his spiritual mind, and thence in heaven; but as to his will he cannot be in his spiritual mind, and thence in heaven, unless he shuns evils as sins. Moreover, if he is not in heaven as to his will also, he is still not in heaven; for the will draws the understanding downwards, and causes it to be just as natural and animal as itself.

Man may be compared to a garden, the understanding to light, and the will to heat. During winter a garden is in light and not at the same time in heat; but during summer it is in light and heat together. The man therefore who is only in the light of the understanding is like a garden in wintertime; but he who is in the light of the understanding, and at the same time in the warmth of the will, is like a garden in summer-time. Moreover, the understanding enjoys wisdom from spiritual light, and the will loves from spiritual heat; for spiritual light is Divine Wisdom, and spiritual heat is Divine Love.

So long as a man does not shun evils as sins, the lusts of evils close up the interiors of the natural mind on the part of the will. They are as a thick veil there, and as a dark cloud beneath the spiritual mind, preventing it from being opened. But as soon as a man shuns evils as sins, then the Lord flows in from heaven, removes the veil, disperses the cloud and opens the spiritual mind, and thus introduces the man into heaven.

So long as the lusts of evils close up the interiors of the natural mind, as was just said, so long a man is in hell; but as soon as these lusts are dispersed by the Lord, the man is in heaven. Moreover, so long as the lusts of evils close up the interiors of the natural mind, so long is he a natural man; but as soon as these lusts are dispersed by the Lord, he becomes a spiritual man. Further, so long as the lusts of evils close up the interiors of the natural mind, so long a man is an animal, differing only in this respect that he can think and speak, even of such things as he does not see with his eyes, a power which he derives from the faculty of elevating the understanding into the light of heaven; but as soon as these lusts are dispersed by the Lord, the man is a man, because he then thinks what is true in the understanding, from what is good in the will. Again, so long as the lusts of evils close up the interiors of the natural mind, so long man is like a garden in winter-time; but as soon as these lusts are dispersed by the Lord, he is like a garden in summer-time.

The conjunction of the will and the understanding in man is meant in the Word by the heart and soul, and by the heart and spirit; as where it is said that God should be loved.

With all the heart, and with all the soul. Matt.12: 37;

and that God would give

A new heart, and a new spirit. Ezek 11:19; 36:26, 27;

where by the heart is meant the will and its love; and by the soul and spirit, the understanding and its wisdom.

(Doctrine of Life 86)

Effects from Charity and Faith Together

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Good works are not produced by charity alone, still less by faith alone, but by charity and faith together.  This is because charity apart from faith is not charity, and faith apart from charity is not faith.

Wherefore charity cannot exist by itself or faith by itself; and it cannot be said that charity in itself produces any good works, or faith in itself. It is the same with these as with the will and understanding. The will by itself can have no existence and can therefore produce nothing; nor can the understanding have any existence by itself of produce anything; but all production is effected by both together, and is effected by the understanding from the will. There is this similarity, because the will is the abode of charity and the understanding is the abode of faith. It is said that still less can faith alone produce good works, because faith is truth, and faith operates to produce truths, and these illuminate charity and its exercises. That truths illuminate, the Lord teaches, saying:

He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest that they have been wrought in God (John 3:21).

Consequently when man does good works in accordance with truths, he does them in light, that is, intelligently and wisely.

The conjunction of charity and faith is like the marriage of husband and wife. From the husband as a father and the wife as a mother all natural offspring are born; and in like manner from charity as a father and faith as a mother all spiritual off spring, which are knowledges of good and truth, are born. This makes clear how spiritual families are generated. Moreover in the Word "husband" and "father" signify in the spiritual sense the good of charity, and "wife" and "mother" the truth of faith. This again makes clear that neither charity alone nor faith alone can produce good works, as neither the husband alone nor the wife alone can produce offspring.

The truths of faith not only illuminate charity, but also determine its quality, and, still further, nourish it; so that a man having charity but no truths of faith, is like one walking in a garden, at night, who plucks fruit from the trees, not knowing whether in its use it is good or bad fruit. As the truths of faith not only illuminate charity but also determine its quality, as before said, it follows that charity without the truths of faith is like fruit without juice, like a dried-up fig, or like a grape after the wine has been pressed out of it. As truths nourish faith, as has also been said, it follows that if charity is without truths of faith, it receives no nourishment except such as a man gets from eating burnt bread and drinking unclean water from some stagnant pond.

(True Christian Religion 377)

Charity and Faith - Fixed in Works

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Charity and faith are only mental and perishable things, unless they are determined to works and coexist in them when possible.

Has not a man a head and a body which are joined together by a neck? And in the head is there not a mind that wills and thinks, and in the body is there not power that performs and executes? Therefore if man merely wills well, or thinks from charity, and does not do good and thus perform uses, is he not like a head only, and thus like a mind only, which apart from a body cannot continue to exist?

From this is not anyone able to see that charity and faith are not charity and faith so long as they are merely in the head and its mind but not in the body? For they are then like birds flying in the air without any resting-place on the earth, or like birds ready to lay, but having no nests, in which case they would drop their eggs in the air or upon the branch of some tree, and the eggs would fall to the ground and be destroyed.

There can be nothing in the mind that does not have some correspondent in the body, and its correspondent may be called its embodiment. So when charity and faith occupy the mind only, they have no embodiment in the man, and may be likened to those aerial beings called specters, like Fame as painted by the ancients with a laurel about her head and a horn in her hand. Being such specters, and still being able to think, they must needs be disturbed by fantasies, which are caused by reasonings from various kinds of sophistry, almost as reeds in marshes are shaken by the wind, while beneath them shells lie at the bottom and frogs croak on the surface. Who cannot see that such things come to pass when men merely know from the Word some things about charity and faith, but do not practice them?

Moreover, the Lord says:

Everyone who heareth My words and doeth them I will liken to a prudent man who built his house upon a rock, and everyone who heareth My words and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand, or upon the ground without a foundation (Matt. 7:24, 26; Luke 6:47-49).

Charity and faith with their factitious ideas when not put in practice may be compared to butterflies in the air, which a sparrow darts upon and devours as soon as he sees them. The Lord also says:

The sower went forth to sow; and some fell upon the hard way, and the birds came and devoured them up (Matt. 13:3, 4).

That charity and faith do not profit a man so long as they remain only in one part of his body, that is, in his head, and are not fixed in works, is evident from a thousand passages in the Word, of which I will here adduce only these:

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire (Matt. 7:19-21).

He that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the Word and attendeth, who also beareth fruit and bringeth forth. And when Jesus had said these things, He cried, saying, Who hath ears to hear, let him hear (Matt. 13:3-9, 23, 43).

Jesus said, My mother and My brethren are these who hear the Word of God and do it (Luke 8:21).

Now we know that God heareth not sinners but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth (John 9:31).

If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them (John 13:17).

He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him; and will come unto him and make My abode with him (John 14:15-21, 23).

Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit (John 15:8, 16).

For not the hearers of the law shall be justified by God, but the doers of the law (Rom. 2:13; James 1:22).

In the day of wrath and of righteous judgment God will render to every man according to his deeds (Rom. 2:5, 6).

For we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he hath done, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10).

For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father, and then He shall render unto everyone according to his deeds (Matt. 16:27).

I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow with them (Apoc. 14:13).

A Book was opened, which is the Book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Book; every man according to his works (Apoc. 20:12, 13).

Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give every man according to his work (Apoc. 22:12).

Jehovah, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give to everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his works (Jer. 22:19).

I will punish him according to his ways, and will recompense him for his works (Hos. 4:9).

According to our ways, and according to our works Jehovah does with us (Zech. 1:6).

So also in many other passages.

From this it can be seen that charity and faith are not charity and faith until they exist in works, and that while they exist only in the expanse above works, that is, in the mind, they are like appearances of a tabernacle or temple in the air, which are nothing but a mirage, and vanish of themselves; or they are like pictures drawn on paper which moths consume; or they are like an abode on a housetop where there is no sleeping-place, instead of in the house.

All this shows that charity and faith are perishable things so long as they are merely mental or unless they are determined to works and coexist in them when possible.

(True Christian Religion 375-376)

Charity and Good Works

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Charity is willing well and good works are doing well from willing well.

Charity and works are distinct from each other like will and action, or like the mind's affection and the body's operation; consequently like the internal man and the external; and these two are related to each other like cause and effect, since the causes of all things are formed in the internal man, and from this are all effects produced in the external. Therefore charity, since it belongs to the internal man, is willing well; and works, since they belong to the external man, are doing well from willing well.

Nevertheless between the good willing of different persons there is infinite diversity; for while everything that one person does to favor another is believed or appears to flow forth from goodwill or benevolence, yet no one knows whether the good deeds spring from charity or not, still less whether they spring from genuine or from spurious charity. This infinite diversity between the good-will of different persons originates in the end, intention, and consequent purpose; these are inwardly concealed in the will to do good, and from them is derived the quality of everyone's will. The will also searches the understanding for the means and modes of attaining its ends, which are effects, and in the understanding it comes into the light which enables it to see not only the reasons but also the opportunities for determining itself to action in the proper time and manner, and thus producing its effects, which are works; and at the same time in the understanding it brings itself into the power to act. From this it follows that works belong essentially to the will, formally to the understanding, and actually to the body. Thus does charity descend into good works.

This may be illustrated by comparison with a tree. Man himself, in all that belongs to him, is like a tree. In the seed of this tree there are concealed, as it were, the end, intention, and purpose of producing fruit; in these respects the seed corresponds to the will in man, which contains these three things, as stated above. Again, the seed from its interiors shoots up from the earth, clothes itself with branches, branchlets, and leaves, and so provides itself with means to it, end, which is the fruit; in all this the tree corresponds to the understanding in man. Finally, when the time comes and there is opportunity for determination, the tree blossoms and yields fruits, these corresponding to good works in man, in that evidently they are essentially from the seed, formally from the branchlets and leaves, and actually from the wood of the tree.

This may also be illustrated by comparison with a temple. Man is a temple of God, according to Paul —

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. (1 Cor. 3:16, 17)

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2 Cor. 6:16)

... in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:  in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Eph. 2:21, 22)

As a temple of God man's end, intention, and purpose are salvation and eternal life; in these there is a correspondence with the will, which contains these three things. Afterwards he acquires doctrinals of faith and charity from parents, teachers, and preachers, and when he comes into the exercise of his own judgment, from the Word and doctrinal works, all of which are means to the end; and these there is a correspondence with the understanding. Finally there comes a determination to uses, according to doctrinals as means, and this is effected by bodily acts, which are called good works. Thus the end through mediate causes produces effects, which are essentially of the end, formally of the doctrines of the church, and actually of the uses. Thus does man become a temple of God.

(True Christian Religion 374)