Charity and Good Works (pt. 3)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity and Good Works (pt. 3)
v Doctrinal Series v

I. THERE ARE THREE UNIVERSAL LOVES:
THE LOVE OF HEAVEN, THE LOVE OF THE WORLD, AND THE LOVE OF SELF.

These three loves must first be considered for the reason that these three are the universal and fundamental of all loves, and that charity has something in common with each of them.

• The love of heaven means both love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; and as each of these looks to use as its end, the love of heaven may be called the love of uses.

• The love of the world is not merely a love of wealth and possessions, but is also a love of all that the world affords, and of all that delights the bodily senses, as beauty delights the eye, harmony the ear, fragrance the nostrils, delicacies the tongue, softness the skin; also becoming dress, convenient houses, and society, thus all the enjoyments arising from these and many other objects.

• The love of self is not merely the love of honor, glory, fame, and eminence, but also the love of meriting and seeking office, and so of ruling over others.

Charity has something in common with each of these three loves, because viewed in itself charity is the love of uses; for charity wishes to do good to the neighbor, and good and use are the same, and from these loves everyone looks to uses as his end; the love of heaven looking to spiritual uses, the love of the world to natural uses, which may be called civil, and the love of self to corporeal uses, which may also be called domestic uses, that have regard to oneself and one's own.

(True Christian Religion 394)

To be continued ...

Charity and Good Works (pt. 2)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
CHARITY (OR LOVE TO THE NEIGHBOR) AND GOOD WORKS

v Doctrinal Series v
Charity and Good Works (pt. 2)

It is an unchanging truth, that, for man to have spiritual life, and therefore salvation, faith and charity must not be separated. This is self-evident to any man's understanding, even if it is not enriched with the treasures of learning.

When one hears it said, that whoever lives well and believes aright is saved, does he not see this from a kind of interior perception and therefore assent to it with his understanding? And when he hears it said that he who believes aright and does not live well is also saved, does he not reject it from his understanding, as he would a piece of dirt falling into his eye? For from interior perception the thought instantly occurs, How can anyone believe aright when he does not live well? In that case, what is believing but a painted picture of faith, and not its living image?

So again, if anyone hears it said, that whoever lives well is saved, although he does not believe, does not the understanding, while reflecting upon this or turning it over and over, see, perceive and think, that this also is not consistent, since right living is from God, because all good that is essentially good is from God? What then is living aright and not believing, but like clay in the hands of a potter, which cannot be formed into a vessel that would be of use in the spiritual kingdom, but only in the natural?

Furthermore, cannot anyone see a contradiction in these two statements, namely, that he is saved who believes but does not live well, and that he is saved who lives well but does not believe? Since, then, living well, which pertains to charity, is at this day both understood and not understood - living well naturally being understood, while living well spiritually is not - therefore this subject, because it pertains to charity, shall be treated of, and this shall be done under a series of distinct propositions.

(True Christian Religion 393)

To be continued ...

Charity and Good Works (pt. 1)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

CHARITY (OR LOVE TO THE NEIGHBOR) AND GOOD WORKS

v Doctrinal Series v

Charity and Good Works (pt. 1)

Having treated of faith, charity now follows, because faith and charity are conjoined like truth and good, and these two like light and heat in spring. This is said because spiritual light, which is the light that goes forth from the sun of the spiritual world, is in its essence truth; and consequently in that world wherever truth appears, it shines with a splendor proportionate to its purity; and spiritual heat, which also goes forth from that sun, in its essence is good. This too is said because it is the same with charity and faith as with good and truth; for charity is the complex of all things pertaining to the good that a man does to his neighbor, while faith is the complex of all things pertaining to the truth that a man thinks respecting God and things Divine.

As, therefore, the truth of faith is spiritual light, and the good of charity spiritual heat, it follows that it is the same with that light and heat as with the light and heat of the natural world, that is to say, as by the conjunction of the latter all things on earth spring forth, so by the conjunction of the former all things spring forth in the human mind; but with the distinction that on the earth this growth is effected by natural heat and light, but in the human mind it is effected by spiritual heat and light, and this latter being spiritual, is wisdom and intelligence. Moreover, as there is a correspondence between these, the human mind in which charity is conjoined with faith and faith with charity is in the Word likened to a garden, and this is what is meant by the garden of Eden. ...

Again, having treated of faith, charity must be treated of for the further reason that otherwise what faith is could not be comprehended, since, as stated and shown in the preceding (Doctrinal Series), faith without charity is not faith, nor is charity without faith charity, and neither of them is living except from the Lord; also that the Lord, charity, and faith make one, like life, will, and understanding, and if they are divided, each perishes, like a pearl reduced to powder; and finally, that charity and faith are together in good works.

(True Christian Religion 392)

To be continued ...

Faith (pt. 46)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
(Continued pt. 46)

X. WITH THE EVIL THERE IS NO FAITH.

(2)Those in Christendom who reject the Lord and the Word have no faith, although they live morally, and even speak, teach, and write rationally about faith.

This follows as a conclusion from all that precedes; for it has been shown that the true and only faith is faith in the Lord and from the Lord, and that a faith that is not a faith in and from Him, is not a spiritual but a natural faith, and merely natural faith has not the essence of faith in it. Moreover, faith is from the Word; it is from no other source, since the Word is from the Lord, and consequently the Lord Himself is the Word. Therefore He says,

That He is the Word (John 1:1, 2).

From this it follows that those who reject the Word, reject the Lord also; for these cohere as one; also that those who reject either of these also reject the church, since the church is from the Lord through the Word.  Furthermore, that those who reject the church are outside of heaven, since the church introduces into heaven; and those who are outside of heaven are among the damned, and these have no faith. Those who reject the Lord and the Word have no faith, although they live morally, and even speak, teach, and write rationally about faith, for the reason that such have no moral-spiritual life, but only a natural life, and no rational-spiritual mind, but only a natural mind; and merely natural morality and rationality are in themselves dead; therefore as dead men there is no faith in them. A man who is merely natural and in regard to faith is dead may indeed talk and teach about faith, charity, and God, but not from faith, charity, and God. That those alone have faith who believe in the Lord, and that others have not, is evident from the following passages:

He that believeth on the Son is not judged; but he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18).

He that believeth in the Son hath eternal life but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the anger of God abideth on him (John 3:36).

Jesus said, When the Spirit of truth is come, He will reprove the world of sin, because they believe not on Me (John 16:8, 9);

and to the Jews He said:

Except ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins (John 8:24).

Therefore David says:

I will declare the decree Jehovah said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and ye perish in the way. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him (Ps. 2:7, 12).

That in the consummation of the age, which is the last time of the church, there will be no faith, because there will be no faith in the Lord as the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and one with the Father, the Lord foretells in thee Gospels, saying,

That there shall then be an abomination of desolation, and tribulation such as hath not been nor ever shall be, and that the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven (Matt. 24:15, 21, 29).

And in the Apocalypse,

That Satan, loosed out of his prison, shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea (20:7, 8).

And because the Lord foresaw this, He also said:

Howbeit, when the Son of man cometh shall He find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8).

(True Christian Religion 384)

Faith (pt. 45)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
(Continued pt. 45)

X. WITH THE EVIL THERE IS NO FAITH.

(1) The evil have no faith, since evil belongs to hell and faith to heaven.

Evil belongs to hell, because all evil is from hell; faith belongs to heaven, because all truth that pertains to faith is from heaven. So long as man is living in the world he is kept and walks midway between heaven and hell, and there he is in spiritual equilibrium, which is his freedom of choice. Hell is under his feet and heaven above his head; and whatever comes up from hell is evil and false, while whatever comes down from heaven is good and true. Because man is midway between these two opposites, and at the same time in spiritual equilibrium, he is able to choose, adopt, and appropriate to himself from freedom either the one or the other.

If he chooses evil and falsity he connects himself with hell; if he chooses good and truth he connects himself with heaven.

From this it is clear not only that evil belongs to hell and faith to heaven, but also that the two cannot be together in the same subject, that is, the same man. For if they were together, the man would be drawn in different directions, as if two ropes were tied around him and he were drawn upward by one and downward by the other; and so he would become like a thing suspended in the air. Or he would be as one flying like a blackbird, now upward and now downward, in the former case adoring God, in the latter the devil. Anyone sees that this is profanation. That no man can serve two masters, but will rather hate the one and love the other, the Lord teaches in Matt. (6:24).

That where evil is there is no faith, may be illustrated by various comparisons, such as the following: Evil is like fire (infernal fire is nothing but love of evil), and it consumes faith like stubble, reducing it and all that pertains to it to ashes. Evil dwells in darkness and faith in light; and evil by means of falsities extinguishes faith, as darkness extinguishes light. Evil is black like ink, while faith is white like snow, and clear like water; and evil blackens faith, as ink does snow or water. Moreover, evil and the truth of faith can be joined together only as what is fetid may be mixed with what is fragrant, or urine with flavorous wine; nor can the two exist together except as a noisome corpse in the same bed with a living man; and they can no more dwell together than a wolf can dwell in a sheepfold, a hawk in a dovecote, or a fox in a henhouse.

(True Christian Religion 383)

To be continued...

Faith (pt. 44)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
(Continued pt. 44)

X. WITH THE EVIL THERE IS NO FAITH.

The evil are all who deny that the world was created by God, and thus deny God, for they are naturalistic atheists.

All such are evil because all good, which is not only naturally but also spiritually good, is from God; consequently those who deny God will not and therefore cannot receive good from any other source than what is their own; and what is man's own is the lust of his flesh; and whatever proceeds from that is spiritually evil, however good it may seem naturally. Such are evil in theory; while those who have no regard for the Divine commandments (which are exhibited in a summary in the Decalogue), and live like outlaws, are practically evil. Such are also deniers of God in heart (although many of them confess Him with their lips), for the reason that God and His commandments make one; and this is why the ten commandments are called,

Jehovah there (Num. 10:35, 36; Ps. 132:7, 8).

But to make it still clearer that the evil have no faith, let us from the two following propositions draw a conclusion:

(1) The evil have no faith, since evil belongs to hell and faith to heaven.
(2) All those in Christendom who reject the Lord and the Word have no faith, although they live morally, and even speak, teach, and write rationally about faith.

But of these points separately.

(True Christian Religion 382)

To be continued...

Faith (pt. 43)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
(Continued pt. 43)

IX. THERE IS A TRUE FAITH, A SPURIOUS FAITH AND A HYPOCRITICAL FAITH.
(3) Hypocritical faith is no faith.

Man becomes a hypocrite when he thinks much about himself and places himself before others, for thereby he directs his mind's thoughts and affections to his body, immerses them in it, and unites them with its senses. He thus becomes a natural, sensual, and corporeal man, and then his mind cannot be withdrawn from the flesh to which it adheres, and be raised to God, and cannot see anything of God in the light of heaven, that is, anything spiritual. And because he is a carnal man, the spiritual things that enter (that is, through his hearing into his understanding), seem to him only like something spectral, or like down floating in the air, or like flies about the head of a running and sweating horse; therefore in heart he ridicules them. For it is well known that the natural man looks upon what pertains to the spirit, that is, spiritual things, as hallucinations.

Among natural men the hypocrite is the lowest natural for he is sensual, since his mind is closely bound to his bodily senses, and therefore he has no love for seeing anything but what his senses suggest; and as the senses are in nature, they compel the mind to think from nature about everything, and so in that way about everything pertaining to faith.

If this hypocrite becomes a preacher, he retains in his memory such things as he had heard about faith during his childhood and youth; but as there is nothing spiritual inwardly in these things but only what is natural, when he presents them to a congregation they are nothing but lifeless words. They sound as if they had life because of the delight of the love of self and the world which makes them ring according to the eloquence of the speaker, and soothe the ear almost like the harmony of a song.

When a hypocritical preacher returns home after his sermon, he laughs at everything that he has set forth before his congregation about faith or from the Word, and perhaps says to himself, "I have cast my net into the lake and have caught flat-fish and shell-fish," for such do all who are in true faith appear to his fancy.

A hypocrite is like a sculptured image with a double head, one head within the other, the internal head connected with the trunk or body, while the external, which rotates about the internal, is painted on its front side in proper colors like a human face, much like the wooden heads displayed at the shops of hairdressers. He is also like a boat, which the sailor, by proper management of the sail, can direct as he pleases, either with the wind or against it; his trimming his sail is his favoring everyone who contributes to his indulgence in the delights of the flesh and its senses.

Hypocritical ministers are finished comedians, mimics, and players, who can personate kings, leaders, primates, and bishops, and as soon as they have doffed their theatrical robes, visit brothels and consort with harlots. They are also like a door hung upon a round hinge that can open either way; their mind is such because it can be opened either hellward or heavenward, and when opened to one it is closed to the other; for, what is wonderful, when they are ministering in holy things and teaching truths from the Word, they do not know otherwise than that they believe in them, for the door is then closed toward hell; but the moment they return home they believe nothing, for the door is then closed toward heaven.

Among consummate hypocrites there is an interior enmity against truly spiritual men, for it is like that of satans against the angels of heaven. They are unconscious of this while they are living in the world, but it manifests itself after death, when their external, by means of which they assumed the appearance of spiritual men, is taken away, for it is their internal man that is thus satanic.

But I will tell how spiritual hypocrites, who are such as walk In sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves (Matt. 7:15), appear to the angels of heaven. They appear like soothsayers walking on the palms of their hands and praying, while from the heart they are crying with their lips to demons and kissing them, but by clapping their shoes together in the air they make a noise to God. But when they stand on their feet their eyes look like leopards' eyes, they step like wolves, their mouths are fox-like, their teeth like those of a crocodile, and as to faith they are like vultures.

(True Christian Religion 381)

To be continued...