"Until" It Has Been Implanted In The Will

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

THERE WILL BE INTERNAL GOOD AND TRUTH
IF
THERE BE SPIRITUAL GOOD WHICH IS OF THE CHURCH

And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons: And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since. (Genesis 44:27, 28)

From the representation of Joseph and Benjamin, who are the "two" whom she (Rachel) bare, as being internal good and truth - Joseph internal good, and Benjamin interior truth.

In regard to this, that there will be internal good and truth if there be spiritual good which is of the church, the case is this: —

The spiritual good which Israel represents is the good of truth, that is, truth in the will and in act. This truth, or this good of truth, in man, makes him to be the church. When truth has been implanted in the will (which is perceived by the fact that the man is affected with truth for the sake of the end that he may live according to it), then there is internal good and truth. When man is in this good and truth, then the kingdom of the Lord is in him, and consequently he is the church, and together with others like him makes the church in general.

From this it may be seen that in order that the church may be the church, there must be spiritual good, that is, the good of truth, but by no means truth alone - from which at this day the church is called the church, and one church is distinguished from another. Let everyone think within himself whether truth would be anything unless it had life for the end. What are doctrinal things without this end? and what the precepts of the Decalogue without a life according to them? For if anyone is acquainted with these, and with all their meaning in its fullness, and yet lives contrary to them, of what benefit are they? have they any effect at all? except, with some, damnation? The case is similar with the doctrinals of faith from the Word, which are precepts of Christian life, for they are spiritual laws. Neither do these conduce to anything unless they become of the life. Let a man consider within himself whether there is anything in him that is anything except what enters into his very life; and whether the life of man, which is life, is anywhere else than in his will.

From this then it is that it is said by the Lord in the Old Testament, and confirmed in the New, that all the Law and all the Prophets are founded in love to God, and love to the neighbor, thus in the life itself, but not in faith without life; therefore by no means in faith alone, consequently neither in confidence, for this is impossible without charity. If this appears with the evil in times of danger, or when death is at hand, it is a spurious or false confidence; for not the least of this confidence appears in them in the other life, however much they may have professed it with apparent ardor at the approach of death. That faith, whether you call it confidence or trust, effects nothing with the wicked, the Lord Himself teaches in John:

As many as received, to them gave He the power to be sons of God, to them that believe in His name; who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12, 13).

They who are "born of bloods" are those who do violence to charity, also who profane truth;

They who are "born of the will of the flesh" are those who are in evils from the love of self and of the world;

They who are "born of the will of man" are those who are in persuasions of falsity; for a "man" signifies truth, and in the opposite sense falsity.

They who are "born of God" are those who have been regenerated by the Lord, and thence are in good. These are they who receive the Lord, and these are they who believe in His name, and these are they to whom He gives the power to be sons of God, but not to the others; from which it is very plain what faith alone effects for salvation.

Moreover in order that man may be regenerated and become the church, he must be introduced through truth to good; and he is introduced when truth becomes truth in the will and in act. This truth is good, and is called the good of truth, and produces new truths continually; for then for the first time it makes itself fruitful. The truth which is thence brought forth or made fruitful is what is called internal truth, and the good from which it is, is called internal good; for nothing becomes internal until it has been implanted in the will, because what is of the will is the inmost of man. So long as good and truth are outside of the will, and in the understanding only, they are outside of the man; for the understanding is without, and the will is within.

(from Arcana Coelestia 5826)

When Internals are in Externals

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
EXTERIOR KNOWLEDGES ARE THOSE OF THE RITUAL AND DOCTRINAL THINGS
THAT ARE THE EXTERNALS OF THE CHURCH
INTERIOR KNOWLEDGES ARE THOSE OF THE DOCTRINAL THINGS
THAT ARE THE INTERNALS OF THE CHURCH

In various places in the Word mention is made of the "midst" and of that which is "round about;" as when speaking of the land of Canaan, that was called the "midst" where were Zion and Jerusalem, but the country "round about" was where the surrounding nations were.

By the "land of Canaan" was represented the kingdom of the Lord; its celestial by "Zion," and its spiritual by "Jerusalem," where was the dwelling place of Jehovah or the Lord.

The country "round about," even to the borders, represented the celestial and spiritual things flowing forth in their order and derived therefrom; and in the furthest boundaries the representatives of celestial and spiritual things ceased.

These representatives had their origin from those in the Lord's kingdom in the heavens; there the Lord as a Sun is in the midst; from this is all celestial flame and spiritual light; they who are nearest are in the highest light, but they who are more remote are in less light, and they who are most remote are in the least; and there are the boundaries, and hell begins, which is outside of heaven.

With celestial flame and spiritual light the case is this: The celestial things of innocence and love, and the spiritual things of charity and faith, are in the like ratio as are the heat and light the angels have; for all the heat and light in the heavens are therefrom. It is from this therefore that the "midst" signifies the inmost, and the circumference signifies the outermost, and the things which proceed in order from the inmost to the outermost are in such degrees of innocence, love, and charity as is their distance from the center. And so it is in every heavenly society; they who are in the midst are the best of that kind, and the love and charity of that kind decreases with them according to their remoteness from the center; that is, it decreases with those who are at a distance from the center, in proportion to the distance.

The case is the like with man; his inmost is where the Lord dwells with him, and from this inmost governs the things which are round about. When man suffers the Lord to dispose the things round about to correspondence with the inmost ones, then man is in such a state that he can be received into heaven; and then the inmost, the interior, and the external things act as one; but when man does not suffer the Lord to dispose the things round about to correspondence, then he recedes from heaven in the measure in which he does not suffer it. That the soul of man is in the midst, or in his inmost, and that the body is round about or in the outmosts, is well known; for it is the body that encompasses and invests his soul or his spirit.

With those who are in celestial and spiritual love, good from the Lord flows in through the soul into the body, and thence the body becomes full of light; but with those who are in bodily and worldly love, good from the Lord cannot flow in through the soul into the body, but their interiors are in darkness; whence also the body becomes full of darkness, according to what the Lord teaches in Matthew:

The lamp of the body is the eye; if the eye be single, the whole body is full of light; but if the eye be evil, the whole body is full of darkness. If therefore the light be darkness, how great is the darkness (Matt. 6:22-23);

by the "eye" is signified the intellectual which belongs to the soul.

BUT THE CASE IS WORSE STILL WITH THOSE WHOSE INTERIORS ARE DARKNESS
AND WHOSE EXTERIORS APPEAR AS FULL OF LIGHT.

These are such as outwardly counterfeit angels of light, but are devils inwardly, and they are called "Babel;" and when with such persons the things that are "round about" are destroyed, they are carried headlong into hell. These things were represented by the city Jericho, in that its walls fell and the city was given to the curse when the priests had gone about it seven times, and had sounded the trumpets (Joshua 6:1-17). They are meant also in Jeremiah:

Set yourselves in array against Babel round about, all ye that bend the bow; sound the trumpet against her round about; she hath given her hand; her foundations are fallen; her walls are thrown down (Jer. 50:14-15).

It is now plain what "round about" means. Moreover in the Word mention is sometimes made of that which is "round about" (as Jer. 21:14; 46:14; 49:5; Ezek. 36:3-4, 7; 37:21; Amos 3:11; and elsewhere), and by the things "round about" are signified those which are exterior.

(from Arcana Coelestia 2973)

A Just Idea of Successives

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
THE THINGS THAT PROCEED
FROM DIVINE GOOD
AS FROM A FATHER, AFTER HIM,
AS BEING SUCCESSIVELY, OR IN SUCCESSIVE ORDER

There are three things which succeed one another in heaven, and which, in order that they may be conceived distinctly, are to be called by their names, which are "celestial," "spiritual," and "natural." These three proceed there in order, one from another, and by the influx of one into the next successively they are connected together, and thereby make a one. The Divine of the Lord in the heavens, from the difference of its reception, is called by these names.

IN THE INTERNAL SENSE THINGS COHERE IN AN UNBROKEN SUCCESSION, ALTHOUGH IN THE SENSE OF THE LETTER THE SERIES OF THE THINGS APPEAR TO BE BROKEN ASUNDER

As the successives in heaven are here treated of, it shall be told what is meant by "successive." Most of the learned at this day have no other idea of successives, than as of what is continuous, or as of that which coheres by continuity. As they have this idea of the succession of things, they cannot conceive the nature of the distinction between the exteriors and interiors of man, nor consequently between the body and the spirit of man; and therefore when they think about them from these ideas, they cannot possibly understand that after the dispersion or death of the body, the spirit also is able to live under a human form.

But successives are not connected continuously, but discretely, that is, distinctly according to degrees; for interior things are wholly distinct from exterior, insomuch that exterior things can be separated, and yet the interior things still continue in their life. This is the reason why man can be withdrawn from the body and think in his spirit; or according to the form of speaking used by the ancients, can be withdrawn from sensuous, and raised toward interior things. The ancients also knew that when man is withdrawn from the sensuous things that belong to the body, he is withdrawn or raised into the light of his spirit, thus into the light of heaven. Hence also the learned ancients knew that when the body was dispersed, they would live an interior life which they called their spirit; and as they regarded that life as the very human life itself, they also knew from this that they should live under the human form. Such was the idea which they had of the soul of man; and as that life was akin to life Divine, they hence perceived that their soul was immortal; for they knew that that part of man which was akin to life Divine, and thus conjoined with it, could not possibly die.

But after those ancient times this idea of the soul and of the spirit of man disappeared, by reason, as said above, of the want of a just idea of successives. Hence also it is, that they who think from modern learning do not know that there is what is spiritual, and that this is distinct from what is natural. For they who have an idea of successives as of what is continuous, cannot conceive of the spiritual otherwise than as of a purer natural, when yet they are as distinct from each other as are the prior and the posterior, thus as that which begets and that which is begotten. From this it is that the distinction between the internal or spiritual man, and the external or natural, thus between man's internal thought and will, and his external thought and will, is not apprehended by such learned men. Hence neither can they comprehend anything of faith and love, of heaven and hell, and of the life of man after death.

But they who have a just and distinct idea of successives are able in some degree to comprehend that with a man who is being regenerated the interiors are successively opened, and that as they are opened they are also raised into interior light and life, and nearer to the Divine; and that this opening and consequent elevation is effected by means of truths Divine, which are vessels recipient of the good of love from the Divine. The good of love is that which immediately conjoins man with the Divine, for love is spiritual conjunction. Hence it follows that man can thus be more and more interiorly opened and raised in proportion as he is in the good of love from the Divine; and that conversely there is no opening and consequent elevation with the man who does not receive truths Divine; as is the case if a man is in evil.

(from Arcana Coelestia 10099)

Those Who Have Confirmed Themselves Against Divine Truths

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

They who are within the church and have confirmed themselves against Divine truths, especially against these — THAT THE LORD'S HUMAN IS DIVINE, AND THAT THE WORKS OF CHARITY CONTRIBUTE TO SALVATION — if they have confirmed themselves against them, not only by doctrine but also by life, they have reduced themselves to such a state as to their interiors that afterwards they cannot possibly be brought to receive them, for what is once confirmed by doctrine, and at the same time by life, remains to eternity.  Those who do not know the interior state of man may suppose that anyone, no matter how he has confirmed himself against these truths, can yet easily accept them afterwards, provided he is convinced. But that this is impossible has been granted me to know by much experience in regard to such persons in the other life. For whatever is confirmed by doctrine is absorbed by the intellectual part, and what is confirmed by life is absorbed by the will part; and that which is inrooted in both man's lives, the life of his understanding and the life of his will, cannot be rooted out. The very soul of man which lives after death is formed thereby, and is of such a nature that it never recedes therefrom. This is also the reason why the lot of those within the church with whom this is the case, is worse than the lot of those who are out of the church; for those who are out of the church, who are called Gentiles, have not confirmed themselves against these truths, because they have not known them; and therefore such of them as have lived in mutual charity, easily receive Divine truths, if not in the world, yet in the other life.

For this reason when any new church is being set up by the Lord, it is not set up with those who are within the church, but with those who are without, that is, with the Gentiles. These things are often treated of in the Word.

This much is premised in order that it may be known what is involved in Joseph's being cast into the pit by his brethren, and in his being drawn out thence by the Midianites, and sold to the Ishmaelites. For by Joseph's brethren are represented those within the church who have confirmed themselves against Divine truth, especially against the two truths — that the Lord's Human is Divine, and that works of charity contribute to salvation — and this not only by doctrine, but also by life; while by the Ishmaelites are represented those who are in simple good, and by the Midianites those who are in the truth of this good. It is related of the latter that they drew Joseph out of the pit; and of the former that they bought him.

(from Arcana Coelestia 4747)

The Lord's Divine Providence is Universal

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Lord's Divine providence is universal from the minutest particulars, in that He created the universe that an infinite and eternal creation from Himself might exist in it; and this creation exists by the Lord's forming a heaven out of men to be before Him as one man, which is His image and likeness.

• This heaven formed out of men is such in the Lord's sight, and that this was the end of creation.

• The Divine in all that it does, looks to the infinite and eternal.

The infinite and eternal that the Lord looks to in forming His heaven out of men, is that it shall be enlarged to infinity and to eternity, and that He may thus have a constant abiding place in the end of His creation. This is the infinite and eternal creation that the Lord provided for through the creation of the universe; and He is constantly present in that creation by His Divine providence.

Who that knows and believes from the doctrine of the church that God is infinite and eternal (for it is in the doctrine of all the churches in the Christian world that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, is infinite, eternal, uncreated, and omnipotent, as may be seen in the Athanasian creed), can be so devoid of reason as not to admit as soon as he hears it that God cannot do otherwise than look to what is infinite and eternal in the great work of His creation? For what else can He look to when He looks from Himself? This also He looks to in the human race, from which He forms that heaven which is His own. What else, then, can the Divine providence have for its end than the reformation and salvation of the human race? But no one can be reformed by himself by means of his own prudence, but only by the Lord by means of His Divine providence. Thus it follows that unless man were led every moment and fraction of a moment by the Lord, he would depart from the way of reformation and would perish.

Every change and variation of the state of the human mind produces some change and variation in the series of things present, and consequently in the things that follow; why not then progressively to eternity? It is like an arrow shot from a bow, which, if it should depart in the least at its start from the line of aim, would at a distance of a thousand paces or more go far wide of the mark. So would it be if the Lord did not lead the states of human minds every least moment. This the Lord does in accordance with the laws of His Divine providence; and it is in accordance with these laws that it should appear to man that he leads himself; while how he leads himself is foreseen by the Lord with an unceasing adaptation. That laws of permission are also laws of the Divine providence, and that every man can be reformed and regenerated, and that there is no other possible predestination, will be seen in what follows.

Since, therefore, every man lives for ever after death, and is allotted a place according to his life, either in heaven or in hell, and since both heaven and hell must exist in a form that will act as a one, as said before, and since no one can be allotted in that form any place but his own, it follows that the human race throughout the whole world is under the Lord's auspices; and that each one, from infancy even to the end of his life, is led by the Lord in the least particulars, and his place foreseen and at the same time provided.

From all this it is clear that the Lord's Divine providence is universal because it is in every least particular; and that this is the infinite and eternal creation which the Lord provided for Himself by means of the creation of the universe. Of this universal providence man sees nothing. If he did see it it would appear in his eyes only as one passing sees scattered heaps and accumulated material from which a house is to be built, while the Lord sees it as a magnificent palace, with its work of construction and enlargement constantly going on.

(from Divine Providence 202-203)

God is Not in Space

Selection from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Divine, that is, God, is not in space, although omnipresent and with every man in the world, and with every angel in heaven, and with every spirit under heaven, cannot be comprehended by a merely natural idea, but it can by a spiritual idea.

It cannot be comprehended by a natural idea, because in the natural idea there is space; since it is formed out of such things as are in the world, and in each and all of these, as seen by the eye, there is space. In the world, everything great and small is of space; everything long, broad, and high is of space; in short, every measure, figure and form is of space. This is why it has been said that it cannot be comprehended by a merely natural idea that the Divine is not in space, when it is said that the Divine is everywhere. Still, by natural thought, a man may comprehend this, if only he admit into it something of spiritual light. For this reason something shall first be said about spiritual idea, and thought therefrom.

Spiritual idea derives nothing from space, but it derives its all from state. State is predicated of love, of life, of wisdom, of affections, of joys therefrom; in general, of good and of truth. An idea of these things which is truly spiritual has nothing in common with space; it is higher and looks down upon the ideas of space which are under it as heaven looks down upon the earth.

But since angels and spirits see with eyes, just as men in the world do, and since objects cannot be seen except in space, therefore in the spiritual world where angels and spirits are, there appear to be spaces like the spaces on earth; yet they are not spaces, but appearances; since they are not fixed and constant, as spaces are on earth; for they can be lengthened or shortened; they can be changed or varied. Thus because they cannot be determined in that world by measure, they cannot be comprehended there by any natural idea, but only by a spiritual idea. The spiritual idea of distances of space is the same as of distances of good or distances of truth, which are affinities and likenesses according to states of goodness and truth.

From this it may be seen that man is unable, by a merely natural idea, to comprehend that the Divine is everywhere, and yet not in space; but that angels and spirits comprehend this clearly; consequently that a man also may, provided he admits into his thought something of spiritual light; and this for the reason that it is not his body that thinks, but his spirit, thus not his natural, but his spiritual.

But many fail to comprehend this because of their love of the natural, which makes them unwilling to raise the thoughts of their understanding above the natural into spiritual light; and those who are unwilling to do this can think only from space, even concerning God; and to think according to space concerning God is to think concerning the expanse of nature. This has to be premised, because without a knowledge and some perception that the Divine is not in space, nothing can be understood about the Divine Life, which is Love and Wisdom ... and hence little, if anything, about Divine Providence, Omnipresence, Omniscience, Omnipotence, Infinity and Eternity.

It has been said that in the spiritual world, just as in the natural world, there appear to be spaces, consequently also distances, but that these are appearances according to spiritual affinities which are of love and wisdom, or of good and truth. From this it is that the Lord, although everywhere in the heavens with angels, nevertheless appears high above them as a sun. Furthermore, since reception of love and wisdom causes affinity with the Lord, those heavens in which the angels are, from reception, in closer affinity with Him, appear nearer to Him than those in which the affinity is more remote. From this it is also that the heavens, of which there are three, are distinct from each other, likewise the societies of each heaven; and further, that the hells under them are remote according to their rejection of love and wisdom. The same is true of men, in whom and with whom the Lord is present throughout the whole earth; and this solely for the reason that the Lord is not in space.

(from Divine Love and Wisdom 7-10)

Genuine Charity is Devoid of All Claim to Merit

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
GENUINE CHARITY DOES NOT REGARD
PROFIT OR RECOMPENSE AS THE END
BUT THE GOOD OF THE NEIGHBOR

He who does not know what Christian charity is, may believe that it consists not only in giving to the needy and the poor, but also in doing good to a fellow citizen, to our country, and to the church, for any cause whatever, or for any end whatever. But be it known that it is the end that determines the quality of all a man's deeds.

If his end or intention is to do good for the sake of reputation, or to acquire honors or profit, then the good which he does is not good, because it is done for the sake of himself, and thus also from himself.

But if his end is to do good for the sake of a fellow citizen, his country, or the church, thus for the sake of the neighbor, then the good which the man does is good, for it is done for the sake of good itself, which, in general, is the neighbor itself;

thus also it is done for the sake of the Lord, for such good is not from man, but from the Lord, and that which is from the Lord is the Lord's. It is this good which is meant by the Lord in Matthew:

As much as ye did to one of the least of these My brethren, ye did to Me (Matt. 25:40).

As it is with good, so also it is with truth —

Those who do truth for the sake of truth, do it also for the sake of the Lord, because they do it from the Lord.

To do truth for the sake of truth, is to do good; for truth becomes good when it passes from the understanding into the will, and from the will goes forth into act. To do good in this manner is Christian charity. Sometimes those who do good from Christian charity have regard to reputation from it, for the sake of honor, or for the sake of profit; yet they do so very differently from those who regard these things as the end; for they regard what is good and just as the essential and only thing, thus as being in the highest place; and thereafter they regard profit and honor, and reputation for the sake of these, as being relatively not essential, thus in the lowest place. When persons of such a character have in view what is just and good, they are like those who fight in battle for their country, and who then have no regard for their life, nor for their rank and possessions in the world, which are then relatively of no account. But those who have regard to themselves and the world in the first place, are of such a character that they do not even see what is just and good, because they have in view themselves and their own profit.

From all this it is evident what it is to do good for the sake of self or the world, and what it is to do good for the sake of the Lord or the neighbor, and what is the difference between them. The difference is as great as that between two opposites, thus as great as between heaven and hell. Moreover, those who do good for the sake of the neighbor or the Lord are in heaven; but those who do good for the sake of self and the world are in hell. For those who do good for the sake of the neighbor and the Lord, love the Lord above all things and the neighbor as themselves, in accordance with the chief of all the commandments.

And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.  (Mark 12:28-31).

But those who do all things for the sake of themselves and the world, love themselves above all things, thus more than God, and not only do they despise the neighbor, but even hold him in hatred if he does not make one with themselves, and be theirs. This is meant by what the Lord teaches in Matthew:

No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Matt. 6:24).

There are those who serve both; but these are they who are called "lukewarm, neither cold nor hot," who are "spewed out" (Rev. 3:15-16).

From all this it is now plain what was represented by usurers who took usury, namely, those who do good for the sake of profit.

From this it is clear why it is said that one "should not be as a usurer, and should not put usury upon a brother;" as also in other passages in Moses:

Thou shalt not put on thy brother usury of silver, usury of food, usury of anything on which it is put. Upon a foreigner thou mayest put usury; but upon thy brother thou shalt not put usury; that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all that thou puttest thine hand unto, in the land whither thou goest to possess it (Deut. 23:19, 20; Lev. 25:36-38);

"to put on a brother the usury of silver" denotes to lend truths, or to instruct, for the sake of profit; "to put the usury of food on him" denotes to lend the goods of truth for the sake of profit; for "silver" denotes truth; and "food," the good of truth.  That "Jehovah will bless those who do not so, in all that they put their hand unto in the land" is because they are in the affection of good and truth, thus in the happiness the angels have in heaven, for a man has heaven in this affection, that is, in the good of this love.

The reason why it was allowable to put usury on foreigners, was that by "foreigners" are signified those who do not acknowledge and receive anything of good and truth.  Thus they who do good only for the sake of profit are to serve man, because they are relatively servants.

~~~

Note the following:

THOSE ARE TREATED OF WHO SHOULD EAT THE PASSOVER TOGETHER, AND THOSE WHO SHOULD NOT

all the statutes commanded to the sons of Israel were laws of order in the external form, but those things which they represented and signified were laws of order in the internal form.

Laws of order are truths which are from good; the complex of all the laws of order is the Divine truth proceeding from the Divine good of the Lord. From this it is evident that the Divine Itself of the Lord in heaven is order, the Divine good the essential of order, and the Divine truth its formal.

The supper of the passover represented the consociations of the good in heaven; and in the statutes which follow, it is declared who could be consociated and who could not.

In general, feasts, both dinners and suppers, in ancient times were made within the church in order that they might be consociated and conjoined as to love, and that they might instruct one another in those things which are of love and faith, thus in the things of heaven. Such at that time were the delights attending their banquets, and such was the end for the sake of which were their dinners and suppers. Thus the mind and the body also were nourished unanimously and correspondently; and from this they had health and long life, and from it they had intelligence and wisdom; and also from this they had communication with heaven, and some had open communication with angels.

But as in course of time all internal things vanish away and pass into external ones, so also did the purposes of the feasts and banquets, which at this day are not for the sake of any spiritual conjunction, but for the sake of worldly conjunctions, namely, for the sake of gain, for the sake of the pursuit of honors, and for the sake of pleasures, from which there is nourishment of the body, but none of the mind. (from Arcana Coelestia 7995;7996)

~~~

In David:

He that walketh perfect, and that doeth righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart; He that giveth not his silver to usury, and taketh not a gift against the innocent. He that doeth this shall never be moved (Ps. 15:2, 5);

"to give one's silver into usury" denotes to teach merely for the sake of profit, thus to do good for the sake of the recompense.

In like manner in Ezekiel:

A righteous man who doeth judgment and righteousness, giveth not into usury, and taketh not interest (Ezek. 18:5, 8).

He that withholdeth his hand from the needy, that taketh not usury or interest, that doeth My judgments, that walketh in My statutes, living he shall live (Ezek. 18:17).

In thee have they taken a gift to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and interest, and thou hast taken gain of thy companions by violence (Ezek. 22:12).

This is said of the "city of bloods," by which is signified the falsity that destroys truth and good; "taking usury and interest" denotes doing good for the sake of profit and recompense, thus not from charity.

(from Arcana Coelestia 9210)