:

from Him. Hence it follows, that so far as any one is receptive of the Lord, in that degree he is our neighbor; and forasmuch as no one receives the Lord, that is, good from Him, in the same manner as another, therefore no one is our neighbor in the same manner as another. For all who are in the heavens, and all the good who are on the earths, differ in good: no two ever receive a good that is altogether one and the same; it must be various, that each may subsist by itself. But all these varieties, consequently all the distinctions of neighbor, which depend on the reception of the Lord, that is, on the reception of good from Him, can never be known by any man, nor indeed by any angel, except in a general manner, or with respect to their kinds and species; neither does the Lord require any more of the man of the church than to live according to what he knows.

thing. Love is not any thing without wisdom, but | asmuch as all goods proceed from the Lord, therein wisdom it is formed to something: this some-fore the Lord is our neighbor in a supreme sense thing, to which it is formed, is use; wherefore, and in a supereminent degree, and the origin is when love by wisdom is in use, then it really is, because it actually exists. They are just like end, cause, and effect; the end is not any thing unless by the cause it be in the effect: if one be loosed from those three, the whole is loosed, and becomes as nothing. It is similar with charity, faith, and works. Charity without faith is not any thing, neither is faith without charity, nor charity and faith without works; but in works they are something, and such a something as the use of the works is. It is similar with affection, thought, and operation, and it is similar with will, understanding, and action; for the will without the understanding is like the eye without sight; and both without action are like a mind without a body that it is so, may be clearly seen in this temple, because the light in which we are here is a light enlightening the interiors of the mind. Geometry also teaches that there is nothing complete and perfect, unless it be a trine; for a line is not any thing, unless it become an area, nor is an area any thing, unless it become a body; wherefore, one must be drawn into another, that they may exist, and they coexist in the third. As it is in this, it is also in all created things, each of which is terminated in a third. Thence now it is, that in the Word the number three signifies what is complete and perfect. Since it is so, I could not but wonder that some profess faith alone, some charity alone, and some works alone, when yet one without another, or any two together, without the third, is not any thing." But then I asked, "Cannot a man have charity and faith, and still not works? Cannot a man be in affection and thought concerning something, and yet not in the operation of it?" And the angel answered me, "He can only ideally, but not really; he will still be in the endeavor or will to operate, and will or endeavor is in itself an act, because it is a continual striving to act, which becomes, by determination, an act in externals: wherefore, endeavor and will, as an internal act, is accepted by every wise man, because it is accepted by God, altogether as an external act, provided it do not fail when opportunity is given." — T. C. R. 386, 387.

SECT. 7.-CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS.
Who is the Neighbor.

303. It shall first be shown what the neighbor is, as it is the neighbor who is to be loved, and towards whom charity is to be exercised. For unless it be known what our neighbor is, charity may be exercised in a similar manner, without distinction, towards the evil as well as towards the good, whence charity ceases to be charity; for the evil, from the benefactions conferred on them, do evil to their neighbor, but the good do good.

304. It is a common opinion at this day, that every man is equally a neighbor, and that benefits are to be conferred on every one who needs assistance: but it is the business of Christian prudence to examine well the quality of a man's life, and to exercise charity to him accordingly. The man of the internal church exercises his charity with discrimination, consequently with intelligence; but the man of the external church, forasmuch as he is not able thus to discern things, does it indiscriminately.

305. The distinctions of neighbor, which the man of the church ought well to know, depend upon the good which is with every one; and for

306. Forasmuch as good is different with every one, it follows, that the quality of his good determines in what degree and in what proportion any one is our neighbor. That this is the case is plain from the Lord's parable concerning him that fell among robbers, whom, when half dead, the priest passed by, and also the Levite; but the Samaritan, after he had bound up his wounds, and poured in oil and wine, took him up on his own beast, and led him to an inn, and ordered that care should be taken of him: he, forasmuch as he exercised the good of charity, is called neighbor, Luke x. 29-37; whence it may be known that they are our neighbor who are in good: oil and wine, which the Samaritan poured into the wounds, also signify good and its truth.

307. It is plain, from what has now been said, that, in a universal sense, good is the neighbor, forasmuch as a man is neighbor according to the quality of the good that is with him from the Lord; and forasmuch as good is the neighbor, so is love, for all good is of love; consequently. every man is our neighbor according to the quality of the love which he receives from the Lord. H. D. 84-88.

308. The reason why good is the neighbor, is because good is of the will, and the will is the esse of the life of man; the truth of the understanding is also the neighbor; but so far as it proceeds from the good of the will, for the good of the will forms itself in the understanding, and there exhibits itself to be seen in the light of reason. That good is the neighbor, is evident from all experience. Who loves a person, except from the quality of his will and understanding, that is, from what is good and just in him? As, for example, who loves a king, a prince, a duke, a governor, a consul, any magistrate, or any judge, but from the judgment from which they act and speak? Who loves a primate, a minister or canon of the church, but for learning, integrity of life, and zeal for the salvation of souls? Who loves the general of an army, or any officer under him, but for courage, and, at the same time, prudence? Who loves a merchant, but for honesty? or a workman and a servant, but for fidelity? Yea, who loves a tree, but for its fruit? or ground, but for its fertility? or a ston, but for its preciousness? &c. And. what is remarkable, not only the honest man love what is good and just in another, but also the dishonest man, because with him he is not in any fear of the loss of fame, honor, or wealth. But the love of good with a dishonest man, is not love

84

of the neighbor; for a dishonest man does not in-
wardly love another, only so far as he serves him.
But to love the good in another, from good in one's
self, is genuine love towards the neighbor, for then
the goods mutually kiss each other, and join them-
T. C. R. 418.
selves together.

What are the Degrees of Neighbor.

309. But the neighbor is not only man singly, but also man collectively, as a less or greater society, our country, the church, the Lord's kingdom, and, above all, the Lord Himself; these are the neighbor to whom good is to be done from love. These are also the ascending degrees of neighbor, for a society consisting of many is neighbor in a higher degree than a single man is; in a still superior degree is our country; in a still superior degree is the church; and in a still superior degree is the Lord's kingdom; but in the supreme degree is the Lord: these ascending degrees are as the steps of a ladder, at the top of which is the Lord.

310. A society is our neighbor more than a single man, because it consists of many. Charity is to be exercised towards it in a like manner as towards a man singly, that is, according to the quality of the good that is with it; consequently, in a manner totally different towards a society of well-disposed persons, than towards a society of ill-disposed persons: the society is loved when its good is provided for from the love of good.

for there are as many differences of neighbor as
It is commonly believed,
there are differences of good; and the differences
of good are infinite.
that a brother, kinsman, or relation, is more the
neighbor than a stranger, and that our fellow-
countryman is more the neighbor than a foreigner;
and yet, every one is the neighbor according to
his good, be he Greek, or be he Gentile; for every
one is the neighbor according to spiritual affinity
and relationship. This may be seen from the fact
that every man after death comes among his own,
whom he is similar to in good, or, what is the same
thing, in affection; and that natural affinities per-
ish after death, and are succeeded by spiritual
affinities, because, in the newly-entered heavenly
society, one man knows another, and the two are
consociated, by being in similar good. Of ten who
are brothers in the world, five may be in hell, and
five in heaven, and each of these five in different
They are all, therefore, in
societies, and then the one, on meeting the others,
does not know them.
the society of their own affection. Hence it is
plain, that every man is the neighbor according to
the quality of his good. This is especially the
C. 26.
case with spiritual goods, and charity has primary
respect to them.

What Charity properly is.

316. It is believed by many, that love towards the neighbor consists in giving to the poor, in assisting the indigent, and in doing good to every 311. Our country is our neighbor more than a one; but charity consists in acting prudently, and society, because it is like a parent; for a man is to the end that good may result. He who assists born therein, and is thereby nourished and pro- a poor or indigent villain, does evil to his neighbor tected from injuries. Good is to be done to our through him, for, through the assistance which he country from a principle of love according to its renders, he confirms him in evil, and supplies him necessities, which principally regard its suste- with the means of doing evil to others: it is othnance, and the civil and spiritual life of those there-erwise with him who gives support to the good. in. He who loves his country, and does good to it from good will, in the other life loves the Lord's kingdom, for there the Lord's kingdom is his country, and he who loves the Lord's kingdom loves the Lord, because the Lord is all in all in his kingdom.

312. The church is our neighbor more than our country, for he who provides for the church, provides for the souls and eternal life of the men who dwell in his country; wherefore, he who provides for the church from love, loves his neighbor in a superior degree, for he wishes and wills heaven and happiness of life to eternity to others.

313. The Lord's kingdom is our neighbor in a still superior degree, for the Lord's kingdom consists of all who are in good, as well those on the earths as those in the heavens; thus the Lord's kingdom is good with all its quality in the com>plex: when this is loved, the individuals are loved who are in good.

314. These are the degrees of neighbor, and love ascends, with those who are principled in love towards their neighbor, according to these degrees. But these degrees are degrees in successive order, in which what is prior or superior is to be preferred to what is posterior or inferior; and forasmuch as the Lord is in the supreme degree, and He is to be regarded in each degree as the end to which It tends, consequently, He is to be loved above all persons and things. Hence, now, it may appear in what manner love to the Lord conjoins itself with love towards the neighbor.-H. D. 91-96.

315. In regard to mere person, one man is not more a neighbor than another; but only in regard to the good which gives him his peculiar nature

317. But charity extends itself much more widely than to the poor and indigent; for charity consists in doing what is right in every work, and our duty in every office. If a judge does justice for the sake of justice, he exercises charity; if he punishes the guilty and absolves the innocent, he exercises charity, for thus he consults the welfare of his fellow-citizens and of his country. The priest who teaches truth, and leads to good, for the sake of truth and good, exercises charity. But he who does such things for the sake of self and the world, does not exercise charity, because he does not love his neighbor, but himself.

318. The case is the same in all other instances, whether a man be in any office or not; as with children towards their parents, and with parents towards their children; with servants towards their masters, and with masters towards their servants; with subjects towards their king, and with a king towards his subjects: whoever of these does his duty from a principle of duty, and what is just from a principle of justice, exercises charity.

319. The reason why such things belong to the love towards the neighbor, or charity, is because, A less and greater society as was said above, every man is our neighbor, but in a different manner. is more our neighbor; our country is still more our neighbor; the Lord's kingdom still more; and the Lord above all; and, in a universal sense, good, which proceeds from the Lord, is our neighbor; consequently, sincerity and justice are so too. Wherefore, he who does any good for the sake of good, and he who acts sincerely and justly for the sake of sincerity and justice, loves his neighbor and exercises charity; for he does so from the love of what is good, sincere, and just, and conse

324. That doing good and shunning evil are two distinct things, is plain; for there are men who do every good of charity from piety and thought of eternal life, and who, nevertheless, do not know that hating, and revenging, whoring, robbing, and injuring, vilification and consequent false witness, and many more things, are evils. There are judges who lead pious lives, and still think it no sin to adjudicate from friendship, from relationship, and respect to honor and lucre: nay, The Form of an Angel appears in Heaven as if they know that these things are sins, they confirm in themselves that they are not. The same

applies to others. In a word, shunning evils as as charity; and the kind of charity is apparent in sins, and doing Christian goods, are two distinct the face, and audible in the tone; for after death things. He who shuns evils as sins does Chris- a man becomes his own love, that is, the affection tian goods. They who do good in the first place, of his own love. A Spirit and an Angel is nothnot shunning evils as sins, are not doers of Christian good; for evil is against charity, and must therefore be abolished, before the good they do agrees with, or proceeds from, charity. No man can do good at the time that he wills to do evil, or will both good and evil. Every good, which is such essentially, proceeds from the interior will;

is a spirit in a human form. But still, a sincere | immediately, from whom alone genuine charity man, who has no thought contrary to charity, may proceeds and flows in. But the parties, where a be known as such by the face and voice; and yet friendship emulating charity does not join minds with difficulty, for there are some hypocrites who together, are no other than counterfeits of friendcan feign to the life, and even put on, the sincerity ship, and false attestations of mutual love, allurof charity. But if an Angel beholds his face, and ing insinuations into favor, and indulgences of the hears his voice, he knows the nature of the man, delights of the body, especially of sensual gratifibecause he sees not the materiality, which over- cations, by which others are carried, as a ship by veils him; and which, nevertheless, the material sails and favorable winds, while sycophants and man attends to. C. 37. hypocrites stand at the stern and hold the rudder in their hand. - T. C. R. 433, 434.

Recreations of Charity.

How there came to be a Distinction between
Charity and Faith, which, interiorly, are a
One.

329. In the primitive church, among Christians, dinners and suppers were for the sake of no other end than charity, and they were called FEASTS, 331. In general, there is only one doctrine, viz., instituted both for promoting joy of the heart and the doctrine of charity, for all things of faith have also mutual conjunction. SUPPERS with them sig- respect to charity. There is no other difference nified consociations and conjunctions, in the first between charity and faith, than what is between state of the establishment of the church; for the willing good and thinking good: whoever wills evening, in which they were made, signified that: good, he also thinks good; consequently, there is but DINNERS, in the second state, when the church no other difference than what is between the will was established; for the morning and the day sig- and the understanding. It is plain to him who nified that. At table they had conversations upon reflects, that the will is one thing and the undervarious subjects, as well domestic as civil, but par-standing another; this is also known to the learned, ticularly upon such things as were of the church; and it appears manifestly in the case of those who and because they were feasts of charity, on what- will evil, and yet from the thinking principle speak soever subject they spoke, charity with its joys well; from which it is very evident, that the will and delights was in their speech. The spiritual is one thing and the understanding another, and sphere reigning in those feasts, was a sphere of thus that the human mind is distinguished into love to the Lord and of love towards the neighbor, two parts, which do not make one: man neverthewhich exhilarated the mind of every one, softened less was so created, that these two parts should the sound of every speech, and brought festivity constitute one mind, and that there should be no from the heart into all the senses; for from every other distinction than such as exists, comparatively man there emanates a spiritual sphere, which is of speaking, between flame and the light thence. the affection of his love, and thence of his thought, Love to the Lord, and charity towards the neighand it inwardly affects those who are in his com- bor, would, in such case, be as flame, and every pany, especially at feasts; it emanates through the perception and thought would be as the light face as well as by respiration. Since by dinners thence: thus love and charity would be the all and suppers, or by feasts, such consociations of of perception and thought, that is, would be in minds were signified, therefore they are so often all and single things thereof: perception or thought mentioned in the Word; and by them there noth-concerning the quality of love and charity is what ing else is meant in the spiritual sense; and in is called faith. But whereas the human race bethe highest sense, by the paschal supper amongst gan to will evil, to hold the neighbor in hatred, the sons of Israel, as also by the banquets at the and to exercise revenge and cruelty, insomuch other feasts, as also by eating together of the sac- that that part of the mind which is called the will rifices at the tabernacle. Conjunction itself was was altogether destroyed, they began to distinthen represented by breaking the bread and dis-guish between charity and faith, and to refer to tributing it, and by drinking from the same cup faith all doctrinals appertaining to their religion, and handing it to another. and to call them by the single term faith; and at 330. As to social parties, they were in the prim-length they went so far as to assert, that they itive church amongst such as called themselves brethren in Christ; wherefore they were social meetings of charity, because they were a spiritual fraternity. They were also consolations for the adversities of the church, exultations for its increase, and also recreations of the mind after studies and labors, and at the same time conversations on various subjects; and because they flowed from spiritual love, as from a fountain, they were rational and moral from a spiritual origin. There are given at this day parties of friendship, which regard as their end the pleasures of conversation, the exhilaration of the mind, and thence they are for the expansion of the soul and the liberation of the imprisoned thoughts, and thus for the refresh- 332. That no one can be saved unless he has inent of the sensual parts of the body, and the lived in the good of charity, and has thus imbued restoration of their state. But as yet there are the affections thereof, which are to will well to not given any parties of charity; for the Lord others, and from willing well to do good to them; says, "In the consummation of the age," that is, also that no one can in any wise receive the truths in the end of the church, "iniquity will be multi- of faith, namely, imbue and appropriate them to plied, and charity will grow cold," Matt. xxiv. 12. The reason is, because the church had not yet acknowledged the Lord God the Savior, as the God of heaven and earth, and approached Him

might be saved by faith alone, whereby they meant their doctrinals, if they only believed them, however they might live. Thus charity was separated from faith, which in this case is nothing else, comparatively speaking, than a kind of light without flame, like the light of the sun in time of winter, which is cold and icy, insomuch that the vegetables of the earth wither and die; when nevertheless faith from charity is as the sun's light in the time of spring and summer, whereby all things are made to put forth and blossom. A. C. 2231. They only who have lived in Charity are received into Heaven.

himself, but he who is in the life of charity, has been made manifest to me from those who are in heaven, with whom it has been given to discourse. There, all are forms of charity, of beauty, and

The Presence of the Lord with Man is according to Neighborly Love, or Charity.

333. The presence of the Lord is according to the state of neighborly love, and of faith, in which man is principled; for He dwells in neighborly love, because He is in all goodness, but not in faith, as it is called, without love; for faith, without love and charity, is a something separate or disjoined. Wherever there is conjunction, there must be a conjoining medium, which is love and charity alone; as may appear to every one from this consideration, that the Lord is merciful to all, loving all, and desiring to make them eternally happy; whosoever therefore is not principled in such love, as to be merciful towards others, loving them, and desiring to make them happy, cannot be conjoined to the Lord, because of his dissimilitude, and of his utter destitution of the image of the Lord. For a man to look upon the Lord by faith, as they term it, and to hate his neighbor, is not only to stand at a distance from Him, but also to have an infernal gulf between

goodness, according to the quality of charity; cate the young. The bees also know how to build their delight, satisfaction, and happiness arise their cells, to suck honey out of flowers, to fill the from this, that from good will they can do good honeycombs therewith, and to provide themselves to others. The man who has not lived in charity for winter, yea, to practise some form of governcan never know that in willing well, and from ment under a governor, besides other wonderful good will doing well, is heaven and its joy, be- particulars. All these things are effected by incause his heaven is to will well to himself, and flux into their loves, the forms of their affections from this good will to do good to others, when only are what vary the effects of life; all those yet this is hell for heaven is distinguished from things are in their loves: what would there not be hell in this, that heaven, as was said, is to do good in heavenly love, if man were in that? Would from good will, and hell is to do evil from willing there not be the all of wisdom and intelligence evil. They who are in love towards the neighbor, which is in heaven? Hence, also, it is, that they do good from good will, but they who are in self- who have lived in charity, and no others, are relove, do evil from willing evil; the reason is, they ceived into heaven; and that from charity they love no one but themselves, and others only so far are in the ability to receive and imbue all truths, as they see themselves in them and them in them- that is, all things of faith. But the contrary selves; they also hold these in hatred, which man- comes to pass with those who are in faith sepaifests itself as soon as they recede and are not rate, that is, in some truths, and not in charity: theirs. The case herein is like that of robbers, their loves receive such things as agree with them, who love each other when they are in consocia- namely, the love of self and of the world, things tion, but still desire in heart to murder each other which are contrary to truths, such as are in the if they may gain plunder thereby. From these hells. A. C. 4776. things it may appear what heaven is, namely, that it is love towards the neighbor, and what hell is, namely, that it is self-love. They who are in love towards the neighbor, are capable of receiving all the truths of faith, and of imbuing and appropriating them to themselves; for in love towards the neighbor there is the all of faith, because heaven is in it, and the Lord is in it. But they who are in self-love, can in no wise receive the truths of faith, because in that love hell is, nor can they otherwise receive the truths of faith than for the sake of self-honor and gain; thus they cannot in any wise imbue and appropriate them to themselves; but the things which they imbue and appropriate to themselves are negative of truth, for in heart they do not even believe that there is a hell or a heaven, nor that there is a life after death; hence neither do they believe any thing which is said concerning hell and heaven, and concerning a life after death; thus nothing at all which is said concerning faith and charity, from the Word and doctrine. They appear to themselves to believe when they are in worship, but the reason of this is, because it has been implant-them, into which he would fall were he to approach ed from infancy to put on that state then; but as soon as they are out of worship, they are also out of that state, and then when they think in themselves, they believe nothing at all; and also according to the life of their loves they devise things favoring, which they call truths, and likewise confirm from the literal sense of the Word, when yet they are falses; such are all they who in life and doctrine are in faith separate. It is moreover to be known, that all things are in the loves, for the loves are what make the life, consequently the Lord's life flows only into the loves; such, therefore, as the loves are, such are the lives, because such are the receptions of life: love towards the neighbor receives the life of heaven, and self-love receives the life of hell; thus in love towards the neighbor there is the all of heaven, and in selflove the all of hell. That all things are in the loves, may be illustrated from many things in nature. The animals, as well they which move on the earth, as they which fly in the air, and swim in the waters, are all impelled according to their loves, and into their loves flow whatever things conduce to their life, namely, to food, to habitation, and to procreation; hence every kind knows its own aliment, knows its own dwelling-places, and knows what appertains to their conjugial, as to consociate, to build nests, to lay eggs, to edu

more nearly; for hatred against the neighbor is
the infernal gulf which is interposed. The pres-
ence of the Lord with man first exists, when he
loves his neighbor; for the Lord is in love, and so
far as man is in love the Lord is present with him;
and in the degree in which the Lord is present, He
speaks with man.-A. C. 904.

The Lord's Church various as to Matters of
Faith, but one as to Charity.

334. With the Lord's spiritual church the case is this, that it is dispersed over the whole globe, and that it is every where various as to articles of belief or the truths of faith; these varieties are the derivations which are signified by nativities, which exist as well together at the same time, as successively; the Lord's spiritual kingdom itself in the heavens is also such, viz., various as to those things which are of faith, insomuch that there is not one society, nor even one in a society, who in those things which are of the truth of faith, is entirely agreed with others as to his ideas; nevertheless the Lord's spiritual kingdom in the heavens is one; the reason is, because all account charity as principal, for charity makes the spiritual church, and not faith, unless you say that faith is charity; he who is in charity, loves his neighbor, and that he dissents from him in matters of belief, this he ex