Prefatory to the chapters of the Book of Exodus are to be Doctrinal things; first, Doctrinal things of Charity; afterward, Doctrinal things of Faith; in order that what has been delivered in the Explications in a scattered form may be set forth in a connected one; and that in this way the Doctrine may appear in its order, such as is and ought to be the Doctrine of the church that it may agree with the good and truth in heaven.
... the Doctrine of Charity was the doctrine in the Ancient Churches, and that this doctrine conjoined all the churches, and so made one out of many; for they acknowledged as men of the church all who lived in the good of charity, and called them brethren, however greatly they might be at variance in the truths which at this day are called the truths of faith. In these one instructed another, and this was among their works of charity; nor were they indignant if one did not accede to the opinion of another, knowing that everyone receives truth in proportion as he is in good.
Such being the character of the Ancient Churches, they were more interior men, and being more interior they were more wise; for those who are in the good of love and of charity are as to the internal man in heaven, and in an angelic society there which is in like good. From this they have an elevation of mind to interior things, and consequently to the things of wisdom; for wisdom can come from no other source than heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord; and in heaven there is wisdom, because there they are in good.
But in course of time this ancient wisdom decreased; for insofar as the human race removed itself from the good of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor, so far it also removed itself from wisdom, because so far it removed itself from heaven. From this it is that man from internal became external, and this successively.
From all this it is now clear that the quality of Christian good determines in what degree each one is the neighbor; for the Lord is present in good, because
it is His, and He is present according to the quality of it. And as the origin of the neighbor must be drawn from the Lord, therefore the distinguishing
differences of the neighbor are according to the Lord's presence in good, thus according to the quality of the good.
And when man became external, he also became worldly and corporeal; and when he is of this character he no longer cares for the things of heaven; for they have been so far removed as not to be believed to exist; because the delights of earthly loves, and with these all evils which from these loves are delightful to him, then take complete possession of the whole man; and then all that he hears about the life after death, about heaven, and about hell, is like chaff in the wind, which flies away as fast as it is seen.
From this also it is that the Doctrine of Charity, which was so precious among the ancients, is at this day one of the lost things; for who at this day knows what in the genuine sense charity is, and what in the genuine sense the neighbor is? when yet this doctrine abounds in arcana so many and so great that it cannot be described as to a thousandth part. The whole Sacred Scripture is nothing else than the doctrine of love and of charity, as the Lord also teaches, saying, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God from all thy heart, and in all thy soul, and in all thy mind; this is the first and great commandment: the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; on these two commandments hang the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:37-40). "The law and the prophets" are the Word in all and each of its parts.
As the doctrine of charity is at this day one of the lost things, and as the doctrine of faith is consequently much alienated from the truth, this doctrine may of the Lord's Divine mercy be delivered before the several chapters of the Book of Exodus, and thus be restored to the church.
(Continuation
respecting THE DOCTRINE OF CHARITY −
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