ALL
GOOD IS FROM THE LORD
Selection from True Christian Religion~ Emanuel Swedenborg
In
the exercises of charity man does not place merit in works so long
as he believes that all good is from the Lord.
439. To ascribe merit to works that are done for the sake of
salvation is harmful because evils lie concealed in so doing of
which the doer is wholly ignorant. There also lies hid in it a
denial of God's influx and operation in man; also a confidence in
one's own power in matters of salvation; faith in oneself and not in
God; self-justification; salvation by one's own abilities; a
reducing of Divine grace and mercy to nought; a rejection of
reformation and regeneration by Divine means; especially a
limitation of the merit and righteousness of the Lord God the
Savior, which such claim for themselves; together with a continual
looking for reward, which they regard as the first and last end; a
submersion and extinction of love to the Lord and love towards the
neighbor; a total ignorance and lack of perception of the delight of
heavenly love as being without merit, and a sense only of self-love.
For those who put rewards in the first place and salvation in the
second, and who value salvation for the sake of the reward, invert
order and immerse the interior desires of the mind in what is their
own [proprium], and defile them in the body with the evils of the
flesh. This is why the good that claims merit appears to the angels
as rust, and the good that does not claim merit as purple. That good
ought not to be done for the sake of reward, the Lord teaches in
Luke:
If ye do good to them who do good to you, what thank have ye? But
rather love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for
nothing again; and then your reward shall be great, and ye shall be
sons of the Most High for He is kind unto the unthankful and the
evil (Luke 6:33-35).
And that man cannot do good that in itself is good, except from
the Lord, He teaches in John:
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of
itself, except it abide in the vine, so neither can ye except ye
abide in Me; for apart from Me ye can do nothing (15:4, 5).
And again,
A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven
(John 3:27).
440. But to think
about getting into heaven, and that good ought to be done for that
reason, is not to regard reward as an end and to ascribe merit to
works; for thus do those also think who love the neighbor as
themselves and God above all things; so thinking from faith in the
Lord's words,
That their reward should be great in the heavens (Matt. 5:11,
12; 6:1; 10:41, 42; Luke 6:23, 35; 14:12-14; John 4:36);
That those who have done good shall possess as an inheritance a
kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world (Matt. 25:34);
That everyone is rewarded according to his works (Matt.
16:27; John 5:29; Rev. 14:13; 20:12, 13; Jer. 25:14; 32:19; Hosea
4:9; Zech. 1:6 and elsewhere).
Such do not trust to reward on the ground of their merit, but have
faith in the promise from grace. With such the delight of doing good
to the neighbor is their reward. This is the delight of the angels
in heaven, and it is a spiritual delight which is eternal, and
immeasurably exceeds all natural delight. Those who are in this
delight are unwilling to hear of merit, for they love to do, and in
doing they perceive blessedness. They are sad when it is believed
that they work for the sake of recompense. They are like those who
do good to friends for the sake of friendship, to brethren for the
sake of brotherhood, to wife and children for the sake of wife and
children, and to their country for their country's sake; thus from
friendship and love. Those who do acts of kindness also say and give
evidence that they are doing this not on their own behalf, but on
behalf of the others.
441. It is
wholly different with those who regard reward as the essential end
in their works. These are like such as form friendships for the sake
of gain, and who make presents, perform services, and profess love
seemingly from the heart, but when they fail to obtain what they
hoped for, they turn about, renounce their friendship, and devote
themselves to the enemies of their former friends and to those who
hate them. They are also like nurses who suckle infants merely for
wages, and in presence of their parents kiss and fondle them; but as
soon as they cease to be fed with delicacies and rewarded just as
they wish, they turn against the infants, treat them harshly, beat
them, and laugh at their cries.
[2] They are also
like those whose regard for their country springs from love of self
and the world, and who say that they are willing to give their
property and their lives for it; and yet, if they do not acquire
honors and riches as rewards, they speak ill of their country, and
connect themselves with its enemies. They are also like shepherds
who care for sheep merely for hire, and if the hire is not given
when they wish it, drive the sheep with their crook from the pasture
to the desert. Like these again are priests who discharge the duties
of their office solely for the sake of the emoluments attached to
them, and who, evidently, regard as of little account the salvation
of the souls over whom they have been placed as guides.
[3] It is the same
with magistrates who look only to the dignity of their office and
its revenues; and when they do right, it is not for the sake of the
public good, but for the sake of the delight in the love of self and
the world, which delight they breathe in as the only good. It is the
same with all the rest; the end in view carries every point, and the
mediate causes pertaining to the function are renounced if they do
not promote the end.
[4] And the same is
true of those who demand reward on the ground of merit in matters of
salvation. Such after death confidently demand heaven; but when it
has been found that they have no love to God or love towards the
neighbor, they are sent back to those who can instruct them
concerning charity and faith; and if they repudiate their
instructions, they are sent away to their like, among whom are some
who are enraged against God because they do not obtain rewards, and
who call faith a mere figment of reason. Such are meant in the Word
by "hirelings," who were allotted service of the lowest kind in the
outer courts of the temple. At a distance they appear to be
splitting wood.
442. It must
be well understood that charity and faith in the Lord are closely
conjoined, consequently, such as the faith is such is the charity.
That the Lord, charity, and faith make one, like life, will, and
understanding [in man], and if they are divided each perishes like a
pearl reduced to powder, may be seen above (n. 362-363); and that
charity and faith are together in good works (n. 373-377). From this
it follows that such as faith is, such is charity, and that such as
charity and faith are together, such are works. If then there is a
faith that all the good that a man does as if of himself is from the
Lord, man is the instrumental cause of that good, and the Lord the
principal cause, which two causes appear to man to be one, and yet
the principal cause is the all in all of the instrumental cause.
From this it follows that when a man believes that all good that is
good in itself is from the Lord, he does not ascribe merit to works;
and in the degree in which this faith is perfected in man, the
fantasy about merit is taken away from him by the Lord. In this
state man enters fully into the exercise of charity with no anxiety
about merit, and at length perceives the spiritual delight of
charity, and then begins to be averse to merit as a something
harmful to his life. The sense of merit is easily washed away by the
Lord with those who become imbued with charity by acting justly and
faithfully in the work, business, or function in which they are
engaged, and towards all with whom they have any dealings (see
above, n. 422-424). But the sense of merit is removed with
difficulty from those who believe that charity is acquired by giving
alms and relieving the needy; for when they do these things, in
their minds they desire reward, at first openly and then secretly,
and draw to themselves merit.
(True Christian Religion 439 -
442) |
