Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 384
[3] In outward form those act in a like way who act honestly
and justly with a companion because they love what is honest
and just. Some of these act from the truth of faith or from
obedience, because the Word so commands; some from the
good of faith or from conscience, because from a religious
motive; some from good of charity toward the neighbor
because his good should be regarded; some from the good of
love to the Lord because good should be done for the sake of
good, as also what is honest and just should be done for the
sake of honesty and justice; and this they love because it is
from the Lord, and because the Divine that goes forth from the
Lord is in it, and consequently regarded in its very essence it is
Divine. The deeds or works of such are inwardly good, and
therefore are outwardly good also; for, as has been said above,
deeds or works are precisely such in quality as the thought and
will from which they proceed, and apart from thought and will
they are not deeds and works, but only inanimate movements.
All this explains what is meant in the Word by works and
deeds.
473. As deeds and works are from the will and thought, so
are they from the love and faith, consequently they are such as
the love and faith are; for it is the same thing whether you say
one’s love or his will, and it is the same thing whether you say
one’s faith or his established thought; for that which a man
loves he wills, and that which a man believes he thinks; and
when a man loves what he believes he also wills it and as far as
possible does it. Everyone may know that love and faith are
within man’s will and thought, and not outside of them, for
love is what kindles the will, and the thought is what it
enlightens in matters of faith; therefore only those that are able
to think wisely are enlightened, and in the measure of their