The Doctrine of Charity - Swedenborg Foundation

CHARITY 223is to shun them as diabolical and infernal, and therefore deadly,because there is eternal damnation in them. If a man so regardsthem, then he believes that there is a hell, and that there is aheaven; and also that the Lord can remove them if the man alsoendeavors to remove them as of himself. But see what has been setforth on this subject in Doctrine of Life (n. 108–113). To which Iwill add this: All evils are born delightful, because man is born intothe love of himself, and that love makes all things delightful thatare of his proprium, thus whatever he wills and whatever he thinks;and everyone remains till death in the delights that are inrooted bybirth, unless they are subdued; and they are not subdued unlessthey are regarded as sweet drugs that kill, or as flowers apparentlybeautiful that carry poison in them; thus unless the delights of evilare regarded as deadly, and this until at length they becomeundelightful.3. (2) As far as anyone does not take cognizance of sins and knowwhat they are, so far he does not see but that he is without sins. Thathe knows he is a sinner, in evils from head to foot, is from theWord; and yet he does not know because he does not see any onesin in himself. He therefore prays, as a tinkling sound, confesses asa tinkling sound, and yet inmostly in himself he believes that he isnot a sinner; which belief in the other life is manifested. For therehe says, “I am pure, I am clean, I am guiltless,” and yet whenexamined he is impure, unclean, yea even carrion. It is as if the skinwere fair and soft outwardly, but within diseased from the veryheart; or as a liquid, like water upon the surface, but within putridfrom stagnation.4. (3) So far as anyone takes cognizance of sins and knows what theyare, he can see them in himself, confess them before the Lord, andrepent of them. It is said, he can if he will; and he who believes ineternal life will. But still he must not think of the things he does,but of those that he wills to do, which, if he believes them allowablehe then also does; or if he does not do them, it is on account of theworld. There is an internal and an external effect, or an internaland an external work. The external effect or work comes forth andexists from the internal effect or work, as action from endeavor.