The Doctrine of Charity - Swedenborg Foundation

CHARITY 290(2) When the good of a man’s will is loved, the man himself is loved.(3) Man is man from his spiritual good, and not from moral, civil,and natural good apart from the spiritual.(4) As a man’s spiritual good is, such is his moral, civil, and naturalgood; because these three goods derive their life from that alone.(5) Consequently, in the spiritual sense, the neighbor who is to beloved is good.Obs. That spiritual good is the good of charity; and so it is theLord, heaven, and the church with him. For such is the man in thederivative goods.Order and Arrangement [of the Subject]1. The first of charity is to look to the Lord and shun evilsbecause they are sins, which is done by repentance.2. The second of charity is to do goods because they are uses.3. In the spiritual idea use is the neighbor and use is the good ofcharity, civil good in the civil state, and spiritual good, and theobjects of charity are, in a restricted sense, the individual man, in awider sense society, in a still wider sense one’s native country, thechurch, and in the widest sense the human race; and these are theneighbor.4a. Man is the subject of charity; and as the quality of the subjectis, such is that of his charity which he exercises.4b. Charity itself is to act sincerely, justly, and faithfully in everywork that pertains to one’s employment; and by this a manbecomes charity.