Arcana Coelestia volume 7 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 3565Genesis 39CHARITY4954. In the prefatory remarks to the preceding chapter, theLord’s words in Matthew 25, verses 31 to 33, concerning thejudgment upon the good and the evil were unfolded (see n.4807–4810). There now come to be unfolded the words whichthere follow in order, namely:Then shall the king say to them on his right hand, Come, yeblessed of my father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from thefoundation of the world; for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I wasthirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye gathered me;naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison,and ye came unto me (Matt. 25:34–36).4955. What these words involve in the internal sense will appearfrom what follows. Be it known in the first place that the workshere enumerated are the very works of charity in their order. Thisno one can see who is not acquainted with the internal sense of theWord, that is, who does not know what is meant by giving thehungry to eat, giving the thirsty to drink, gathering the stranger,clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and coming unto those whoare in prison. He who thinks of these acts from the sense of theletter only, infers that they mean good works in the external form,and that there is nothing secret in them beyond this; and yet thereis something secret in each of them, which is Divine, because fromthe Lord. But the secret is not at this day understood, because atthis day there are no doctrinals of charity; for ever since men haveseparated charity from faith, these doctrinals have perished, and inplace of them the doctrinals of faith have been invented andreceived, which do not at all teach what charity is and what theneighbor. The doctrinals existing among the ancients taught all the