Charity #0

By Emanuel Swedenborg

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ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT. 1

[FIRST VERSION]

1. The "first" of charity is to shun evils because they are sins.

2. The "second" of charity is to do goods because they are uses.

3. The essence of charity is good, which is use; and the objects of charity are, in a narrow sense an individual man, in a wider sense a society, in a still wider sense one's country, 2 and in the widest sense the human race; and these are the neighbour.

4. Charity itself is to act honestly, justly, and faithfully, in every work that belongs to anyone's occupation; and, through this, a man becomes a charity.

5. Signs of charity are all the things that are of worship.

6. Benefactions of charity are all the goods which a man who is a charity does, in freedom, outside the scope of his occupation.

7. Obligations of charity are all those things it behoves a man to do in addition to those above named.

8. Diversions of charity are various enjoyments of the body and its senses.

9. Without faith, charity is not charity; they are one like essence and form.

10. Such as the charity is, such is the faith; the faith that precedes charity is the faith of cognitions, which is a historical faith or matter of knowledge.

11. Charity conjoins the lord to the man. A man to the lord.

12. Love towards the neighbour, which is charity, inwardly is love to god, that is, the lord.

ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT. 3

[SECOND VERSION]

1. The "first" of charity is to look to the lord and shun evils because they are sins; this is done by repentance.

2. The "second" of charity is to do goods because they are uses.

3. The neighbour, in a spiritual idea, is use; and use is the good of charity.

[4a] A man is the subject of charity, and such as the subject is, such is the charity exercised by him. 4

4. [b] Charity itself with anyone is to act honestly, justly, and faithfully in every work that belongs to his occupation; and, through this, a man becomes a charity.

5. Signs of charity are all the things that are of worship.

6. Benefactions of charity are all the goods which a man who is a charity does, in freedom, outside the scope of his occupation.

7. Obligations of charity are all those things it behoves a man to do in addition to those above named.

8. Diversions of charity are various enjoyments and pleasures of the body and its senses.

9. Without faith, charity is not charity, and without charity, faith is not faith; they are one, like essence and form.

10. Such as the charity is, such is the faith; the faith that precedes charity is the faith of cognitions, which is a historical faith, in itself knowledge.

11. In charity there is the conjunction of a man with the lord, and of the lord with the man.

12. Charity, or love towards the neighbour, is also love to the lord.

Footnotes:

1. This is as Swedenborg first wrote it out, before starting on the text.

2. Note in left-hand margin "the Church."

3. This is as it stood after a number of corrections had been incorporated in it. Many of these corrections, as the handwriting of them made at different times shows, were made during the writing of the text. There are a couple of strokes drawn vertically through these headings, a usual sign with Swedenborg that he had made use of it for re-writing. This was probably done when the new list of headings, "The sections in their series," was prepared. See number 199.

4. This heading was inserted between 3 and 4 in the MS. without the succeeding numbers being changed.

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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.