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Matthew 7

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1 Be not judges of others, and you will not be judged.

2 For as you have been judging, so you will be judged, and with your measure will it be measured to you.

3 And why do you take note of the grain of dust in your brother's eye, but take no note of the bit of wood which is in your eye?

4 Or how will you say to your brother, Let me take out the grain of dust from your eye, when you yourself have a bit of wood in your eye?

5 You false one, first take out the bit of wood from your eye, then will you see clearly to take out the grain of dust from your brother's eye.

6 Do not give that which is holy to the dogs, or put your jewels before pigs, for fear that they will be crushed under foot by the pigs whose attack will then be made against you.

7 Make a request, and it will be answered; what you are searching for you will get; give the sign, and the door will be open to you:

8 Because to everyone who makes a request, it will be given; and he who is searching will get his desire, and to him who gives the sign, the door will be open.

9 Or which of you, if his son makes a request for bread, will give him a stone?

10 Or if he makes a request for a fish, will give him a snake?

11 If you, then, being evil, are able to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who make requests to him?

12 All those things, then, which you would have men do to you, even so do you to them: because this is the law and the prophets.

13 Go in by the narrow door; for wide is the door and open is the way which goes to destruction, and great numbers go in by it.

14 For narrow is the door and hard the road to life, and only a small number make discovery of it.

15 Be on the watch for false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inside they are cruel wolves.

16 By their fruits you will get knowledge of them. Do men get grapes from thorns or figs from thistles?

17 Even so, every good tree gives good fruit; but the bad tree gives evil fruit.

18 It is not possible for a good tree to give bad fruit, and a bad tree will not give good fruit.

19 Every tree which does not give good fruit is cut down and put in the fire.

20 So by their fruits you will get knowledge of them.

21 Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will go into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the pleasure of my Father in heaven.

22 A great number will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, were we not prophets in your name, and did we not by your name send out evil spirits, and by your name do works of power?

23 And then will I say to them, I never had knowledge of you: go from me, you workers of evil.

24 Everyone, then, to whom my words come and who does them, will be like a wise man who made his house on a rock;

25 And the rain came down and there was a rush of waters and the winds were driving against that house, but it was not moved; because it was based on the rock.

26 And everyone to whom my words come and who does them not, will be like a foolish man who made his house on sand;

27 And the rain came down and there was a rush of waters and the winds were driving against that house; and it came down and great was its fall.

28 And it came about, when Jesus had come to the end of these words, that the people were surprised at his teaching,

29 for he was teaching as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

   

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True Christian Religion # 590

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590. Comparisons will illustrate what a person is like whose understanding is raised without this in turn raising the love of his will. He is like an eagle flying high, which as soon as it sees its prey below, such as chickens or cygnets or even young lambs, swoops down at once and devours them. He is also like an adulterer, who hides his whore downstairs in the cellar, but from time to time comes upstairs to the upper part of the house, and in his wife's presence talks wisely with his visitors about chastity, and then from time to time breaks off the discussion and satisfies his lust down below with his whore. He is also like the flies in a marsh, which fly in a column over the head of a galloping horse, but when the horse keeps still, drop down and plunge into the marsh where they live. Such is the nature of a person whose understanding is raised up high, but who has the love of his will kept down at foot level, immersed in the filth of nature and the lusts of the senses.

[2] But because they have this gleam in their understanding which looks like wisdom, though their will is opposed to it, they can be likened to snakes with glistening scales, Spanish flies that glitter as if with gold, or to the will-o'-the-wisp of marshland, rotten wood that shines in the dark, and phosphorescent substances. There are some of them who can imitate angels of light, both among people in the world and after death in the presence of angels of heaven. But after a short period of examination they are stripped of their clothes and cast down naked. Nothing of the sort, however, can happen in the world, because there their spirit is not open to view, but is overlaid with a disguise, like those used by actors on the stage. Their being able to imitate angels of light in countenance and expression is the reason and also a sign, that they can raise their understanding almost to the point of angelic wisdom, rising as I have said above the love of the will. Now since a person's internal and external can thus go in opposite directions, and since the body is discarded and the spirit remains, it is clear that a murky spirit can live behind a shining face, and a fiery one behind a smooth tongue. Therefore, my friend, you must get to know a person not by his mouth but by his heart, that is, not by his conversation but by what he does. For the Lord says:

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves; by their fruits you must know them, Matthew 7:15-16.

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