Arcana Coelestia # 1017
1017. That the nature of the multiplying depends on the character of the affection, let the person serve as an example who accepts the basic assumption that faith alone saves somebody even when he does not perform any charitable action, that is, has no charity, and so separates faith from charity. Such a person separates faith from charity not only because he has accepted that assumption since earliest childhood, but also because he really does think that if anyone were to say that charity, or the works of charity, were the essential constituent of faith and led a devout life on those grounds he would inevitably be placing merit in works, which however is a falsity. Thus he rejects charity and considers the works of charity to be worthless, and so keeps solely to the idea of faith, which is no faith at all when devoid of its essential, which is charity. As long as he confirms himself in that assumption he in no way acts from an affection for good but from the affection inherent in the delight of being able to live without any restriction on his evil desires. And anyone among those like this who relies on many different facts to confirm that assumption does not act from an affection for truth but from glory of self, in order that he may consequently appear greater, more learned, and more eminent than everybody else, and so be promoted to the ranks of the distinguished and wealthy. Thus he acts from the delight accompanying the affection, and this delight causes things of a confirmatory nature to multiply, for as stated, the character of the affection determines that of the multiplication. In general, if a basic assumption is false, nothing but falsities can possibly result from it. In fact everything conforms to the basic assumption. Indeed, as I know from experience, which in the Lord's Divine mercy I will describe elsewhere, people who confirm themselves in such basic assumptions concerning faith alone and who have not been governed at all by charity, pay no attention to, and so to speak do not see, all that the Lord has said so many times about love and charity, as in Matthew 3:8-9; 5:7, 43-48; 6:12, 15; 7:1-20; 9:13; 12:33; 13:8, 27; 18:21- end; 19:19; 22:35-39; 24:12-13; 25:34, 40, 41, 45; Mark 4:18-20; 11:13-14, 20; 12:28-34; Luke 3:8-9; 6:27-38, 43-end; 7:47; 8:8, 14-15; 10:25-28; 12:58-59; 13:6-9; John 3:19, 21; 5:42; 13:34-35; 14:15, 21, 23; 15:1-17; 21:15-17.
Luke 14
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It happened, when he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching him.
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Behold, a certain man who had dropsy was in front of him.
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Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
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But they were silent. He took him, and healed him, and let him go.
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He answered them, "Which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, wouldn't immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?"
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They couldn't answer him regarding these things.
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He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them,
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"When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, don't sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him,
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and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, 'Make room for this person.' Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.
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But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.
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For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
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He also said to the one who had invited him, "When you make a dinner or a supper, don't call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back.
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But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind;
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and you will be blessed, because they don't have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous."
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When one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, "Blessed is he who will feast in the Kingdom of God!"
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But he said to him, "A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people.
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He sent out his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, 'Come, for everything is ready now.'
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They all as one began to make excuses. "The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.'
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"Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.'
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"Another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I can't come.'
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"That servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.'
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"The servant said, 'Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.'
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"The lord said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
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For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper.'"
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Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them,
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"If anyone comes to me, and doesn't disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can't be my disciple.
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Whoever doesn't bear his own cross, and come after me, can't be my disciple.
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For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn't first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?
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Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him,
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saying, 'This man began to build, and wasn't able to finish.'
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Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
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Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace.
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So therefore whoever of you who doesn't renounce all that he has, he can't be my disciple.
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Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?
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It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
