165. Charity in the case of Officers under the Commander of an Army.
They can each one become a charity, that is, an angel of heaven, if they look to the Lord and shun evils as sins, and carry out the duties of their command honestly, justly, and faithfully. For in this way they, too, are constantly doing the goods of use that are of charity; for their minds are in them, and when the mind is constantly in goods of use, it becomes a form of charity. For each one, his country is the neighbour; in a spiritual idea he is the protection of it, and its security from invasion and destruction. He is not triumphant with false claims of what he has not merited; nor is he triumphant over what he has merited: he thinks the latter is his duty, and this makes him contented in spirit and not boastful. In war he loves the soldiers under him, according to their activity, honesty, and obedience; he looks after them, and wishes well to them as to himself, they being victims in the glory he has from his use. For officers can have a glory from their use and a glory from their rank. Those who are charities have a glory from their use, but not from their rank. The other things in his case are similar to those in the case of the commander of an army, already treated of, differing only in accordance with the extent of his command. I have seen such officers in a higher heaven; and I have seen officers who were not such, in hell.
