104. Verse 4. But I have against thee that thou hast left thy first charity, signifies that they do not make such a life as those lived who were in the church at its beginning, the essential of knowledges. This is evident from the signification of "first charity," as being a life according to the knowledges of good and truth, such as those lived who were in the church at its beginning (of which presently); and from the signification of "leaving that charity," as being not to make it the essential of knowledges; for those who are eager for the knowledges of truth and good, and who believe that they are saved thereby, make knowledges essential, and not life, when yet a life according to knowledges is the essential. But as this essential of the church and of salvation is treated of in what follows, more will there be said about it. Charity is life, because all life in accordance with the precepts of the Lord in the Word is called "charity;" therefore to exercise charity is to live according to those precepts. (That this is so, see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, in the chapter on Love to the Neighbor or Charity 84-106; and in the small work on The Last Judgment 33-39.) The life of the church at its beginning is here meant by "first charity;" for every church begins from charity, and successively turns away from it to faith alone or to meritorious works. (On which subject, and on charity, see what is shown in the Arcana Coelestia, namely, that every church begins from charity, but in process of time turns away from it, n. 494, 501, 1327, 3773, 4689; thus to falsities from evil, and at length to evils, n. 1834, 1835, 2910, 4683, 4689; commonly to faith alone, n. 1834, 1835, 2231, 4683, 8094. A comparison of the church in its beginning and in its decline, with the rising and setting of the sun, n. 1837; and with the infancy and old age of man, n. Arcana Coelestia 10134; that the church is not with man until the knowledges of good and truth have been implanted in the life, n. 3310; that charity constitutes the church, n. 809, 916, 1798, 1799, 1844, 1894; that the internal of the church is charity, n. 4766, 5826; that there would be one church, and not many, as at this day, if all were regarded from charity, although they might differ in respect to doctrinals of faith and rituals of worship, n. 1286, 1316, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844, 2385, 2982, 3267, 3451; that worship of the Lord consists in a life of charity, n. 8254, 8256; that the quality of worship is according to the quality of charity, n. 2190.)
Arcana Coelestia #4683
4683. 'And he told it to his brothers' means to the adherents to faith separated from charity. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph's brothers' as the Church which turns aside from charity to faith, and in the abstract sense as things that are matters of faith, dealt with above in 4665, 4671, 4679. In this case the adherents to faith separated from charity are meant because the statement that follows about them hating him all the more means still greater contempt and aversion. The position with that Church is that when it first comes into being its members proclaim charity. But they are led to do so solely on the basis of doctrine and thus of factual knowledge, not of actual charity nor thus of affection or what is in their hearts. In course of time, as charity and affection are blotted out in their hearts they proclaim faith, and at length when no charity exists any longer they proclaim faith alone, saying that this faith without works enables one to be saved. At this point also they no longer call works the works of charity but those of faith, naming them the fruits of faith.
[2] Members of that Church do, it is true, link faith and works together in this way, but doctrine, not life, is the basis on which they do so. And because they do not make salvation depend in any way at all on the life of faith, which is good, only on faith - even though they know plainly from the Word, and their own understanding also tells them, that doctrine is nothing without life, or that faith is nothing without its fruits - they make the saving power of faith depend on confidence. As a result of this they also forsake the fruits of faith, unaware that all confidence owes its existence to the end in view which is life, or that true confidence cannot possibly exist except in good, and that spurious and also false confidence rest in evil. And to set faith and charity even further apart they also declare persuasively that the confidence of only a moment's duration, engendered even in the final moment of life, can save a person, no matter what his life had been prior to that. Yet for all this they know that the life which is his own awaits everyone after death and that each will be judged according to the works he has done in life. These few remarks make clear the nature of faith separated from charity, and therefore the nature of the Church which makes faith essential and not the life of faith. The falsities which flow from this as their fountainhead will in the Lord's Divine mercy be mentioned further on.
Ezekiel 42
1
Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the room that was over against the separate place, and which was over against the building toward the north.
2
Before the length of one hundred cubits was the north door, and the breadth was fifty cubits.
3
Over against the twenty [cubits] which belonged to the inner court, and Over against the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the third story.
4
Before the rooms was a walk of ten cubits' breadth inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north.
5
Now the upper rooms were shorter; for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middle, in the building.
6
For they were in three stories, and they didn't have pillars as the pillars of the courts: therefore [the uppermost] was straitened more than the lowest and the middle from the ground.
7
The wall that was outside by the side of the rooms, toward the outer court before the rooms, its length was fifty cubits.
8
For the length of the rooms that were in the outer court was fifty cubits: and behold, before the temple were one hundred cubits.
9
From under these rooms was the entry on the east side, as one goes into them from the outer court.
10
In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, before the separate place, and before the building, there were rooms.
11
The way before them was like the appearance of [the way of] the rooms which were toward the north; according to their length so was their breadth: and all their exits were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors.
12
According to the doors of the rooms that were toward the south was a door at the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one enters into them.
13
Then he said to me, The north rooms and the south rooms, which are before the separate place, they are the holy rooms, where the priests who are near to Yahweh shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy.
14
When the priests enter in, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but there they shall lay their garments in which they minister; for they are holy: and they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to that which pertains to the people.
15
Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it all around.
16
He measured on the east side with the measuring reed five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed all around.
17
He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed all around.
18
He measured on the south side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.
19
He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.
20
He measured it on the four sides: it had a wall around it, the length five hundred, and the breadth five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.
