Friday, June 13, 2008

AC 7752, 7756, 7757, 7770 - more on the Doctrine of Charity

AC 7752
All things in the universe bear relation to Good and Truth.
That which does not bear relation to good and truth
is not in Divine order;
and that which does not bear relation to both together,
produces nothing.
Good is that which produces,
and truth is that by which it produces.

AC 7756
The good which is of charity enters through the soul into a person,
but the truth which is of faith enters through the hearing;
the former flows in immediately from the Lord,
but the latter mediately through the Word.
. . . the way by which the good of charity enters is called the internal way;
and the way by which the truth of faith enters is called the external way.

AC 7757
The conjunction of the good of charity with the truth of faith
is effected in the interiors of a person.
The good itself which flows in from the Lord adopts truth there,
and appropriates it to itself,
and thereby causes the good with the person to be good,
and the truth to be truth;
or the charity to be charity,
and the faith to be faith.
Without this conjunction charity is not charity, but only natural goodness;
neither is faith faith,
but only the memory-knowledge of such things as are of faith,
and in some cases
a persuasion that a thing is so for the sake of earning gain or honor.

AC 7770 [3]
. . . with the evil
the knowledges of good and truth are applied to evil uses,
and with the good
the knowledges of good and truth are applied to good uses;
the knowledges are the same,
but the application to uses effects their quality with each person.

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