AC 2417 - faith alone and true charity

AC 2417
[2] Doctrine is twofold: that of love and charity, and that of faith.
At first, while it is still a little maid and a virgin,
every church of the Lord has no other doctrine,
and loves no other, than that of charity; for this belongs to life.
But successively the church turns itself away from this doctrine,
until it begins to hold it cheap, and at length to reject it;
and then it acknowledges no other doctrine
than that which is called the doctrine of faith;
and when it separates faith from charity,
this doctrine conspires with a life of evil.

[3] Such was the case with the Primitive Church,
or that of the Gentiles, after the Lord's coming.
In its beginning it had no other doctrine than that of love and charity,
for this the Lord Himself taught.
But after His time, successively, as love and charity began to grow cold,
there arose the doctrine of faith,
and with it dissensions and heresies,
which increased as people came to lay stress on this doctrine.
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[6] This shows that there are two doctrines,
the one of charity, and the other of faith,
although in themselves the two are one;
for the doctrine of charity involves all things of faith.
But when the doctrine comes to be from those things alone which are of faith,
it is then called twofold, because faith is separated from charity.
That these doctrines are separated at the present day
may be seen from the fact that it is altogether unknown
what charity is, and what the neighbor is.
They who are solely in the doctrine of faith
are not aware that charity toward the neighbor
consists in anything beyond giving of their own to others,
and in feeling pity for anybody who may seem to need it,
because they call everybody the neighbor without distinction;
and yet charity is all good whatever there is in a person:
in his affection, and in his zeal, and from these in his life;
and the neighbor is all the good in others by which one is affected,
consequently those who are in good;
and this with every possible distinction.

[7] For example: that a person is in charity and mercy
who exercises justice and judgment
by punishing the evil and rewarding the good.
There is charity in punishing the evil,
for to this are we impelled by our zeal to amend them,
and at the same time to protect the good,
lest these suffer injury at the hands of the evil.
In this way does a person feeling toward him,
as well as to others, and to the common well-being itself;
and this from charity toward the neighbor.
The case is the same with all the other goods of life;
for the good of life is never possible
unless it comes from charity toward the neighbor,
because it looks to this, and involves it.