AC 6628-6633 - Lost Wisdom and the Lost Doctrine of Charity

AC 6628 - 6633

. . . the Doctrine of Charity
was the doctrine in the Ancient Churches,
and that this doctrine conjoined all the churches,
and so made one out of many;
for they acknowledged
as people of the church
all who lived in the good of charity,
and called them brethren,
however greatly they might be at variance in the truths
which at this day are called the truths of faith.
In these one instructed another,
and this was among their works of charity;
nor were they indignant
if one did not accede to the opinion of another,
knowing that
everyone receives truth
in proportion as he is in good.

Such being the character of the Ancient Churches,
they were more interior people,
and being more interior they were more wise;
for those who are in the good of love and of charity
are as to the internal
people in heaven,
and in an angelic society there which is in like good.
From this they have
an elevation of mind to interior things,
and consequently to the things of wisdom;
for wisdom can come from no other source than heaven,
that is, through heaven from the Lord;
and in heaven there is wisdom,
because there they are in good.

But in course of time this ancient wisdom decreased;
for insofar as the human race removed itself
from the good of love to the Lord
and of charity toward the neighbor,
so far it also removed itself from wisdom,
because so far it removed itself from heaven.
From this it is that people from internal became external,
and this successively.

And when a person became external,
he also became worldly and corporeal;
and when he is of this character
he no longer cares for the things of heaven;
for they have been so far removed
as not to be believed to exist;
because the delights of earthly loves,
and with these all evils
which from these loves
are delightful to him,
then take complete possession of the whole person;
and then all that he hears about the life after death,
about heaven, and about hell,
is like chaff in the wind,
which flies away as fast as it is seen.

From this also it is
that the Doctrine of Charity,
which was so precious among the ancients,
is at this day one of the lost things;
for who at this day knows
what in the genuine sense charity is,
and what in the genuine sense the neighbor is?
when yet this doctrine abounds
in arcana so many and so great
that it cannot be described as to a thousandth part.
The whole Sacred Scripture is nothing else
than the doctrine of love and of charity,
as the Lord also teaches, saying,
"You shall love the Lord thy God from all your heart,
and in all your soul,
and in all your mind;
this is the first and great commandment:
the second is like unto it,
You shall love your neighbor as thyself;
on these two commandments
hang the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:37-40).
"The law and the prophets" are the Word
in all and each of its parts.

As the doctrine of charity is at this day
one of the lost things,
and as the doctrine of faith is consequently
much alienated from the truth,
this doctrine may
of the Lord's Divine mercy be delivered
before the several chapters of the Book of Exodus,
and thus be restored to the church.