DFAITH 13
We have already said what faith is,
and will now say what charity is.
In its first origin or beginning
charity is an affection for goodness;
and because
goodness loves truth,
it produces an affection for truth,
and through
that affection
an acknowledgment of truth, which is faith.
Through this
progression
the affection for goodness finds expression
and becomes
charity.
This is the progression of charity from its origin,
that
is, from an affection for goodness,
through faith, which is an
acknowledgment of truth,
to its end, which is charity.
The final end is the doing.
It is apparent from this
how love, namely an affection for
goodness,
produces faith,
which is the same as an acknowledgment of
truth,
and through that faith produces charity,
which is the same as an
act of love through faith.
DFAITH 19
The relation of charity and faith in a person
is like that of the
motions of the heart
called its systole and diastole,
and of the motion
of the lungs called respiration.
There is also
a complete correspondence
of these organs
with a person’s will and intellect,
and so with charity
and faith.
Consequently the will and its affection
are also meant in
the Word by the heart,
and the intellect and its thought by the soul,
and also by the spirit.
. . . So great is the analogy
between the heart and charity,
and between the
lungs and faith,
that in the spiritual world
the character of someone’s
faith
is discerned simply from his breathing,
and the character of his
charity
from the beating of his heart.
For just like people,
angels and
spirits depend for their life
on a heart and respiration.
That is why
they feel, think, act and speak
like people in the world.
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