Charity · 4 of 12

The Object of Charity

72.IV THE OBJECT OF CHARITY IS A MAN, ALSO A SOCIETY, ALSO ONE’S COUNTRY, ALSO THE HUMAN RACE; AND ALL ARE THE NEIGHBOUR IN A NARROW AND IN A WIDE SENSE. That a man is the neighbour is well known. A society is the neighbour because a society is a composite man; one’s country is the neighbour because it consists of many societies, and so is a more composite man; and the human race is the neighbour because it is composed of large societies, each one of which is a man in composite form, hence it is a man in the widest sense. Let these things be explained in this order: (1) Every individual man is the neighbour according to the quality of his good. (2) A society, small or large, is the neighbour according to the good of its use. (3) One’s country is the neighbour according to its spiritual, moral, and civil good. (4) The human race is the neighbour in the widest sense; but, because it is distinguished into empires, kingdoms, and republics, any one of these is a neighbour according to the good of its religion, and according to the good which it performs to one’s country and to itself.

73.1. Every individual man is the neighbour according to the quality of his good. Since, in a spiritual idea, good is the neighbour, and a man is the subject of good, and also the object of him who does good, it follows that in a natural idea a man is the neighbour.

74.One man is not the neighbour more than another in respect of his person merely, but in respect of the good from which he is such and such a man; for there are as many differences of neighbour as there are of good, and the differences of good are infinite.

75.It is supposed that a brother, a kinsman, or a relation, is more the neighbour than a stranger; and that anyone born in one’s country is the neighbour more than one born outside it; but everyone, whether Greek or Gentile, is the neighbour according to his good.

76.The neighbour indeed is what everyone is according to spiritual relationship and kinship. This can be seen from the fact that after death every man comes among his own, with whom he is similar in respect of good, or, what is the same, similar in regard to affections. Moreover, natural relationships perish after death, spiritual relationships taking their place; for all in the same heavenly society recognize one another, and are associated together because they are in a similar good. Of ten brothers in the world, five may be in hell, and five in heaven, and the latter five in different societies; and when they meet they do not recognize one another. In fact they are, each one, in face, their own affections. From this it is evident that every man is the neighbour according to the quality of his good.

77.The goods according to the quality of which a man is the neighbour are especially spiritual goods. Charity regards these in the first place.

78.2. A society, small or large, is the neighbour according to the good of its use. Every society in a kingdom is established in accordance with the uses [in that kingdom], which are various. There are societies whose work is to administer justly various civil affairs, which are manifold; various judicial affairs; various affairs relating to the structure of the state; and various ecclesiastical affairs, such as consistories, academies, and schools. There are societies for the advancement of knowledge, which also are several.

79.Every society can be regarded no otherwise than as a man in composite form; for which reason it is the neighbour according to the good of use it performs. If a society performs eminent uses, it is the neighbour to a greater extent; if lowly uses, it is the neighbour to a lesser extent; if evil uses, it is the neighbour no otherwise than as a wicked man is; and the good I desire for him is that he may become good, and be provided, so far as is possible, with the means to improve, even though it should be by threats, corrections, penalties, or privations.

80.A society having one function cannot be regarded except as one composite man. When a kingdom is regarded as a man, certain persons are called members of the government; but among themselves they constitute one man, whose members are the individuals therein.

81.This is the same as in heaven. There every society, small or large, is as one man. It is also presented to view as one man. I have seen an eminent society as one man. The form of heaven is the human form.

82.So, too, a society on earth appears as one man before angels in the heavens.

83.3. One’s country is the neighbour according to its spiritual, moral, and civil good. In everyone’s idea his country is as it were one thing; and therefore all the laws, both those relating to justice and those relating to the structure of the state, are framed as it were for one man. His country, therefore, is as it were a man in compound form: it is, besides, called a body, in which the king is in the supreme position. Its good, which ought to be considered, is termed the public good and the common good. It is also said of the king that the people are in the body of his government.

84.Indeed, when it pleases the Lord, any one kingdom is presented to view before angels in heaven as one man, in the form, moreover, answering to its quality. That form is the form of their spiritual affection; the form of its face being the form of the affection of its spiritual good, and the form of its body being the form of its civil good, while its manners, speech, and the like, are its rational good. When one sees a kingdom as one man, it can be seen such as it really is; and in accordance with this it is the neighbour.

85.Birth does not make anyone the neighbour more than another, not even when it is one’s mother or father; nor does education. These are estimations from natural good. Nor does kinship nor relationship make anyone a neighbour more than another, thus country does not either. One’s country should be loved according to the quality of its good; but it is a duty to do good to it, and this is done by having regard for its use, since one thus has regard for the welfare of all. It is not a duty to do good to other kingdoms outside that one, because kingdom does not desire the good of another, but would like to destroy it as to wealth and power, thus also as to its protection. To love another kingdom more than one’s own, therefore, by having more regard for its use, would be contrary to the good of the kingdom one is in; for which reason one’s country should be loved in a higher degree.

86.Take this example: If I had been born in Venice or Rome, and if I were a Reformed Christian; ought my country, or where I was born, to be loved, for its spiritual good? I cannot love it on that account, nor on account of its moral and civil good in so far as this depends, as it does, on its spiritual good. In so far, however, as it does not depend on this, I can, even though that country hates me. So I must not hate an unfriendly or hostile country, but must still love it, bringing no harm upon it, but having regard for its good, in so far as it has good, but not having such regard to it as to confirm it in its own falsity and evil. But more about the love of country in another place.

87.4. The human race is the neighbour in the widest sense; but, because it is distinguished into empires, kingdoms, and republics, any one of these is a neighbour according to the good of its religion and of its moral qualities, and according to the good which it performs to one’s country, and which makes one with its own good. These subjects are too extensive to be separately elucidated. It is enough that, if some man or other, from some kingdom or other, is at my house, and I am staying in the same house as he is, or I in the same city, to me he is then the neighbour according to his good. It is the same with all in that kingdom whom that particular man resembles. Supposing he is an ambassador of that kingdom, representing his king and therefore the kingdom; it cannot then be denied that to me he is the neighbour according to the good of his religion and of his moral qualities, and according as he wishes good to my country and his own; especially in so far as this makes one with his own good.

88.I am not speaking of any other good than the good of charity, and the good of genuine charity. It is possible for wicked people, for robbers and devils even, to love each other mutually, but not from charity, or the good of interior love. But because of their joining in evil-doing, stealing, whoring, taking revenge, killing, and blaspheming, they are neighbours among themselves. These are not meant, however, because charity and its good are treated of here.

89.I can love all in the universe according to their religion, not more so those in my native land than those in other kingdoms, nor those in Europe more than those in Africa. I love a Gentile in preference to a Christian, if he lives well according to his religion, if he worships God from the heart, saying, “I will not do this evil because it is against God.” I do not love him on account of his doctrine however, but on account of his life; since if I love him on account of his doctrine only, I am loving him as an external man, while if I love him on account of his life, I am loving him as an internal man. For if he has the good of religion, he also has moral good, and civil good as well. They cannot be separated. But he who is only in doctrine cannot have religion. And so his moral and civil good does not have life in it. It is merely external. It wants to be seen, and to be thought to exist.