Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem · 8 of 14

Shunning Murders: Love Toward the Neighbor

67.IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE SHUNS MURDERS OF EVERY KIND AS SINS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE HAS LOVE TOWARD THE NEIGHBOR. “Murders of every kind” include enmity, hatred, and revenge of every kind, which breathe murder, for murder lies hidden in them, like fire in wood underneath the ashes. Infernal fire is nothing else, and this is the origin of the expressions to “kindle with hatred,” and to “burn with revenge.” All these are “murders” in the natural sense. But in the spiritual sense “murders” mean all methods of killing and destroying the souls of men, which methods are varied and many. And in the highest sense “murder” means to hate the Lord. These three kinds of “murder” form a one, and cleave together, for he who wills the murder of a man’s body in this world, after death wills the murder of his soul, and wills the murder of the Lord, for he burns with anger against Him, and desires to blot out His name.

68.These kinds of murder lie inwardly hidden in man from his birth, but from early childhood he learns to veil them over with the civic and moral behavior that he is bound to show toward men in the world, and in proportion as he loves honors or gains he guards against their appearance. This forms his external, while his internal is these kinds of murder. Such is man in himself. Now as when he dies he lays aside that external together with his body, and retains the internal, it is evident what a devil he would be unless he were reformed.

69.As the kinds of murder mentioned above lie inwardly hidden in man from his birth, as has been said, and at the same time thefts of every kind, and false witness of every kind, together with the concupiscences for them (of which we shall speak farther on), it is evident that unless the Lord provided means of reformation, a man must perish everlastingly. The means of reformation provided by the Lord are as follows: That man is born into total ignorance; that when newly born he is kept in a state of external innocence; a little after in a state of external charity; and later in a state of external friendship; but in proportion as he comes into the exercise of thought from his own understanding, he is kept in a certain freedom of acting according to reason. This is the state that has been described above (n. 19), and the description shall be here repeated for the sake of what is to follow: So long as a man is in this world he is midway between hell and heaven; hell is below him, and heaven is above him; and he is kept in freedom to turn himself to either the one or the other; if he turns to hell he turns away from heaven; if he turns to heaven he turns away from hell. Or what is the same, so long as a man is in this world he stands midway between the Lord and the devil, and is kept in freedom to turn himself to either the one or the other; if he turns to the devil he turns away from the Lord; if he turns to the Lord he turns away from the devil. Or what is again the same, so long as a man is in this world he is midway between evil and good, and is kept in freedom to turn himself to either the one or the other; if he turns to evil he turns away from good; if he turns to good he turns away from evil. (See also what follows this, n. 20-22.)

70.Now as evil and good are two opposite things, precisely as are hell and heaven, or as are the devil and the Lord, it follows that if a man shuns evil as sin, he comes into the good that is opposite to the evil. The good opposite to the evil that is meant by “murder,” is the good of love toward the neighbor.

71.As this good and that evil are opposites, it follows that the latter is removed by means of the former. Two opposites cannot be together, even as heaven and hell cannot; if they were together there would be lukewarmness, of which it is said in Revelation: I know that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot; but because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth (3:15, 16).

72.When a man is no longer in the evil of murder, but in the good of love toward the neighbor, whatever he does is a good of this love, and therefore it is a good work. A priest who is in this good does a good work whenever he teaches and leads, because he acts from the love of saving souls. A magistrate who is in this good does a good work whenever he delivers a decision or a judgment, because he acts from the love of taking care of his country, of the community, and of his fellow-citizen. The same with a trader: if he is in this good, everything of his trading is a good work; there is in him the love of the neighbor; and his country, the community, his fellow-citizen, and also the members of his household, are the neighbor whose welfare he has care for in providing for his own. A workman also who is in this good, works faithfully from it, for others as for himself, fearing his neighbor’s loss as he would his own. The reason why the doings of these men are good works, is that in proportion as anyone shuns evil, in the same proportion he does good, according to the general law stated above (n. 21), and he who shuns evil as sin, does good not from himself but from the Lord (n. 18-31). The contrary is the case with him who does not regard as sins the various kinds of murder, which are enmities, hatred, revenge, and many more. Whether he be priest, magistrate, trader, or workman, whatever he does is not a good work, because every work of his partakes of the evil that is within him; for his internal is what gives it birth. The external may be good, but only as regards others, not as regards himself.

73.The Lord teaches the good of love in many places in the Word. He teaches it in Matthew by what He says about reconciliation with the neighbor: If thou art offering thy gift upon the altar, and there remember that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Be well-minded to thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him; lest the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt not come out thence, till thou hast paid the last farthing (Matt. 5:23-26). To be “reconciled to one’s brother” is to shun enmity, hatred, and revenge; that it is to shun them as sin is evident. The Lord also teaches in Matthew: All thing whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets (7:12); thus that we should not do evil. He teaches the same in many other places. The Lord also teaches that to be angry with one’s brother or the neighbor rashly, and to hold him as an enemy, is also to commit murder (Matt. 5:21-22).