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798. To blaspheme his name. That this signifies, by falsifying all the quality thereof, is evident from the signification of blaspheming, as denoting to falsify the Divine truth, thus the Word, which is from the Lord and which is the Lord (concerning which see above, n. 796); and from the signification of name, as denoting the quality and state of a thing (concerning which see above, n. 148, 676); in this case, all the quality of Divine truth or the Word, because it is said His name, or the name of God. That by the name of the Lord, in the Word, is meant all the good of love, and all the truth from that good, from which He is worshipped, may be seen above (n. 102, 135, 696). From these considerations it is evident, that by blaspheming the name of God is signified to falsify all the quality of Divine truth or the Word, also all the good and truth by which the Lord is worshipped.
That those who separate faith from good works, both in doctrine and life, falsify all the quality of Divine truth, or all things of the Word, was shown in the preceding article. This may be concluded from what has been said in many places above, that is, that they exclude love and charity, from which works become good, and from which faith derives its essence, so as not to be, together with faith, a means of salvation. Consequently they not only falsify those parts of the Word where love to God and love towards the neighbour are taught, but also all those where works, deeds, working, and doing, are mentioned. And when those parts are falsified, everything in the Word is also falsified; for the other parts of the Word which are called its truths live by virtue of the former; and when life is taken away what remains is dead. And besides, everywhere in the Word there is a marriage of good and truth, as has been frequently said and shown above. Therefore when good is taken away, the truth which remains is falsified; and truth falsified is falsity. That by reasonings confirming faith alone or faith separated, everything in the Word as falsified will be illustrated by several examples at the end of this chapter where the signification of the number 666 will be explained.
[2] Because in the various Christian churches, in which faith alone is received as the chief point of their doctrinals, there are the learned and the simple; and also those who separate faith from the goods of life, also those who conjoin faith therewith, thus those who falsify the Word much, and those who falsify it little; and because, in the preceding article those are treated of who so falsify the Word as to entirely close heaven against themselves, we shall now speak of those who do not so falsify the Word as to close heaven against themselves. These are they who confirm in themselves, that the faith which justifies and saves produces goods of life as a tree does fruits. With those who confirm that doctrine in the life, heaven is not closed, but its ultimate is open, where entrance is given. The following are the reasons.
[3] 1. They invert the Divine Order that charity produces faith, and not that faith charity. But still with those who confirm that conjunction in doctrine and life that inverted order can afterwards be reduced to order; and, being so reduced, they enter heaven in its ultimates. The reason why they do not enter interiorly is, that their faith, by which they believed themselves to be justified and saved, is derived more from falsities than truths. And those are in the ultimates of heaven who are in falsities from their doctrine and religion but still in good of life. Their falsities are appearances of truth from the sense of the letter of the Word, all of which have life for their end. The case is almost the same with every one who is to be reformed. He first forms for himself doctrine from the Word and therein separates the things which are to be believed and done. Those that are to be believed he calls faith, and those that are to be done he calls charity. But because order with every one is inverted from birth, he regards faith as in the first place and charity in the second. If, however, he lives the life of faith, which is charity, the order is gradually restored; and then from charity he lives faith. In that case so far as his faith is from genuine truths so far he enters heaven. For, as said above, Divine truth proceeding from the Lord makes heaven and is heaven. From these things it is evident why it is that faith, at this day, has become the chief and primary thing of the church - because they have followed the order that is inverted from birth; and because they are pleased with the life of the world; and because they have been led by pride in their own intelligence. This is why they remained in the first degree of reformation.
[4] 2. The second reason why they do not close heaven against themselves is, that good works are love and charity in act, and from these heaven is heaven. For all angels and all spirits are affections and thoughts therefrom, or, what amounts to the same, are loves and intelligences therefrom. There are also two loves that are the universal and fundamental of all loves - love to the Lord, and love towards the neighbour, which is called charity. All those are in these loves who do goods from the Word; for every good is from love. Now because those who confirm themselves in the doctrine and life that faith produces good works as a tree does fruit, look from faith to good; hence they have conjunction with heaven, not however with the spiritual, but with the natural heaven, which is in ultimates, and may be called the entrance [into heaven]. The reason why they cannot be admitted more interiorly is, that faith, before it becomes charity in form, is natural; and the natural can produce only the natural. It is different when faith becomes faith from charity. Then faith becomes spiritual, because charity, from which it is derived, is spiritual. With the latter the spiritual mind is opened, but with the former only the natural mind is opened, but this more deeply and interiorly according to the quality of the faith and of the life therefrom. The mind of such persons when seen in the light of heaven appears snowy, such as rational light is; and the Rational is the medium between the spiritual mind and the natural.
[5] 3. If the state of the mind and life of those who believe that faith produces good works and who also do them were interiorly examined, it would be seen that they are interiorly natural; for their faith is only a knowledge of the precepts of the Word, into which when the interior natural sight, which is called rational, enters, there is an acknowledgment that those precepts are Divine; and when love operates upon such acknowledgment, it becomes obedience. But the love which operates upon that acknowledgment can be no other than the love of reward for the sake of the goods which they do; and reward is to them eternal life. And because the love of reward comes not from God but from man - for in reward man regards his own good, and not that of his neighbour - it follows, that that love is natural, consequently that the state of the mind and life of those who believe that faith produces good works, and who do them according to their faith, is natural. But if they do not perform them from a spirit of obedience, it is the love of glory springing from erudition, or the love of the fame that may raise them to honours, or that they may become rich, that leads them. Such persons, however, say that they acknowledge and believe, while in heart they do not; therefore they are in the lowest natural and to them heaven is closed altogether.
[6] In order that it may be known that to do good from a spirit of obedience is from the natural man, it shall be briefly explained what is meant by doing good from charity. No one can do good from charity but he whose spiritual mind is opened; and the spiritual mind is opened solely by a man abstaining from doing evils, and shunning them, and at length holding them in aversion, because they are contrary to the Divine precepts in the Word, thus contrary to the Lord. When man so shuns and holds evils in aversion, then everything that he thinks, wills, and does is good, because from the Lord. For the Lord is continually present, knocks at the door, is urgent, and wishes to enter, but evils oppose. Man, therefore, must open the door by removing evils; for these being removed, the Lord enters, and there sups (Apoc. 3:20). It is said that a man opens and removes; for a man does evil from himself. And because the Lord is continually present, knocks at the door, and is urgent, as said, therefore a man has the faculty of desisting from evils as of himself. This faculty is given to every one. Hence then it is that as a man can of himself close heaven against himself, so he can as of himself open heaven, provided only he thinks and wills to cease from evils, looks unto the Lord, and when he does so cease, acknowledges that it is from the Lord. Evils therefore being removed, whatever a man then does is good, because it is from the Lord; and whatever a man does from the Lord, is not natural-moral but spiritual-moral. Now, because charity consists in doing good from love for the sake of good, thus from good, consequently from the Lord, it follows that to do good from charity is spiritual; but to do good from a spirit of obedience, because it is from the love of reward, is natural. This is the natural in which those are who are in the entrance to heaven; whither those also come who do good only from a spirit of obedience; and these are such as confirm themselves in the doctrine and life that faith produces good works as a tree does fruit.
[7] 4. Moreover, it should be known that those who believe that faith produces good works as a tree does fruit, also believe that heaven is allotted them before evils are removed, and yet so long as evils are in man, the goods that he does are not good; for from an evil tree only evil fruits are produced. The one only way to heaven therefore is for a man to abstain from evils, from the Word, because they are sins; unless these are first removed the Lord cannot enter and impart heaven.
[8] 5. The fifth reason why those who confirm themselves in the doctrine and life that faith produces good works as a tree does fruit, do not shut heaven against themselves is, that they do not falsify the Word like those who believe in justification and salvation by faith without good works. For those who believe that faith justifies without good works, falsify all those parts of the Word where love, charity, goods, works, deeds, working, and doing are mentioned and commanded, and this to the destruction of the Divine truth in the heavens. They understand by those expressions either faith, or the moral and civil good of the world, or that they are mentioned only for the common people, because of the simplicity of their faith. They thus destroy Divine truth itself by arguments drawn from man's inability to fulfil the law, because a man's good is not good, and because merit is inherent in it. But those, who, in simplicity, adjoin good works to faith do not falsify all those parts of the Word, and consequently they do not separate faith from love to God; and in this way they admit the Divine operation in every thing that man has to do, as well as in every thing that he has to believe. For they think and say that good works are to be done as from man; for he who does not act and believe as of himself, believes nothing and does nothing, and can have no religion. But still, because they are not in genuine truths, though they do not indeed close heaven against themselves, they cannot come nearer than the threshold of heaven. Still to such of them as have loved truths for the sake of truths, heaven is opened when Divine Order in them is restored, which takes place when charity and its good is in the first place and faith and its truths in the second; for they are then like those who go on in a straight way with the faces looking before, while previously they were like those who go with the faces turned backwards.
[9] 6. There are also many who make charity the essential means of salvation, as others do faith, and yet do not live the life of charity. But since their charity is only a lip-confession, and thus it is merely their faith, it follows that their charity, similarly, is not alive but dead. Therefore they differ but little from those who confess faith alone; for they are like in heart but unlike in soul. Nevertheless, they both close heaven against themselves.
798. To blaspheme His name, signifies by falsifying all the quality of Divine truth or the Word. This is evident from the signification of "blaspheming," as being to falsify the Divine truth, thus the Word, which is from the Lord and which is the Lord (See just above, n. 797; also from the signification of "name," as being the quality of a thing or state (See above, n. 148, 676), here all the quality of Divine truth or the Word; because it is said "His name," that is, "the name of God." "The name of the Lord" means in the Word every good of love and every truth from that good from which He is worshipped (See above, n. 102, 135, 696). From this it is clear that "to blaspheme the name of God" signifies to falsify all the quality of the Divine truth or the Word, also every good and truth by which the Lord is worshipped. That those who separate faith from good works both in doctrine and life falsify all the quality of the Divine truth, or all things of the Word, has been explained in the preceding article. This can be concluded from what has been frequently said above, namely, that such shut out love and charity, from which works become good and from which faith derives its essence, that these may not, together with faith, be means of salvation; thus they not only falsify those passages of the Word that teach about love to God and love toward the neighbor, but also those passages where "works," "deeds," "working," and "doing," are mentioned; and when these are falsified all things of the Word are also falsified; for the remaining things of the Word, which are called its truths, live from these; and when life is withdrawn the other things are dead. Furthermore, there is everywhere in the Word the marriage of good and truth, as has been frequently said and shown above; consequently when good is taken away the truth that remains is falsified, and truth falsified is falsity. That all things of the Word are falsified by reasonings that confirm faith alone or faith separate will be illustrated by several examples at the end of this chapter, where the signification of the number "six hundred sixty-six" will be explained.
[2] Since in the Christian churches in which faith alone is received as the head of their doctrinals there are those who are learned and those who are simple, also those who separate faith from the goods of life and those who conjoin faith with these, thus those who falsify the Word much and those who falsify it little, and since the preceding article treated of those who so falsify the Word as altogether to close heaven to themselves, so now those shall be treated of who do not so falsify the Word as to close heaven to themselves. These are such as confirm with themselves that the faith that justifies and saves produces goods of life as a tree does fruits. With those who confirm that doctrine in the life heaven is not closed, but its lowest part, where there is an entrance, is open. The reasons are as follows:
[3] First, although they invert the Divine order, which is that charity produces faith, and not that faith produces charity, yet with those who confirm that conjunction in doctrine and in life that inverted order can afterwards be reversed; and when it has been reversed they enter heaven in its lowest parts. They do not enter interiorly because their faith, by which they believed themselves to have been justified and saved, is derived more from falsities than from truths; and in the lowest parts of heaven are they who are in falsities from doctrine and religion and yet are in the good of life. Their falsities are appearances of truth from the sense of the letter of the Word, all of which have life as their end. It is almost similar with everyone who is being reformed; he first forms doctrine for himself out of the Word, and distinguishes in it between the things that are to be believed and the things that are to be done. The things that are to be believed he calls faith, and the things that are to be done he calls charity, but as the order with everyone has been reversed from birth he looks to faith in the first place and charity in the second. Yet if he lives the life of faith, which is charity, the order is by degrees turned about and restored; and from charity he lives faith. Then so far as his faith is from genuine truths he enters heaven; for, as has been said above, the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord makes heaven and is heaven. From this it can be seen how at the present day faith has become the first and chief thing of the church, namely, because they have followed the order reversed from birth, and because they have been satisfied with the life of the world, and have been led by the pride of self-intelligence; and for this reason they have stopped at the first stage of reformation.
[4] The second reason that such do not close heaven to themselves is, that good works are love and charity in act, and it is from these that heaven is heaven; for all angels and all spirits are affections and thoughts therefrom; or what is the same, are loves and intelligences therefrom; and there are two loves that are the universal and fundamental loves of all, namely, love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor, which is called charity. In these loves are all who do goods from the Word; for all good is of love. Now since those who confirm with themselves in doctrine and life the belief that faith produces good works as a tree does fruits look from faith to good, therefore they have conjunction with heaven, not however with the spiritual heaven, but with the natural heaven, which is in things ultimate and may be called the entrance. Such cannot be admitted more interiorly for the reason that until faith becomes charity in form it is natural, and the natural can produce only what is natural. It is otherwise when faith becomes faith from charity; then faith becomes spiritual because charity, from which is faith, is spiritual. With these the spiritual mind is opened, but with the former only the natural mind is opened; yet this is opened more deeply and interiorly according to the quality of the faith and the quality of the life therefrom. The mind of these, viewed in the light of heaven, appears snowy, such as rational light is; and the rational is intermediate between the spiritual mind and the natural mind.
[5] Thirdly, if the state of the mind and life of those who believe that faith produces good works, and who also do them, is explored more interiorly, it will be seen that they are interiorly natural; since their faith is simply a knowledge of the commandments of the Word; and when the interior natural sight, which is called the rational, enters into this faith, an acknowledgment is produced that those commandments are Divine; and when love becomes active in this acknowledgment it becomes obedience. But the love that operates into this acknowledgment can be no other than a love of reward for the goods done, and to them this reward is eternal life. And as love of reward is not from God but from man, for in reward man regards his own good and not the good of the neighbor, it follows that this love is natural; consequently that the state of mind and life of those who believe that faith produces good works, and who do them according to their faith, is natural. But if they do not do good works from obedience, the love that leads them is the love of the glory that comes from erudition, or the love of the reputation that comes from being raised to honors, or from gaining riches. Such, however, merely say that they acknowledge and believe; in heart they do not acknowledge or believe; therefore they are the lowest natural, and heaven is altogether closed to them.
[6] In order that it may be known that to do good from obedience is from the natural man it shall be told briefly what it is to do good from charity. No one can do good from charity unless his spiritual mind is opened, and the spiritual mind is opened only by man's abstaining from doing evils and shunning them, and finally turning away from them because they are contrary to the Divine commandments in the Word, thus contrary to the Lord. When man so shuns and turns away from evils all things that he thinks, wills, and does, are good because they are from the Lord; for the Lord is continually present, knocks at the door, is urgent and wishes to enter, but evils oppose; therefore man must open the door by removing the evils, for it is only when evils are removed that the Lord enters and sups there (Revelation 3:20). It is said that man opens and removes, because it is from self that man does evils; and inasmuch as the Lord is continually present, knocks at the door, and is urgent, as has been said, man has the ability to refrain from evils as if of himself; this ability is also given to every man. This is why, since man can of himself close heaven to himself he can also as if of himself open heaven, provided he thinks and wills to refrain from evils, looks to the Lord, and when he refrains acknowledges that it is from the Lord. When, therefore, evils have been removed, whatever man does is good, since it is from the Lord; and whatever man does from the Lord is not natural-moral, but is spiritual-moral. Since, then, charity is from the love of doing good for the sake of good, thus from good, consequently from the Lord, it follows that doing good from charity is spiritual, but doing good from obedience, since it is from a love of reward, is natural. Such is the natural in which those are who are in the entrance to heaven; and to this those come who do good only from obedience, who are such as confirm in themselves, in doctrine and life, that faith produces good works as a tree does fruits.
[7] Fourthly, moreover it is to be known that those who believe that faith produces good works as a tree does fruits believe also that heaven is allotted them before evils are removed; and yet so long as evils are with man whatever goods he does are not good, for from an evil tree no other than evil fruits spring forth; therefore the only way to heaven is for man from the Word to abstain from evils because they are sins, which unless they be first removed, the Lord cannot enter and bestow heaven.
[8] The fifth reason why those do not close heaven to themselves who confirm themselves in doctrine and life in the belief that faith produces good works as a tree does fruits, is, that they do not falsify the Word as those do who believe in justification and salvation by faith without good works. Those who believe in a faith without good works falsify all things of the Word that mention and enjoin love, charity, goods, works, deeds, working, and doing; and this they do even to the destruction of the Divine truth in the heavens, by understanding them as meaning either faith, or the moral and civil goods of the world, or as having been said merely for the common people on account of the simplicity of their faith. Thus they destroy the Divine truth itself by arguments from man's inability to fulfill the law, by the nature of the good that is from man as not being good, and by the removal of the merit that inheres in goods from man. But those who in simplicity join good works to faith do not falsify all those things of the Word, and thence do not remove faith from the love to God, and thereby remove the Divine operation in all the particulars to be done by man, as also in all the particulars to be believed by man; for they think and say that good works are to be done as if by man, for he who does not act and believe as if of himself believes nothing and does nothing, and has no religion. And yet, since they have no genuine truths, while they do not close heaven to themselves they can advance no farther than to the threshold of heaven. To such of them, however, as have loved truths for the sake of truths heaven is opened when the Divine order has been restored with them, and that is done when charity and its good are in the first place, and faith and its truths in the second, for they are then like those who go on in a straight way with the face looking forward, while before they were like those who go with the face looking backward.
[9] Sixthly, there are also many who make charity the essential means of salvation, as others do faith, and yet do not live the life of charity; but since their charity is merely a confession of the mouth that this is the truth, it is their faith alone; therefore their charity likewise is not living but dead, and in consequence they differ very little from the confessors of faith alone, having a like heart but an unlike soul, but yet the one like the other closes heaven to himself.
798. "Blasphemare nomen Ipsius." Quod significet falsificando omne quale ejus, constat ex significatione "blasphemare", quod sit falsificare Divinum Verum, ita Verbum, quod a Domino, et quod est Dominus (de qua mox supra, n. 797); et ex significatione "nominis", quod sit quale rei et status (de qua supra, n. 148, 676), hic omne quale Divini Veri seu Verbi, quia dicitur "nomen Ipsius" seu Dei; quod per "nomen Domini" in Verbo intelligatur omne bonum amoris, et omne verum ex illo bono, ex quo colitur, videatur supra (n. 102, 135, 696); ex his patet quod per "blasphemare nomen Dei" significetur falsificare omne quale Divini Veri seu Verbi, tum omne bonum et verum per quae Dominus colitur. Quod illi qui separant fidem a bonis operibus et doctrina et vita, falsificent omne quale Divini Veri, seu omnia Verbi, in praecedente articulo expositum est; hoc concludi potest ex illis quae supra passim dicta sunt, quod nempe amorem et charitatem, ex quibus opera fiunt bona, et ex quibus fides essentiam suam trahit, excludant, ut non una cum fide sint medium salvationis; inde non solum falsificant illa Verbi ubi docetur de amore in Deum, et de amore erga proximum, sed etiam illa loca ubi "opera", "facta", "operari" et "facere" dicuntur; et cum illa falsificantur, etiam omnia Verbi falsificantur; nam reliqua Verbi, quae vera ejus vocantur, vivunt ex illis, et cum vita subtrahitur, cetera sunt mortua: et praeterea, in Verbo ubivis est conjugium boni et veri, ut supra aliquoties dictum et ostensum est; quare cum bonum aufertur, verum quod remanet, falsificatur, et verum falsificatum est falsum; quod per ratiocinia confirmantia fidem solam seu separatam, falsificentur omnia Verbi, in fine hujus capitis pluribus illustrabitur, ubi explicabitur quid numerus "sexcenta sexaginta sex" significat.
[2] Quoniam in ecclesiis Christianis, in quibus sola fides ut caput doctrinalium earum recepta est, sunt eruditi et simplices, et sunt qui fidem separant a bonis vitae, tum qui fidem conjungunt cum illis, ita qui Verbum falsificant multum, et qui parum; et quia in praecedente articulo actum est de illis qui ita falsificant Verbum ut sibi caelum prorsus claudant, hic nunc agetur de illis qui non ita falsificant Verbum ut sibi caelum claudant; hi sunt qui apud se confirmant quod fides quae justificat et salvat, producat bona vitae, sicut arbor fructus; apud hos qui doctrinam illam confirmant vita, non clauditur caelum, sed aperitur ultimum ejus, ubi est introitus. Causae sunt sequentes:
[3] Primum, Quod invertant ordinem Divinum, qui est quod charitas producat fidem, et non quod fides producat charitatem; at usque apud illos qui conjunctionem illam doctrina et vita confirmant, postea inversus ille ordo potest reduci; et cum reductus est, intrant caelum in ultimis ejus: causa quod non interius, est, quia fides eorum, per quam crediderunt se justificari et salvari, plus trahit a falsis quam a veris; et in ultimis caeli sunt qui in falsis ex doctrina et religione sunt, sed usque in bono vitae; falsa eorum sunt apparentiae veri ex sensu litterae Verbi, quae omnes pro fine habent vitam. Paene similis res est cum omni reformando: is primum sibi format doctrinam ex Verbo, et ibi separat illa quae credenda sunt et quae facienda; illa quae credenda sunt vocat fidem, et illa quae facienda sunt vocat charitatem; at quia ordo apud omnes inversus est a nativitate, spectat fidem primo loco, et charitatem secundo: si tamen ille vivit vitam fidei, quae est charitas, per gradus convertitur et reducitur ordo, et a charitate fidem vivit; is tunc quantum fides ejus est ex genuinis veris, tantum intrat caelum; nam, ut supra dictum est, Divinum Verum procedens a Domino facit caelum, et est caelum. Ex his constare potest unde est quod fides hodie facta sit et primum ecclesiae et primarium ejus; nempe, quia ordinem a nativitate inversum secuti sunt, et quia vita mundi placuit, et fastus propriae intelligentiae duxit. Inde est quod in gradu reformationis primo 1
substiterint.
[4] Secunda causa est, quod illi non sibi claudant caelum quia bona opera sunt amor et charitas in actu, et caelum est caelum ex illis; omnes enim angeli et omnes spiritus sunt affectiones et inde cogitationes, seu quod idem, sunt amores et inde intelligentiae; ac bini amores universales ac omnium fundamentales sunt, nempe, amor in Dominum et amor erga proximum, qui vocatur charitas; in bis sunt omnes illi qui bona faciunt ex Verbo, nam omne bonum est amoris: nunc quia illi qui apud se doctrina et vita confirmant quod fides producat bona opera sicut arbor fructus, spectant a fide ad bonum, inde illis conjunctio est cum caelo, at non cum caelo spirituali, sed cum caelo naturali, quod est in ultimis, et vocandum est introitus: quod non interius possint intromitti, est causa, quia fides antequam fit charitas in forma, est naturalis, et naturale non producere potest quam naturale; aliter cum fides fit fides ex charitate, tunc fides fit spiritualis, quia charitas, ex qua, est spiritualis: apud hos aperta est mens spiritualis; apud illos autem solum aperta est mens naturalis, sed profundius et interius secundum fidei quale et inde vitae quale. Mens horum in luce caeli spectata apparet nivea, qualis est lux rationalis; et rationale est medium inter mentem spiritualem et mentem naturalem.
[5] Tertio, si penitius exploratur status animi et vitae illorum qui credunt quod fides producat bona opera, et quoque faciunt illa, videbitur quod sint interius naturales; fides enim eorum est modo cognitio praeceptorum Verbi, in quam cum visus interior naturalis, qui vocatur rationalis, intrat, fit agnitio quod praecepta illa sint Divina; in quam agnitionem cum operatur amor, fit obedientia; sed amor qui in agnitionem illam operatur, non potest alius esse quam amor mercedis propter bona quae faciunt, et merces est illis vita aeterna; et quia amor mercedis non est a Deo sed ab homine, nam homo in mercede suum bonum et non proximi spectat, sequitur quod amor ille sit naturalis, proinde quod status animi et vitae illorum qui credunt quod fides producat bona opera, et faciunt illa secundum fidem, sit naturalis: si vero non faciunt illa ex obedientia, est amor gloriae ex eruditione, aut amor famae ut evehantur ad honores aut ut lucrentur opes, qui ducit: at hi modo dicunt quod agnoscant et credant, sed usque corde non agnoscunt et credunt; quare sunt infime naturales, quibus caelum prorsus clausum est.
[6] Ut sciatur quod facere bonum ex obedientia sit ex naturali homine, paucis dicetur quid sit facere bonum ex charitate. Facere bonum ex charitate, non potest alius quam cui mens spiritualis aperta est; et mens spiritualis aperitur solum per id, quod homo abstineat a malis faciendis, ac fugiat ac demum aversetur illa, quia contra Divina praecepta in Verbo sunt, ita contra Dominum; quando homo sic fugit et aversatur mala, tunc omnia quae cogitat, vult et facit, bona sunt, quia a Domino; Dominus enim continue praesens est, pulsat ostium, urget et vult ingredi, sed mala obstant; quare homo aperiet ostium per id quod removeat mala, nam his remotis Dominus ingreditur, et ibi cenat (Apocalypsis 3:20). Dicitur quod homo aperiat et removeat; homo enim mala ex se facit; et quia Dominus continue praesens est, pulsat ostium et urget, ut dictum est, homini est facultas desistendi a malis sicut a se; hoc cuivis homini datum est: inde nunc est, quia homo a se potest sibi claudere caelum, [quod] etiam sicut a se possit aperire caelum; modo dum cogitat et vult desistere a malis, spectat ad Dominum, et cum desistit agnoscat quod sit a Domino. Remotis itaque malis, tunc est bonum quicquid homo facit, quoniam est a Domino; et quicquid homo a Domino facit, non est morale naturale, sed est morale spirituale. Nunc quia charitas est ex amore faciendi bonum propter bonum, ita ex bono, proinde ex Domino, sequitur quod facere bonum ex charitate sit spirituale; at quod facere bonum ex obedientia, quia est ex amore mercedis, sit naturale. Hoc naturale est in quo sunt illi qui in introitu ad caelum sunt; quo etiam veniunt illi qui bonum faciunt modo ex obedientia, qui sunt qui doctrina et vita apud se confirmant quod fides producat bona opera, sicut arbor fructus.
[7] Quarto, Praeterea sciendum est quod illi qui credunt quod fides producat bona opera, sicut arbor fructus, etiam credant quod sortiantur caelum antequam mala sunt remota; et tamen quamdiu mala apud hominem sunt, bona quaecunque facit non bona sunt, nam ex arbore mala non alii fructus quam mali enascuntur; quare unica via ad caelum est, ut homo abstineat a malis ex Verbo, quia peccata sunt; quae nisi primum removentur, non intrare potest Dominus, et dare caelum.
[8] Quinta causa, [quod] qui doctrina et vita se confirmant in eo, quod fides producat bona opera sicut arbor fructus, non sibi claudant caelum, est quia non falsificant Verbum sicut illi qui credunt justificationem et salvationem per fidem absque bonis operibus; qui fidem absque bonis operibus credunt, illi falsificant omnia Verbi, ubi "amor", "charitas", "bona", "opera", "facta", "operari" et "facere" dicuntur et mandantur; et hoc usque ad destructionem Divini Veri in caelis, intelligendo per illa vel fidem, vel bona mundi moralia et civilia, vel quod dicta sint solum pro vulgo, propter ejus fidei simplicitatem; destruendo sic ipsum Divinum Verum, per argumentationes ex impotentia hominis implendi legem, per naturam boni ab homine, quod non sit bonum, perque remotionem meriti quod inhaeret bonis ab homine: sed illi qui simpliciter adjungunt fidei bona opera, non falsificant omnia illa Verbi, et inde non removent fidem ex amore Dei, et ex eo operationem Divinam in singulis faciendis, sicut in singulis credendis ab homine; cogitant enim et dicunt quod bona facienda sint sicut ab homine, nam qui non facit et credit sicut a se, nihil credit et nihil facit, cui nulla religio est: sed usque quia non illis genuina vera sunt, non quidem sibi caelum claudunt, at non ulterius quam ad limen caeli possunt venire: qui vero ex illis amaverunt vera propter vera, illis aperitur caelum, quando Divinus ordo apud illos restitutus est, qui est ut charitas et ejus bonum primo loco sit, ac fides et ejus vera secundo; sunt enim tunc sicut qui vadunt via recta facie spectante antrorsum, at prius sicut qui vadunt facie spectante retrorsum.
[9] Sexto, Sunt etiam plures qui charitatem faciunt essentiale medium salutis, sicut alii fidem, et tamen non vivunt charitatis vitam; at quia charitas eorum est solum confessio oralis quod ita sit, ita est solum fides eorum; unde illorum charitas similiter non est viva sed mortua: quare parum differunt a confessoribus solius fidei, sunt enim simili corde, sed dissimili anima; at usque unus sicut alter claudit sibi caelum.
Footnotes:
1. The editors made a correction or note here.