537. It ought to be known that those who do good out of nothing but natural goodness, and not at the same time for religious reasons, are not acceptable after death, because their charity contains only natural good without any spiritual good accompanying it. It is spiritual good which links the Lord to man, not natural good without spiritual good. Natural goodness is solely of the flesh, acquired by birth from one's parents; but spiritual goodness is of the spirit and is born anew under the Lord's guidance. People who do the good deeds of charity for religious reasons, and for the same reasons abstain from evil ones, before they accept the teaching of the new church about the Lord, can be likened to trees, which produce good fruits though few in number; also to trees which produce small but fine fruits, and these are none the less kept in gardens. They can also be likened to olive and fig-trees in the woods; and to fragrant plants and to shrubs that yield balsam on the hills. They are like small buildings or houses of God, in which sacred worship is practised. For these people are the sheep on the right, and the rams which the goats butt (as described by Daniel 8:2-14). In heaven they are dressed in clothes of red colour; and once they have been introduced to the good of the new church, they are dressed in clothes of purple colour, which take on a beautiful tawny colour as they also receive its truths.