If he looks to the Lord and shuns evils as sins, and honestly, justly, and faithfully does the work of the ministry he is charged with, he is doing a good of use continually, and becomes a charity in form. But he does this good of use or the work of the ministry honestly, justly, and faithfully, when it is the salvation of souls that affects him; and in proportion as this affects him, truths affect him, because by them he is to lead souls to heaven; and he is leading souls to heaven by means of truths when he leads them to the Lord. His love is then diligently to teach truths from the Word, because when he teaches them from the Word he is teaching them from the Lord. For the Lord not only is the Word (John i. 1, 2, 14), but He is also the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John xiv. 6), and He is the Door. He, therefore, who enters into the sheepfold through the Lord as the door, is a good shepherd; but he who does not enter into the sheepfold through the Lord as the door, is a bad shepherd, who is called a thief and a robber (John X. 1-9).