5945. FAITH IS OF CHARITY, AND AS TO ESSENCE IS CHARITY. I have been in conversation with certain Englishmen. It was believed that in the world they were Bishops. I spoke to them about faith and charity. They supposed, from the opinion they had adopted in the world, that faith could be given without charity; also, that faith was prior to charity, because [the latter was] from it: [we conversed] also of other matters relating to justification by faith. Their discourse was exceedingly clever. They said that faith could be given without charity, not only because doctrinals from the Word can be believed in; for example, that [a man can] believe that there is a God, that the Word is Divine, and the like; which, except they were believed, they could not have been received by man, in life and heart; for unless there be faith, said they, how can they be received; wherefore, they enter by faith, and unless there were faith they would not enter. Hence, also, they concluded that faith can be given without charity, and that if faith can be given without it, it is saving [without it]; since man is then led through that, by God, away from evil and in good; so that there is then the presence of God, which they declared to be justification by faith alone. But it was shown them to the life, that there was no faith, unless there were at the same time charity, but what they believed to be faith, is, manifestly, merely the knowledges that there is a God, a Divine Word, and many more; and that knowledges, although they appear as it were of faith, still are not of faith; also, that these are the first things with man, and that they do not become of faith, before man is in charity. They appear as if believed, but yet, interiorly, they are not believed; and, therefore, the faith of these things gradually recedes as the man begins to think and will wickedly, and they also themselves recede from the man's spirit after death, because they were not rooted in charity. It was also shown that that faith is what is called historical faith; which is that a thing is believed to be so, because one of whom they held the opinion that he was learned had said so. Such a thing, also, is foreign to the man himself; for that which is another's in oneself is not one's own. And, moreover, there are things unknown, which, as they stated, must be believed notwithstanding that they are not understood. From this it was manifest to them, for the first time, that these things were not of faith, but merely knowledges, and that knowledges were the beginnings by means of which faith is, because charity is. But they repeatedly insisted, for a long time, that it is still faith, and that it ought to be prior to charity, and if prior, that it is therefore in God. But it was shown to the life that charity and faith were a one and so far as man is in charity, so far is he in faith, and thus that they both, namely, faith and charity, exist together; but, since faith as to essence is charity, exactly as truth as to essence is good, therefore, so much of truth as has life, consequently as is in man, or appropriated to him, so much is there of good, which is the conjunction of these into one. This truth is only the form of good; for good, while it exists in shape and form, is called faith; consequently, one does not exist without the other. Whether you say faith, or truth, it is the same thing, and whether you say good or charity, it is the same thing; moreover, this is as it is with man's thought and affection. Thinking apart from affection is impossible; for the very essence of thought is affection. Man can, indeed, think whatever he knows, but this is from natural affection, which is the affection of glory, of reputation and of honor. This affection, however, does not cause the thought to become spiritual; but there must be spiritual affection, which is called charity. Besides, so far as man is in charity, so far is he enlightened and sees the truths which are of faith. These he acknowledges from illustration, but never from natural affection - concerning which above - from which if he acknowledge them, it is by virtue of the light of confirmations, which light counterfeits the light of truth, but is an illusory light, for by it falsities can be acknowledged equally with truths; for example, that there is no God, and that the Word is not Divine. The evil who are of such a quality, and have confirmed themselves in those falsities, appear to themselves to see them as in the light. Such light is there with those who have confirmed in themselves that faith alone is saving. Moreover, the faith of charity, or the faith which as to its essence is charity, is continually perfected by such things as confirm; for it always sees many more truths from spiritual light, and these all conjoin themselves to the good of charity, and perfect it. They who are in natural, but not in any spiritual faith, believe that it is easy to receive faith, if not in the world, at any rate in the other life, saying, Can I not believe as soon as I hear and see that it is so? Thus do many of them think in themselves; but after the life in the world, the same persons, if they have not received spiritual faith by a life of charity in the world, are incapable of ever receiving it afterwards, as may be plainly manifest from this, that all persons whatsoever who come from the world, are at first adjoined to good spirits and angels, and instructed in every manner, and they [i.e. those spirits and angels] say, show, and confirm by ocular demonstration that a thing is so; but, yet, not one of them receives it; they reject it as in the world, for the reason that [their] faith is not in them, but outside them. Besides, if anyone were able to believe in the other life when he hears and sees, then would all be saved; which is also a proof that there is no faith unless there be life, or charity. It should be known, moreover, that, so long as man is in knowledges only, and not in any life according to them, he is in his proprium and led by self; but, when he is in a life according to them - and to the same extent - he is elevated out of his proprium, and is led by the Lord. This man does not perceive, but still it is so; and so far as man is led by the Lord, so far is there good in him, or good is what he wills and thinks. But it should be thoroughly known, that nobody can live according to the knowledges from the Word, except from them he reflect upon his thoughts, intentions and deeds, that is, examine himself, and abstain from evils and do good as from himself: otherwise, there is no reception by man; and if there is no reception, there is no conjunction with the Lord; therefore, neither can he be led by the Lord.