84. We read these words in Matthew:
Then shall the Son of man say to the he-goats on His left hand, depart from Me, for I was hungry, and ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in; I was naked, and ye clothed Me not, I was sick and in prison, and ye visited Me not; and these shall go away into eternal punishment. That the same are here meant by "he-goats" and "sheep" as by the "he-goat" and "ram" in Daniel, is very evident. That by "he-goats" are meant those who are in the present justifying faith, appears from this, that to the sheep are enumerated works of charity, and it is said that they did them; and that to the he-goats the same works of charity are enumerated, but it is said that they did them not, and that they are therefore condemned. For they who are in the present justifying faith, neglect works, because they deny them to have anything of salvation or of the church in them. When charity is thus removed, good works, which are of charity, slip away from the mind, and are obliterated; so that they are never remembered, nor is the least effort made to recall them to mind from the Law of the Decalogue. It is a general rule of religion, that as far as anyone does not will goods, and hence does not do them, so far he wills evils, and hence does them; and on the contrary, that as far as anyone does not will evils, and hence does not do them, so far he wills goods, and hence does them. These latter are the "sheep," but the former are the "he-goats." If all the evil had been there meant by the "he-goats," instead of the works of charity which they had not done, the evils which they had done would have been enumerated.