What is meant by goods of charity or good works is at this day unknown
to most in the Christian world, because of the prevalence of the
religion of faith alone, which is a faith separated from goods of
charity. For if only faith contributes to salvation, and goods of
charity contribute nothing, the idea that these goods may be left undone
has place in the mind. But some who believe that good works should be
done do not know what is meant by good works, thinking that good works
are merely giving to the poor and doing good to the needy and to widows
and orphans, since such things are mentioned and seemingly commanded in
the Word. Some think that if good works must be done for the sake of
eternal life they must give to the poor all they possess, as was done in
the primitive church, and as the Lord commanded the rich man to sell all
that he had and give to the poor, and take up the cross and follow Him
(Matt. xix. 21). (A.E., n. 932.)
It has just been said that at this day it is scarcely known what is
meant by charity, and thus by good works, unless it be giving to the
poor, enriching the needy, doing good to widows and orphans, and
contributing to the building of churches and hospitals and lodging
houses; and yet whether such works are done by man and for the sake of
reward is not known; for if they are done by man they are not good, and
if for the sake of reward they are not meritorious; and such works do
not open heaven, and thus are not acknowledged as goods in heaven. In
heaven no works are regarded as good except such as are done by the Lord
in man, and yet the works that are done by the Lord in man appear in
outward form like those done by the man himself and cannot be
distinguished even by the man who does them. For the works done by the
Lord in man are done by man as if by himself; and unless they are done
as if by himself they do not conjoin man to the Lord, thus they do not
reform him. (A.E., n. 933.)
But for works to be done by the Lord, and not by man, two things are
necessary: first, there must be an acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine,
also that He is the God of heaven and earth even in respect to the
Human, also that every good that is good is from Him; and secondly, it
is necessary that man live according to the commandments of the
Decalogue, by abstaining from those evils that are there forbidden, that
is, from worshipping other gods, from profaning the name of God, from
thefts, from adulteries, from murders, from false witness, from coveting
the possessions and property of others. These two things are requisite
that the works done by man may be good. The reason is that every good
comes from the Lord alone, and the Lord cannot enter into man and lead
him so long as these evils are not set aside as sins; for they are
infernal, and in fact are hell with man, and unless hell is set aside
the Lord cannot enter and open heaven. This is what is meant by the
Lord's words to the rich man:
Who asked Him about eternal life, and said that he had kept the
commandments of the Decalogue from his youth; whom the Lord is said to
have loved, and to have taught that one thing was lacking to him, that
he should sell all that he had and take up the cross (Matt. xix. 16-22;
Mark x. 17-22; Luke xviii. 18-23).
"To sell all that he had" signifies that he should relinquish the things
of his religion, which were traditions, for he was a Jew, and also
should relinquish the things that were his own, which were loving self
and the world more than God, and thus leading himself; and "to follow
the Lord" signifies to acknowledge Him only and to be led by Him;
therefore the Lord also said, "Why callest thou Me good? There is none
good but God only." "To take up his cross" signifies to fight against
evils and falsities, which are from what is one's own (proprium).
(A.E., n. 934.)