13. II. THE "SECOND" OF CHARITY IS TO DO GOODS BECAUSE THEY ARE USES.

To be expounded in this order:

1. Doing no evil to the neighbour is of charity.

2. Wishing to do good to the neighbour is of charity.

3. A man may be doing good, which he believes to be of charity, and all the while not be shunning evil; and yet every evil is contrary to charity.

4. In proportion as a man does not wish to do evil to the neighbour, he wishes to do good to him; but not the reverse.

5. Before the good a man does is the good of charity, evil must first be put away, because it is contrary to charity; and this is done by looking to the Lord, and by repentance.

6. Such as the recognition of evil is, and its consequent putting away by repentance, such is the good which is of charity.

7. Hence it follows that the "first" of charity is to look to the Lord and shun evils as sins; and that the "second" of charity is to do goods.

10787. Afterwards we talked to them about the Lord, about love to Him, about love towards the neighbour, and about regeneration. We said that loving the Lord consists in loving the commandments received from Him, that is, in being moved by love to lead a life in keeping with them, and that love towards the neighbour consists in willing what is good and therefore in doing what is good to a fellow citizen, one's country, the Church, and the Lord's kingdom, not for the selfish purpose of being seen or earning a reward, but from an affection for what is good. With regard to regeneration we said that those who are being regenerated by the Lord and incorporating truths without any delay into their life come to have an intuitive perception of them; but that those who receive truths first in their memory, then in the understanding, and finally in the will are those who possess faith, for faith, which at this point is called conscience, guides them in their actions. Those spirits then said that they saw with perception that all this was so, and consequently also perceived what faith was.