536. And yet all who do good from religion, not only Christians, but even pagans, are accepted and after death adopted by the Lord; for the Lord said:
I was an hungered, and ye gave Me to eat; I was thirsty and ye gave Me to drink; I was a sojourner, and ye took Me in; naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye visited Me I was in prison, and ye came unto Me. And He said, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of My brethren, even the least, ye did it unto Me. Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matt. 25:31 seq.).
To this I will add the following, which is new: All those who do good from religion, after death reject the doctrine of the present church respecting three Divine persons from eternity, and also its faith as applied to the three in their order. These turn to the Lord God the Savior, and accept with pleasure what belongs to the New Church. [2] But the rest, who have not exercised charity from religion, have hearts of adamant, that is, hardened hearts. They first approach three Gods, then the Father alone, and finally no God. They look upon the Lord God the Savior as the son of Mary only, born from marriage with Joseph, and not as the Son of God; and then they discard all the goods and truths of the New Church, and straightway connect themselves with the spirits of the dragon, and with them are driven away into deserts or into caverns on the very confines of what is called the Christian world; and after a time, because they are separated from the New Heaven, they rush into crime, and are therefore sent down to hell.
[3] Such is the lot of those who do not do works of charity from religion, because of their belief that no one is able to do good of himself, except such as he claims merit for; consequently they disregard such works, and associate themselves with the goats, who are damned and cast into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, because they have not done what was done by the sheep (Matt. 25:41-46). It is not there said that they did what is evil, but that they did not do what is good; and those who do not do what is good from religion do what is evil, since:
No man can serve two masters; for either he hates the one and loves the other, or he holds to the one and despises the other (Matt. 6:24).
Jehovah says through Isaiah:
Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; then although your sins have been as scarlet, they shall become as white as snow; although they have been red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa. 1:16-18).
And in Jeremiah:
Stand in the gate of Jehovah's house, and proclaim there this word, Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, The temple of Jehovah, this is the temple of Jehovah (that is, the church). Will ye steal, murder, and swear falsely, and then come and stand before Me in this house, upon which My name is named, and say, We are delivered while we do all these abominations? Is this house become a den of robbers? Behold, even I have seen it, saith Jehovah (Jer. 7:2-4, 9-11).