ubs, and the place where
those commandments were was called the Holy of holies, within which
Aaron was permitted to enter only once a year, and this with sacrifices
and incense; and if he had entered without these, he would have fallen
dead; also why so many miracles were afterward performed by means of
that ark. Have not all throughout the whole globe a knowledge of like
commandments? Do not their civil laws prescribe the same? Who does not
know from merely natural lumen, that for the sake of order in every
kingdom, adultery, theft, murder, false witness, and other things in the
Decalogue are forbidden? Why then must those same precepts have been
promulgated by so many miracles, and regarded as so holy? Can there be
any other reason than that everyone might do them from religion, and
thus from God, and not merely from civil and moral law, and thus from
self and for the sake of the world? Such was the reason for their
promulgation from Mount Sinai and their holiness; for to do these
commandments from religion purifies the internal man, opens heaven,
admits the Lord, and makes man as to his spirit an angel of heaven. And
this is why the nations outside the church who do these commandments
from religion are all saved, but not anyone who does them merely from
civil and moral law.

Inquire now whether the faith of this day, which is, that the Lord
suffered for our sins, that he took away the curse of the law by
fulfilling it, and that man is justified and saved by this faith apart
from good works, does not cancel all these commandments. Look about and
discover how many there are at this day in the Christian world who do
not live according to this faith. I know that they will answer that
they are weak and imperfect men, born in sins, and the like. But who is
not able to think from religion? This the Lord gives to everyone; and
in him who thinks these things from religion the Lord works all things
so far as he thinks. And be it known that he who thinks of these things
from religion believes that there is a God, a heaven, a hell, and a life
after death; but he who does not think of these things from religion
does not, I affirm, believe them. (A.E., n. 902.)

II. Goods of Charity

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 contribu