It is completely different for people who focus on getting a reward as 441
the primary goal of what they do. They are like those who strike up a
friendship to get money; they give gifts, do favors, and profess their love
as if it were heartfelt, but when they do not get what they were hoping
for, they turn their backs, drop the friendship, and join up with the
other’s enemies and detractors.
They are like wet nurses who breastfeed babies only for the money.
While the parents are looking, they kiss the babies and stroke them, but as
soon as they are unsatisfied with the quality of the food they are given or
do not get paid whatever they ask, they reject the babies, treat them
roughly, beat them, and laugh at their crying.
[ 2 ] They are like people who focus on their country because they love
themselves and the world. They say they intend the country’s well-being
and are devoting their lives to it, but if they do not receive promotions
and wealth as rewards, they bad-mouth the country and become allies
with its enemies.
They are like shepherds who take care of sheep only because of the
money. If they do not get their money on time, they take their staffs and
drive the sheep off the pasture into the wilderness. Priests who perform
their duties only for the stipend involved are like these shepherds.
Clearly, they do not care at all about the salvation of the souls that are
under their care and guidance.
[ 3 ] It is the same with government officials who focus only on the
status and the income from their job. When they do something good, it
is not for the public good but for the pleasure they take in loving them-
selves and the world, which they inhale as the only form of good.
The same sort of attitudes are possible in any line of work. The goal
or purpose is the determining factor throughout. If the means employed
in a given pursuit fail to achieve the goal, they are abandoned.
[ 4 ] People who are looking for the reward of salvation that they feel they
deserve behave similarly. After death they demand heaven with tremendous
confidence. Once it is discovered that they have no love for God or their
neighbor, they are sent to teachers who instruct them about faith and good-
will. If they reject what they are taught, they are exiled to be with people like
themselves, some of whom are enraged at God because they have not been
given their rewards. They call faith a figment of the imagination.
These are the people who are meant in the Word by “hired workers,”
who were given extremely menial jobs in the entrances to the Temple.
From a distance [in the spiritual world] these people look as if they are
splitting logs.
§441 goodwill & good actions 527