8. (V.) Consequently, the first of charity is to look to the Lord and shun evils because they are sins. Every good that a man does to the neighbor for the sake of the neighbor, or for the sake of truth and good and thus for the reason that it is according to the Word, or for the sake of religion and thus for the sake of God, which is therefore from a spiritual love or affection, is called a good of charity, or a good work. So far as this is derived from the man it is not good, but so far as it is from the Lord through the man. The Lord does good to everyone chiefly through others, but yet in such a manner that a man scarcely knows but that it is from himself. He therefore frequently moves the wicked to do good to others; but it is from an affection of the love of self and the world. This good, indeed, is of the Lord, or from the Lord; but the man is not rewarded for it. But if a man does good not from a merely natural, but from a spiritual love or affection, he is rewarded. His reward is the heavenly delight of that love and affection, in that it endures to eternity; and this is in proportion as he does not do it from himself, that is, in proportion as he believes that all good is from the Lord, and does not place merit in it.