THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 13)
NO ONE CAN FROM HIMSELF DO WHAT IS GOOD THAT IS REALLY GOOD.
A man who possesses spiritual good is also a moral man and a civic man; but a man who does not possess spiritual good may appear to be a moral man and a civic man, yet is not so.The reason why a man who possesses spiritual good is also a moral man and a civic man, is that spiritual good has the essence of good within it, and moral and civic good have this essence from spiritual good.
— The essence of good can be from no other source than Him who is good itself. —
Think the matter over from every point of view, and try to find out from what it is that good is good, and you will see that it is so from its inmost being [esse], and that that is good which has within it the esse of good; consequently that that is good which is from good itself, thus from God; and therefore that good which is not from God, but from man, is not good
(LIFE 13)