THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 20-21)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE

for the

NEW JERUSALEM

FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

Emanuel Swedenborg

— Doctrinal Series —

(pt. 20-21)

IN PROPORTION AS A MAN SHUNS EVILS AS SINS,
IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE DOES GOODS,
NOT FROM HIMSELF BUT FROM THE LORD.

. . . a man is kept in freedom to turn himself one way or the other. It is not from himself that every man has this freedom, but he has it from the Lord, and this is why he is said to be kept in it. . . .

It is plainly evident from all this that in proportion as a man shuns evils, in the same proportion is he with the Lord and in the Lord; and that in proportion as he is in the Lord, in the same proportion he does goods, not from self but from Him. From this results the general law:
— IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE SHUNS EVILS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE DOES GOODS. —

(LIFE 20-21)