THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 112 - 113)
IF ANY ONE SHUNS EVILS FOR ANY OTHER REASON
THAN BECAUSE THEY ARE SINS,
HE DOES NOT SHUN THEM,
BUT MERELY PREVENTS THEM FROM APPEARING BEFORE THE WORLD.
There are various and many causes that make a man moral in the outward form, but unless he is moral in the inward form also, he is nevertheless not moral.for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 112 - 113)
IF ANY ONE SHUNS EVILS FOR ANY OTHER REASON
THAN BECAUSE THEY ARE SINS,
HE DOES NOT SHUN THEM,
BUT MERELY PREVENTS THEM FROM APPEARING BEFORE THE WORLD.
For example: It is the same with thefts and frauds of every kind, with murders and revengeful acts of every kind, and with false witness and lies of every kind.
No one can of himself be cleansed and made pure from such things,— for within every concupiscence there are infinite things which the man sees only as one simple thing, whereas the Lord sees the smallest details of the whole series.
In a word, a man cannot regenerate himself, that is, form in himself a new heart and a new spirit, but the Lord alone can do this, who Himself is the Reformer and the Regenerator. Therefore if a man wills to make himself new by his own sagacity and intelligence, it is merely like painting an ugly face, or smearing a skin detergent over a part that is infected with inward corruption.
Therefore the Lord says in Matthew:
• Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and the platter, that the outside may be clean also (Matt. 23:26).
And in Isaiah:
• Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your works from before Mine eyes, cease to do evil; and then though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they have been red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa. 1:16, 18).
(LIFE 112 - 113)