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THE SWEDENBORG LIBRARY.

it, and nevertheless wills what is good, and in consequence thereof does what is good, this false principle is such as to admit of good and truth being adjoined to it; but not in case he does not will and thence do what is good.

Again, if any one be ignorant that man rises after death, and in consequence thereof does not believe in a resurrection, or supposing him to be acquainted with a resurrection, but still to doubt and almost to deny it, and yet to live in truth and good, this false principle also is such as to be admissive of good and truth being mixed with it. But if such a person lives in what is false and evil, the false principle in this case is admissive of no such mixture by reason of contrariety; and the false principle destroys the true, and the evil the good.

Further: pretence and cunning, which have good for their end, whether it be the good of a neighbor, or of a man's country, or of the church, are prudence, and the evils thereto adjoined may be mixed with good by virtue of the end proposed and for the sake thereof. But pretence and cunning which have evil for their end, are not prudence, but artifice and deceit wherewith good can in no wise be conjoined; for deceit which has evil for its end, induces an infernal principle in all and singular things appertaining to man, and places evil in the midst, and rejects good to the circumference; which order is essentially infernal. The case is similar in numberless other instances. (A. C. 3993.)

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