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HOW GOOD BECOMES APPROPRIATED.
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were was their own, they were lowered from heaven, and let into their evils, until they acknowledged that they were in evil from themselves, and in good from the Lord. After this acknowledgment they were restored to heaven.

Let it be understood, therefore, that this good is not appropriated to man, except as being always the Lord's in him; and that so far as man acknowledges this, the Lord gives to him the appearance that the good is his own; that is, He makes it appear to man as though he loved his neighbor or possessed charity from himself; believed or possessed faith from himself; did good and understood truth, thus were wise, from himself. From which an enlightened person may see the nature and strength of the appearance in which the Lord wishes man to be: and this He wishes for the sake of man's salvation; for without this appearance no one could be saved.

Nothing is appropriated to man of which he merely thinks, nor even what he thinks is his will, unless it is also his will so far that he does it if opportunity offers. This is because when man so does it, he does it from the will through the understanding, or from the will's affection through the thought of the understanding; while so long as it is a subject of thought only, it cannot be appropriated, because the understanding does not unite with the will, or the thought of the understanding with the will's affection.

The evil which man thinks allowable is also appro-