sense, forbid only evil deeds, as "Thou shalt not kill," "Thou shalt not steal," &c, these two last Commandments forbid evil thoughts and desires: as, "Thou shalt not covet"—that is, thou shalt not even desire, or wish to possess, what is another's. But, viewed more interiorly, these two Commandments not only have reference to the particular sin of coveting, but they have a bearing upon all the sins forbidden in the previous Commandments, and teach that we are not only not to do those things, but that we must not even will or desire to do them. The truth of this observation may be seen from the fact that, as before mentioned, these two Commandments refer to the love of self and the love of the world. Now these two loves, the love of self and the love of the world, are, as the New Church Doctrine teaches, the fountains and sources of all evils whatever. Hence, in forbidding these, all evils are in fact forbidden. And this is the peculiar character of a Divine writing, as the Decalogue is:—there is a certain order and progression of its parts towards a conclusion, and at the conclusion all that has gone before is seen summed up, as it were, and presented to view at once as in a mirror. So is it with these two last Commandments: they comprise the substance of all the others.
But now, let us examine them separately. And first, the Commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house." This Commandment forbids the love of the world, in all its forms. By the love of the world
