ence of the essential difference between good and evil.—Such a man may even suppose that spiritual goodness consists in nothing more than "doing good to others, in obedience to the commandments of God, and for the sake of an everlasting reward," thus resolving all goodness into the love of self as an inmost principle. But every good and truly rational man knows that to love self supremely, and to do good to others only for the sake of self, is directly opposed to those heavenly affections which consist in loving the Lord with all the heart, and the neighbor as ourselves. The full development of those evil affections, so far from drawing a man towards heaven, only removes him to a still greater distance from it. We must look therefore for some more rational way of solving this difficulty, than by supposing that evil is only undeveloped good.
It cannot be denied that the principles just stated and insisted upon as true, seem like a contradiction. We appear to be maintaining a proposition like the following:—"Every thing that exists comes from the Lord; evil exists, and yet evil does not come from the Lord." No question in theology or metaphysics, has puzzled the world more than this. And yet a true and rational solution, as we believe, may be found in the doctrines of the New Church. I will endeavor to give a brief statement of our doctrines on this subject.
It is maintained in the works of our author, that freedom is essential to the life of man's spirit; that it belongs to his life's love, and even makes one with that love; that all regeneration takes place in freedom, and that without it there could be no possibility of attaining to a heavenly state. On this point he remarks (Ap. Ex. No. 1150,) that:—
