Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 1.djvu/150

 look; does not kill, nor commit adultery, nor steal, nor bear false witness, nor defraud his neighbors of their goods. But he does this only for the sake of himself and the world, in order to keep up appearances.

The same person, in the internal form, is altogether opposite to what he appears in the external, because in heart he denies the Divine, in worship acts the hypocrite, and when left to himself and his own thoughts, laughs at the holy things of the church, believing that they only serve to restrain the simple multitude. Hence he is altogether disjoined from heaven; and because he is not a spiritual man, therefore he is neither a moral nor a civil man. For although he commits no murder, still he hates every one who opposes him, and burns with revenge inspired by such hatred; wherefore, unless restrained by civil laws and external bonds, which are fears, he would commit murder; and because he desires to do it, it follows that he is continually committing murder. Although he does not commit adultery, yet because he believes it allowable, he is perpetually an adulterer; for he does commit it as far as it is possible, and as often as he can with impunity. Although he does not steal, yet because he covets the goods of others, and does not regard fraud and wicked artifices as contrary to what is lawful, in his mind he is continually acting the thief.

The case is similar in regard to the precepts of