Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 1.djvu/176

 will it be to me? And so he leaves the use undone.

Whence it is evident that he who is in self-love, neither loves the church, his country, society, nor any use, but himself alone. His delight is only that of self-love. And because the delight which proceeds from his love makes the life of man, therefore his life is the life of self; and the life of self is the life derived from man's proprium; and the proprium of man, viewed in itself, is nothing but evil.

He who loves himself loves those who belong to him, who in particular are his children and grandchildren, and in general all who make one with him, whom he calls his friends. To love these is also to love himself; for he regards them as it were in himself and himself in them. Among those whom he calls his friends, are also to be reckoned all who praise, honor and pay their court to him.

From a comparison of self-love with heavenly love, the nature of the former may be clearly seen. Heavenly love consists in loving, for their own sake, the uses or good works which a man performs for the church, his country, human society and a fellow-citizen; for this is to love God and the neighbor, because all uses and all good works are from God, and are likewise the neighbor that is to be loved. But whoever loves them for the sake of himself, loves them as he does his household domestics, merely because they render him service.

Hence it follows that he who is in self-love desires