Doc. of Life (Dick) n. 111

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111. There are various and manifold causes which operate to make man moral in an external form; but if he is not also moral in an internal form, he is still not moral. For example: If any one abstains from adultery and fornication through fear of the civil law and its penalties; through fear of the loss of reputation and thus of honour; through fear of diseases contracted from these evils; through fear of quarrels at home raised by his wife, and the consequent discordant life; through fear of revenge by the husband or relatives; through poverty or avarice; through inability arising either from disease, or from abuse, or from age, or from impotence; indeed, if he abstains from these evils from any natural or moral law, and not at the same time from a spiritual law, he is still inwardly an adulterer and fornicator; for he none the less believes that they are not sins, and consequently in spirit he makes them not unlawful before God; and thus in spirit he commits them, although not before the world in the body. Therefore after death, when he becomes a spirit, he speaks openly in favour of them. From these considerations it is evident that a wicked man may shun evils as hurtful; whereas no one but a Christian can shun evils as sins.


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