Charity (Whitehead) n. 215

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215. IV. THE NEIGHBOR IS TO BE LOVED ACCORDING TO HIS SPIRITUAL GOOD, AND THENCE ACCORDING TO HIS MORAL, CIVIL, AND NATURAL GOOD; CONSEQUENTLY, THE NEIGHBOR THAT IS TO BE LOVED, IN THE SPIRITUAL SENSE, IS GOOD. (I.) Man is not man from the face and body, but from the good of his will. (II.) When the good of a man's will is loved, the man himself is loved. (III.) Man is man from his spiritual good, and not from moral, civil, and natural good apart from the spiritual. (IV.) As a man's spiritual good is, such is his moral, civil, and natural good; because these three goods derive their life from that alone. (V.) Consequently, in the spiritual sense, the neighbor who is to be loved is good. OBS.--That spiritual good is the good of charity; and so it is the Lord, heaven, and the church with him. For such is the man in the derivative goods.


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