Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8123

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8123. The reason why these are acts of charity towards the neighbour is that each individual person is the neighbour. though each in a different way from others, 6818; the community whether small or large is in a greater degree the neighbour, 6819, 6820; one's country is in an even greater degree the neighbour, 6819, 6821; the Church in a still greater degree, 6819, 6822; the Lord's kingdom in a yet greater degree, 6819, 6823; and the Lord above all, 6819, 6824. In an overall sense good emanating from the Lord is the neighbour, 6706, 6711, consequently also what is just and right. Therefore a person who does any kind of good for the sake of good, and what is just for its own sake, loves the neighbour and exercises charity, for he acts from a love of good and from a love of what is just, and so from a love of those things in which goodness and justice reside. But a person who acts unjustly for the sake of any kind of gain hates the neighbour.


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