Heavenly Doctrine (Chadwick) n. 86

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86. The distinctions in the neighbour, which anyone who belongs to the church certainly ought to know, depend upon the good present in each individual. Because all good proceeds from the Lord, it is the Lord who is in the highest sense and in the fullest degree the neighbour, the source of good. It follows from this that anyone is the neighbour to the extent that he has the Lord with him. And because everyone receives the Lord, that is, good from Him, differently, therefore no two people are the neighbour in the same way. For all in the heavens, and all on earth who are good, differ in their goodness. There are never two whose goodness is exactly identical; it has to differ for each sort of goodness to continue in existence. But all these variations, and so all the distinctions in the neighbour, which depend upon the receiving of the Lord, that is, the receiving of good from Him, cannot be known by any person, not even by an angel, except generally, that is to say, by genus and species. Nor does the Lord demand more from one who belongs to the church than to live in accordance with what he knows.


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