Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 3.djvu/96

This page needs to be proofread.

V.

ERROR MAYBE INNOCENTLY HELD.

FALSITIES originating in ignorance of the truth are not so hurtful as falsities originating in evil lusts. For falsities originating in ignorance are either a consequence of wrong instruction from infancy, or of a man's various engagements in worldly business, whereby he has been hindered from inquiring into the truth of the opinions he may have imbibed; or they may proceed from weakness of judgment, rendering him incapable of discerning between truth and falsity. Falsities of this sort are not attended with much injury, provided a man does not confirm them by much reasoning and argument, and so persuade himself, under the influence of some evil lust, to favor and countenance them; for in so doing he renders more dense the cloud of ignorance, and converts it into such darkness that it is impossible for him to see the truth.

But the case is otherwise with falsities originating in evil lusts, such as self-love and the love of the world; as when a person embraces any particular doctrine, and makes profession of it, with a view to engage the minds of men and draw them to himself, while he explains or

90

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.