Continuation.- The law of the .Divine Providence, that man, so far as he can be withdrawn from evils, so far does good from the Lord which in itself is good, but that so far as he cannot be withdrawn from them, so far he does good from himself, which has evil in itself, may be illustrated from the commandments of the Decalogue. The commandment against stealing may serve as an example. Those who, as if from themselves, resist the passion for stealing, and thus the desire of acquiring gain insincerely and unjustly, saying in their hearts that they ought not to do so, because it is contrary to Divine law, thus contrary to God - in itself infernal, thus in itself evil, after a few brief combats are withdrawn from that evil, and led by the Lord into the goods called sincerity and justice. They then begin to think of those goods, and from a perception of their qualities to see them, sincerity from sincerity, and justice from justice; and afterwards, as they shun and hold in aversion the evil of this passion, they love those goods, and do them from love without using any compulsion in themselves. These goods are from the Lord, because they are in themselves goods.

But it is otherwise if the desire of acquiring gain insincerely and unjustly remains with a man; for in this case he cannot do what is sincere from sincerity, nor what is just from justice, thus not from the Lord, but from himself. For he does these things in order that he may acquire the credit of being sincere and just, for the sake of the ends which he has in view, viz., of securing greater gain and honour. These ends are in his goods, and it is from the end that all the quality of good is derived. This good has evil in itself, since its quality is derived from the proposed end of acquiring gain insincerely and unjustly Every one can see that good of this kind cannot become good in itself, until evil is removed. The case is similar with regard to the other commandments of the Decalogue.