1. Every person is born into a state of evil. 2. He is brought into a state of good by the Lord through regeneration. 3. This is accomplished through his living a life in accordance with the Lord's precepts. 4. Consequently good, when so implanted, cannot be transferred.

First, that every person is born into a state of evil. This is known in the church. It is said that this evil comes by inheritance from Adam, but it comes from one's parents. Everyone derives from them an innate character in the form of a disposition. That this is so both reason and experience attest. For similarities to parents appear in their offspring's faces, natures and habits, in the first generation and in their posterity after them. Many people recognize to what families others belong and judge of their temperaments on that account. Consequently, it is the evils that the parents themselves have acquired and by transmission passed on to their offspring into which people are born. People believe that the guilt of Adam has been impressed on the whole human race for the reason that few reflect upon any evil in themselves so as to recognize it in them. Consequently they suppose that it is so deeply hidden as not to appear except in the sight of God.

[2] Second, that a person is brought into a state of good by the Lord through regeneration. That rebirth or regeneration is possible, and that unless one is reborn or regenerated, he cannot enter into heaven, is clearly apparent from the Lord's words in John 3:3,5.* It cannot be unknown in the Christian world that regeneration is a purification from evils and thus a renewal of life, for reason sees this also when it acknowledges that everyone is born into evil, and that evil cannot like dirt and grime be washed or wiped away by soap and water, but only by repentance.

[3] Third, that a person is brought into a state of good by the Lord through his living a life in accordance with the Lord's precepts. There are five precepts necessary for regeneration, which may be seen listed above in no. 82.** Included among them are the following: that evils must be abstained from because they are of the devil and from the devil, and that good deeds must be done because they are of God and from God; also that people should turn to the Lord to lead them to do these things. Let everyone consider in himself and weigh whether a person obtains good from any other source. And if he does not obtain good, neither does he obtain salvation.

[4] Fourth, that good, when so implanted, cannot be transferred. By transfer we mean a transference of one person's good to another. It follows from the observations made above that by regeneration a person is made entirely new in respect to his spirit, and that this is achieved through his living a life in accordance with the Lord's precepts. Who does not see that this renewal can be accomplished only in the process of time, much as a tree progressively takes root and grows from a seed and is perfected? People who have another perception of regeneration do not know anything about a person's state, nor anything about evil and good, that these two are entirely opposed, and that good cannot be implanted except in the measure that evil is removed. Nor do they know that as long as a person is in a state of evil, he is antipathetic to any good that is good in itself. Consequently, if the good in one person were to be transferred to another in a state of evil, it would be like casting a lamb before a wolf, or like attaching a pearl to the snout of a pig. It is apparent from this that a transfer is impossible. * "Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God....' '...unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.'" ** Namely, 1. There is one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and that God is the Lord Jesus Christ. 2. Saving faith is to believe in Him. 3. Evils must be abstained from because they are of the devil and from the devil. 4. Good deeds must be done because they are of God and from God. 5. These good deeds must be done by a person as though he were doing them from himself, but he must believe that they are from the Lord in him and by means of him.