Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6937

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6937. This matter may also be likened to someone building a house. First he must lay the foundations; but the foundations must be for the benefit of the house, and the house must serve as a dwelling-place. In a similar way everyone has to look after himself first, not for his own sake but in order that he may be in a condition to serve his neighbour, and so to serve country, Church, and above all the Lord. But a person who imagines that being a neighbour to himself is of the first importance is like one who regards the foundations as the end in view, not the house and the dwelling in it. Yet the dwelling is the first and last end in view, while the house and its foundations are merely the means to that end.


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