Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9120

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9120. Let examples also demonstrate what conscience is. If someone has in his possession another person's goods without that person's knowing it, which makes it possible for him to keep them without fear of the law, loss of position, or loss of reputation, and yet he returns those goods to the other person because they are not his own, he has conscience. He does what is good for its own sake, and what is right for its own sake. Or if someone has the opportunity to attain an eminent position, and then, on seeing that another who seeks it is more useful to the country, yields the position to that other person for the sake of the country's good, he has conscience. And so on with all other examples.


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