nor loving revenge; for hatred and revenge breathe murder.

The eighth commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness," includes
not to lie and blaspheme; for lies and blasphemies are false
testimonies.

The ninth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house,"
includes not wishing to possess or to divert to oneself the goods of
others against their will.

The tenth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, his
man-servants," and so on, includes not wishing to rule over others and
to subject them to oneself, for the things here enumerated mean the
things that are man's own. Anyone can see that these eight commandments
relate to evils that must be shunned, and not to goods that must be
done. (A.E., n. 935.)

But many, I know, think in their heart that no one can of himself shun
these evils enumerated in the Decalogue, because man is born in sins and
has therefore no power of himself to shun them. But let such know that
anyone who thinks in his heart that there is a God, that the Lord is the
God of heaven and earth, that the Word is from Him, and is therefore
holy, that there is a heaven and a hell, and that there is a life after
death, has the ability to shun these evils. But he who despises these
truths and casts them out of his mind, and still more he who denies
them, is not able. For how can one who never thinks about God think
that anything is a sin against God? And how can one who never thinks
about heaven, hell, and the life after death, shun evils as sins? Such
a man does not know what sin is.

Man is placed in the middle between heaven and hell. Out of heaven
goods unceasingly flow in, and out of hell evils unceasingly flow in;
and as man is between he has freedom to think what is good or to think
what is evil. This freedom the Lord never takes away from anyone, for
it belongs to his life, and is the means of his reformation. So far,
therefore, as man from this freedom has the thought and desire to shun
evils because they are sins, and prays to the Lord for help, so far does
the Lord take them away and give man the ability to refrain from them as
if of himself, and then to shun them.

Everyone is able from natural freedom to shun these same evils because
of their being contrary to human laws. This every citizen of a kingdom
does who fears the penalties of the civil law, or the loss of life,
reputation, honor, wealth, and thus of office, gain, and pleasures; even
an evil