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612 SWEDENBORG IN THE HOUSE OF NOBLES. [Doc. 180.
established laws and government, on account of mistakes
that may have been committed, or that may be committed in
future, inasmuch as mistakes happen in every country, and
with every man—but if a government should be considered
simply from its faults, this would be like regarding an individual
simply from his failings and deficiencies; and by this the road
to its misfortune would be opened, and it would also, most
undoubtedly, enter upon it.
The Honourable Houses of the Diet will kindly allow me
to explain myself more at length, and to illustrate my meaning
by what follows. 1. If an individual, who has an honest heart
and loves the welfare of his country, has all his short-comings
and faults added up and published among the people, is not
his honour thereby assaulted, and he himself in the eyes of
all men looked upon as unworthy and contemptible ? In order
to place this in a better light, I will take, as an instance,
Nordencrantz,183 the Councillor of Commerce, and myself.
Should all our faults, arising from our weakness and ignorance,
be traced out and summed up, and overlaid with black colours,
we would very soon appear in the eyes of the public as black
bodies, although in respect to our well-intentioned purposes
and good disposition for our country’s welfare, I presume we
might appear as white as any other well-disposed man in the
country. 2. Every human being is inclined by nature, and
nothing is easier and pleasanter for him to do than to
find faults in others, and to pass an unfavourable judgment
upon them , inasmuch as all of us are by nature inclined to
see the mote in our brother’s eye, and not to see the beam
in our own eyes ; moreover, we are apt to strain a gnat, and
to swallow a camel. All proud and evil-disposed men place
their prudence in finding fault with, and blaming, others; and
all generous and truly Christian souls place their prudence in
judging all things according to circumstances, and hence in
excusing such faults as may have arisen from weakness, and
in inveighing against such evils as may have been done on
purpose. 3. The same also happens in a general way in that
which concerns governments: faults, numberless faults, may
be found in all, so that volumes might be filled with them .
Should I undertake to make known all the mistakes, of which
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