111. B. The transference of the good of one person to another is impossible. The evidence for this may also appear from the following points in their order:
1. Everyone is born in evil. 2. Man is led into good through regeneration by the Lord. 3. This is effected by faith in the Lord, and by a life according to His commandments. 4. Wherefore, the good of one person cannot be transferred by application to another, and so imputed.
First.-That everyone is born in evil is known in the Church. This evil is said to be hereditary from Adam, but it is from parents, from whom everyone derives his natural disposition, which is inclination. Experience and reason clearly prove that this is so; for the likeness of parents and their children and grandchildren, as to face, character and manners, is conspicuous. Hence it is that families are recognised by many, and the quality of their minds is assessed. Wherefore, the evils which parents themselves have contracted are transmitted by propagation to their posterity, and manifest themselves by a certain inclination towards them. From this source are the evils into which people are born. Second.-Man is led into good through regeneration by the Lord. That there is regeneration, and that unless regenerated no one can enter into heaven, appears clearly from the Lord's words in John iii 3, 5. That regeneration is purification from evils, thus renewal of life, cannot be unknown in the Christian world, for reason also sees this and acknowledges that everyone is born in evil, and that evil cannot be washed and wiped away, like filth by soap and water, except by repentance. Third.-This is effected by faith in the Lord, and by a life according to His commandments. There are five precepts of regeneration, as may be seen above, nos. 43, 44; among which are these That evils ought to be shunned because they are of the devil and from the devil. That good actions ought to be done because they are of God and from God. That the Lord ought to be approached in order that He may lead man to act in this way. Let everyone consult with himself and consider whether man can be in good in any other way, and note that if he is not in good he cannot be saved. Fourth.-Wherefore, the good of one person cannot be transferred by application to another, and so imputed. From what has been said above it follows that man by regeneration is renewed as to his spirit, and that this is done by faith in the Lord and at the same time by a life according to His commandments. Who does not see that this renewal can only be effected from time to time, scarcely otherwise than as a tree takes root and grows successively from a seed and is perfected? Those who conceive regeneration and renewal in any other way know nothing of the state of man, nor anything about evil and good, as that they are altogether opposite to each other, and that good cannot be implanted except in so far as evil is removed; neither do they know that so long as anyone is in evil he is averse to good which is good in itself. Wherefore, if the good of one person were to be attached to, and so transferred to, another who is in evil, it would be like casting a lamb to a wolf, or fastening a pearl to a hog's snout. From these considerations it is evident that transferring the good of one person to another is impossible.