AE 794 - Can we judge whether motive is from the Lord or from self?

AE 794 [3]
. . . whatever a person does from the external alone is unclean,
but whatever he does
from a cleansed internal through the external is clean,
for this is from the Lord;
but the other from a person.
But examples will illustrate this point also.
The internal is doing good for the sake of good,
speaking truth for the sake of truth,
acting sincerely for the sake of sincerity,
and doing what is just for the sake of justice.
He who does good for the sake of good
does good from good,
thus from the Lord,
who is Good itself,
and from whom is all good;
and he who speaks truth for the sake of truth
speaks truth from truth,
thus from the Lord,
who is Truth itself
and from whom is all truth.
The like is true of him who acts sincerely for the sake of sincerity,
and does what is just for the sake of justice;
for sincerity is moral good and truth,
and justice is civil good and truth;
and all good and truth are from the Lord
and not from the person,
because they are done from the internal through the external.
But when a person does and speaks
what is good, true, sincere, and just,
for the sake of self and the world
he does and speaks them from self,
because from the external person without the internal;
and such deeds or works are all evil,
and if heaven is regarded in them they are meritorious,
and all such are iniquitous.
In this world no one can determine
whether works are from the Lord or from a person,
since in external form the two kinds appear alike,
but they can be distinguished by the Lord alone,
and after a person's life in the world their origin is disclosed.