AE 724 - Doctrine, Knowing and Living

AE 724

. . . doctrine contains the truths that are for the church.
But the genuine doctrine of the church
is the doctrine of good,
thus the doctrine of life,
which is of love to the Lord
and of charity towards the neighbor;
but yet it is the doctrine of truth,
since doctrine teaches life, love, and charity,
and so far as it teaches it is truth;
for when a person knows and understands what good is,
what life is,
what love is,
and what charity is,
he knows and understands these things as truths,
since he knows and understands what good is,
how he ought to live, and what love and charity are,
and of what quality a person is
who is in the life of love and charity;
and as long as these are
matters of knowledge and understanding
they are nothing but truths, and thus doctrines;
but as soon as they pass over from knowledge
and from the understanding into the will,
and thus into act,
they are no longer truths but goods;
for interiorly a person wills nothing but what he loves,
and that which he loves is to him good.
From this it can be seen
that every doctrine of the church is a doctrine of truth,
and that the truth of doctrine becomes good
and comes to be of love and charity
when from doctrine it passes into life.