1561. So whenever upon self-reflection we consider we are thinking good, or doing good, this comes from our ego, from some love, desire, craving. And whenever one attributes this to oneself, it is sin in every particular. So the good that is given by the Lord is done when we are not reflecting from our own effort, that is, when we are unaware of it, according to the Lord's Word, that man is reborn while he is unaware of it [see John 3:8].
1561. As often, therefore, as man reflects within himself that he thinks good, or does good, it comes from his proprium, thus from a certain self-love, cupidity, and appetite. What he thus attributes to himself under these promptings, there is sin in every particular of it. The good, therefore, which is imparted by the Lord is wrought within him while he does not reflect from himself upon it; that is, while man remains ignorant of it, according to the Lord's Word, that man is regenerated, he himself being unaware [of the process].
1561. Quare quoties homo reflectit super se, quod bonum cogitet, et bonum agat, id ex ejus proprio venit, ita ex quodam ejus amore, cupiditate, appetitu; [quoties] sibique sic tribuit, peccatum est in singulis, quare bonum, quod a Domino donatur, fit dum non homo reflectit ex se, hoc est, quum homo nescit; secundum Domini Verbum, quod regeneretur homo, eo nesciente [Joh. III: 8].