416.以各种方式将良善转变为邪恶，将威胁自己的惩罚转给别人，都是在瞬息之间完成的，以至于几乎不可能有比这更快的事了：因此，它必源于通过实践而扎下根来、已然变成第二本性的一种邪恶。由此可以得出这样的结论：除了通过遗传和实践所获得的邪恶之根外，几乎没有其它任何东西在恶灵里面掌权。（1747年12月28日）
416. So instantaneous is both the shifting of good into evil by various methods, and of a penalty threatening oneself to someone else, that there could hardly be anything quicker; therefore, it must spring from an [evil] rooted in by practice, that becomes second nature. This leads to the conclusion, that hardly anything else holds sway in evil spirits, but a root of evil acquired by inheritance and by practice. 1747, the 28th day of December.
416. So momentary is the transference in diverse ways, both of good into evil, and of one's own injury to another, that scarcely anything quicker can be possible: wherefore it flows from an actual root which puts on a nature. Hence it is given to conclude that scarcely anything else reigns in evil spirits but a root drawn to evil both by heredity and by actuality. 1747, Dec. 28.
416. Tam momentanea est translatio tam boni in malum diversis modis, et damni sui in alterum, ut vix citius dari queat, quare ex radice actuali fluit, quae naturam induit, inde concludere datur quod in malis spiritibus vix aliud regnet, quam radix per haereditatem et per actualitatem, ad malum, tracta. 1747, die 28 Dec.