The Lord
is pure mercy and clemency (n. 6997, 8875).
546. Those who are enlightened see further that good and evil are two
opposites, and are therefore opposed as heaven and hell are, and that
all good is from heaven and all evil from hell; and as it is the
Divine of the Lord that makes heaven (n. 7-12), nothing but good
flows into man from the Lord, and nothing but evil from hell; thus
the Lord is continually withdrawing man from evil and leading him to
good, while hell is continually leading man into evil. Unless man
were between these two, he could have no thought nor any will, still
less any freedom or any choice; for all these man has by virtue of
the equilibrium between good and evil; consequently if the Lord
should turn Himself away, leaving man to evil alone, man would cease
to be man. All this shows that the Lord flows into every man with
good, into the evil man as well as the good; but with the difference
that the Lord is continually withdrawing the evil man from evil and
is continually leading the good man to good; and this difference lies
in the man himself, because he is the recipient.
547. From this it is clear that it is from hell that man does evil,
and from the Lord that he does good.
Pages:
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693