Heaven and Hell/57
LVII
The Lord Casts No One into Hell; the Spirit Casts Himself Down
545. An opinion has prevailed with some that God turns away His face from man, casts man away from Himself, and casts him into hell, and is angry with him on account of his evil; and some believe also that God punishes man and does evil to him. In this opinion they establish themselves by the sense of the letter of the Word, where such things are declared, not knowing that the spiritual sense of the Word, by which the sense of the letter is made clear, is wholly different; and consequently that the genuine doctrine of the church, which is from the spiritual sense of the Word, teaches otherwise, namely, that God never turns away His face from man, and never casts man away from Himself, that He casts no one into hell and is angry with no one.[1] Everyone, moreover, whose mind is enlightened perceives this to be true when he reads the Word, from the simple truth that God is good itself, love itself, and mercy itself; and that good itself cannot do evil to any one, and love itself and mercy itself can not cast man away from itself, because this is contrary to the very essence of mercy and love, thus contrary to the Divine Itself. Therefore those who think from an enlightened mind clearly perceive, when they read the Word, that God never turns Himself away from man; and as He never turns Himself away from him He deals with him from goodness, love, and mercy, that is, wills good to him, loves him, and is merciful to him. And from this they see that the sense of the letter of the Word, in which such things are declared, has stored up within itself a spiritual sense, and that these expressions that are used in the sense of the letter in accommodation to man's apprehension and according to his first and general ideas are to be explained in accordance with the spiritual sense.
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. But man believes that whatever
he does he does from himself, and in consequence of this the evil
that he does sticks to him as his own; and for this reason man is the
cause of his own evil, and in no way the Lord. Evil in man is hell in
him, for it is the same thing whether you say evil or hell. And since
man is the cause of his own evil he is led into hell, not by the Lord
but by himself. For so far is the Lord from leading man into hell
that it is He who delivers man from hell, and this He does so far as
man does not will and love to be in his own evil. All of man's will
and love continues with him after death (n. 470-484). He who wills
and loves evil in the world wills and loves the same evil in the
other life, but he no longer suffers himself to be withdrawn from it.
If, therefore, a man is in evil he is tied to hell, and in respect to
his spirit is actually there, and after death desires nothing so much
as to be where his evil is; consequently it is man who casts himself
into hell after death, and not the Lord.
548. How this comes about shall also be explained. When man enters
the other life he is received first by angels, who perform for him
all good offices, and talk with him about the Lord, heaven, and the
angelic life, and instruct him in things that are true and good. But
if the man, now a spirit, be one who knew about these things in the
world, but in heart denied or despised them, after some conversation
he desires and seeks to get away from these angels. As soon as the
angels perceive this they leave him. After some interaction with
others he at length unites himself with those who are in evil like
his own (see above, n. 445-452). When this takes place he turns
himself away from the Lord and turns his face towards the hell to
which he had been joined in the world, in which those abide who are
in a like love of evil. All this makes clear that the Lord draws
every spirit to Himself by means of angels and by means of influx
from heaven; but those spirits that are in evil completely resist,
and as it were tear themselves away from the Lord, and are drawn by
their own evil, thus by hell, as if by a rope. And as they are so
drawn, and by reason of their love of evil are eager to follow, it is
evident that they themselves cast themselves into hell by their own
free choice. Men in the world because of their idea of hell are
unable to believe that this is so. In fact, in the other life before
the eyes of those who are outside of hell it does not so appear; but
only so to those who cast themselves into hell, for such enter of
their own accord. Those who enter from a burning love of evil appear
to be cast headlong, with the head downwards and the feet upwards. It
is because of this appearance that they seem to be cast into hell by
Divine power. (But about this more will be said below, n. 574.) From
all this it can be seen that the Lord casts no one into hell, but
everyone casts himself into hell, both while he is living in the
world and also after death when he comes among spirits.
549. The Lord from His Divine Essence, which is goodness, love, and
mercy, is unable to deal in the same way with every man, because
evils and their falsities prevent, and not only quench His Divine
influx but even reject it. Evils and their falsities are like black
clouds which interpose between the sun and the eye, and take away the
sunshine and the serenity of its light; although the unceasing
endeavor of the sun to dissipate the opposing clouds continues, for
it is operating behind them; and in the meantime transmits something
of obscure light into the eye of man by various roundabout ways. It
is the same in the spiritual world. The sun there is the Lord and the
Divine love (n. 116-140); and the light there is the Divine truth (n.
126-140); black clouds there are falsities from evil; the eye there
is the understanding. So far as any one in that world is in falsities
from evil he is encompassed by such a cloud, which is black and dense
according to the degree of his evil. From this comparison it can be
seen that the Lord is unceasingly present with everyone, but that He
is received variously.
550. Evil spirits are severely punished in the world of spirits in
order that by means of punishments they may be deterred from doing
evil. This also appears to be from the Lord; and yet nothing of
punishment there is from the Lord, but is from the evil itself; since
evil is so joined with its own punishment that the two cannot be
separated. For the infernal crew desire and love nothing so much as
doing evil, especially inflicting punishments and torment upon
others; and they maltreat and inflict punishments upon everyone who
is not protected by the Lord. When, therefore, evil is done from an
evil heart, because it thereby discards all protection from the Lord,
infernal spirits rush upon the one who does the evil, and inflict
punishment. This may be partly illustrated by evils and their
punishments in the world, where the two are also joined. For laws in
the world prescribe a penalty for every evil; therefore he that
rushes into evil rushes also into the penalty of evil. The only
difference is that in the world the evil may be concealed; but in the
other life it cannot be concealed. All this makes clear that the Lord
does evil to no one; and that it is the same as it is in the world,
where it is not the king nor the judge nor the law that is the cause
of punishment to the guilty, because these are not the cause of the
evil in the evil doer.
- ↑ In the Word anger and wrath are attributed to the Lord, but they are in man, and it is so expressed because such is the appearance to man when he is punished and damned (n. 798, 5798, 6997, 8284, 8483, 8875, 9306, 10431). Evil also is attributed to the Lord, although nothing but good is from Him (n. 2447, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7679, 7926, 8227, 8228, 8632, 9306). Why it is so expressed in the Word (n. 6071, 6991, 6997, 7632, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7926, 8282, 9010, 9128). The Lord is pure mercy and clemency (n. 6997, 8875).