good to them. They wonder how any one can believe that he is wise from himself, and that he does good from himself. Good done for the sake of one's self they do not call good, because it is done from self; but good done for the sake of good, they call good from the Divine; and they say that this good is what makes heaven, because this good is the Lord.
Spirits who, while living in the world, confirmed themselves in the belief that the good which they did and the truth which they believed were from themselves, or appropriated to them as their own, (in which belief are all those who place merit in their good actions, and attribute righteousness to themselves,) are not received into heaven. The angels shun them, regarding them as stupid and as thieves; as stupid, because they continually look to themselves, and not to the Divine; and as thieves, because they rob the Lord of what is his. These spirits are opposed to the faith of heaven, which is, that the Divine of the Lord received by the angels makes heaven.
That they who are in heaven and in the church, are in the Lord and the Lord in them, He also teaches where He says, "Abide in me, and I in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing." John xv. 4, 5.
From these considerations it may now be evident
