The Swedenborg Library Vol 1/Chapter 14

by Emanuel Swedenborg

XIV.

THE LORD CASTS NO ONE INTO HELL.

HE opinion has prevailed with some that God turns his face away from man, rejects him and casts him into hell; and that He is angry with him on account of sin. And it is still further supposed by some that God punishes man, and brings evil upon him. In this opinion they confirm themselves from the literal sense of the "Word, where such things are declared; not being aware that the spiritual sense of the Word, which explains that of the letter, is altogether different.

But the genuine doctrine of the church, which is according to the spiritual sense of the Word, teaches otherwise; namely, that God never turns His face away from man, never rejects him, never casts any one into hell and is never angry. Every one, also, whose mind is in a state of illustration when he reads the Word, perceives this from the single consideration that God is good itself, love itself and mercy itself; and that good itself cannot do evil to any one; nor can love itself and mercy itself cast man away from them, because it is contrary to their very essence, thus contrary to the Divine Itself.

Therefore they who think from an enlightened understanding when they read the Word, clearly perceive that God never turns Himself away from man; and because He never turns Himself away from him, that He deals with him from good, love and mercy. In other words, that He wills his good, that He loves him and is merciful to him. Hence also they see that the literal sense of the Word which teaches such things, conceals within itself a spiritual sense, according to which those expressions are to be explained, which, in the sense of the letter, are spoken in accommodation to the apprehension of man and according to his first and general ideas.

Moreover, they who are in a state of illustration see that good and evil are two opposites, as contrary to each other as heaven is to hell; and that all good is from heaven and all evil from hell. And because the Divine of the Lord makes heaven, therefore nothing but good flows in from the Lord with man, and nothing but evil from hell; and thus the Lord is continually withdrawing man from evil and leading him to good, while hell is continually leading him into evil.

Unless man were between both he would have no thought, nor any will, still less any freedom and choice; for man enjoys all these in consequence of the equilibrium between good and evil. Therefore if the Lord were to turn Himself away and man were left to evil alone, he would no longer be a man.

From these considerations it is evident, that the Lord flows-in with good into every man, the bad as well as the good; but with this difference, that He is continually withdrawing the bad man from evil, and continually leading the good man to good; and that the cause of such difference is with man, because he is the recipient.

Hence it may be seen that man does evil from hell and good from the Lord. But because he believes that whatever he does he does from himself, therefore the evil which he does adheres to him as his own. Hence it is that man is the cause of his own evil, and not the Lord. Evil with man is hell with him; for whether we speak of evil or of hell, it is the same thing. Now since man is the cause of his own evil, therefore also he leads himself into hell, and not the Lord. So far is the Lord from leading man into hell, that He delivers him from it as far as man does not will and love to abide in his own evil.

All of man's will and love remains with him after death. He who wills and loves evil in the world, wills and loves the same evil in the other life; and then he no longer suffers himself to be withdrawn from it. Hence it is that the man who is in evil is tied to hell, and is actually there as to his spirit; and after death he desires nothing more than to be where his own evil is. Therefore man after death casts himself into hell, and not the Lord.

How this is done shall also be told. When man enters the other life, he is first received by angels who perform for him all good offices, and likewise converse with him about the Lord, heaven and angelic life; and instruct him in truths and goods. But if the man, now a spirit, be one of those who knew such things in the world, but in heart denied or despised them, he then, after some conversation, desires and also seeks to be separated from their company. When the angels perceive this, they leave him. After joining several other companies, he is at last associated with those who are in similar evil with himself. When this takes place, he turns himself away from the Lord, and turns his face toward the hell with which he had been conjoined while in the world, where those reside who are in a similar love of evil.

From these facts it is evident that the Lord draws every spirit toward Himself by means of the angels, and likewise by influx from heaven; but that the spirits who are in evil strenuously resist, and as it were tear themselves away from the Lord, and are drawn by their own evils, that is by hell, as by a rope. And because they are drawn, and by reason of their love of evil are willing to follow, it is manifest that they cast themselves into hell of their own free choice.

That such is the case cannot be believed in the world in consequence of the idea entertained of hell. Nor does it in the other life appear otherwise than in the world, before the eyes of those who are out of hell. But it does not appear so to those who cast themselves thither, for they enter of their own accord. And they who enter from an ardent love of evil, appear as if they were cast headlong, with their heads downward and their feet upward. On account of this appearance it seems as if they were cast down to hell by Divine Power.

From what has been said it may now be seen that the Lord casts no one down to hell; but that every one casts himself down, not only while he lives in the world, but also after death when he comes among spirits.

The Lord, from his divine essence,—which is good, love and mercy,—cannot deal in the same manner with every man, because evils and the falsities thence derived, not only resist and blunt but also reject his divine influx. Evils and the falsities thence derived are like black clouds which interpose themselves between the sun and man's eye, and take away the sunshine and serenity of the day. The sun, however, still continues in the perpetual effort to dissipate the obstructing clouds; for it is behind them and operating toward their dispersion; and in the meantime, also, transmits something of shady light to the eye through various indirect passages.

It is the same in the spiritual world. There the sun is the Lord and the divine love; and the light is the divine truth; the black clouds there, are falsities derived from evil; and the eye is the understanding. In proportion as any one in that world is in falsities derived from evil, he is encompassed by such a cloud which is black and dense according to the degrees of his evil. From this comparison it may be seen that the Lord is constantly present with every one, but that He is received differently.

Evil spirits are severely punished in the world of spirits, in order that they may thereby be deterred from doing evil. It also appears as if this were the Lord's doing, when yet nothing of the punishment which they there suffer is from Him, but from evil itself; for evil is so conjoined with its own punishment that they cannot be separated. For the infernal crew desire and love nothing more than to do injury, especially to inflict punishment and torture upon others. And they also do injury to, and inflict punishment on, every one who is not protected by the Lord. Therefore when evil is done from an evil heart, then, because it casts away from itself all protection from the Lord, infernal spirits rush upon him who does such evil and punish him.

This may be illustrated in some measure by crimes and their punishments in the world, where also they are conjoined. For the laws prescribe some punishment for every crime, so that whoever rushes into crime, rushes also into the punishment thereof. The only difference is, that in the world crime may be concealed; but in the other life concealment is impossible.

From these considerations it may be seen that the Lord does evil to no one; and that herein the case is similar to that we find in the world, where not the king, nor the judge, nor the law is the cause of punishment to the guilty, because neither of them is the cause of the crime committed by the evil doer. (H. H. 543-550.)