2653. and the goodness of their works to themselves, denying them to the Lord. Thus the more one does this, the farther one distances oneself from heaven. This is a well established truth and can be corroborated in many ways by them in the other life, for in so doing they interpose a kind of chasm between two mountains, so that they cannot cross over onto the other mountain without falling headlong into the chasm, or else an intervening sea into which a person plunges, shipwrecked, who wants in this way to cross over into heaven-who must therefore go back, and be led by a different way by the Lord. 1748, 19 July.