After death people lose nothing of the faculties they had in bodily life, but retain them all, and more are given to them, which have been spoken of here and there [333, 400]; but they are gifted with different ones. For example, when a spirit confesses that he cannot help doing evil, then by chastening methods he is tempered in such a way that he is able to desist from them, and finally turn away from them. After that he is also given the ability to accomplish something good. So it is an ability he is simply given as a gift, while he still retains his former faculties. Faculties for doing good that are added or given, are a gift of the Lord, and as soon as this gift is taken away, a spirit returns to his original nature. This happens sometimes to angels, who, when restored to their original state, are evil spirits as before - indeed, who had been in heaven for ages, and several thousand years. From this it follows that anything souls do from their own power, is evil, and that they can do nothing good except from the Lord Alone, the fountain of all goodness. Therefore, as soon as this gift ceases, the soul returns to its inborn and enrooted wickedness. It also follows from this that the ability to do good is only from the Lord, and it is given, and not that anything of good has been enrooted or becomes enrooted in him. 1748, 6 February.