[2] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed.- The seventh law of Divine Providence is, That man is admitted into the truths of faith and the goods of love by the Lord, only so far as he can be kept in them to the end of life; for it is better that he should be constantly evil than that he should be good and afterwards evil, for in this case he becomes profane; the permission of evil is also from this source. The Lord can impart the affection for truth and the faith originating in it, and also the affection for good and the love originating in it, to every man of sound reason, by withholding him from those evil loves that belong to his proprium; for so far as man is withheld from these, so far is he in the understanding of truth and in the will for good. I have seen the devils themselves brought back again to such a state, that while they were in it, they spoke truths from their understanding and belief, and did good from their will and love. They were brought back again into that state, because they denied their ability to understand truths and do good; but immediately they ceased to be restrained from their own loves, they returned again into the lusts of their own loves, and instead of a belief grounded in truth they had a belief grounded in falsity, and instead of the love of good they had the love of evil. This has been witnessed frequently and in the presence of many, from which it is evident, that every one is capable of being reformed, and that to be reformed is nothing else than to he removed from evil loves. But how man is removed from them, has been described above.

The reason why this removal is not effected by the Lord, is, that those who come into the affection for truth and the faith originating in it, and into the affection for good and the love originating in it, and do not remain constantly in those affections to the end of their life, but relapse into the loves from which they had abstained, are guilty of profaning holy things.

[3] There are several kinds of profanation, but this is the most grievous of all, for after death the lot of those who are guilty of it is terrible. They are not in hell but beneath it, where they neither think nor will, but merely see and act. They see things that have no existence, and do not see those things that do exist. They act as if they were doing everything, and yet they do nothing. Such things are entirely the insane delusions of a disordered imagination. And because they neither think nor will, they are no longer men; for it is characteristic of man - to think and will. Hence they are not called "they" in the masculine or feminine gender - but they are called in the neuter gender, "those things" or "that." When they are seen in any of the light of heaven, they have the appearance of skeletons, covered with a blackish skin. Such is the condition of those who have been once reformed, and do not remain so.

The reason why their lot is so dreadful shall also be stated. By reformation communication is effected between them and heaven, a communication from which there is an influx of goods and truths; by these the interiors of their minds are opened, and their evils set aside. If they remain in this state till death they are happy, but if they do not remain so they are unhappy; for the evils which had been removed return and mingle with the truths and goods; thus in them hell mingles with heaven in such a way that they cannot be separated. For whatever has been once impressed upon the mind of man by means of love, is never extirpated; therefore, after death, because goods cannot be separated from evils, nor truths from falsities, the whole mind is destroyed. For this reason they have no longer either thought or will; what remains of these is like a shell when the kernel is gone, or like mere skin and bone without flesh, for this is all that remains of the man. Let it therefore be understood that there is no danger in departing from evil to good, but that the danger is in departing from good to evil.