518. Those who have convinced themselves of the present-day belief, that the Lord by His passion on the cross took away all the sins of the world, engage in the same sort of hypocritical worship. They mean by this that anyone's sins are taken away, so long as he recites the formulas for propitiation and mediation. Some of these people can get up in pulpits and in an excited voice as if burning with enthusiasm pour out a lot of holy thoughts on repentance and charity, while considering neither of them any use for salvation. For by repentance they do not mean anything but verbal confession, and by charity nothing but its public display. They do this to obtain popularity. These are the people meant by these words of the Lord: Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name and performed many feats in your name? But then I shall admit to them, I do not know you; depart from me, you workers of iniquity. Matt. 7:22, 23.
[2] Once in the spiritual world I heard someone praying like this: 'I am a full of sores, leprous, foul from my mother's womb. There is nothing sound in me from my head to the sole of my foot. I am not worthy to lift up my gaze to God. I am guilty of offences deserving death and eternal damnation. Have mercy on me for the sake of your Son; purify me by His blood. The salvation of all is at your good pleasure. I beg for mercy.'
On hearing this the bystanders asked: 'How do you know you are like that?' 'I know,' he replied, 'because I have been told so.' But he was then sent to the examining angels, and said similar things in their presence. After enquiry they reported that he had told the truth about himself, but he was still not aware of even one of his evils, since he had never examined himself. He had believed that after a verbal confession evils were no longer evils in the sight of God, both because God turns His gaze away from them, and because He has been propitiated. For this reason he had not thought better of any evil he had committed, although he was deliberately committing adultery, theft, and deceitful slander and was desperate to take revenge. This was his nature in will and heart; and he would have been shown so by his utterances and deeds, if not restrained by fear of the law and of losing his good name. When it became known what sort of person he was, he was submitted to judgment and sent away to join the hypocrites in hell.
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