100. 2. IT IS A LAW OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT MAN SHOULD AS FROM HIMSELF REMOVE EVILS AS SINS IN THE EXTERNAL MAN; AND THUS AND NOT OTHERWISE CAN THE LORD REMOVE EVILS IN THE INTERNAL MAN, AND THEN AT THE SAME TIME IN THE EXTERNAL. Everyone can see from reason alone that the Lord, who is Good itself and Truth itself, cannot enter into man unless the evils and falsities in him are removed. For evil is the opposite of good, and falsity is the opposite of truth; and two opposites can in no wise mingle together, but when one approaches the other a combat takes place, which lasts till one gives way to the other; and the one that yields departs while the other takes its place. In such opposition are heaven and hell, or the Lord and the devil. Can anyone from reason think that the Lord can enter where the devil reigns, or that heaven can be where hell is? Who does not see, from the rationality granted to every sane man, that for the Lord to enter, the devil must be cast out, or that for heaven to enter, hell must be removed? [2] This opposition is meant by Abraham's words from heaven to the rich man in hell:
Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Luke xvi. 26. Evil itself is hell and good itself is heaven; or what is the same, evil itself is the devil and good itself is the Lord; and the man in whom evil reigns is a hell in the least form, and the man in whom good reigns is a heaven in the least form. Since this is the case, how can heaven enter hell when between them there is such a great gulf fixed that there can be no crossing from one to the other? Hence it follows that hell must be completely removed that it may be possible for the Lord to enter with heaven.
This page is part of 
© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church