389. 'Everyone finding him would kill him' means that all evil and falsity would destroy him. This follows from what is said above. The position in fact is this: When a person divests himself of charity, he in that case separates himself from the Lord. It is charity alone, or love towards the neighbour and compassion, which joins man to the Lord. Without charity the two are disjoined, and when they are disjoined man is left to himself, that is, to the proprium. In that case whatever he thinks is false, and whatever he wills is evil. These are the things that kill man, that is, lead to his having no life at all.