Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 433
524. If men could be saved by mercy apart from means all
would be saved, even those in hell; in fact, there would be no
hell, because the Lord is mercy itself, love itself, and goodness
itself. Therefore it is inconsistent with his Divine to say that he
is able to save all apart from means and does not save them. It
is known from the Word that the Lord wills the salvation of
all, and the damnation of no one.
525. Most of those who enter the other life from the
Christian world bring with them this belief that they can be
saved by mercy apart from means, and pray for that mercy; but
when examined they are found to believe that entering heaven
is merely gaining admission, and that those who are let in are
in heavenly joy. They are wholly ignorant of what heaven is
and what heavenly joy is, and consequently are told that the
the form of heaven is a form in accord with the Divine order (n. 4040–4043,
6607, 9877).
So far as a man is living in accordance with order, that is, so far as he is
living in good in accordance with Divine truths, he is receiving heaven in
himself (n. 4839).
Man is the being in whom are brought together all things of Divine
order, and by creation he is Divine order in form, because he is a recipient of
Divine order (n. 3628, 4219, 4220, 4223, 4523, 4524, 5214, 6013, 6057,
6605, 6626, 9706, 10156, 10472).
Man is not born into good and truth but into evil and falsity, thus not
into Divine order but into the opposite of order, and for this reason he is
born into pure ignorance; consequently it is necessary for him to be born
anew, that is, to be regenerated, which is effected by the Lord by means of
Divine truths, that he may be brought back into order (n. 1047, 2307, 2308,
3518, 8480, 8550, 10283, 10284, 10286, 10731).
When the Lord forms man anew, that is, regenerates him, He arranges
all things in him in harmony with order, that is, in the form of heaven (n.
5700, 6690, 9931, 10303).
Evils and falsities are contrary to order; nevertheless those who are in
them are ruled by the Lord not in accordance with order but from order (n.
4839, 7877, 10777).
It is impossible for a man who lives in evil to be saved by mercy alone,
for that would be contrary to Divine order (n. 8700).