Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 451
causes man to think and will in freedom; for whatever a man
thinks and wills has reference either to evil and falsity
therefrom or to good and truth therefrom.
[3] Therefore when he is in that equilibrium he is in freedom
either to admit or accept evil and its falsity from hell or to
admit or accept good and its truth from heaven. Every man is
held in this equilibrium by the Lord, because the Lord rules
both heaven and hell. But why man is held in this freedom by
such an equilibrium, and why evil and falsity are not taken
away from him and good and truth implanted in him by
Divine power, will be told hereafter in its own chapter.
538. A perception of the sphere of falsity from evil that flows
forth from hell has often been granted me. It was like a
perpetual effort to destroy all that is good and true, combined
with anger and a kind of fury at not being able to do so,
especially an effort to annihilate and destroy the Divine of the
Lord, and this because all good and truth are from him. But
out of heaven a sphere of truth from good was perceived,
whereby the fury of the effort ascending from hell was
restrained. The result of this was an equilibrium. This sphere
from heaven was perceived to come from the Lord alone,
although it appeared to come from the angels in heaven. It is
from the Lord alone, and not from the angels, because every
angel in heaven acknowledges that nothing of good and of
truth is from himself, but all is from the Lord.
539. In the spiritual world truth from good is the source of
all power, and falsity from evil has no power whatever. This is
because the Divine itself in heaven is Divine good and Divine
truth, and all power belongs to the Divine. Falsity from evil is
powerless because truth from good is the source of all power,
and in falsity from evil there is nothing of truth from good.
Consequently in heaven there is all power, and none in hell;
for everyone in heaven is in truths from good, and everyone in
hell is in falsities from evil. For no one is admitted into heaven
until he is in truths from good, neither is anyone cast down