Page:The Judgment Day.pdf/129

 New Church, is the spiritual meaning of blood, as that term is used in the Divine Word. This then is the doctrine which in the New Church is substituted for the common one in regard to salvation through Christ. The man who voluntarily receives the divine truth into his understanding, and faith fully and continually brings it into life, till he thus permits the heavenly marriage of goodness and truth to be fully consummated in the inner chambers of his spirit, is thereby united to heaven; eternal life is secured to him; he is a permanent guest at the marriage supper of the Lamb. We are thus presented with a doctrine, which when fully unfolded, shows the Divine Word to be filled with spirit and with life; demonstrates that God is equally just and merciful towards all his creatures; and gives to heaven its true place, in the affections of the heart. But if heaven is formed by the reception of the Lord as divine goodness and truth, from whence comes Hell? Hell, as already remarked, is the opposite of heaven. It is the state of those who are fully confirmed in the love of evil and falsity. But whence comes that evil which constitutes hell? The Lord is the maker and source of all things. "A man can receive nothing except it be from him from above." This is the uniform testimony of divine truth and of reason. A finite and created being can originate nothing. Every thing that exists comes from Him who in himself alone is life and being. But the question still returns with greater force, from whence comes evil? Surely not from Him who is goodness itself. The Divine Word teaches us that a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. This principle must be true of God as well as of man. That which is evil and false cannot proceed from him who is divinely good and divinely true. How then shall we account for its existence? Shall we say as some are doing, that evil is only undeveloped good; that hell is nothing more than an imperfect heaven? This solution of the difficulty may seem reasonable enough to the man who is in an entirely unregenerate state, and knows nothing by experi-