al
sense by the "mammon of injustice" are meant knowledges of good and truth
which the evil possess and employ solely to acquire standing and wealth
for themselves. It is of these knowledges that the good or the children
of light are to make friends for themselves and it is these knowledges
that will conduct them into eternal homes. The Lord also teaches that
many are loves of self and the world, and few are loves of God, in these
words:

Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, which leads to destruction, and
many there be who enter it, but narrow and strait is the way which leads
to life, and there are few who find it (Mt 7:13, 14).

It may be seen above (n. 217) that eminence and riches are either curses
or blessings, and with whom they are the one or the other.

251. _The worshiper of self and of nature confirms himself against divine
providence when he reflects that wars are permitted and the slaughter in
them of so many men and the plundering of their wealth._ It is not by
divine providence that wars occur, for they entail murder, plunder,
violence, cruelty, and other terrible evils which are diametrically
opposed to Christian charity. Yet they cannot but be permitted because
the life's love of mankind, since the time of the most ancient people,
meant by Adam and his wife (n. 241), has become such that it wants to
rule over others and finally over all, and also to possess the wealth of
the world and finally all wealth. These two loves cannot be kept in
fetters, for it is according to divine providence that everyone is
allowed to act in freedom in accordance with reason, as may be seen above
(nn. 71-97); and apart from permissions man cannot be led from evil by
the Lord and consequently cannot be reformed and saved. For unless evils
were allowed to break out, man would not see them, therefore would not
acknowledge them, and thus could not be induced to resist them. Evils
cannot be repressed, therefore, by any act of providence; if they were,
they would remain shut in, and like a disease such as cancer and
gangrene, would spread and consume everything vital in man.

[2] For from birth man is like a little hell between which and heaven
there is perpetual discord. No one can be withdrawn from his hell by the
Lord unless he sees he is in it and desires to be led out of it. This
cannot be done apart from tolerations the causes of which are laws of
divine providence. As a result, minor and major wars occur, the minor