ult that he is such; he suffers only on account of
actual evil that is his, that is, only so far as he has appropriated
to himself inherited evil by actual life. When, therefore, the
children that have become adults are let down into the state of their
inherited evil it is not that they may suffer punishment for it, but
that they may learn that of themselves they are nothing but evil, and
that it is by the mercy of the Lord that they are taken up into
heaven from the hell in which they are, and that it is from the Lord
that they are in heaven and not from any merit of their own; and
therefore they may not boast before others of the good that is in
them, since this is contrary to the good of mutual love, as it is
contrary to the truth of faith.

{Footnote 1} All kinds of men are born into evils of every
kind, even to the extent that what is their own is nothing but
evil (n. 210, 215, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047, 2307, 2308, 3518,
3701, 3812, 8480, 8550, 10283, 10284, 10286, 10731).
Consequently man must needs be reborn, that is, regenerated (n.
3701). Man's inherited evil consists in his loving himself more
than God, and the world more than heaven and in making his
neighbor, in comparison with himself, of no account, except for
the sake of self, that is, himself alone, thus it consists in
the love of self and of the world (n. 694, 731, 4317, 5660).
All evils are from the love of self and of the world, when
those loves rule (n. 1307, 1308, 1321, 1594, 1691, 3413, 7255,
7376, 7488, 7490, 8318, 9335, 9348, 10038, 10742). These evils
are contempt of others, enmity, hatred revenge, cruelty, deceit
(n. 6667, 7370-7374, 9348, 10038, 10742). And from these evils
comes all falsity (n. 1047, 10283, 10284, 10286). These loves,
so far as the reins are given them, rush headlong; and the love
of self aspires even to the throne of God (n. 7375, 8678).

343. Several times when a number of children that were in a purely
infantile state have been with me in choirs, they were heard as a
tender unarranged mass, that is, as not yet acting as one, as they do
later when they have become more mature. To my surprise the spirits
with me could not refrain from inducing them to talk. This desire is
innate in spirits. But I noticed, each time, that the children
resisted, unwilling to talk in this way. This refusal and resistance,
which were accompanied by a kind of indignation, I have often
perceived; and when an