which is black and dense
according to the degree of his evil. From this comparison it can be
seen that the Lord is unceasingly present with everyone, but that He
is received variously.

550. Evil spirits are severely punished in the world of spirits in
order that by means of punishments they may be deterred from doing
evil. This also appears to be from the Lord; and yet nothing of
punishment there is from the Lord, but is from the evil itself; since
evil is so joined with its own punishment that the two cannot be
separated. For the infernal crew desire and love nothing so much as
doing evil, especially inflicting punishments and torment upon
others; and they maltreat and inflict punishments upon everyone who
is not protected by the Lord. When, therefore, evil is done from an
evil heart, because it thereby discards all protection from the Lord,
infernal spirits rush upon the one who does the evil, and inflict
punishment. This may be partly illustrated by evils and their
punishments in the world, where the two are also joined. For laws in
the world prescribe a penalty for every evil; therefore he that
rushes into evil rushes also into the penalty of evil. The only
difference is that in the world the evil may be concealed; but in the
other life it cannot be concealed. All this makes clear that the Lord
does evil to no one; and that it is the same as it is in the world,
where it is not the king nor the judge nor the law that is the cause
of punishment to the guilty, because these are not the cause of the
evil in the evil doer.

551. LVIII. ALL WHO ARE IN THE HELLS ARE IN EVILS AND IN FALSITIES
THEREFROM DERIVED FROM THE LOVES OF SELF AND OF THE WORLD.

All who are in the hells are in evils and in falsities therefrom, and
no one there is in evils and at the same time in truths. In the world
evil men for the most part have some knowledge of spiritual truths,
which are the truths of the church, having been taught them from
childhood and later by preaching and by reading the Word; and
afterwards they have talked about them. Some have even led others to
believe that they are Christians at heart because of their knowing
how to talk with pretended affection in harmony with the truth, also
how to act uprightly as if from spiritual faith. But those of this
class whose interior thoughts have been hostile to these truths, and
who have refrained from doing the evils that were in harmony with
their thoughts only because of the