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tes hell in man, just as love constitutes heaven in him, so the Lord teaches, "If thou shalt offer thy gift upon the altar, and shalt there remember that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go; first be reconciled to they brother, and then coming offer thy gift. Be well disposed toward thine adversary whiles thou art in the way with him; lest haply the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily, I say unto thee, Thou shalt not come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing" (Matt. v. 23-26). To be delivered to the judge, and by the judge to the officer, and by him to be cast into prison, depicts the state of the man who is in hatred after death from his having been in hatred against his brother in the world, "prison" meaning hell, and "paying the uttermost farthing" signifying the punishment that is called the fire everlasting. (A.E., n. 1015.) Since hatred is infernal fire it is clear that it must be put away before love, which is heavenly fire, can flow in, and by light from itself give life to man; and this infernal fire can in no wise be put away unless man knows whence hatred is and what it is, and afterward turns away from it and shuns it. There is in every man by inheritance a hatred against the neighbor; for every man is born into a love of self and of the world, and in consequence conceives hatred, and from it is inflamed against all who do not make one with him and favor his love, especially against those who oppose his lusts. For no one can love himself above all things and love the Lord at the same time; neither can anyone love the world above all things and love the neighbor at the same time; since no one can serve two masters at the same time without despising and hating the one while he honors and loves the other. Hatred is especially in those who are in a love of ruling over all; with others it is unfriendliness. It shall be told what hatred is. Hatred has in itself a fire which is an endeavor to kill man. That fire is manifested in anger. There is a seeming hatred and consequent anger in the good against evil; but this is not hatred, but an aversion to evil; neither is it anger, but a zeal for good in which heavenly fire inwardly lies concealed. For the good turn away from what is evil, and are seemingly angry at the neighbor, in order that they may remove the
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