an's life are stirred up by the evils that unceasingly rise up from
hell; and then man must fight against them, and, indeed, as if of
himself. If he does not fight as if of himself the evils are not set
aside. (A.E., n. 938.)

IV. Cleansing the Inside

It is acknowledged that man's interior must be purified before the good
that he does is good; for the Lord says,

"Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the
platter, that the outside may be clean also" (Matt. xxiii. 26).

Man's interior is purified only as he refrains from evils, in accordance
with the commandments of the Decalogue. So long as man does not refrain
from these evils and does not shun and turn away from them as sins, they
constitute his interior, and are like an interposed veil or covering,
and in heaven this appears like an eclipse by which the sun is obscured
and light is intercepted; also like a fountain of pitch or of black
water, from which nothing emanates but what is impure. That which
emanates therefrom and that appears before the world as good is not
good, because it is defiled by evils from within, for it is Pharisaic
and hypocritical good. This good is good from man and is meritorious
good. It is otherwise when evils have been removed by a life according
to the commandments of the Decalogue.

Now since evils must be removed before goods can become good the Ten
Commandments were the first of the Word, being promulgated from Mount
Sinai before the Word was written by Moses and the prophets. And these
do not set forth goods that must be done, but evils that must be
shunned. For the same reason these commandments are the first things to
be taught in the churches; for they are taught to boys and girls in
order that man may begin his Christian life with them, and by no means
forget them as he grows up; although he does so. The same is meant by
these words in Isaiah:

"What is the multitude of sacrifices" to Me? Your meat offering, your
incense, "your new moons, and your appointed feasts, My soul hateth. . .
And when you multiply prayer I will not hear. . . Wash you, make you
clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to
do evil . . . . Then though your sins were as scarlet they shall be
white as snow; though they were red as purple they shall be as wool"
(i. 11-19).

"Sacrifices," "meat offerings," "incense," "new moons," and "feasts,"
also "prayer," mean all things of worship. That