il, and the more so still if they abstain from
several; for as soon as any one, from purpose or confirmation, abstains
from any evil because it is a sin, he is kept by the Lord in the purpose
of abstaining from the rest: wherefore, if unwittingly, or from any
prevailing bodily concupiscence, he does evil, still this is not imputed
to him, because he did not purpose it to himself, and does not confirm
it with himself. A man comes into this purpose, if once or twice in a
year he examines himself, and repents of the evils which he discovers in
himself: it is otherwise with him who never examines himself. From these
considerations it evidently appears to whom sin is not imputed, and to
whom it is.

530. V. THUS ADULTEROUS LOVE IS IMPUTED TO EVERY ONE;--not according to
his deeds, such as they appear externally before men, nor either such as
they appear before a judge, but such as they appear internally before
the Lord, and from him before the angels, which is according to the
quality of a man's will and of his understanding therein. Various
circumstances exist in the world which mitigate and excuse crimes, also
which aggravate and charge them upon the perpetrator: nevertheless,
imputations after death take place, not according to the external
circumstances of the deed, but according to the internal circumstances
of the mind; and these are viewed according to the state of the church
with every one: as for example, a man impious in will and understanding,
that is, who has no fear of God or love of his neighbour, and
consequently no reverence for any sanctity of the church,--he, after
death, becomes guilty of all the crimes which he did in the body; nor is
there any remembrance of his good actions, since his heart, from whence
as from a fountain those things flowed, was averse from heaven, and
turned to hell; and deeds flow from the place of the habitation of every
one's heart. In order that this may be understood, I will mention an
arcanum: Heaven is distinguished into innumerable societies, and so is
hell, from an opposite principle; and the mind of every man, according
to his will and consequent understanding, actually dwells in one
society, and intends and thinks like those who compose the society. If
the mind be in any society of heaven, it then intends and thinks like
those who compose that society; if it be in any society of hell, it
intends and thinks like those who are in the same society; but so long
as a man lives i