329. IV. THUS ALL ARE PREDESTINED TO HEAVEN, AND NO ONE TO HELL. That the Lord casts no one down to hell, but that the spirit casts himself, is shown in the work HEAVEN AND HELL, published at London in the year 1758 (n. 545-550). This happens with every wicked and impious person after death; and it is the same with the wicked and impious person in the world, with this difference that while in the world he is capable of being reformed, and may acquire and use to his advantage the means of salvation, but not after his departure from the world. The means of salvation relate to these two essentials, that evils must be shunned because they are contrary to the Divine laws in the Decalogue, and there must be the acknowledgment that there is a God. This everyone can do provided he does not love evils; for the Lord is continually flowing into his will with power that he may be able to shun evils, and into his understanding with power that he may be able to think that there is a God. Nevertheless, no one can do the one without at the same time doing the other, for these two things are joined together like the two tables of the Decalogue, one of which relates to God and the other to man. The Lord in accordance with what is in His table enlightens everyone and gives him power; but man receives power and enlightenment only so far as he carries out what is laid down in his table: before this, the two appear as if lying one upon the other and fastened with a seal; but as man carries out what is in his table they are unsealed and opened. [2] What is the Decalogue at the present day but like a little closed book or religious primer, opened only in the hands of infants and children? Say to anyone of mature age, Do not do this because it is contrary to the Decalogue, and who pays any attention? But if you say, Do not do this because it is contrary to the Divine laws, he may give this his attention; and yet the commandments of the Decalogue are the Divine laws themselves. An experiment was made with several spirits in the spiritual world, and when the Decalogue or Catechism was mentioned they rejected it with contempt. The reason for this is that the Decalogue in its second table, which is man's table, teaches that evils are to be shunned; and he who does not shun them, whether from impiety or from the religious belief that works avail nothing, but only faith, hears with some contempt the Decalogue or Catechism being mentioned as though he heard mention made of a book for children, n which is no longer of any use to him. [3] These things have been stated in order that it may be known that a knowledge of the means by which he may be saved, or the power, is not wanting to anyone if he desires to be saved. From this it follows that all are predestined to heaven, and no one to hell. As, however, there has prevailed among some a belief in predestination to the opposite of salvation, that is, to condemnation, and as this belief is harmful and cannot be dispelled unless the reason sees the folly and the cruelty of it, it must therefore be considered in the following order:
1. Any predestination except to heaven is contrary to the Divine Love and its infinity. 2. Any predestination except to heaven is contrary to the Divine Wisdom and its infinity. 3. It is a foolish heresy that only those are saved who are born within the Church. 4. It is a cruel heresy that any of the human race are condemned by predestination.