119、⑹然后，主把人从内在人中的恶欲和外在人中的邪恶本身中洁净出来。当人貌似凭自己移走邪恶时，主就会把人从恶欲中洁净出来；原因在于，在他做到这一点之前，主无法洁净他，因为邪恶在外在人里面，恶欲在内在人里面，两者就像树根与树干那样连在一起。因此，除非邪恶被移走，否则打开是不可能的，因为邪恶堵住路，把门关上，而主只有通过人的合作才能打开这门，如刚才所说明的（114-118节）。因此，当人貌似凭自己打开这扇门时，主就把欲望和邪恶一起铲除。另一个原因是，主在人的至内在作工，并从至内在到依赖于它的一切事物，直到边界作工；在此期间，人就住在这些边界中。只要人自己使这些边界保持关闭，那么洁净是不可能的。主在人里面只做诸如在地狱里所做的那种工作，因为当人陷入欲望和邪恶时，他就是一个地狱的形式。这种工作仅仅是排列它，以防止一个事物毁灭另一个事物，并防止良善和真理遭到伤害。主不断请求并催促人给祂打开门，这从祂在启示录中的话清楚可知：
看哪，我站在门外叩门，若有听见我声音就开门的，我要进到他那里去，我与他，他与我一同坐席。（启示录3:20）
119. (6) The Lord then purifies the person of the lusts for evil in his internal self and of the evils themselves in his external self. The Lord then purifies the person of the lusts for evil when the person puts away the evils as though of himself because the Lord cannot purify him of them before. For evils reside in the external self, and lusts for evil in the internal self, and the two go together like roots with a trunk. Unless the evils are put away, therefore, no opening is given; for they block the way and close the door, which the Lord can open only through the agency of the person, as we showed just above. Thus when a person as though of himself opens the door, the Lord at the same time then roots out the lusts.
Another reason, too, is that the Lord acts upon a person's inmost element, and from the inmost element upon subsequent ones even to the last of them, and in the last ones the person is present as well. Consequently, as long as the person keeps these closed, no purification is possible, but only an operation by the Lord in his interior elements like that of the Lord in hell, of which that person is a form who is caught up in lusts and their accompanying evils; and that operation is solely an organization to keep one thing from destroying another and to keep goodness and truth from being violated.
That the Lord continually urges and presses a person to open the door to Him is apparent from the Lord's words in the book of Revelation:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20)
119. 6. Then the Lord cleanses us from the compulsions in our inner nature and from the evil practices themselves in our outer nature. The reason the Lord cleanses us from our compulsions to evil when we expel evils in apparent autonomy is that the Lord cannot cleanse us until we have done our part. The evils are in our outer self and the compulsions to evil in our inner self, as closely connected as roots and trunk. Unless the evils are expelled, then, there is no opening. The evils block the way and close the door, a door that the Lord cannot open unless we cooperate, as I have already explained [114-118]. So when we, apparently on our own, open the door, the Lord uproots our compulsions at the same time.
Another reason is that the Lord is at work in the center of our being, and works from that center into everything that depends on it all the way to our boundaries, and we are living at these boundaries while this is happening. As long as we ourselves are keeping these boundaries closed, then, no cleansing can take place. There can be only the kind of work within us by the Lord that the Lord does in hell--we are forms of hell when we are in the grip of our compulsions and the evils they cause. This work is simply arranging it so that one thing does not destroy another, and so that what is good and true is not harmed.
The Lord's words in the Book of Revelation show that the Lord is constantly pressing us, urging us, to open the door: "Look, I am standing at the door and knocking. To all who hear my voice and open the door I will enter, and I will dine with them, and they with me" (Revelation 3:20).
119. VI. THE LORD THEN PURIFIES MAN FROM THE LUSTS [OF EVIL] IN THE INTERNAL MAN, AND FROM THE EVILS THEMSELVES IN THE EXTERNAL. The Lord then purifies man from the lusts of evil when the man as of himself removes the evils, because the Lord cannot purify him before this is done. For the evils are in the external man and the lusts of evil are in the internal man, and these are united like the roots and trunk of a tree. Therefore, unless the evils are removed no outlet for the lusts is opened up, for the evils form an obstruction and close the door, which cannot be opened by the Lord except through man's instrumentality, as was shown above. When, therefore, man as of himself opens the door, then the Lord roots out the lusts and the evils together.
[2] Another reason is that the Lord acts upon man's inmost, and from the inmost upon all that follows even to the ultimates, while man is at the same time in the ultimates. As long, therefore, as the ultimates are kept closed by the man himself there can be no purification. There can only be such operation by the Lord in man's interiors as He performs in hell; and the man who is in lusts and at the same time in evils is a form of hell. This operation is solely to dispose things so that there should be no destruction of one thing by another, and to prevent good and truth from being violated. The Lord continually urges and presses upon man to open the door for himself as is clear from His words in Revelation:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 3:20.
119. (6) Then the Lord cleanses man from the lusts [of evil] in the internal man, and from the evils themselves in the external. The Lord cleanses man from the lusts of evil when the man, as if of himself, puts away the evils, for the reason, that the Lord cannot cleanse him until he does this because the evils are in the external man and the lusts of evil in the internal man, and the two are connected like roots and trunk; consequently until the evils are put away no opening is possible, for the evils obstruct and close the door; and the door can be opened by the Lord only by man's instrumentality, as has been shown just above. When, therefore, man as if of himself opens the door, the Lord roots out the lusts and the evils together. Another reason is, that the Lord acts into man's inmost, and from the inmost into consequent things even to outmosts; while man is simultaneously in outmosts. Therefore so long as man from himself holds the outmosts closed there can be no cleansing, but only such operation by the Lord in man's interiors as the Lord carries on in hell (the man who is both in lusts and in evils being a form of hell) and this operation is only an arrangement to prevent one thing from destroying another, and to prevent the violation of good and truth. The Lord continually solicits and urges man to open the door to Him, as is clear from His words in the Apocalypse:-
Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with Me (Apocalypse 3:20).
119. VI. Quod Dominus tunc purificet hominem a concupiscentiis [mali] 1in Interno homine, et ab ipsis malis in Externo. Quod Dominus tunc purificet hominem a concupiscentiis mali, quando homo sicut a se removet mala, est causa, quia Dominus non prius purificare potest; sunt enim mala in externo homine, et concupiscentiae 2mali in interno, ac cohaerent sicut radices cum trunco: quare nisi mala removentur, non datur apertura; obstipant enim, et claudunt 3portam, quae a Domino non aperiri potest nisi medio homine, ut mox supra ostensum est: quando ita homo sicut a se aperit portam, tunc Dominus concupiscentias una exstirpat. Causa etiam est, quia Dominus agit in intimum hominis, et ab intimo in consequentia usque ad ultima, et in ultimis est homo simul; quamdiu itaque ultima ab ipso homine tenentur clausa, non potest aliqua purificatio, sed modo talis operatio fieri a Domino in interioribus, qualis est Domini in Inferno, cujus forma est homo qui in concupiscentiis et simul malis est, quae operatio est solum dispositio ne unum perdat alterum, et ne violetur 4bonum et verum. Quod Dominus continue urgeat ac instet, ut homo sibi aperiat portam, patet a Domini verbis in Apocalypsi, "Ecce sto ad januam et pulso; si quis audiverit vocem meam, et aperuerit 5januam, ingrediar ad illum, et coenabo cum illo, et ille Mecum," 3:20.
Footnotes:
1 Sic in 102 supra.
2 Prima editio: concupisientiae
3 Prima editio: clauduut
4 Prima editio: violetut
5 Prima editio: apcruerit