650. VIII. THE LORD IMPUTES GOOD TO EVERY MAN, BUT HELL IMPUTES EVIL TO EVERY MAN.
That the Lord imputes to man good and not evil, while the devil (meaning hell), imputes evil and not good to him, is a new thing in the church; and it is new for the reason that in the Word it is frequently said that God is angry, takes vengeance, hates, damns, punishes, casts into hell, and tempts, all of which pertain to evil, and therefore are evils. But it has been shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scriptures that the sense of the letter of the Word is composed of such things as are called appearances and correspondences, in order that there may be a conjunction of the external church with its internals, thus of the world with heaven. It is also there shown that when such things in the Word are read these very appearances of truth, while they are passing from man to heaven, are changed into genuine truths, which are that the Lord is never angry, never takes vengeance, never hates, damns, punishes, casts into hell, or tempts, consequently does evil to man. This transmutation and changing in the spiritual world I have frequently observed.