HH 550 - Evil Punishes Itself

HH 550

Evil spirits are severely punished in the world of spirits
in order that, by means of punishments,
they may be deterred from doing evil.
This also appears to be from the Lord.
Yet nothing of punishment there,
is from the Lord,
but is from the evil itself.
For evil is so joined with its own punishment
that the two cannot be separated.
For the infernal crew desire and love
nothing so much as doing evil,
especially inflicting punishments and torment;
and they maltreat and inflict punishments
upon everyone who is not protected by the Lord.
When, therefore, evil is done from an evil heart,
because it thereby discards
all protection from the Lord,
infernal spirits rush upon the one who does the evil,
and inflict punishment.
This may be partly illustrated by evils
and their punishments in the world,
where the two are also joined.
For laws in the world
prescribe a penalty for every evil;
therefore, he who rushes into evil
rushes also into the penalty of evil.
The only difference is
that in the world the evil may be concealed;
but in the other life it cannot be concealed.
From these things it can be confirmed
that the Lord does evil to no one;
and that it is the same as it is in the world,
where it is not the king nor the judge nor the law
that is the cause of punishment to the guilty,
because these are not
the cause of the evil with the evil-doer.