69. Since the aforesaid kinds of murder are, as we said, latent in a person from his birth, and along with them every kind of theft, and every kind of false witness, together with urges to do these, which we are going to say more about below, it is apparent that if the Lord did not provide means of reformation, a person could not but perish to eternity.
The means of reformation that the Lord has provided are these: that a person is born into total ignorance; that a newborn child is kept in a state of external innocence, a little later in a state of external charity, and after that in a state of external friendship; but as he comes into thinking in accord with his own intellect, he is kept in some freedom to act in accordance with his reason. This is the state described in no. 19 above, and we will repeat the description here for the sake of what follows. To wit:
During the time a person is in the world, he is between heaven and hell, having hell below and heaven above; and he is kept free then to turn in the direction of hell or in the direction of heaven. If he turns in the direction of hell, he turns away from heaven. But if he turns in the direction of heaven, he turns away from hell.
In other words, during the time a person is in the world, he stands between the Lord and the devil, and he is kept free to turn either to the one or to the other. If he turns to the devil, he turns away from the Lord. But if he turns to the Lord, he turns away from the devil.
Or to put it another way, during the time a person is in the world, he is between evil and good, and is kept free to turn either to the one or to the other. If he turns to evil, he turns away from good. But if he turns to good, he turns away from evil. This is no. 19 above. See also nos. 20-22, which follow there.
