l, then away from hell, and finally to Himself in heaven. This
activity of divine providence is perpetual. If, then, man saw or felt
this withdrawing and leading away, he would be angered, consider God his
enemy, and deny Him on account of the evil of his selfhood. In order that
man may not know of it, therefore, he is held in freedom and thereby does
not know but that he leads himself.

[2] But let examples serve for illustration. By heredity man wants to
become great and also rich. In the measure in which these loves are not
checked he wants to become still greater and richer and finally the
greatest and richest; even so he would not rest, but would want to become
greater than God Himself and possess heaven itself. This lust is hidden
deep in hereditary evil and consequently in man's life and in the nature
of his life. Divine providence does not remove this evil in a moment; if
it were removed in a moment man would cease to live; but divine
providence removes it quietly and gradually without man's knowing of it.
It does this by letting man act according to the thinking which he deems
rational; then by various means, rational and also civil and moral, it
leads him away and withdraws him so far as he can be withdrawn in
freedom. Nor can evil be removed from anyone unless it comes out and is
seen and acknowledged; it is like a wound which heals only when opened.

[3] If, therefore, man knew and saw that the Lord in His divine
providence works in this way against his life's love, the source of his
highest enjoyment, he could not but go in the opposite direction, be
enraged, rebel, say harsh things, and finally, on account of his evil,
brush aside the activity of divine providence, denying it and so denying
God. He would do this especially if he saw success thwarted or saw
himself lowered in standing or deprived of wealth.

[4] But it is to be known that the Lord in no wise leads man away from
seeking position and acquiring wealth, but leads him away from the lust
of seeking position solely for the sake of eminence or for his own sake,
and also from acquiring wealth for its own sake or just to have it.
Leading the man away, He introduces him into the love of uses so that he
may regard eminence not for his own sake but for the sake of uses, thus
as attached to uses and only so to himself, and not as attached to him
and then to the uses; the same applies to wealth. At many places in the
Word the Lord Himself teaches that He