not get what they desire, and suffer torment when they lose what they
have. Then they grow angry with the Divine, rejecting it together
with everything of faith, and cursing themselves. Altogether
different is it with those who trust in the Divine. Though they have
care for the morrow, yet they have it not; for they do not think of
the morrow with solicitude, still less with anxiety. Whether they get
what they wish or not, they are composed, not lamenting over losses,
but being content with their lot. If they become rich, they do not set
their hearts upon riches. If they are exalted to honors, they do not
look upon themselves as worthier than others. If they become poor,
they are not cast down. If their condition be mean, they are not
dejected. They know that with those who put their trust in the Divine,
all things work toward a happy state to eternity.

--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 8478


THE SUFFERANCE OF EVIL

The chief aim and effort of the Lord's Divine Providence is that a man
shall be in what is good and in what is true at the same time; for
thereby man is man, since he is then an image of the Lord. But
because, in his life in the world, he can be in what is good and in
what is false at the same time, and also in what is evil and what is
true at the same time, nay, even in evil and at the same time in good,
and thus be a double man, as it were, and because this division
destroys God's image and so destroys the man, therefore the Lord's
Divine Providence in all its workings seeks to prevent this division.
Furthermore, because it is better for man to be in what is evil and in
the same time in what is false than to be in good and at the same time