522. First, though, let me state what divine mercy is. Divine mercy is a pure mercy toward the whole human race with the intent of saving it, and it is constant toward every individual, never withdrawing from anyone. This means that everyone who can be saved is saved. However, no one can be saved except by divine means, the means revealed by the Lord in the Word. Divine means are what we refer to as divine truths. They teach how we are to live in order to be saved. The Lord uses them to lead us to heaven and to instill heaven's life into us. The Lord does this for everyone; but he cannot instill heaven's life into anyone who does not refrain from evil, since evil bars the way. So to the extent that we do refrain from evil, the Lord in his divine mercy leads us by divine means, from infancy to the end of life in the world and thereafter to eternity. This is the divine mercy that I mean. We can therefore see that the Lord's mercy is pure mercy, but not unmediated: that is, it does not save people whenever it feels like it, no matter how they have lived.

2915. 'I am a stranger and an inhabitant among you' means their first state when, although the Lord was not known to them, He was nevertheless able to be with them. This is clear from the representation of 'Abraham' as the Lord, often dealt with already, and from the meaning of 'being a stranger among them' and 'being an inhabitant among them' as not being known but nevertheless being with them. It is evident from what comes before and after that this is the internal sense, for the subject is a new Church, and in this verse the first state of that Church. This state is such that first of all they do not know the Lord, yet because they lead good and charitable lives, and in public life they are just and fair, and in private life honourable and correct, they are the kind of people with whom the Lord is able to be present. For the Lord is present with man in good, and so in justice and fairness, and further still in honourableness and correctness (honourableness being the sum total of all the private virtues, correctness simply the form that honourableness takes). These are the kinds of good that follow one another consecutively, and are the levels with man on which the Lord bases conscience, and consequently intelligence and wisdom. People however with whom these qualities do not exist, that is to say, with whom they do not proceed from the heart or affection, cannot have anything of heaven planted within them. There is no level, nor any ground, thus nothing to receive them. And as they cannot have anything of heaven planted within them, neither can the Lord be present there. The Lord may be said to be present according to the good that is present, that is, according to the nature of that good. And the nature of this good is determined by the state of innocence, love and charity in which the truths of faith have been, or are able to be, implanted.