2107. When he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That this signifies when He utterly expelled the evils of His external man, is evident from the signification of “being circumcised,” as being to be purified from the loves of self and of the world, or what is the same, from evils; for all evils come from these loves (see above, n. 2039, 2041, 2053, 2057); and that the Lord expelled the evils by His own power, and thereby made His Human Essence Divine, has been abundantly shown in Part First, and now just above (n. 2025).

694. As heaven from the Lord, through mutual love, constitutes as it were one man, and one soul, and thus has regard to one end, which is the conservation and salvation of all to eternity, so, on the other hand, hell, from man’s Own, through the love of self and of the world, that is, through hatred, constitutes one devil and one mind [animus], and thus also has regard to one end, which is the destruction and damnation of all to eternity. That such is their endeavor has been perceived thousands and thousands of times, so that unless the Lord preserved all every instant, they would perish.