383. (i) The wicked have no faith because evil belongs to hell and faith to heaven.

Evil belongs to hell, because that is the source of all evil; faith belongs to heaven, because every truth that makes up faith is from heaven. So long as a person lives in the world, he is held and walks midway between heaven and hell, and is there in spiritual equilibrium, which gives him free will. Hell is beneath his feet, heaven is above his head, and whatever rises from hell is evil and falsity; but whatever comes down from heaven is good and truth. A person, being midway between these two opposites, and at the same time in spiritual equilibrium, can freely choose, adopt and make his own one or other. If he chooses evil and falsity, he links himself with hell; if good and truth, he links himself with heaven. These facts not only make it plain that evil belongs to hell and faith to heaven, but also that those two cannot exist together in one subject or one person. For if they were present together, the person would be pulled apart as if he had two ropes tied round him, one pulling him upwards, the other downwards, so that he would find himself swinging in the air. He would be like a blackbird, flying now up, now down. When he flew up, he would worship God, when he flew down, the devil. Anyone can see that this is irreligious. No one can serve two masters, but must hate the one and love the other, as the Lord teaches in Matthew 6:24.

[2] There are various comparisons which can illustrate the fact that where there is evil there is no faith. For example: evil is like fire (the fire of hell is nothing but the love of evil) and consumes faith like straw, reducing it and everything connected with it to ashes. Evil dwells in thick darkness, faith in light; and evil through falsities extinguishes faith, just as thick darkness does light. Evil is black like ink, faith is white like snow, and clear like water; and evil blackens faith, as ink does snow or water. Again, evil and the truth of faith cannot be linked except as a stench can with a sweet smell, or as urine with a fine wine. They can no more be together than a foul-smelling corpse with a living person in one bed. They can no more dwell together than a wolf in a sheepfold, or a hawk in a dovecote, or a fox in a chicken-run.