9336. 'Little by little I will drive them out from before you' means a removal effected gradually according to order. This is clear from the meaning of 'little by little' as gradually, thus slowly; and from the meaning of 'driving out' - when it has reference to falsities and evils, meant by the nations of the land of Canaan - as a removal, dealt with just above in 9333. The words 'gradually according to order' are used because everything with a person who is being regenerated is rearranged in accordance with heavenly order. For a person who has been regenerated is a miniature heaven, 9276, and therefore also within that person order exists akin to that which obtains in heaven.

[2] When a person is born he is, so far as his hereditary evils are concerned, a miniature hell. He also becomes an embodiment of hell to the extent that he draws on hereditary evils and adds his own to them. This being so, the order of a person's life which exists by reason of what he receives at birth, and by reason of his own acts in life, is the opposite of heavenly order. For what is a person's own leads him to love self more than the Lord and to love the world more than heaven, whereas the life of heaven consists in loving the Lord above all things and the neighbour as oneself. From this it is evident that the first life, which is that of hell, must be completely destroyed, that is, evils and falsities must be removed, in order that the new life, which is that of heaven, may be implanted, see 4551, 4552, 4839, 6068. This cannot possibly be done hurriedly, for every deep-rooted evil, together with its falsities, is interconnected with all other evils and their falsities. Such evils and falsities are countless, and their interconnection is so complex that it cannot be comprehended, not even by angels, only by the Lord. From this it is evident that the life of hell with a person cannot be destroyed suddenly; for if it were destroyed suddenly the person too would perish. Nor can the life of heaven be implanted suddenly, for if this were implanted suddenly the person would again perish.

[3] There are thousands and thousands of hidden ways, scarcely a single one of which is known to mankind, by which the Lord leads a person from the life of hell to the life of heaven. I have been informed from heaven that this is so, and it has also been corroborated for me by many things that I have been made aware of. Since mankind knows scarcely anything at all about these things many have fallen into errors concerning human deliverance from evils and falsities, which is the forgiveness of sins. They think that the life of hell with a person can be changed to the life of heaven with him in an instant, by mercy. But in actual fact mercy lies in the whole act of regeneration; and none undergo regeneration apart from those who receive the Lord's mercy in faith and life while they are in the world, in keeping with the Lord's words in John,

As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name, who were born, not of blood ¹ , nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man (vir), but of God. John 1:12-13.

What 'blood', 'the will of the flesh', and 'the will of man', also 'born of God' mean, see 5826.

[4] The proper way to understand 'a removal from evils and falsities, effected gradually according to order' must also be stated briefly. Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord's Divine Good arranges all things into order in heaven; consequently this Divine Truth, holding good from the Lord within it, is order itself, see 1728, 1919, 2247, 2258, 5703, 6338, 8700, 8988. In accordance with that order all things there come into being, and in accordance with that same order they remain in being; for remaining in being is a constant coming into being. Therefore to enable heaven to come into being in a person, it is necessary for him to receive Divine Truth in the good he has from the Lord. This can be brought into effect only gradually, according to the order similar to that which governs the way the Lord arranges heaven; for if the essential nature of the thing is the same, then the situation on the smaller scale is the same as on the larger scale. This arranging step-by-step is what should be understood here by order brought into effect gradually. From all this it is also evident that the new creation of a person, which is his regeneration, resembles the creation of heaven and earth. For this reason also in the Word a new heaven and a new earth is used to mean a new Church, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end), 4535; and the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis serves to mean the new creation of a celestial Church, called Man, dealt with in the explanations of that chapter.

Footnotes:

2449. That 'He overthrew those cities' means that all truths were separated from them so that they might possess falsities alone is clear from the meaning of 'cities' as matters of doctrine, and so as truths, for truths make up matters of doctrine, dealt with in 402, 2268, 2428. These are said to be 'overthrown' when falsities stand in place of truths, here when all truths have been separated from them, as well as all goods - goods too being dealt with in this verse, since the subject is the final state of those inside the Church who are governed by falsities and evils.

[2] This also is what their state comes to be, which, so that the nature of it may be known, must be described briefly. All who enter the next life are taken back to a life similar to that which they were leading during their lifetime., Then in the case of the good evils and falsities are separated so that the Lord may raise these people up by means of goods and truths into heaven; but in the case of the evil goods and truths are separated so that those evil ones may be carried away by means of evils and falsities into hell, see 2119, in exact accord with the Lord's words in Matthew,

To him who has, it will be given, so that he may have more abundantly; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Matthew 13:12.

And elsewhere in the gospel,

To everyone who has, it will be given, so that he may have in abundance; but from him who has not, it will be taken away. Matthew 25:29; Luke 8:18; 19:24-26; Mark 4:24-25.

The same is meant by the following words which appear in Matthew,

Let both grow together until the harvest; and at the time of harvest I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. The harvest is the close of the age. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. Matthew 13:30, 39-40.

The same point is made in the description of the net thrown into the sea gathering fish of various kinds, and how after that the good were sorted into vessels while the bad were thrown away; and this is how it will be at the close of the age, Matthew 13:47-50. What 'the close' is and that for the Church it entails events like these, see 1857, 2243.

[3] The reason why evils and falsities are separated in the case of people who are good is that the latter may not be left suspended between evils and goods and so that they may be raised up by means of goods into heaven. And the reason why goods and truths are separated in the case of the evil is so that they do not lead the upright astray by means of any goods present with them, and so that by means of their evils they may withdraw to the evil in hell. For in the next life such is the communication of all ideas comprising thought, and of all affections, that goods are communicated with the good, and evils with the evil, 1388-1390. Consequently unless separation took place countless harmful things would result, in addition to the fact that association together would not otherwise be possible. Yet all things are associated together in a very wonderful way, in heaven according to all the variations of love to the Lord and of mutual love, and consequently of faith, 685, 1394, and in hell according to all the variations of evil desires and of delusions resulting from these, 695, 1322. It should be recognized however that separation does not mean complete removal, for nothing anybody has once possessed is totally removed from him.