123. 7. It is the unceasing effort of the Lord's divine providence to unite us to himself and himself to us in order to give us the joys of eternal life; and this can happen only to the extent that our evils and their compulsions are banished. I explained in 27-45 that it is the constant effort of the Lord's divine providence to unite us to himself and himself to us, and that this union is what we call reformation and regeneration. I explained also that this is the source of our salvation. Can anyone fail to see that union with the Lord is eternal life and salvation? Everyone can see this who believes that we were originally created in the image and likeness of God (see Genesis 1:26-27) and who knows what the image and likeness of God are.

[2] If we are truly rational and use our rationality when we think and use our freedom when we try to think, can any of us believe that there are three gods equal in essence and that the divine Being or divine Essence can be divided? As for a threefold nature in one God, that is something we can conceive and understand, just as we understand the soul and the body of an angel or a person and the life that they bring forth. Further, since this threefold nature in a single Being exists only in the Lord, it follows that any union must be a union with him.

Use your rationality and think freely, and you will see this truth in its own light. First, though, admit that the Lord, heaven, and eternal life are real.

[3] Now, since God is one and since by creation we have been made in his image and likeness, and since we have come into a love for all our evils through our hellish love, its compulsions, and their pleasures, thereby destroying the image and likeness of God within us, it follows that it is the constant effort of the Lord's divine providence to unite us with himself and himself with us and thereby to make us his images. It also follows that the Lord is doing this so that he may give us the bliss of eternal life, since this is the nature of divine love.

[4] The reason he cannot make this gift, cannot make us images of himself, unless we banish sins from our outer self in apparent autonomy is that the Lord is not just divine love but divine wisdom as well; and divine love does nothing unless it stems from divine wisdom and is in accord with it. It is in accord with divine wisdom that we cannot be united to the Lord and thus reformed, regenerated, and saved unless we are allowed to act freely and rationally. This is what makes us human. Anything that is in accord with the Lord's divine wisdom is also in accord with his divine providence.

2429. 'It is small' means from the small amount of it which he had. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'a city' as truth, dealt with immediately above. The reference to its being 'small' means a small amount of truth, here acting from the small amount he had, as is clear from what comes before and after. As regards this matter, namely that those with the affection for truth possess little truth in comparison with those with the affection for good, this becomes clear from the consideration that they see truth from a poor and obscure good residing with them.

[2] The truth present with someone is altogether as is the good with him. Where there is little good there is little truth. They are present in the same ratio and are of the same degree, or as people say, they march in step with each other. This may indeed seem a paradox but it is nevertheless the truth. Good is the actual essence of truth, and truth without its essence is not truth. Although it looks as though it were, it is no more than something that merely resounds, and is like an empty vessel.

[3] For anyone to have the truth within him he must not only know it, but also acknowledge it and have faith in it. When he does he possesses truth for the first time, for in that case it has an influence on him and remains. It is different when he merely knows the truth but does not acknowledge it and have faith in it. In that case he does not have the truth within him, as applies to many who are governed by evil. They can know of truths, sometimes better than anybody else, but they nevertheless do not possess it. Indeed their possession of it is so much the less because at heart they deny it.

[4] It is provided by the Lord that no one should possess - that is, acknowledge and believe - a greater amount of truth than of the good which he receives. This is why here it is said of the city, which means truth, that 'it is small', and again in this same verse 'is it not small?' and also in verse 22 that 'he called the name of the city Zoar', which means small in the original language. The reason for this is that the subject here is people with the affection for truth, and not so much with the affection for good.