but these governors dare not go beyond the limits prescribed to them. It is to be observed that the fear of punishment is the only means of restraining the violence and fury of those in the hells. There is no other." (Heaven and Hell, n. 543.)
Who cannot see that this is the very best kind of government for those in hell—the only kind, indeed, that is suited to their state and needs? We see that punishment there has a beneficent design and a beneficent tendency. It is not directly from the Lord, though it results from the unfailing operation of laws that He has established.
"Wherefore," says Swedenborg, "when evil is done from an evil heart, then, because it casts away from itself all protection from the Lord, infernal spirits rush upon him who does the evil, and punish him. This may be illustrated in some measure by crimes and their punishments in the world, where also they are linked together; for the laws prescribe some punishment for every crime, so that whoever rushes into crime, rushes also into the punishment thereof. The only difference is, that in the world crime may be concealed; but in the other life concealment is impossible. From these considerations it may be seen that the Lord does evil to no one; and that the case herein is similar to what we find in the world, where not the king, nor the judge, nor the law, is the cause of punishment to the guilty, since neither of them is the cause of the crime committed by the evildoer." (Ibid, n. 550.)
