strained by internal bonds, which are those of conscience, and which are not accepted if he denies the Divine, still he is withheld by external bonds which are the fear of the law and its penalties, and of the loss of gain and the privation of honor and reputation. Such a man may, indeed, be restrained from evil acts by the delights of his love, and by the fear of the loss and privation of them, but he cannot be brought into spiritual goods: for so far as he is led toward these, he meditates cunning and deceit by simulating and counterfeiting deeds that are good, sincere and just, with a view to persuade others to think well of him, and thus to deceive them. This cunning adds itself to the evil of his spirit, and gives it a form and imbues it with a quality like its own.
The worst of all are they who have been in evils originating in self-love, and who at the same time acted from interior deceit,—for deceit enters more deeply than any other evil into the thoughts and intentions, and infects them with its poison, and thus destroys all of man's spiritual life.
The reason that torments in the hells are permitted by the Lord, is because evils cannot otherwise be restrained and subdued. The only means of restraining and subduing them, and of keeping the infernal crew in bonds, is the fear of punishment. There is no other means; for without the fear of punishment and torture, the evil would rush headlong into deeds
