522. Every evil if not removed remains with a person; and if a person remains in his evils he cannot be saved. This is self-evident. What I have said before makes it obvious that no evil can be removed, except by the Lord working on those who believe in Him and love the neighbour. See especially the sections in the chapter on faith showing that the Lord, charity and faith make one, just as life, will and understanding do, and if they are separated, each of them is destroyed like a pearl collapsing into dust [362-367]. Also the section showing that the Lord is charity and faith in a person, and a person is charity and faith in the Lord [368-372]. But the question may be asked: how can a person enter into that union? The answer is that he cannot, unless he removes his evils, at least partially, by repentance. We say that the person should remove them, because the Lord does not bring this about directly without co-operation on the person's part. This too was fully demonstrated in the same chapter, and in the following one on free will.
