things purifies man at all unless he examines himself, sees his sins,
acknowledges them, condemns himself on account of them, and repents by
desisting from them, and does all this as of himself, yet with the
acknowledgment in heart that he does so from the Lord.

[2] Until this is done, the things mentioned above do not avail, being
either self-righteous or hypocritical. Such persons appear to the angels
in heaven either like pretty courtesans smelling badly of their
corruption, or like unsightly women painted to appear handsome, or like
masked clowns and mimics in the theater, or like apes in men's clothes.
But when evils have been removed, then all that has just been mentioned
becomes the expression of love in such persons, and they appear as
beautiful human beings to the sight of the angels in heaven and as
partners and companions of theirs.

122. But it should be rightly known that in repenting a man ought to look
to the Lord alone. He cannot be purified if he looks to God the Father
alone, or to the Father for the sake of the Son, or to the Son as a man
only. For there is one God and the Lord is He, for His Divine and Human
is one Person, as we have shown in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about
the Lord._ In order that the intending penitent may look to Him alone,
the Lord instituted the Holy Supper, which confirms the remission of sins
in those who repent, and does so because everyone is kept looking to the
Lord alone in it.

123. (vii) _The perpetual effort of the Lord in His divine providence is
to conjoin man with Himself and Himself with man, in order to be able to
bestow the felicities of eternal life on him, which can be done only so
far as evils with their lusts have been removed._ It was shown above
(nn. 27-45) that it is the unceasing effort of the Lord in His divine