[5] Should someone say, "I was born a Christian, have been baptized, have known the Lord, read the Word, observed the Sacrament of the Supper," what does this amount to when he does not count as sins murder, or the revenge breathing it, adultery, stealing, false witness, or lying, and different sorts of violence? Does such a person think of God or of eternal life? Does he think they exist? Does sound reason not dictate that such a man cannot be saved? This has been said of a Christian, for a Gentile in his life gives more thought to God from religion than a Christian does. But more is to be said on these points in what follows in this order: i. The goal of creation is a heaven from mankind. ii. Of divine providence, therefore, every man can be saved, and those are saved who acknowledge God and live rightly. iii. Man himself is in fault if he is not saved. iv. Thus all are predestined to heaven, and no one to hell. 323. (i) _The goal of creation is a heaven from mankind._ It has been shown above and in the work, _Heaven and Hell_ (London, 1758), that heaven consists solely of those who have been born as human beings. Since heaven consists of no others, it follows that the purpose of creation is a heaven from mankind. This has been shown above (nn. 27-45), it is true, but will be seen more clearly still with explanation of the following: 1. Everyone is created to live forever. 2. Everyone is created to live forever in a blessed state. 3. Thus every person has been created to enter heaven. 4. The divine love cannot but will this, and the divine wisdom cannot but provide it. 324. One can see from these points that divine providence is none other than predestination to heaven and cannot be altered into anything else. We must now demonstrate, therefore, in the order proposed, that the goal of creation is a heaven from the human race. First: _Everyone has been created to live to eternity._ In the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom,_ Parts III and V, it was shown that there are three degrees of life in man, called natural, spiritual and celestial, that they are actually in everyone, and that in animals there is only one degree of life, which is like the lowest degree in man, called the natural. The result is that by the elevation of his life to the Lord man is in such a state above that of animals that he can comprehend what is of divine wisdom, and will what is of divine love, in other words, receive what is divine; and he who can receive what is divine, so as to see and perceive it within him, cannot but be united with the Lord and by the union live to eternity.