10232. 'To make expiation for your souls' means since evils have thereby been removed. This is clear from the meaning of 'making expiation for their souls' as removing evils by means of truths, dealt with above in 10228. The reason why the expression 'making expiation for your souls' here means since evils have thereby been removed, and not in order that evils may be removed, is that such removal follows those things meant in the words that come before it. For the internal sense has no regard to the meaning of words as they hang together in the letter, only as they hang together on its own level of meaning, which is that the preservation of the Church and of all things the Church has is done by the Lord, since evils have been removed. When the Church as it exists with the person is preserved it is because evils are not a hindrance; for the Lord flows in unceasingly and constantly with His mercy, making provision for the truths and forms of good which are the Church's not only to be preserved with the person but even to multiply and grow. As long as evils reign however, the Church's truths and forms of good flowing in from the Lord are either rejected, stifled, or perverted by the person; but once the evils have been removed they are accepted and acknowledged.