9202. 'And if he surely cries out to Me' means pleading to the Lord for help. This is clear without explanation. The reason why 'crying out' is used in the Word to express pleading intensely is that the pleas, even if they are silent, of those whose pleading springs from the heart are heard in heaven as a cry. This happens when people are only thinking, and more so when they breathe a heartfelt sigh. This reality was represented in the representative Church by a crying out, which then came to be a ritual observance among the Jews. The situation is similar with teachers. If they teach from the heart they are heard in heaven as people crying out. Not only thoughts speak in heaven, but more especially affections for what is good and true. I have been led to know from experience that affections speak there, and that if they are fervent they cry out; this however is something which in the Lord's Divine mercy will be dealt with elsewhere. But affections for what is evil and false are not heard at all in heaven, even though a person may be moved by them to plead and cry out at the top of his voice, while at the same time he presses the palms of his hands tightly together, and raises them together with his eyes towards heaven. Those affections are heard in hell, and also as cries if they are fervent.