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judgeth of a king by his attendants, horses, and chariots, and not by the royal qualities which they know him to possess, and which consist in governing under the direction of love and prudence? Who does not look to the character of a conqueror more than to the pomp of his triumph, judg ing of the latter by the former, rather than of the former by the latter, thus judging of the formal by the essential, and not of the essential by the formal? Now it is will} which is the essential, and thought the formal, and no one can impute any thing to the formal, except what it deriveth from the essential; hence the latter and not the former is the subject of imputation.

661. To the above I shall subjoin the following MEMORABLE RELATIONS. FIRST. In a higher region of the northern quarter of the spiritual world bordering on the east, there are places of instruction for boys, and for young men, for men grown up, and for old men: all who die in their infancy are sent to these places, and are educated for heaven; and in like manner, all on their first arrival from the natural world, who have a desire to possess knowledges respecting heaven and hell, are sent thither also. The situation of these places is near the east, that all may be instructed by influx from the Lord, who is the east, by reason that He is in the sun there, which is pure love from Him; hence the heat from that sun is in its essence love, and the light from it is in its essence wisdom: this love and wisdom are communicated by inspiration from the Lord out of that sun, to the persons instructed, and that in proportion to their reception, which reception is in proportion to the love of growing wise in the recipient subjects. After a stated time of instruction, such as become intelligent are dismissed, and are called disciples of the Lord; first they are sent to the west, but they who do not continue there, are sent to the south, and some through the southern quarter to the

east, and are introduced to societies, where they are to have their mansions assigned them. On a time, as I was meditating about heaven and hell, I felt desirous to attain the universal knowledge of the state of each, well aware that whosoever is acquainted with universals, may afterwards comprehend singulars, since the latter are contained in the former, just as parts are in a whole. With this desire I directed my course towards that region in the northern quartern bordering on the east, where the places of instruction were situated, and through a way at that instant opened to me, I proceeded thither, and entered into one of the colleges where the young men were assembled: straitway I addressed myself to the head masters, who gave instruction, and asked them, whether they were acquainted with the universals of heaven and hell? They replied, that they did know them in some small degree, "but if we look," said they, "towards the east to the Lord, we receive illustration, and with illustration, knowledge." They did so, and then said, "The universals of hell are three, but these are diametrically opposite to the universals of heaven; the universals of hell consist in these three loves: the love of rule, originating in the love of self; the love of possessing the property of others, originating in the love of the world; and scortatory love. The opposite universals of heaven are these three loves: the love of rule originating in the love of uses; the love of possessing worldly emoluments originating in the love of performing uses by them; and true conjugial love." Hereupon, after expressing my good wishes towards them, I took my leave and returned home. On my arrival, a voice from heaven said to me, "Examine those three universals above and beneath, and afterwards we shall see them in thy hand." The reason of saying, "We shall see them in thy hand," was, because whatever is the subject of a man's intellectual examination appears to the angels as if inscribed on his hands; it is on this account said in the

Revelation, that they received a mark in the forehead and on the hand, chap. xiii. 16, chap. xiv. 9, chap. xx. 4.

After this I examined the first universal love prevalent in hell, namely, the love of rule originating in the love of self; and next the universal love prevalent in heaven corresponding to it, namely the love of rule originating in the love of uses; for the examination of the one could not be carried on without the other, the understanding having no distinct perception of either love without the other, because they are opposites, hence to attain such perception, it is expedient that they be placed in opposition; for a beautiful and handsome face is set off by being contrasted with an ugly and deformed one. In considering the love of rule originating in the love of self, it was granted me to perceive, that such love is in its nature supremely infernal, and hence prevalent with those who are in the deepest hell; and that the love of rule originating in the love of uses is supremely celestial, and consequently prevalent with those who are in the highest heaven. The reason why the love of rule originating in the love of self is supremely infernal, is, because to rule from the love of self is to rule from proprium or self-hood, and the self-hood of man is from his birth evil itself, and evil itself is diametrically opposed to the Lord; wherefore they who are influenced by such evil, the further they advance in it, the more do they deny the being of a God, and the holy principles of the church, and worship themselves and nature: let them but search out and examine this evil in themselves, and they will see this to be the truth. Moreover, this love is of such a nature, that in proportion as the reins are given it, as is the case when not obstructed by impossibility, it rushes on impetuously from one step to another until it reaches the highest, nor does it rest even there, but is sad and laments, that it can mount no higher. Among statesmen this love continues to ascend, so that at length they wish to be kings and emperors, and if possible

to have dominion over all the world, and to be styled kings of kings, and emperors of emperors; whereas the same love, with the clergy, goes on advancing till they desire to be gods, and, as far as possible, to bear rule over the whole heaven, and to be styled gods. That neither the former nor the latter in their hearts acknowledge any God, will be seen presently. They, on the other hand, who are desirous to rule from the love of uses, are not desirous of exercising it from themselves, but from the Lord, for this love proceeds from the Lord, and is the Lord. Such therefore regard dignities in no other light than as means for the promotion of uses, placing uses far before dignities, whereas the former place dignities far before uses.

As I was meditating on these things, an angel said to me from the Lord, "Thou shalt now in an instant see and be convinced, by ocular demonstration, what is the nature of that infernal love:"-and lo! suddenly the ground opened to the left, and I saw a devil ascending out of hell, who had on his head a square cap drawn down over his forehead even to his eyes; his face was covered with pimples, such as accompany a burning fever; his eyes had a ferocious look; his breast swelled out into a great prominence; from his mouth he belched forth fire like a furnace; his loins seemed on fire; in place of feet he had bony ankles without flesh; and from his body there exhaled a foul and stinking heat. I was terrified at the sight of him, and cried out, “Approach no further; tell me whence thou art ?" He replied in a hoarse tone of voice, "I am from below, and there live in a society of two hundred, which is the most supereminent of all societies: there we are all emperors of emperors, kings of kings, dukes of dukes, and princes of princes; no one is barely an emperor, nor barely a king, duke, or prince; we are seated there on thrones of thrones, and thence dispatch our mandates over the whole world, and beyond it." Then I said to him, "Dost thou not see that thou art in a state of

insanity, arising from the phantasy of super-eminence?" He replied, "How canst thou talk in this manner, when we absolutely seem to ourselves, and are also acknowledged by each other, to have such distinction?" On hearing this, I was unwilling to repeat my charge of insanity, as he was insane from the phantasy which possessed him; and it was given me to know that this devil, during his abode on earth, had only been a steward in some family, but that even then he was so far puffed up in spirit, as to despise all mankind when compared with himself, and to indulge his imagination in supposing that he was more worthy of honour than any king or emperor; in consequence of which proud conceit he had denied the being of a God, and had considered all the holy things of the church as of no concern to himself, but intended only for the stupid multitude. At length I asked him, "How long dost thou, with thy two hundred companions, thus glory and boast one amongst another?" "For ever," he replied; "but such of us as torture others for not giving us the pre-eminence we expect, sink under ground; for we are allowed to glory and boast, but not to hurt another." I asked again, "Dost thou know what befals those who sink under ground?" He said, "They sink down into a certain prison, where they are called viler than the vile, or most vile, and there they are set to work." "Then I said to him, "Take thou heed, lest thou too shouldst sink down."

After this the ground opened again, but towards the right, and I saw another devil rising up, who had on his head a kind of mitre composed of spiral folds as of a snake coiled up, whose head came out at the top; his face was leprous from the forehead to the chin, and so were both his hands; his loins were naked and black as soot, through which might be discerned the fire as of a dusky furnace, and his ankles were like two vipers. The former devil on seeing him, immediately kneeled down and worshipped him. I asked, "Why dost thou so?" "He is the god of heaven and earth,”

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