3. Aquellos de la iglesia que han negado al Señor, reconociendo tan sólo al Padre, y que se han confirmado en semejante fe, están fuera del cielo, y puesto que en ellos no tiene lugar influjo alguno del cielo, donde el Señor solo es adorado, son gradualmente privados de la facultad de pensar la verdad de cualquier cosa, y acaban por quedar o bien como mudos o bien hablando necedades, con el paso vacilante, los brazos pendientes y vibrando como si les faltare fuerzas en las articulaciones. Por otra parte, aquellos que han negado la Divinidad del Señor, reconociendo tan sólo su Humanidad, como los Socinianos, están igualmente fuera del cielo; son conducidos adelante un poco hacia la derecha, y despedidos en la profundidad, siendo así enteramente separados del resto del mundo cristiano. Pero los que se dicen creer en una Divinidad invisible, a la que llaman Ente del Universo (Ens Universi) y a la que atribuyen todas las cosas, rechazando la fe en el Señor, se aperciben de que no creen en Dios alguno, porque la Divinidad invisible es para ellos lo mismo que la Naturaleza en sus rudimentos, los cuales no pueden ser objeto de fe ni de amor porque no alcanza a ellos el pensamiento. Estos son desterrados con aquellos que se llaman naturalistas. Otra cosa sucede con los que han nacido fuera de la iglesia, llamados gentiles, de quienes hablaremos más adelante.

986. That 'the fear of you and the dread of you' means the lordship of the internal man - 'fear' having regard to evils and 'dread' to falsities - becomes clear from the state of a regenerate person. A person's state prior to regeneration is one in which the evil desires and the falsities that belong to the external man predominate all the time, which gives rise to conflict. But once he has been regenerated the internal man rules over the external, that is, over his desires and falsities. When it is the internal man that rules, the person has a fear of evils and a dread of falsities, for both evils and falsities are contrary to conscience, and to act contrary to conscience is abhorrent to him.

[2] It is not however the internal man that fears evils and dreads falsities, but the external; hence the statements at this point about the fear of you and the dread of you being upon every beast of the earth and every bird of the air ¹ , that is, over all evil desires meant by 'beast' and over falsities meant by 'bird of the air'. ¹ This fear and this dread are seemingly the person's own, but the reality is this: As stated already everybody has at least two angels with him through whom he has communication with heaven, and two evil spirits through whom he has communication with hell. When the angels rule, as is so with a regenerate person, the evil spirits who are present dare not do anything contrary to what is good and true, for they are at that time held in bonds. And when they do try to do anything evil or to utter what is false - that is, to activate it - some hellish kind of fear and dread instantly overtakes them. This fear and this dread are what a person feels within himself for things that are contrary to conscience. This also is why, as soon as he does or utters anything contrary to conscience, he runs into temptation and the gnawings of conscience, that is, into a kind of hellish torment.

[3] On the point that fear has reference to evils and dread to falsities, the situation Is this: The spirits that reside with a person are less afraid of practising evil deeds than of uttering falsities, the reason being that a person is born again and receives a conscience by means of truths of faith, and consequently spirits are not allowed to activate falsities. Indeed nothing but evil is present with every one of them, so that they are immersed in evil; their whole nature, and consequently everything they attempt is evil; and since they are immersed in evil and their own life within them consists in evil, their performance of evil is ignored when they are serving some use. But they are not permitted to utter anything false, for the reason that they may learn what is true, and in so doing may be corrected, so far as possible, to perform some inferior kind of service. But more concerning these matters will in the Lord's Divine mercy be mentioned later on. It is similar with a regenerate person, for his conscience is formed from truths of faith. Consequently his conscience is a conscience for what is right. For him the very evil of life lies in falsity because falsity is the reverse of the truth of faith. But with the member of the Most Ancient Church who had perception it was different. He perceived evil of life as evil, and falsity of faith as falsity.

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