986. And they repented not to give him glory. That this signifies that they were not willing to turn by living according to the Lord's precepts, is evident from the signification of repenting, as denoting to turn from evils and the falsities therefrom; in the present case, before the Last Judgment comes upon them, and also condemnation and punishment; and from the signification of giving glory to the Lord, as denoting to live according to His precepts (concerning which see above, n. 874).

Continuation concerning the Sixth Precept:-

[2] Because all the delights which a man has in the natural world are turned into corresponding delights in the spiritual world, so are the delights of the love of marriage and the delights of the love of adultery. The love of marriage is represented in the spiritual world as a virgin, whose beauty is such as to inspire the beholder with the delights of life; but the love of adultery is represented in the spiritual world by an old woman, whose hideousness is such as to inspire the beholder with coldness and torpor in every delight of life. This is why, in the heavens, the beauty of the angels is according to the quality of their conjugial love, and that, in the hells, the hideousness of the spirits is according to the quality of their love of adultery. In a word, with the angels of heaven, according to conjugial love, there is vitality in their faces, their bodily gestures, and in their speech; but with the spirits of hell, according to the love of adultery, there is deadliness in their faces. The delights of conjugial love in the spiritual world are sensibly represented by the fragrance of fruits and flowers of various kinds. But the delights of the love of adultery are there sensibly represented by the foul smells exhaling from dunghills and putrid substances of various kinds. The delights of the love of adultery are also actually turned into such things, because all the delights of adultery are spiritual filth. This is why the brothels in the hells exhale stenches that excite vomiting.

324. As for today's non-Christians, they are not that wise; but many of them are simple-hearted. However, in the other life they do accept wisdom from others who have lived lives of thoughtfulness together. I may offer a couple of examples.

When I read chapters 17, 18 of Judges about Micah (whose idol, household gods, and Levite were stolen by the Danites), there was one non-Christian spirit who had revered an idol during his physical life. He listened intently to what happened to Micah and was deeply pained because of the idol that the Danites stole. His distress overcame him and moved him so deeply that he scarcely knew what he was thinking because of the depth of his pain. I sensed his pain and at the same time the innocence within his particular affections. There were some Christian spirits present who were surprised that this idolater was moved by such mercy and such an affection of innocence.

Later some good spirits talked with him and told him that he should not revere idols and that he could understand this because he himself was a human being. Rather, his thought should reach beyond the idol to the God who was creator and ruler of the whole heaven and the whole earth, and who was the Lord. When he was told this, I could sense his deep feeling of reverence. It was communicated to me as something much holier than what could be found among Christians. I could gather from this that non-Christians come into heaven more readily than Christians nowadays, in keeping with the Lord's words in Luke:

Then they will come from the east and the west and the north and the south and will recline in the kingdom of God; and indeed there will be many of the last who will be first, and of the first who will be last. (Luke 13:29-30)

Because of the state he was in, that is, he could absorb all matters of faith and could accept them with a deep inner affection. There was a loving mercy about him and in his ignorance an innocence; and when these are present, all matters of faith are accepted spontaneously, so to speak, and with joy. After this, the non-Christian spirit was accepted among the angels.