4574. About the hells of the inwardly deceitful and outwardly good

The Tongue

There are those who had outwardly appeared good, gentle, and dutiful in the world, but whose pleasure, which they had concealed within, had been inflicting harm on the neighbor in every possible way. Such people, like (Losche Bryggaren emot mig boende) ¹ , are not recognized by others. In the other life they also hold themselves aloft for a long time because outwardly they had been gentle and good. They did this among the simple that do not go into higher matters. Those outwardly good elevate themselves by the path toward the right where those are who were of the same nature. But they want others, especially those who are of such a nature, to harm other people. They sit there on the right at the side and are delighted by such things.

Spirits of this kind, let into a hell there, were engulfed by a cloud, some cast headlong into it, and this again and again, always followed by others. They are wicked demons. Those elevated by the former ones are of that nature. When thinking about matters of faith, because they had thought and believed something such, they force others, on whom they are acting, to put their tongue between their teeth, so that they will bite it and cut it off. It has been granted me to experience their attempt [to do] this many, many times so that I would know what they are like. They would have been happy if they had been able to utterly destroy me, for without a tongue I would be deprived of the ability to eat and also to speak, thus to associate with people. This is why their greatest passion is the passion for such things, and why their enjoyment increases in proportion to the magnitude of the harm. For two days now I have seen many thousands swallowed down into their new hell.

Poznámky pod čarou:

10210. 'With the blood of the sin [offering] of expiations' means by means of truths which spring from the good of innocence. This is clear from the meaning of 'the blood' as Divine Truth, dealt with in 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7846, 7850, 9127, 9393, 10026, 10033, 10047; and from the meaning of 'the sin [offering] of expiations', or the sin sacrifice by means of which expiation was made, as purification from evils and consequent falsities.

'Sin' is used to mean a sacrifice for sin, see 10039.

'Expiation' means purification from evils and consequent falsities, 9506.

The reason why this purification is accomplished by means of truths which spring from the good of innocence is that the blood with which the expiation was accomplished came from a young bull or from a lamb, and 'a young bull' means the good of innocence in the external man, 9391, 9990, 10132, 'a lamb' the good of innocence in the internal man, 10132; and innocence must be present if truth and good are to be received, 3111, 3994, 4797, 6013, 6765, 7836(end), 7840, 9262, 10134, as well as the places referred to in 10021. The good of innocence consists in acknowledging that all truths and forms of good come from the Lord and none at all from the human self or proprium; thus it consists in wishing to be led by the Lord and not by self. From this it is evident that the more a person trusts and believes in himself, thus the more he is ruled by self-love, the less the good of innocence is present in him. This is why a person cannot be purified from evils unless the good of innocence is present in him. For if this good is not present that person is led not by the Lord but by self; and anyone who is led by self is led by hell, since the human proprium is nothing but evil, and all evil belongs to hell. The fact that every expiation was accomplished with the blood either of a young bull, or of a lamb, or of turtle doves, that is, young pigeons, is clear in Moses, in Exodus 29:36; Leviticus 4:1-7, 13-18, 27-end; 5:1-7; 15:14, 24, 28-31; Numbers 6:9-11. 'Turtle doves' and 'young pigeons' as well mean the good of innocence.