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:

6028. 'To show [the way] before him to Goshen' means regarding the middle of the natural, that is to say, a communication regarding it. This is clear from the meaning of 'Goshen' as the middle, that is, the inmost part of the natural, dealt with in 5910. By the middle or inmost part of the natural is meant the best part there; for the best good exists in the middle, that is, in the centre or inmost part. Then surrounding it in every direction lie other grades of good, which follow a heavenly pattern and are positioned near to or further away from the best part in the middle in keeping with their degree of goodness. This is how different degrees of good are arranged into order with a regenerate person. But with the evil the grossest evils exist in the middle and all good is banished to the outermost parts, where it is constantly being pushed right outside. This pattern exists with evil persons in particular and in the hells in general, and is accordingly the hellish pattern. From what has now been said about the existence of the best part in the middle and other grades of good in order outside it one may see what is meant by a communication of the good of the Church with the internal celestial regarding the middle of the natural.