9731. 'And the net shall reach down to the middle of the altar' means the extent of the sensory perception. This is clear from the meaning of 'the net' as the level of sensory perception, dealt with above in 9726, the extent of it being meant by the requirement that it should reach down to the middle of the altar. It is not possible to supply an intelligible description of the arcanum implied by the words 'the extent of sensory perception' unless it is known that this kind of perception meant by 'a grating, a network' extends from a person's head down to the loins and comes to an end there. This extension is what the extension of the net down to the middle of the altar served to represent; for representatives on the natural level resemble the human form and have the same meaning as the parts of it they resemble, 9496. From the loins down however there is with a person a continuation of the kind of sensory perception that lies next within, and this continuation of that perception was represented by the general overlaying or covering round the altar with bronze, dealt with above in 9722.

7188. 'For with a strong hand he will send them away' means that with all their strength and power they will flee from them. This is clear from the meaning of 'a strong hand' as all the strength and power (for the meaning of 'hand' as power, see 878, 3387, 4931, 5327, 5318, 6947, 7011); and from the meaning of 'sending them away' as fleeing from them. The implications of this are that when punishments deter those belonging to hell from carrying out evil they at length refrain from molestation; they wish to leave those they have been molesting and to flee. Yet because the one and only delight of their life consists in carrying out what is evil and molesting they are unable to refrain unless they summon up all their strength and power to remove themselves. For since that which is the delight of any person's life is at the centre of his love it is at the centre of his life, and he is carried away; it is irresistible unless the unpleasantness of punishment weighs more heavily with him than the delight of carrying out evil. This is the reason for the punishments that the evil suffer in the next life.