1028. For the plague thereof was exceeding great. That this signifies the total destruction of genuine truth, is evident from the signification of the plague of the hail, as denoting the falsification of the Word, according to what was said above. Hence by the plague thereof being exceeding great is signified a more grievous falsification, which is, that the Word is falsified, even to the destruction of all genuine truth. How the Word is falsified even to the destruction of genuine truth, and heaven thereby closed against man, may be seen (n. 719, 778, 888, 914, 916, 950).
Concerning the Precepts of the Decalogue in general:-
[2] It is said by some, that he who sins against one precept of the Decalogue sins also against the rest, thus that he who is guilty of one is guilty of all. But how this agrees with the truth shall be explained. He who transgresses one precept, by assuring himself that it is not a sin, and thus commits it without fear of God, rejects the fear of God, because he is not afraid to transgress the rest of the precepts, although he may not do so in act.
[3] As, for example, whoever does not account frauds and illicit gains, which in themselves are thefts, as sins, neither regards as sins the committing of adultery with the wife of another, the hating of a man even to murder, the lying against him, the coveting his house, and other things belonging to him. For he denies that anything is a sin, when in one precept he casts out the fear of God from his heart. Hence he is in communion with those who similarly transgress the rest of the precepts. He is as an infernal spirit who is in the hell of thieves; and although he is not an adulterer, a murderer, or a false witness, yet he is in communion with such, and may be persuaded by them to believe that such things are not evils, and may also be led to commit them. For he who becomes an infernal spirit by the transgression of one precept, no longer believes it to be a sin to do anything against God, or anything against his neighbour.
[4] But the contrary is the case with those who abstain from the evil of one precept, and shun, and afterwards turn away from it, as a sin against God. Because such fear God, they come into communion with the angels of heaven, and are led by the Lord to abstain from the evils of the other precepts, and to shun them, and at length to turn away from them as sins. And if they happen to have sinned against them, still they repent, and thus by degrees are withdrawn from them.
