867. For they are spotless before the throne of God, signifies that in the sight of angels they are without falsities from evil. This is evident from the signification of "being spotless," as meaning to be without falsities from evil (of which presently); also from the signification of "before the throne of God," as being in the sight of angels. That "the throne of God" means heaven where the angels are may be seen above n. 253. They appear spotless in the sight of the angels of heaven because they are led by the Lord, and the Lord continually provides that nothing false shall enter their will; falsity is admitted into the thought, but no further, and is cast out therefrom; and what is cast out from the thought does not defile the man. But what is taken therefrom by his will, that defiles; for that belongs to and comes to be of his love, thus of his life, and inheres in his deeds; and this cannot be removed except by an earnest and actual repentance of the life. For the will, and the love and life with it, and also the deeds, act as one, and are meant in the Word by the "heart;" and this is why those who are led by the Lord, or who follow Him, are "spotless."

[2] It is unavoidable that man should think what is false and what is evil, both because he is born into evils of every kind and because the doctrines of the church at this day are not doctrines of life but doctrines of faith only; and the doctrine of faith separated from the life does not teach the truths by which man's life can be reformed. But those who are in the Lord are kept in the spiritual affection of truth; and those who are in that affection may indeed receive falsities, although not with full consent, and only in such a manner and to such an extent as they agree with good and its truths. Therefore when those who are in the spiritual affection of truth imbibe falsities of any kind they easily reject them when they hear truths, either in this world or in the other. Such is the spiritual affection of truth. For this reason those who are in that affection are perfected in intelligence and wisdom to eternity; and they have also the faculty of understanding truths. But those who are not in that affection refuse both to understand and to listen to truths, and therefore have no faculty of understanding them. That this is so has been made plain to me from general experience in the spiritual world.

[3] Now as the angels of heaven have no perception of anything in man except his love, and his affections, desires, and delights therefrom, and thus his ends, on account of which he thinks in a certain way and in no other, so when they perceive within him the love of truth for the sake of the uses of life, which are ends, they see no falsities from evil; and if they chance to see falsities not from evil they know that these falsities do no harm, because there is no evil in them. Falsities from evil are real falsities, which are from hell; such falsities are in themselves evils because they are forms of evil.

[4] In respect to the term "spotless," it signifies what is entire and without blemish, but in the spiritual sense it signifies to be without falsities from evil. On this account it was among the things forbidden that any of the seed of Aaron who had any blemish should come near the altar or enter within the veil (Leviticus 21:17-23); it was also forbidden to make any sacrifice, as of oxen, calves, goats, or lambs, in which there was any blemish (Leviticus 22:19-25). In both of these passages the blemishes are enumerated, by all of which falsities and evils of various kinds are signified.

4951. Beneath the heel and somewhat behind it a hell, at a great depth is situated, with the intervening space seemingly empty. The inhabitants of that hell are most malevolent, for secretly they discover people's inclinations with the intention to do harm, and secretly lie in wait so as to destroy them. This has been the delight of their life. I have watched them quite a number of times. They pour out their malevolent poison on those who are in the world of spirits, and use various tricks to arouse those there. These are interiorly malevolent ones. They appear there in what look like cloaks, or occasionally in some other clothing. Often they are punished, when they are taken down to an even greater depth where something like a cloud is spread over them, this being the sphere of malevolence that emanates from them. From that very deep place an uproar, like that of murders taking place, is sometimes heard. Those spirits are able to bring others to tears, and also to strike fear into them. They acquired this ability during their lifetime, when they attended sick or simple people whom, to gain possession of their wealth, they drove to tears, thereby moving them to pity. But if they did not obtain such people's wealth in this way, those spirits then struck fear into them. The majority of them are the kind who used these methods to plunder many houses for the benefit of monasteries. Some could also be seen only half the distance away; these seemed to themselves to be sitting in a room in consultation with one another. These too are malevolent, but not in the same degree.