1022. To give unto her the cup of the wrath of his anger. That this signifies its devastation by the dire falsities of evil, is evident from the signification of a cup, as denoting falsity from hell, which is the falsity of evil (concerning which see n. 960); and as it appears as if God were angry and wrathful on account thereof, it is called the cup of the wrath of the anger of God, wrath on account of falsity, and anger on account of evil. Therefore by giving her that cup is signified to devastate; for the falsity of evil from hell devastates all the good and truth of the church. That the church meant by Babylon is thus devastated will be seen in the two following chapters.

Concerning the Tenth Precept, "Thou shalt not covet (or desire) thy neighbour's wife, his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his ass."

[2] These lusts extend to what are man's own, since the wife, the man-servant, the maid-servant, the ox, and the ass are in his house. And by those things in a man's house, in the spiritual internal sense, are meant what are his own; that is to say, by the wife is meant the affection of spiritual truth and good; by the man-servant and maid-servant, the affection of rational truth and good serving the spiritual, and by the ox and the ass, the affection of natural good and truth. These affections are signified by such things in the Word. But whereas to covet and desire those affections is to will and to covet the subjection of the man to one's own power and authority, therefore it follows, that by the lusts of those things are meant those of the love of self, that is, of the love of ruling; for thereby a man makes the things belonging to his neighbour his own.

[3] From those things it is evident that the lust of the ninth precept is that of the love of the world; and that the lusts of this precept are those of the love of self. For, as said before, all lusts pertain to love; for it is the love which covets. And as there are two evil loves to which all lusts have reference, namely, the love of the world and the love of self, it follows that the lust of the ninth precept has reference to the love of the world, and that the lusts of this precept have reference to the love of self, particularly to the love of ruling.

That from these two loves all evils and the falsities therefrom take their rise may be seen above (n. 159, 171, 394, 506, 517, 650, 950, 951, 973, 982, 1010, 1016); and in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 65-83).

551. ALL WHO ARE IN THE HELLS ARE IN EVILS AND IN FALSITIES THEREFROM DERIVED FROM THE LOVES OF SELF AND OF THE WORLD.

All who are in the hells are in evils and in falsities therefrom, and no one there is in evils and at the same time in truths. In the world evil men for the most part have some knowledge of spiritual truths, which are the truths of the church, having been taught them from childhood and later by preaching and by reading the Word; and afterwards they have talked about them. Some have even led others to believe that they are Christians at heart because of their knowing how to talk with pretended affection in harmony with the truth, also how to act uprightly as if from spiritual faith. But those of this class whose interior thoughts have been hostile to these truths, and who have refrained from doing the evils that were in harmony with their thoughts only because of the civil laws, or with a view to reputation, honors, and gain, are all of them evil in heart, and are in truths and goods not in respect to their spirit but only in respect to their body; and consequently, when their externals are taken away from them in the other life, and their internals which pertain to their spirit are revealed, they are wholly in evils and falsities, and not at all in truths and goods; and it is thus made clear that truths and goods resided only in their memory merely as things known about, and that they brought them forth therefrom when talking, putting on a semblance of good seemingly from spiritual love and faith. When such are let into their internals and thus into their evils they are no longer able to speak what is true, but only what is false; since they speak from evils; for to speak what is true from evils is then impossible, since the spirit is nothing but his own evil, and from evil what is false goes forth. Every evil spirit is reduced to this state before he is cast into hell (see above, 499-512). This is called being vastated in respect to truths and goods. ¹ Vastation is simply being let into one's internals, that is, into what is the spirit's own, or into the spirit itself (see above, 425).

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