89. That I might be assured and fully convinced that by the pit of the abyss nothing else is meant than that dragonish faith, which is a faith hatched from the idea of three Gods, and from no idea of the Divinity of Christ's Human Nature, and which is called faith alone as justifying, regenerating, quickening, sanctifying and saving, I was allowed to look into that abyss, to speak with those who are therein, also to see the locusts which came out thence; from which personal observation I have described that pit, together with the abyss, in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED. And, because a description from personal observation may be relied on, the following passage is transcribed from that work where this description occurs ¹ .

This pit, which is like the opening of a furnace, appears in the southern quarter, and the abyss beneath it is of great extent towards the east. They have light in there, but if light from heaven is let in, darkness ensues; wherefore, the pit is closed up at the top. In the abyss appear huts roofed as if with bricks. These huts are divided into separate compartments, in each of which is a table whereon lie papers with some books. There sit those, each at his own table, who in this world had confirmed justification and salvation by faith alone, by making charity a merely natural-moral act, and its works only those of civil life, from which men may reap rewards in the world. But if men should do works for the sake of salvation, these inhabitants of the abyss condemn those works, some with vehemence, because human reason and will are in them.

All who are in this abyss were accomplished and learned men in the world, and among them are some metaphysicians and scholars who are there esteemed above the rest. But actually their lot is this: When they are first let down thither they sit down in the first chambers; but, as they confirm faith by excluding works of charity, they leave the first seats and enter rooms nearer the east, and this successively until they come towards the last, where are those who confirm these dogmas from the Word. And, because then they cannot but falsify the Word, their huts vanish and they see themselves in a desert. There is also an abyss beneath that abyss, where are those who in like manner have confirmed justification and salvation by faith alone, but who, in their spirit, have denied the existence of God, and in their heart have laughed at the holy things of the Church. There they do nothing but quarrel, tear their garments, climb upon the tables, stamp with their feet, and assail one another with abusive language; and, because they are not permitted to hurt anyone, they use threatening words and shake their fists at each other.

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