6677. And if it be a daughter, then she shall live. That this signifies that they should not do so if it is good, is evident from the signification of “daughter,” as being good (see n. 489-491, 2362); and from the signification of “living,” as being not to be destroyed. The reason why the king of Egypt said that a son should be slain, but not a daughter, is plain from the internal sense, which is that they would attempt to destroy truth, but not good; for when the infernals infest, they are allowed to attack truths, but not goods. The reason is that truths are what can be assaulted, but not goods, these being protected by the Lord; and when the infernals attempt to attack goods, they are cast down deep into hell, for they cannot withstand the presence of good, because in all good the Lord is present. Hence it is that the angels, being in good, have such power over infernal spirits that one angel can master thousands of them. Be it known that there is life in good, for good is of love, and love is the life of man. If evil, which is of the love of self and of the world, and which appears good to those who are in these loves, assaults the good which is of heavenly love, the life of the one fights against the life of the other; and as the life from the good of heavenly love is from the Divine, therefore if the life from the love of self and of the world comes into collision with the former life, it begins to be extinguished, for it is suffocated. Thus they are tortured like those who are in the death agony, and therefore they cast themselves headlong into hell, where they again recover their life (n. 3938, 4225, 4226, 5057, 5058). This also is the reason why good cannot be assaulted by evil genii and spirits; and thus that they dare not destroy good. It is otherwise with truth, which has not life in itself; but from good, that is, through good from the Lord.

4225. At the outset it must be stated who are within the Grand Man, and who are out of it. All those are within the Grand Man who are in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, and who do good to the neighbor from the heart according to the good that is in him, and who have a conscience of what is just and equitable; for these are in the Lord, and consequently in heaven. But all those are outside the Grand Man who are in the love of self and the love of the world and the derivative concupiscences, and who do what is good solely on account of the laws, and for the sake of their own honor and the world’s wealth and the consequent reputation, and who thus are interiorly unmerciful and in hatred and revenge against the neighbor for their own and the world’s sake, and are delighted with the neighbor’s injury when he does not favor them for these are in hell. These do not correspond to any organs and members in the body, but to various corruptions and diseases induced in them; concerning which also of the Lord’s Divine mercy, I shall speak from experience in the following pages.

[2] They who are out of the Grand Man (that is, out of heaven), cannot enter into it, for their lives are contrary to it. Nay, if in any way they do enter, which is sometimes done by such as have learned in the life of the body to counterfeit angels of light; nevertheless on arriving there, as is sometimes permitted in order that they may learn their own character, they are admitted only to the first entrance, that is, to those who are as yet simple-minded, and who have not as yet been fully instructed. And even there those who enter as angels of light are scarcely able to tarry a few moments, because the life there is that of love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor; and as there is nothing there which corresponds to their life, they are hardly able to breathe. (That spirits and angels breathe, may be seen above, n. 3884-3893.) Consequently they begin to be distressed, for respiration takes place in accordance with freedom of life; and wonderful to say they are finally scarcely able to move, but become like those who are in, anguish and torment taking possession of their interiors, and they therefore cast themselves down headlong, even into hell, where they recover their respiration and power of motion. Hence it is that in the Word life is represented by mobility.

[3] But they who are in the Grand Man breathe freely when they are in the good of love; but nevertheless they are distinguished according to the quality and the amount of the good. Hence there are so many heavens, which in the Word are called “mansions” (John 14:2). And everyone when in his own heaven is in his life, and receives influx from the universal heaven, each person there being a center of all the influxes, and therefore in the most perfect equilibrium; and this according to the amazing form of heaven, which is from the Lord alone; thus with all variety.

5057. A large mortar was seen, and standing by it a man with an iron instrument, who from phantasy seemed to himself to pound men in that vessel, torturing them in direful ways. This he did with great delight, which was communicated to me, that I might know the quality and intensity of it in those who are of this nature. It was an infernal delight. I was told by angels that such was the ruling delight with the posterity of Jacob; and that they perceived nothing more delightful than to treat the nations with cruelty, to expose them when slain to be devoured by wild beasts and birds, to cut them alive with saws and axes, to make them pass through the brick-kiln (2 Samuel 12:31), and to dash their little children together and throw them away. Such things were never commanded, nor were they ever permitted except to those the nerve of whose thigh was out of joint (n. 5051). Such spirits dwell under the right heel, where are adulterers who are also cruel.

[2] It is therefore surprising that anyone should ever have believed that that nation was chosen more than others; and from this also many confirm themselves in the idea that the life effects nothing, but that election, and hence reception into heaven, is of mere mercy, whatever the life may have been; when yet everyone from sound reason may see that to think in this way is contrary to the Divine, for the Divine is mercy itself, and therefore if heaven were of mere mercy without regard to the life, everybody would be received. To thrust down anyone into hell to be tormented there, when it would be possible to receive him into heaven, would be unmercifulness and not mercy; and to elect one in preference to another would be injustice, and not justice.

[3] Wherefore they who have believed and have confirmed themselves in the idea that some are elected, and the rest not, and that admission into heaven is of mere mercy, without regard to the life, are told (as I have several times heard and seen) that heaven is never denied by the Lord to anyone, and that if they desire they may know this from experience. For this purpose they are taken up into some society of heaven where are those who have lived in the affection of good, or in charity; but being evil, as soon as they come there they begin to be tormented and to be inwardly tortured, because their life is contrary; and when the heavenly light appears, they appear in it like devils, almost devoid of human form, some with the face sunken, some like grates of teeth, and some monstrous in other ways. Thus they abhor themselves, and cast themselves down headlong into hell, and for them the deeper the better.