1098. And is become a habitation of demons.- That this signifies where there are dire falsities from the profaned truths and goods of the church, is evident from the signification of habitation, as denoting where after the Last Judgment, those are who are meant by Babylon as a harlot; and from the signification of demons, as denoting those who are in dire falsities from truths and goods profaned (concerning this see n. 586, 1001). The hell of these is described here as a habitation of demons, a hold of every unclean spirit, and of every unclean and hateful bird. That their hell is of such description, is evident from the exhalations which arise therefrom, which are the profaned truths and goods of heaven and the church; for they are in holy externals as to speech, face, and gesture, which they direct heavenwards, while in soul and heart, they have regard for no God, but for themselves as gods of the earth, and thus they are at one with those who are in hell. They profane holy things, because their interiors, which pertain to the soul and heart, flow into the exteriors, which simulate an appearance of sanctity. Such persons are here meant by demons.
[2] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed.- The thought, alone, that God exists, and that the Lord is the God of heaven, opens heaven indeed, and shows man as present there, yet to so slight a degree, that he is scarcely discernible, appearing afar off as though in the shade. But in the proportion that his thought concerning God, becomes truer, juster, and more complete, in the same proportion he appears in light. Thought becomes more complete by the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth, which pertain to faith, and of the good, which pertains to love, drawn from the Word; for all those things that are from the Word are Divine, and Divine things taken together are God. A man who thinks merely that God exists, but has no idea of His quality, is like one who has an idea of the existence of the Word, and of its holiness, and yet knows nothing of its contents; or believes in the existence of the law, and knows nothing of what is contained in the law. But yet the thought in regard to God's nature, is so vast, that it fills heaven, and constitutes all the wisdom in which the angels are, which is ineffable, for in itself it is infinite, because God is infinite. The thought from his nature that God exists is what is meant in the Word by the name of God.
