862. That 'it happened at the end of forty days' means the duration of the former state, and the beginning of the one that followed, is clear from the meaning of 'forty', see 730, where, the subject being temptation, the phrase 'forty days and forty nights' was used, which meant the duration of temptation. Here, since the subject is the state following temptation, 'forty days' is mentioned but not forty nights. The reason is that charity now starts to appear, which in the Word is compared to the day and is called the day. Faith however which precedes but has not yet been so joined to charity is compared to the night and is called the night, as in Genesis 1:16, and elsewhere in the Word. Faith is also called 'the night' in the Word because it receives its light from charity, just as the moon does from the sun. Faith is therefore also compared to the moon and is called the moon; and love or charity is compared to the sun and is called the sun. 'Forty days', or the duration of time meant by them, refers both to the things that precede and to those that follow; hence the statement 'at the end of forty days', which accordingly means both the duration of the previous state, and the beginning of the one being described now. This then begins the description of the second state following temptation of the member of this Church.

957. People who during their lifetime have developed the habit of saying one thing and thinking another, especially those who beneath a show of friendship have gazed with envy on other people's wealth, wander around and ask wherever they go whether they can stay with those persons they meet. They say they are poor, and on being welcomed they gaze enviously from innate desire on all that they see. When it is discovered what they are really like, they are fined and expelled from there. Sometimes they suffer dreadful tearings apart which vary according to the habit they have developed of deceitful pretence. Some suffer it over the whole body, others in the feet, others in the loins, others in the breast, others in the head, and others only round the region of the mouth. They are hammered this way and that, back and forth, in ways defying description. Violent crushings together of parts of the body and so wrenchings apart take place, causing them to believe that they have been torn to bits. Resistance is also added so as to intensify the pain. Such are the punishments that involve being torn apart, with many variations, to be repeated again and again at intervals until a dread and horror of deceiving by lying is ground into them. Each punishment inflicted takes something away. Those who did the tearing apart said that they took such delight in inflicting punishment that they had no wish to stop even if it meant their carrying on with it for ever.