gnawings of conscience; for those who are in hell have had no conscience, and so cannot suffer torment of conThose who have had conscience are among the science. happy. 966. This is to be observed, that in the other life no one undergoes any punishment and torture on account of his hereditary evil, but only on account of actual evils which he himself has committed. 967. When the evil are punished, angels are always present who moderate the punishment and alleviate the pains of the sufferers, but cannot take them away. For there is such an equilibrium of all things in the other life that evil punishes itself, and unless it could be taken away by means of punishments, those in whom it exists could not but be kept in some hell to eternity; inasmuch as they would otherwise infest the societies of the good, and offer violence to the order instituted by the Lord, in which lies the safety of the universe. 968. Certain spirits had brought with them from the world the idea that they must not speak with the devil, but flee from him. But they were instructed that he does no harm at all to those whom the Lord protects, even if they were encompassed by all hell, within and without. This it has been given me to know by much astounding experience, so that at length I had no fear of even the worst of the infernal crew, to hinder my speaking with them; and this was granted in order that I might know them what they are. To those who wondered that I spoke with them, I was permitted to say further not only that this would do me no harm, but also that these devils in the other life are those who have been men, and who in the world passed their life in hatred, revenge, and adultery, some of them being then esteemed above others; and yet more, that some of them had been men who were known to me in the world; and that the devil means nothing else than such a crew of hell. Furthermore it was said that men while they live in the body have with them at least two spirits from hell, as well as two angels from heaven; and that these infernal spirits rule with the evil, but with the good are subjected and compelled to serve. Thus it is a false notion which some hold, that there was a devil from the beginning of creation, other than such as were once men. When they heard these things they were astonished, and confessed that they had held a totally different opinion in regard to the devil and the devil's crew. 969. In so great a kingdom, where all the souls of men from their first creation flock together, and from this earth alone near a thousand thousand every week, while all have each his own nature and genius diverse from that of others, all the ideas of every one being communicated, and all and each to be reduced to order, and this without end, it cannot but be that there are there things without number that have never come into the ideas of man. And since in regard to hell as in regard to heaven scarce any one has conceived any but a single vague idea, it must needs be that the things here described will be found strange and marvellous, especially for the reason that men think spirits have no senses, when yet they have more exquisite sense than men. And in addition, by evil spirits there is superinduced upon them, by artifices unknown in the world, a sense almost like that of the body, which is much grosser. 970. At the end of this chapter will follow a description of vastations. 222 CHAPTER IX. 1. And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air; even to everything that the ground maketh to creep, and to all the fishes of the sea, into your hands let them be given. 3. Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you; as the green herb have I given you all. 4. Only flesh with the soul thereof, the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 5. And surely your blood, of your souls, will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it; and at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, will I require the soul of man. 6. Whoso sheddeth man's blood in man, his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God made He man. 7. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. * * * 8. And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9. And I, behold, I establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10. And with every living soul that is with you, the fowl, the beast, and the wild animal of the earth with you; of all that go out of the ark, even every wild animal of the earth. 11. And I will establish My covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. 12. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living soul that is with you, for perpetual generations : 13. I have set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. 14. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud, 15. And I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living soul of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living soul of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is upon the earth. 18. And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. 19. These three were the sons of Noah; and of these was the whole earth overspread. 20. And Noah began to be a husbandman, and planted a vineyard : 21. And he drank of the wine and was drunken; and he was uncovered in the midst of his tent. 22. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. 24. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26. And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. 27. God enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. 28. And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years and he died. CONTENTS. 971. Now follows the state of the regenerate man, and first the dominion of the internal man and the compliance of the external. 972. Namely: all things of the external man are subject to the internal and will serve it- verses 1-3; but man must be particularly careful not to immerge the goods and truths of faith in lusts, nor to confirm evils and falsities by goods and truths, which are of the internal man, since this cannot but condemn him to death, and punish him verses 4, 5; and thus destroy in him the spiritual man, or the image of God- verse 6. If this is not done, then all things will prosper with him verse 7. 973. Then the state of the man after the flood is treated of, whom the Lord so formed that He could be present with him through charity, and that thus man might not again perish, as did the last posterity of the Most Ancient Church -verses 8-11. 974. Next the state of man after the flood, who is able to receive charity, is described by the bow in the cloud, which he resembles - verses 12-17; that the bow regards the man of the church, or the regenerate man verses 12, 13; every man in general- verses 14, 15; the man who can be regenerated in particular-verse 16; thus not only the man within the church, but also the man without the church - verse 17. 975. Afterward the Ancient Church in general is treated of, and then by Shem is meant inward worship, by Japheth corresponding outward worship, by Ham faith separate from charity, by Canaan outward worship separate from |