works, appears from the epistle of James, chap. ii. 17, 20. Moreover, faith is dead in all those who do not believe on God, but on living and dead men, and worship idols as if they were holy in themselves, after the practise of the old gentiles. The donations of those persons who are influenced by such faith, which they bestow, with a view to salvation, on miraculous images, as they call them, and which they reckon amongst works of charity, are nothing else but like gold and silver thrown into the urns and monuments of the dead; nay, they are like the flesh given to Cerberus, and the fee to Charon, to obtain a passage to the Elysian fields*. But the charity of such persons as believe there is no God, and adopt nature instead of God, is not spurious, nor hypocritical, nor dead, but NONE; because being not joined to any faith it cannot be called charity, whose quality is dependent solely on faith. The charity of such, when viewed from heaven, is like bread made of ashes, or like a cake made of fish-scales, or like fruits made of wax. XVII. THAT FRIENDSHIP OF LOVE AMONGST THE WICKED, IS INTESTINE HATRED TOWARDS EACH

OTHER.

454. It was shewn above, that every man hath an internal and an external, and that his internal is called the internal man, and his external the external man; to this may be added, that the internal man is in the spiritual world, and the external in the natural world; and the reason of man's being so created is, that he may be capable of being asso

* Alluding to a piece of mythology current amongst the ancient heathens, that before the souls of the dead could be conveyed to their state of blessedness, signified by the Elysian fields, it was expedient that they should bribe Cerberus, a dog with three heads, who was feigned to guard the entrance to those fields, and likewise fee Charon, an old man, supposed to be a ferry-man, and to convey the dead over the river Styx, which was said to separate between this world and another.

ciated with spirits and angels in their world, and in consequence of thinking analytically, and of being translated from his own world to another after death. By the spiritual world both heaven and hell are meant*. Since then the internal man is with spirits and angels in their world, and the external with men, it is plain that he may be joined in society with spirits of hell, and also with angels of heaven: by this faculty and power, man is distinguished from beasts. The nature and quality of every man in himself depends on the nature and quality of his internal man, but not on the nature and quality of his external, because the internal man is his spirit, which acteth by the external. The material body, with which his spirit is clothed in the natural world, is an accessory covering for the sake of continuing his species, and for the sake of the formation of the internal man ; for the internal man is formed in the natural body, as a tree is formed in the ground, and the seed in the fruit. Further particulars on the subject of the internal and external man, may be seen above, n. 401.

455. Now the nature and quality of a wicked person, as to his internal man, and of a good person, as to his internal man, may be seen from this short description of heaven and hell; for the internal man, with the wicked, is in conjunction with devils in hell, and with the good, in conjunction with angels in heaven. Hell, in consequence of the kinds of love which prevail there, is in the delights of all sorts of evil, that is, in the delights of hatred, revenge, and murder; in the delights of depredation and

The author distinguisheth between the spiritual world and the world of spirits; by the spiritual world he meaneth the universal invisible world, where both angels, spirits, and devils have their abodes, whether it be called heaven, the world of spirits, or hell; but by the world of spirits he meaneth only that particular part of the spiritual world situated between heaven and hell, assigned to be the receptacle of all spirits immediately after death, where the good are prepared for heaven, and the bad for hell.

theft; in the delights of abuse and reviling; in the delights of the denial of God, and the profanation of the Word. These evils lie concealed in his lusts, on which man seldom reflecteth; and with these delights the infernal inhabitants burn like flaming torches, this being what is meant in the Word by hell-fire. But the delights of heaven are the delights of love towards the neighbour and of love to God. Since then the delights of hell are opposite to the delights of heaven, there is a great interstice between them, into which the delights of heaven enter by influx from above, and the delights of hell by influx from below: in the midst of this interstice is man, during his abode in this world, that he may be in equilibrium, and thus in a state of freedom to turn himself either to heaven or to hell. This interstice is what is meant by the great gulph fixed between those that are in heaven and those that are in hell, Luke xvi. 26. Hence it may appear what is the nature and quality of the friendship of love which prevails amongst the wicked; that as to the external man, it assumes the gestures, and mimics the behaviour, of real friendship, and puts on the semblance of morality, for the purpose of spreading it's nets, and exploring occasions of enjoying the delights of its loves, with which the internal man is on fire; whilst the fear of the law, and of the loss of reputation and life, is the only check for restraining and preventing their evil lusts from bursting forth into act; wherefore their friendship is like a spider concealed in sugar, or a viper in a piece of bread, or a young crocodile in a honey-comb, or a serpent in the grass. Such is the friendship of the wicked in all cases; but among such as are confirmed in wickedness, as amongst thieves, robbers, and pirates, it is productive of familiarity, so long as with one mind they are bent upon the acquisition of plunder; for then they embrace each other as brethren, they entertain themselves with feasting, singing, and dancing, and conspire together for the destruction of others; yet still every one in the depth of his own heart regardeth his

his companion, as an enemy does an enemy; it is this which a cunning thief beholdeth in his associates, and is terrified at the sight. Hence it is plain, that amongst such persons there is no friendship, but intestine hatred.

455. Every man who hath not openly connected himself with malefactors, and practised theft and robbery, but hath led a moral-civil life, with a view to various uses and ends, and yet hath not bridled the lusts resident in the internal man, may possibly fancy that the friendship he professes for others is not of such a nature as that above described; but that it really is so, in various degrees, with all those who have rejected faith, and despised the holy things of the church, and considered them as not designed for themselves but for the vulgar only, has been permitted me to know for certain, by many examples in the spiritual world: in some such persons the delights of infernal love lie concealed like fire in burning wood covered over with the bark; in some like live coals under embers; in some like waxen torches, that blaze forth as soon as fire is applied to them; and in others after a different manner. Such are all men who have banished from their hearts the dictates of religion: their internal man is in hell; and so long as they live in the world, and are ignorant of this circumstance of their true state, by reason of an apparent morality in their externals, they acknowledge none for their neighbour but themselves and their children, and regard others, either with contempt, in which case they are like cats on the watch for birds in their nests, or with hatred, in which case they are like wolves when they see dogs that they may devour. These circumstances are mentioned, to shew what charity is by its opposite.

XVIII. ON THE CONJUNCTION OF LOVE TO GOD AND LOVE TOWARDS OUR NEIGHBOUR.

456. It is well known, that the law promulgated from mount Sinai was written on two tables, one of which treats of God, and the other of men, and that in the hand of

Moses they were one table, upon the part which was to the right side was written what related to God, and upon that which was to the left what related to men, and that thus, when presented to the eyes of beholders, the writing of both parts might be seen at the same time; thus the one part was in sight of the other, like Jehovah speaking with Moses, and Moses with Jehovah, face to face, as it is written. This was done in order that the tables so united might represent the conjunction of God with men, and the reciprocal conjunction of men with God, for which reason the law written on them was called the COVENANT and the TESTIMONY, a covenant signifying conjunction, and testimony a life according to the articles agreed upon. From these two tables so united, may be seen the conjunction of love to God and of love towards our neighbour. The first table includes in it all things relative to love to God, the chief of which are these, that it is needful and meet to acknowledge one God, the Divinity of His Humanity, and the sanctity of the Word, and that He is to be worshipped by the holy things which proceed from Him; that these particulars are included in the first table, is evident from the commentaries on the commandments of the decalogue, contained in the fifth chapter. The second table includes in it all things relative to love towards our neighbour, the five first commandments whatever respecteth actions, which are called works, and the two last whatever respecteth the will, consequently whatever respecteth charity in its origin; for in these commandments it is said, "Thou shalt not covet," and when a man doth not covet what belongeth to his neighbour, he then bears good-will towards him. That the Ten Commandments of the Decalogue contain all Things respecting Love to God, and Love towards our Neighbour, may be seen above, n. 329, 330, 331; where it was also shewn, that there is a conjunction of both tables with those who are in charity.