Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/258

252 Lord. The faces of the devils, too, are hideous as those of the angels are beautiful—each being in perfect correspondence with their ruling loves. Yet such is the abounding mercy of the Lord, that the devils as seen in their own light, do not appear hideous to themselves or to each other, but only when viewed in the light of heaven. So is it with thieves, robbers, pirates, pimps—all demons in the flesh: they do not appear to themselves or to each other as the morally deformed creatures that they are.

And precisely the same law that governs the phenomenal world in heaven, governs that in hell also—the great and eternal law of correspondence. Under the operation of this law, the surroundings of the devils are necessarily barren and dismal—and most offensive to the eyes of angels. They dwell in the midst of desert places, rocky and dreary wastes, stagnant marshes, in the meanest hovels and with the filthiest surroundings, and inhale the vilest stenches. But these things are not offensive to the devils any more than carrion is to crows, or mire to certain animals that love to wallow in it; for they agree with their nature, being in perfect correspondence with their vile and filthy loves.

The same law, too, that determines the angels into innumerable societies, is alike operative in hell; that is, the law of spiritual affinity. For