Page:The New View of Hell.djvu/141

 Here, again, we are called to admire the unspeakable love and mercy of the Lord as manifested toward those in the other world who are "enemies to him by wicked works." For we must remember that all the objects which greet their senses—though in reality just as Swedenborg has described them—appear very different to the devils from what they did to him, or from what they do to our imagination—for we are able to contemplate them in some degree of heavenly light. The regions they inhabit are certainly dismal enough; but not dismal to them. All the objects by which they are surrounded, are really hideous and loathsome to angelic natures; but not hideous or loathsome to them. The odors they inhale, so fetid and offensive to angels, are by no means offensive to them. On the contrary the devils find these things quite agreeable and even delightful for they accord perfectly with their nature; they agree with their desires or loves; they are in exact correspondence with their life.

Everywhere and always life seeks that which is in agreement with its nature. Nothing else will satisfy its cravings. Such is the nature of the devils, that the scenery of hell, so dismal and repulsive to our imagination, is quite agreeable to them;—more beautiful, indeed, to their eyes than would be the splendors and magnificence of heaven. Their life being what it is—degraded, bestial, infernal—the objects that surround them are the very ones with which they are best pleased; for they suit their tastes, being in perfect correspondence with their