Page:The New View of Hell.djvu/156

 they are instructed in the truths of faith by the angels among whom they are received."—A. C. 1106, '13.

But very different is it with another class of females whom he met in the spiritual world, and who were, when on earth, persons of most captivating manners, but deceitful, ambitious and destitute of conscience.

"There are some of the female sex who have lived in the indulgence of their inclinations, regarding only themselves and the world, and making the sum total of life and its delights to consist in external decorum, in consequence of which they have been particularly esteemed in polished society. They have thus, by practice, acquired the power of insinuating themselves into the good graces of others by specious pretences and a fair exterior, for the purpose of gaining an ascendency over them. Hence their life has been one of simulation and deceit. They used to frequent churches like other people, but for no other purpose than to appear upright and pious; being, moreover, destitute of conscience, and extremely prone to wickedness and adulteries when able to conceal them. Such persons in the other world think as they did here, not knowing what conscience is, and making a mock of those who speak of it. They enter into the affections of others by a pretended honesty, piety, compassion, and innocence, which with them are a means of deceiving; and whenever external restraints are removed, they plunge into the most wicked and obscene practices. These are they who in the other