what sort of persons they are, whose interiors which belong to the mind are closed toward heaven, as is the case with all those who have not received any influx from heaven through an acknowledgment of the Divine and a life of faith.
Every one may judge from himself what sort of a person he would be if he were of this character, and were at liberty to act without fear of the law, or of the loss of life, and without external restraints which are fears lest he should suffer in his reputation, and be deprived of honor, gain and the pleasures thence resulting. Nevertheless their insanity is restrained by the Lord, so as to prevent it from rushing beyond the limits of use,—for some use is performed by every one even of this character. Good spirits see in them what evil is, and what is its nature, and what man would be if he were not led of the Lord. It is also one of their uses to collect together wicked spirits like themselves, and to separate them from the good. It is also a use that the truths and goods, whereof the wicked have assumed an appearance in externals, are taken away from them, and they are brought into the evils of their own life, and into the falsities of evil, and are thus prepared for hell.
For no one goes to hell until he is in his own evil and in the falsities of evil, since it is not allowed any one there to have a divided mind, that is, to think and speak one thing, and to will another.
