ner of abominations,—into contempt of others, ridicule, blasphemy, hatred, and revenge; they contrive plans of mischief, some of them with such cunning and malice, that it can scarcely be believed that anything of the kind could exist in any man. For in the state in which they then are, they are free to act according to the thoughts of their will, because they are separated from their exteriors, which in the world restrained and checked them. In a word, they are deprived of rationality, because in the world the rational had not resided in their interiors but in their exteriors; nevertheless they then appear to themselves to be wise beyond all others.
Such being their character, therefore when they are in this second state they are occasionally remitted for a short time into the state of their exteriors, and then into the remembrance of their actions when they were in the state of their interiors. Some are then ashamed, and acknowledge that they have been insane; some are not ashamed; and some are indignant at not being allowed to remain continually in the state of their exteriors. But it is shown to these latter what sort of persons they would be if they were continually in this state; namely, that they would endeavor to commit the same evils clandestinely, and by appearances of goodness, of sincerity and justice, would seduce the simple in heart and faith, and would utterly destroy themselves; for
