tility against those who do not favor them, envy, hatred and revenge, and as a consequence of these, savageness and cruelty. And in regard to the Divine, they consist in the denial, and thence in the contempt, mocking and reviling of the holy things belonging to the church; and after death when man becomes a spirit, these evils are turned into anger and hatred against those holy things. And because these evils continually breathe the destruction and murder of those whom they regard as enemies, and against whom they burn with hatred and revenge, therefore it is the delight of their life to wish to destroy and kill; and when they are unable to do this, they still delight in the wish to do them mischief and harm, and vent their rage against them. These are the things which are meant by fire in the Word, where the wicked and the hells are treated of. (See Isaiah ix. 17, 18, 19; xxxiv. 9, 10; Joel ii. 30, 31; Mai. iv. 1; Apoc. xviii. 2, 18; xix. 2; ix. 2; xi. 17, 18; xiv. 9, 10; xvi. 8, 9; xix. 20; xx. 14, 15; xxi. 8; Matt, iii. 10; xiii. 41, 42, 50; xxv. 41; xviii. 8, 9; Mark ix. 43-49; Luke xvi. 24; iii. 9.)
Such is the fire or such the heat with those who are in the above-mentioned loves; since, as to their spirits, they are bound to the hells in which those loves prevail, even while they live in the body.
But it is to be observed that they who are in the hells are not in fire, but the fire is an appearance. For they are not sensible of any burning there, but
