believe it as those who belong to the earth Mars do. They said also
that there they believe that with themselves there is nothing but what
is filthy and infernal, and that all good is of the Lord; nay, they
added that of themselves they are devils, and that the Lord draws them
out of hell, and continually withholds them from it. On one occasion,
when the Lord was named, I saw that those spirits humbled themselves
more inwardly and profoundly than can be described: for in their
humiliation there was the thought that of themselves they were in
hell, and that thus they were utterly unworthy to look to the Lord,
who is the Holy itself. So profoundly were they in this thought from
faith, that they were, as it were, outside of themselves, and in that
thought they remained on their knees till the Lord raised them, and
then drew them as it were out of hell. When they thus emerge from
humiliation, they are filled with good and love, and consequently with
joy of heart. When they humble themselves in this manner, they do not
turn their face to the Lord, for this they dare not do then, but avert
it. The spirits who were about me said that never had they seen such
humiliation.

92. Some spirits who were from that earth were surprised that so many
spirits from hell were about me, and that they also spoke to me; but
it was given me to reply that this was permitted them for the purpose
of enabling me to know their characters, and why they are in hell, and
that this is according to their life. It was also given me to state
that there were several among them whom I had known when they lived in
the world, and that some of them had then occupied stations of great
dignity, and that then they had nothing at heart but the world; but
that no evil spirit, even the most infernal, could possibly do me any
injury, because I was continually protected by the Lord.