4900. About a total purging, (C[harles] XII 1)
Those who must be purged, that is, deprived of their good and true elements and so sent into hell, must be purged successively from head to foot which takes place over the course of many years because every part of them is possessed by evils. This happened with Charles XII. He was eventually purged all the way down to the soles of the foot and toes; at the end everything in the region of the heel was as it were pulled off. Meanwhile he was led around and kept in the delights of his evil which was that of commanding, and eventually he was led on to the left where there was a forest and a gloomy cave like a pit. And here he then paused a short while and was sent down a little. As a result he was deprived of his understanding and so left by himself. He was then powerless to do things like those he had done before. As a consequence his authoritative powers as well were successively taken from him, which was then shown as well by his stretching out his right hand, which vanished. Regeneration takes place in this way, successively and over a much longer time, namely, from head to heel.
Footnotes:
1. For information on this person please see footnote to passage 4704.
4900. CONCERNING TOTAL DEVASTATION (CHARLES XII).
He who has to be vastated, that is, deprived of goods and truths and so sent into hell, is vastated successively from the head to the feet, which, for the reason that all things belonging to him are obsessed by evils, takes many years. This befell Charles XII, who was at length vastated even to the soles of the feet, and to his fingers. At last all things of the muscular envelope of the body were wasted, as it were, by callosities. Meanwhile, he was led round about and kept in the delights of his evil, which was that of governing; and, at length, he was conducted to the left, where there is a forest and therein a darksome cave like a pit; and then he was somewhat underneath there, and was let down a little. He was thus deprived of intellect, and so left. He was then destitute of all power of doing such things as before. Thus, also, were his powers successively taken away - as, too, was shown by the stretching out of the right hand, which then disappeared. Thus, through a much longer time, does regeneration also take place successively, to wit, from head to foot.
4900. De devastatione totali, (C. XII)
Qui devastandus est, hoc est deprivandus bonis et veris, et sic in infernum mittendus, is devastatur successive a capite ad pedes, quod fit per plures annos, ex causa quia omnia ejus obsessa malis sunt; hoc contigit C. XII; qui tandem devastatus est usque ad plantas pedis et ejus digitos, ultimo omnia ambitus calcis quasi detracta; interea ducebatur circumcirca, et tenebatur in jucundis sui mali, quod erat imperandi, et tandem perductus est ad sinistrum, ubi sylva, et ibi tenebrosa spelunca sicut fodina, et tunc subsistebat aliquantum ibi, et paulum demissus, sic orbatus intellectu, et sic relictus, tunc erat absque omni potentia faciendi talia quae prius; ita potentiae etiam successive ademptae sunt, quod etiam tunc ostensum per exporrectionem manus dextrae, quae evanuit. Ita successive et per multo plus tempus fit regeneratio, nempe a capite ad calcem.