6036. About Hells that were seen
Vic[e] P[resident] Hjarne 1wanted to see someone in hell, which was permitted. He went into the 1st, where it was as it were flaming. Candles appeared to him and this was because they had a love of self. From there he went into the 2nd, where those who were there were black, a dusky black; from there he went into the 3rd, and there they appeared like those buried in shrouds, and were seen pallid as the dead. He asked them if they were dead. They said that to themselves they appear to be alive, but in the eyes of others they are dead. Likewise in the prior hells: there among themselves they appear like [living] people, but in the light of heaven they are as dead.
4. ) After this he went through a long opening and came into a cave where he did not see anyone; they were invisible like flitting ghosts. They were those who had the ability to sally into other places by using fantasies. When he came to the end of the cave, he looked back and saw them sitting: some were old men with beards, some had faces that were only a beard, and others monstrous in other ways. He spoke a little with them. From there he went on, for the 5th time, into another hell where there appeared as it were foul-smelling fire, and those there were as it were fires, and they were those who by pretended affection were able to put on a variety of affections, and at the same time by using fantasies they were able to display various things, as if they were useful and magnificent. But because these ceased with the fantasy, they found it wearisome to present these further. Er[ik] Benzelius 2was there. And after this, [Hjarne] went out into the daylight.
Footnotes:
1. Urban Hjarne was a physician, writer and naturalist and a vice-president of the College of Mines.
2. Erik Benzelius the Elder (1632ֱ709), Swedish theologian and Archbishop of Uppsala.
6036. HELLS SEEN [BY ME].
Vice-President 1Hjarne wished to see some one in hell; which also was permitted. He entered the first. In that one there was, as it were, a flaminess. Candles appeared to him; and this because those ones were in self-love. Thence he entered a second, where appeared those who are black there - a charred blackness. From thence he entered a third, and in that they seemed like persons buried in shrouds. They appeared pallid, like the dead. He asked them if they were dead. They said that to themselves they appear to be alive, but that they are such to the eyes of others. It was similar in the former hells: those there appear to one another like men, but in the light of heaven such as described. (4.) He afterwards went through a long void, and came to a cave, where they did not see any [spirits]. They were invisible like flying specters. They were those who were able to cast themselves out into other places by means of phantasies. When he came to the end of the cave, he looked back and saw them sitting. Some were old men with beards; some with a face nothing but beard; and others were deformed after other fashions. He spoke a few words with them. From this, 5thly, he proceeded into another hell, where appeared, as it were, a horrid fieriness, and those there, as it were on fire; and they were such as were, from simulated affection, able to put on various affections, and at the same time to represent various things by phantasies - as, for instance, useful and elegant articles; but, as they went to excess with the phantasy, they were affected with weariness at presenting these things any further. In this [hell] was Er[ic] Benzel[ius]. And after this he [i.e., Vice-President Hjarne] was gone, [and] came forth into daylight.
Footnotes:
1. "Vice-President" of the College of Mines. Hjarne held this post at the time of Swedenborg's appointment as "Assessor," in 1716, and for some years afterwards. -TR.
6036. De Infernis visis
Vic. P. Hjerne voluit videre aliquem in inferno, quod etiam permissum est, intravit in 1 ibi erat sicut flammeum, apparebant illi candelae, et hoc quia illi in amore sui fuerunt. Inde intravit in 2 ubi apparebant illi qui ibi nigri, nigredo furva: inde intravit in 3 et ibi apparebant sicut illi qui sepulti in indusiis feralibus, visi pallidi sicut mortui. Quaerebat illos num mortui essent, dicebant quod appareant sibi vivere, sed quod tales sint in oculis aliorum. Similiter in prioribus, quod ibi appareant inter se sicut homines, sed in luce coeli tales.
4) - Postea pervasit longum lacunar, et venit in antrum, ubi non aliquos videbat, erant inconspicui sicut volantes larvae, erant illi qui per phantasias potuerunt se ejicere in alia loca, quando ad finem antri venit, respexit, et vidit eos sedentes, erant quidam senes cum barbis, quidam facie solum barba, et alii aliter monstrosi, loquebatur pauca cum illis. Inde 5 progressus est in aliud infernum, ubi apparebat sicut igneum tetrum, et illi ibi sicut ignei, et erant qui affectione simulata potuerunt induere affectiones varias, et simul per phantasias repraesentare varia, sicut utensilia et magnifica, sed quia transibant cum phantasia, taedio affecti ulterius illa sistere, ibi Er. Benzelius. Et postea egressus venit in diem.