264. There are also spirits who are unceasingly intent upon things contrary to truths and goodness, seeking to distort them in ways so evasive of our consciousness, that if we were told we would hardly be able to believe it. This has surprised me at times, when I noticed truths and goodness being thus compromised by spirits. But these spirits conceal themselves more than others and are more invisible, so that I was at the point of believing they could not be found. Still, they were found, and some of them were punished and cast out, the punishment being of a kind to fit their criminal attempts. 1747, 23 November (old calendar).