The body does not make the human being, but the mind, namely the understanding of truth, and the will for good, which belong to the Lord Alone. To the extent, therefore, that they have [these] from the Lord, to that extent they are human beings. A certain spirit upon hearing these words wanted to say that he still has the ability to reason, and that thereby evil spirits too are human beings and not brutes. But in thought they were answered that the very ability is the life of the Lord that is poured into them, for without that ability as a gift, they cannot think, and so would perish like the brutes. But the fact that they think falsities and do evils does not belong to the ability, but to them, as when light penetrates a disordered body. 1748, 23 Aug.