4753. [4774] CONCERNING REVENGE ALONG WITH DECEIT. The same spirit, namely, Jacob Benzelius, the archbishop, was at length brought forwards, in front of the right foot, in the infernal earth there. He had the greatest delight in devising deceits, in thought; and he began, from the inspiration of the diabolical crew which was below there, to contrive abominable things against conjugial love, which things it is not permitted to divulge; and inasmuch as he previously, in the life of the body, plotted deceitfully against that love, and thus [now] exceeded the limits of his delight,* therefore he was grievously punished by inward pains: and it was perceived that when be endured punishment, he then still retained his vengefulness, inasmuch as that grievous punishing lasted a long time: for they are not let go, until something of amendment, or disinclination for such a thing is observed by the angels; but be still retained vengefulness, no matter how much he was punished. Afterwards, he was left to himself again, and by degrees his lust of revenge began to be excited by the hells, and he also took up deceits, likewise, for the sake of revenge, in the interim, so that he continued his former practices: wherefore he was again given over to a more grievous punishing, so that he was set on fire as to the viscera; and it was shown him, to the life, that the punishment of burning could have been aggravated indefinitely: wherefore, being left to himself once more, he at first began to meditate revenge, cautiously; then more and more: at length, he also came into the delight of revenge, and from revenge he began [his practices], so that, although he was punished, he might hold out. Hence it was evident, that the lust of doing ill to others from interior deceit, leads a spirit into such cupidities as he did not before actually practice, but which he hereditarily possessed; for they then rush into such things when they can no longer be deterred by punishments, and so their life becomes more and more infernal; so that life, which is interior life, is diminished, or is no longer able to inflow from the internal, because it falls into the lust, of revenge, and, at the same time, into the deceitful delight of torturing everybody. It was stated that they who are in the lust of revenge, and, at the same time, in deceit, become such as to be no longer like any man, but they appear like charred skeletons. * To understand this, it needs to he remembered that the infernals are not permitted to become worse than at the time of death; and, to prevent them doing so, punishments are indicted, whenever they overstep the limits of their evil, that is the measure of evil they had acquired at the death of the holy. - see AC 6559.