7554. 'Of which there has not been the like in Egypt from the day it was founded even until now' means that no such destruction happens to any others in their natural mind. This is clear from the meaning of rain in the form of hail, to which these words refer, as the destruction of truth by means of falsities, dealt with immediately above in 7553; from the meaning of 'the land of Egypt' as the natural mind, dealt with in 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301,'from the day it was founded even until now meaning that no such destruction happens to any others, because 'day means state, 'foundation' the nature of that state, and 'Egypt' the natural mind in general. The reason why no such destruction happens to any others as happens to those who molest the upright in the next life is that those who so molest belonged to the Church when they were in the world, 7317, 7502. They are those who have filled their memory, which is part of their natural mind, with the kinds of things that are matters of faith acquired from the Word and from the teachings of their Church, and yet have led a life contrary to those things. Consequently when they undergo vastation, those matters of faith are wrenched out, and very much else attached to them, leaving deep, foul pits and craters. Such people's evil desires, as well as their falsities, have inevitably become in some measure linked to those matters of faith. And since these cannot exist together with those falsities and evils it is evident that if they cannot be separated they are cast away to the sides, leaving empty spaces within, which emit a foul stench, for every foul stench arises out of evils mixed with forms of good, and of falsities mixed with truths. These things do not happen to those outside the Church, for they have no knowledge at all of truths of faith acquired from the Word. This is what is meant by the statement that no such destruction happens to any others in their natural mind.