1742. CONCERNING THE ENTRANCE OF SPIRITS INTO THE OTHER LIFE. ((When a man dies and passes into the other life, it fares with him like the food which is received by the lips, and then through the mouth, jaws, and throat is conveyed into the stomach, and thence into the intestines - that is to say, the lot of his life is determined according to his cupidities and phantasies, for he is at first treated very gently, namely, by the angels who stand by, of whom we have spoken before, which is similar to the case of food that is not seen, which is first slightly touched by the lips, afterwards committed to the mouth, and its quality tested by the tongue as hard, soft, sweet, etc.; it is treated in this way also, that it may be softened by the purer saliva, and thence be exhaled into the blood, and so conveyed to any particular organ, or immediately to the brain, when it is mildly castigated on the way. Thus with man's evils, his phantasies are thus, as it were, exterminated by various methods, while if any remain, they imitate the course made by the salivary fluid in the process of digestion, in which some articles are subdued with more difficulty, requiring the action of the teeth in breaking the hard crusts, which correspond with the products of the phantasies that have to be violently broken up. Thus there is a letting down, as it were, through the esophagus into the stomach, where a various treatment is undergone by the contents in order that they may be made to perform some kind of use; those of a somewhat harder quality are thrust into the intestines, and at length into the rectum, where is the first hell, and such as are not yet subdued thereby are cast out like dung into hell, and remain in hell till they are effectually reduced to subjection.* (1748, March 27.))) * The hell here spoken of is doubtless but another name for that state of vastation in the world of spirits, of which mention is frequently made elsewhere in the writing of our author. It is unquestionably to such a state that our lord refers when He says, "Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing."