427. THAT FROM A PECULIAR MERCY CERTAIN SPIRITS ARE PREPARED [FOR HEAVEN] BY MEANS OF DEEP SLEEP, AND BY INFESTING DREAMS DURING SLEEP There was also a certain spirit who said nothing else than "I am silent", and "I speak": and this pretty frequently. When I inquired what he meant, he said nothing else in reply, but I heard from others that he had been sent to sleep, and I was instructed that some were sent into such states of sleep and sustain vastations through dreams, perhaps also through brief intervals of wakefulness, until they have been deprived of the phantasies which they have drawn with them [from the world]. 1747, Dec. 30.