5963. THE RUSSIANS They are not so wicked as the rest in Christendom. They are in very great subordination, believing that all they possess is not theirs but the Czar's, because the kingdom is his; wherefore, whenever he pleases, he takes away from them whatever he wants, and they acknowledge what they have, and give it and, in like manner, when officers say that they act by his command. In the other life, they retain that faith, and live in the same subordination, but, with the difference, that all their possessions are not the Czar's but God's, given to them to apply rightly to uses. Wherefore, if they do not employ them aright, or when they do so improperly, that is, if they are evil, then part, or the whole, is taken away from them, according to the wickedness, and abuse, or use for evil - as also happens. They are sometimes told, when they place the heart too much on money, to give part of their riches to the poor or needy; and, although they are very unwilling, still they are told that it must be done, as it is by God's command. And they do it; but, then, after a time, they receive some more, for they are blessed. Sometimes, they are told that they will [have to] go forth from their places, because they are evil; but they then think and say that there are evil persons with them, and that these make them evil. Wherefore they seek them out, and, when they find them, cast them forth into the sea, whence they never return. Thus freed from them, they remain in their possessions: wherefore, whenever afterwards they notice that they begin to be evil, namely, to covet the goods of others and to devise certain arts for plundering others of their property, they then apprehend that there are evil persons in the neighborhood, from whom, therefore, when admonished, they purge their society. The evil are found for the most part in well-known places, principally on the sea-shore. Russians have been with me, several times; and through them the evil from the Christian world were kept away. They were in obedience, and were modest; so that they were much better than those. The reason is, because they can be kept in a good affection, owing to the fact that they are in obedience and subordination, and do not aspire to high [places], and thus can be withheld from the will-proprium. But they are scarcely at all intellectual.