There is another kind of profanation of holy things that those come into
who have supremacy as their end, and regard the holy things of the Word,
of the church, and of worship, as means. The Divine order is that
heaven and the church, and consequently the holy things of these, be the
end, and supremacy the means for promoting that end. For when holy
things are the end and supremacy the means, the Lord is worshipped and
adored; but when supremacy is the end and holy things the means, man
instead of the Lord is worshipped and adored. For the means look to the
end as servants look to their master, and the end looks to the means as
a master looks to his servants; consequently as a master esteems and
loves his servants according to the compliance they render to his will,
so a man who has supremacy as his end esteems and loves the holy things
of the Word, of the church, and of worship, according to the compliance
they render to his end, which is supremacy. And on the other hand, as a
lord despises and dismisses servants and takes others in their place
when they are not subservient to his will, so a man who has supremacy as
his end despises and rejects the holy things of the church, and takes
other things in their place when they are not subservient to his end,
which is supremacy.
From this it is clear that in those who have supremacy as their end,
holy things are of no account except so far as they are subservient to
the end, and also that they are not holy, but are profane when they are
subservient to this end; and for the reason that the end, when it is
supremacy, is the man himself, and as this end is love of self it is the
man's own (proprium); and man's own when viewed in itself is nothing but
evil, and indeed is profane, and the end joins to itself the means that
they may be as one. In this kind of profanation are all those who are
in sacred ministries, and who are seeking by means of the holy things of
the church to gain honor and glory, and these and not use, which is the
salvation of souls, are what give them joy of heart. (A.E., n. 1053.)
Those who are in this kind of profanation cannot do otherwise than
adulterate the goods of the Word and falsify its truths, and thus
pervert the holy things of the church; for these are not in accord with
the end, which is the supremacy of man over them, for they are Divine
things that cannot be mere servants; therefore from necessity, that the
means may be in accord with the end, goods are turned into evils, truths
into falsities, and thus holy things into things profane, and this in an
increasing degree as the supremacy, which is the end, is increased.
That this is so can be clearly seen from the Babylon of the present day,
to which the holy things of the Word, of the church and of worship, are
means, and supremacy is the end. So far as they have magnified
supremacy they have minimized the holiness of the Word, and have
actually exalted above it the holiness of the Pope's decrees; they have
claimed to themselves power over heaven, and even over the Lord Himself,
and they have instituted the idolatrous worship of men, both living and
dead, and this until there is nothing left of Divine good and Divine
truth.
That the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, have
been so changed is of the Lord's Divine providence; not of His
providence that this should be done, but of His providence that when men
wish to rule and do rule by means of the holy Divine things, they should
choose falsity in place of truth and evil in place of good, for
otherwise they would defile holy things, and render them abominable
before angels; but when holy things no longer exist this cannot be done.
Take as an example what has been done with the Holy Supper instituted by
the Lord: they have separated the bread and the wine, giving the bread
to the people and drinking the wine themselves. For "bread" signifies
good of love to the Lord, and "wine" the truth of faith in Him; and good
separated from truth is not good, nor is truth separated from good
truth, for truth is truth from good, and good is good in truth. And so
in other things. (A.E., n. 1054.)
Those who are in the love of self, and from that in the love of ruling,
and who covet, acquire, and afterward exercise supremacy by means of the
holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, are those who
profane. For the delight of the love of ruling for self's sake, that
is, for the sake of eminence, and consequent homage and a kind of
worship of self, is an infernal delight. Moreover, this prevails in
hell, for in hell everyone wills to be the greatest, while in heaven
everyone wills to be the least; and to rule over holy things from an
infernal delight is to profane them.
But this second kind of profanation of the holy things of the church is
not like the former kind of the profanation of them. Those fall into
the former kind in whom a communication with heaven has been effected by
the opening of their spiritual mind; while this second kind of
profanation those fall into in whom the spiritual mind has not been
opened, or communication with heaven effected through it. For so long
as the delight of the love of ruling resides in man, that mind cannot be
opened, and communication with heaven is not possible to him.
Moreover, the lot of these profaners after death differs from the lot of
the former. The former, as has been said, are in an unceasing delirium
of fantasy; but these hate the Lord, hate heaven, hate the Word, hate
the church, and hate all its holy things; and they come into such hatred
because their dominion is taken away from them, and thus their state is
changed into its opposite. They appear like something fiery, and their
hell appears like a conflagration; for infernal fire is nothing else
than a lust for ruling from love of self. These are among the worst,
and are called devils, while the others are called satans. (A.E., n.
1055.)
The love of ruling by the holy things of the church as means wholly
shuts up the interiors of the human mind from the inmosts toward the
outmosts, according to the kind and strength of that love. But to make
clear that they are shut up, something shall first be said about the
interiors belonging to the human mind. Man has a spiritual mind, a
rational mind, a natural mind, and a sensual mind. By means of the
spiritual mind man is in heaven and is a heaven in its least form. By
means of the natural mind he is in the world and is a world in its least
form. Heaven in man communicates with the world in him by means of the
rational mind, and with the body by means of the sensual mind. The
sensual mind is the first to be opened in man after his birth; after
that the natural mind, and as he seeks to become intelligent the
rational mind, and as he seeks to become wise the spiritual mind. And
at length, as man becomes wise the spiritual mind becomes to him as the
head, and the natural mind as the body, and the rational mind serves as
a neck to join this to the head, and then the sensual mind becomes like
the sole of the foot.
In little children the Lord so arranges all these minds by means of the
inflow of innocence from heaven that they can be opened. But with those
who begin from childhood to be inflamed with the lust of ruling through
the holy things of the church as means, the spiritual mind is wholly
shut; so, too, is the rational mind, and finally the natural mind, even
to the sensual mind, or as it is said in heaven, even to the nose. And
thus men become merely sensual, and are the most stupid of all in things
spiritual and thus in things rational, and the most crafty of all in
worldly and thus in civil matters. That they are so stupid in spiritual
things they do not themselves know, because in heart they do not believe
these things, and because they believe craft to be prudence and cunning
to be wisdom. And yet all of this kind differ according to the kind and
strength of their lust for ruling and for exercising rule, also
according to the kind and strength of the persuasion that they are holy,
and according to the kind of good and truth from the Word that they
profane. (A.E., n. 1056.)
Profaners of this kind are stupid and foolish in spiritual things, but
are crafty and keen in worldly things, because they make one with the
devils in hell, and because, as has been said above, they are merely
sensual, and are therefore in what is their own (proprium), which draws
its delight of life from the unclean effluvia that exhale from waste
matters in the body, and that are emitted from dunghills; and these
cause a swelling of their breasts when their pride is active and the
titillation of these cause delight. That such is the source of their
delight is made evident by their delights after death when they are
living as spirits; for then more than the sweetest odors do they love
the rank stenches arising from the gases of the belly and from
outhouses, which to their smell are more fragrant than thyme. The
approach and touch of these close up the interiors of their mind, and
open the exteriors pertaining to the body, from which come their
quickness in worldly things and their dullness in spiritual things.
In a word, the love of ruling by means of the holy things of the church
corresponds to filth, and its delight to a stench indescribable by
words, and at which angels shudder. Such is the exhalation from their
hells when they are opened; but they are kept closed because of the
oppression and occasional swooning which they produce. (A.E., n. 1057.)