his elevation.
From this it is clear that such are atheists, some avowedly, some
clandestinely, and some ignorantly. And as they regard dominion as an
end, and the holy things of heaven and the church as means, they
counterfeit angels of light in face, gesture, and speech, and thus
profane holy things. (A.E., n. 1058.)

Those who are in this kind of profanation, which is hypocritical, differ
in this respect, that there are those who have less ability and those
who have more ability to conceal the interiors of their mind, that they
may not be disclosed, and to shape the exteriors, which pertain to face
and mouth, into an expression of sanctity. When such after death become
spirits they appear encompassed with a cloud, in the midst of which is
something black, like an Egyptian mummy. But as they are raised up as
it were into the light of heaven, that bright cloud changes to a
diabolical duskiness, not from any shining through it, but from a
breathing through it, and the consequent disclosing. In hell,
therefore, these are black devils. The differences in this kind of
profanation are known from the blackness, as being more or less
horrifying. (A.E., n. 1059.)

V. The Fourth and Fifth Kinds of Profanation

A fourth kind of profanation is to live a life of piety, by frequenting
churches, listening devoutly to preachings, observing the sacrament of
the Supper, and the other appointed forms of worship, reading the Word
at home, and sometimes books of devotion, and habitually praying morning
and evening, and yet making the precepts of life that are in the Word,
particularly in the Decalogue, of no account, by acting dishonestly and
unjustly in business and in judgments for the sake of gain or influenced
by friendship; committing whoredom and adultery when lust inflames and
urges; burning with hate and revenge against those who do not favor
their gain or honor; lying, and speaking evil of the good, and good of
the evil, and so on. When a man is in these evils, and has not been
purified from them by turning away from them and hating them, and still
worships God devoutly, as has been said above, then he profanes; for he
mingles his internals which are impure with externals that are pious,
and these he defiles.

For there can be nothing external that does not proceed and have
existence from internals. The actions and speech of man are his
externals, and thoughts and volitions are his internals. Man can speak
only fr