185. That this is so cannot be better known than from the case of men after death, in the spiritual world. Most of those there who became great and wealthy in the natural world, and who in their honours and wealth regarded themselves alone, at first speak of God and of the Divine Providence as if they had acknowledged them in their hearts. But as they now see clearly the Divine Providence, and from it their final lot, which is that they are to come into hell, they join the devils there, and then not only deny but also blaspheme God; finally reaching such a state of madness that they acknowledge the more powerful of the devils as their gods, and desire nothing more ardently than that they also should themselves become gods.
