Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 493
enmity, hatred, revenge, deceit, and other like evils. But let
them know that each one of these evils contains so many
specific differences, and each of these again so many specific or
particular differences, that a volume would not suffice to
enumerate them. The hells are so distinctly arranged in order
in accordance with the differences of every evil that nothing
could be more perfectly ordered or more distinct. Evidently,
then, the hells are innumerable, near to and remote from one
another in accordance with the differences of evils generically,
specifically, and particularly.
[3] There are likewise hells beneath hells. Some communicate
with others by passages, and more by exhalations, and this in
exact accordance with the affinities of one kind or one species
of evil with others. How great the number is of the hells I have
been permitted to realize from knowing that there are hells
under every mountain, hill, and rock, and likewise under every
plain and valley, and that they stretch out beneath these in
length and in breadth and in depth. In a word, the entire
heaven and the entire world of spirits are, as it were, excavated
beneath, and under them is a continuous hell. Thus much
regarding the number of the hells.