70. I was further informed that in that world there are also some people who call themselves the Saints, and order their large numbers of servants on pain of punishment to address them as lords. They also forbid them to worship the Lord of the universe, saying that they are mediating lords, and that they will convey their prayers to the Lord of the universe. They do not, like the rest of the people there, call the Lord of the universe, who is our Lord, the One and Only Lord. They term Him the Most High Lord, because they call themselves lords.
[2] They call the sun of their world the face of the Most High Lord, and believe He has His dwelling there; for which reason they also worship the sun. The rest of the inhabitants loathe them, and will not have anything to do with them, both because they are sun-worshippers and because they call themselves lords, being adored by their servants as mediating deities.
[3] The spirits showed me the head-covering these people wore, which was a dark coloured top hat.
[4] In the next life they are to be seen to the left at some height, sitting there like statues, and to begin with adored by the servants they had had. But after a while these too treat them with ridicule. To my surprise their faces shine as if on fire; this is due to their belief in having been saints. But for all their fiery faces they are actually cold and desperately anxious to get warm. This makes it plain that the fire which makes them shine is the illusory fire of self-love. In order to get warm they seem to themselves to be sawing logs; while doing so, they catch sight beneath the logs of something like a man, whom they try at the same time to strike. This is the result of attributing merit and holiness to themselves. It is the fate of those who do this in this world to seem to saw logs in the next life. The same thing happened to some from our world too, whom I described elsewhere. As an illustration I may add here my experience with these people.
*'On the lower earth, beneath the soles of the feet are also those who regarded good deeds and works as meritorious. Many of them seem to themselves to be sawing logs. The place where they are is rather cold, and they seem to gain warmth by their work. I talked with them too, and was able to ask whether they did not wish to leave that place. They replied that they had not yet worked hard enough to deserve it. But on reaching the end of that stage they are released. They are natural men, because wanting to earn salvation is not a spiritual idea, since it comes from the self, not from the Lord. Moreover they think themselves better than others, some of them actually despising others. If in the next life they do not receive more joy than the rest, they are angry with the Lord; as a result , when sawing logs, it looks to them as if something of the Lord is to be seen beneath the logs. This is the result of their indignation.'# [* The following paragraph is repeated with minor changes from AC 4943.-TR.] # The Lord alone possesses merit and righteousness (AC 9715, 9975, 9979, 9981-2). Those who treat deeds as meritorious, those, that is, who want to earn their entrance to heaven by the good deeds they do, in the next life want to have servants and are never content (AC 6393). They despise their neighbours and even become angry with the Lord, if they do not receive their reward (AC 9976). For the nature of their fate in the next life see AC 942, 1774, 1877, 2027. They belong to the group who appear to be sawing logs on the lower earth (AC 1110, 4943).