139. [140] After many destructions and partial judgments had been executed, which were premonitory of the general destruction and judgment, and hordes of spirits who were impure had been cast into pools,* lakes, and chasms, that is into hells, then some came who were skilled in the art of breathing into others and exciting them to evils of interior thought. They incited some souls against the Lord and against Divine truth from Him, and from these the multitude, like one mass, began to be fermented. The tumult spread thence in every direction, as when a rebellion is started by a few persons, and yet at length stirs up a crowd. I there saw the disturbance widely spread to many rocks and mountains, even to their peaks, and thence to the sides down to the bases. Their intent was to destroy those who acknowledged and worshipped the Lord and were in Divine truths from Him. When it was noticed that the contagion had grown so wide, then was the Lord's coming for the general judgment. This coming was the Lord's influx into them through the heavens, an influx which appeared like a misty sphere spread around over those mountains and rocks; and it carried off the dwellers there, not by casting them down but by bearing them away. The Divine sphere entered into their interiors and laid them bare; and what lay concealed in their will and heart was thus made manifest. And it snatched them away and carried them down to hells according to the evils of their life. That Divine sphere was seen carried around in gyres, sometimes returning; and it also drew them out of the places where they had concealed themselves. This was done with some myriads within the space of an hour. When these things had been accomplished, the tops of the mountains receded, and the mountains themselves sank down even to the plain, and there was seen a solitude. Such things are meant in Revelation by the former heaven and the former earth which John saw pass away; for the mountains there, with the rocks and valleys, appear like the earth in our world; and the habitations upon the mountains are there called heavens. Those who were thus carried off and cast away, are they who are meant in Revelation by the dragon and his two beasts (Rev. 12-13), and by the false prophet who was cast into the lake of brimstone and fire (Rev. 19:20; 20:10). * In the M.S. stagna is written twice; in SE 5202, lacus, "lakes," is given in place of the second stagna.