172. Concerning profanity and profanation, spoken of above in the Doctrine, at no. 169. Profanation is a commingling with a man, of good and evil, and also of truth and falsity, no. 6348. None other can profane goods and truths, that is, the holy things of the Church and of the Word, except those who first acknowledge them, believe them, and still more live according to them, and afterwards decline from faith, do not believe the above things, and live for themselves and the world, nos. 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 3398, 3898, 4289, 4601, 10284, 10287. He who in youth believes truths, and afterwards does not believe them, commits profanation slightly; but he who afterwards confirms himself in truths, and then denies them, commits profanation grievously, nos. 6959, 6963, 6971. They who believe truths, and live badly, also commit profanation; likewise they who do not believe truths, and lead a holy life, no. 8882. If a man after repentance of heart relapses into his former evils, he commits profanation, and then his latter state is worse than the former, no. 8394. Those who in the Christian world defile the holy things of the Word by unclean thoughts and speeches, commit profanation, nos. 4050, 5390. There are various kinds of profanation, no. 10287. Those who have not acknowledged holy things, cannot profane them, still less those who are not acquainted with them, nos. 1008, 1010, 1059, 9188, 10287. Those who are within the Church are capable of profaning holy things, but not those who are outside of it, no. 2051. Because the Gentiles are outside the Church, and have not the Word, they cannot commit profanation, nos. 1327, 1328, 2051. Neither can the Jews profane the holy interior things of the Word and the Church, because they do not acknowledge them, no. 6963. Wherefore interior truths were not disclosed to the Jews; for if they had been disclosed and acknowledged [by them], they would have profaned them, nos. 3398, 3479, 6963. Profanation is meant by the Words of the Lord quoted above at no. 169, "When the unclean spirit goeth out of a man, he passeth through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth it not. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man becometh worse than the first" (Matt. xii. 43-45). By the unclean spirit going out of a man, is signified the repentance of him who is in evil; his passing through dry places and not finding any rest signifies, that the life of good to such a person is of that quality; the house into which he returns, and which he finds empty, swept, and garnished, signifies the man himself and his will, as being without good; the seven spirits which he takes to himself and with whom he returns, signify evil conjoined to good - his [new] state then being worse than his former [state], signifies profanation: this is the internal sense of these words, for the Lord spoke by correspondences. The same thing is meant by the words of the Lord to him whom He cured at the pool of Bethesda, "Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing came unto thee than before" (John v. 14). As well as, by these words of the Lord, "He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them" (John xii. 40); where being converted and healed, signifies committing profanation, which takes place when truth and good are acknowledged, and afterwards rejected; this would have taken place, if the Jews had been converted and healed, as was stated above. The lot of profaners in the other life is the worst of all, because the good and truth which they acknowledged remains, and also the evil and falsity; and since they cohere, there ensues a tearing asunder of the life, nos. 571, 582, 6348. Wherefore the Lord provides most carefully against the commission of profanation, nos. 2426, 10287. A man therefore is withheld from acknowledgment and faith, if he cannot remain therein to the end of his life, nos. 3398, 3402. On this account also a man is rather kept in ignorance and in external worship, nos. 301-303, 1327, 1328. The Lord also hides away in a man's interiors the goods and truths which he has accepted by acknowledgment, nos. 6595. Lest interior truths should be profaned, they are not revealed before the Church is at its end, nos. 3398, 3399. Wherefore the Lord came into the world, and laid open interior truths, when the Church was wholly vastated, no. 3398. See what has been adduced on this subject in the work on The Last Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon, nos. 73, 74. Babel, in the Word, signifies the profanation of good, and Chaldea, the profanation of truth, nos. 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1306-1308, 1321, 1322, 1326. These profanations correspond to the prohibited degrees, that is, to the foul adulteries, spoken of in the Word, no. 6348. Profanation was represented in the Israelitish and Jewish Church by eating blood; wherefore this was so severely prohibited, no. 1003.