190. THAT SPIRITS DID NOT HEAR OR UNDERSTAND THE THINGS WHICH WERE THOUGHT Today, when very many spirits were present, as I manifestly perceived by sensation, I was allowed to write* something concerning the internal and external man, but it was afterwards said to me by a certain spirit that he had perceived nothing of the things thought and written. Hence I was taught by experience that spirits could not perceive anything else than such things as are in agreement with themselves, and they were shut off from any understanding of the matters presented, when it so pleased God Messiah. 1747, Aug. 31, o.s. * In the Index Biblicus at Isaiah xxxvi. See Iungerich, The Schmidius Marginalia and Index Biblicus, p. 173.