4279. THAT EVIL SPIRITS CAN UTTER WHAT IS GOOD, AND THUS BECOME SUBSERVIENT. From experience; evil spirits may be brought into a state in which they shall utter things both good and pious; this is effected by a removal, in certain states, of corporeal things, so that they shall be, as it were, without themselves; just as wicked men may speak and think under the influence of fear and horror. They can speak thus, also, when they are brought into the state of the love of self and of the world, or of cupidities, as is the case with some preachers. They can do it too, when they are in a sort of obscurity, so that they know not what they speak, the life of falsity, which would otherwise oppose, being taken away by the darkness induced; they then utter good things, as being more or less absent in mind. The same thing occurs also when they are deprived of rationality, which is often the case. Thus spirits are led into goods in the other life and are vastated.