there, and also communicate to them their own happinesses and
delights. These times were also known to ancient writers, who called
them the Golden, and likewise the Saturnian times. The reason why
these times were such was, as has been stated, that men then lived
distinguished into clans, clans into families, and families into
households, and every household dwelt by itself; and that it then
never entered into any one's mind (_mens_) to seize upon another's
inheritance, and thus acquire for himself opulence and dominion: the
love of self and the love of the world were then far away; every one
rejoiced in his own, and not less in another's good. But in the course
of time this scene was changed and totally reversed, when the lust
of exercising dominion and of possessing many things invaded the
mind (_animus_). Then the human race, for the sake of self-defence,
gathered themselves into kingdoms and empires; and because the laws
of charity and conscience, which had been inscribed upon the heart,
ceased to operate, it became necessary, in order to restrain deeds of
violence, to enact [external] laws, of which the rewards were honours
and gain, and the punishments were the deprivation thereof. When the
state was thus changed, heaven itself became removed from man, and
this more and more even to the present ages, when the very existence
of heaven and hell is unknown, yea, is even denied by some. These
statements have been made in order to show clearly by the parallel,
what is the state of those who are on the earth Jupiter, and whence
they have their goodness of disposition and also their wisdom, of
which more will be said in the following pages.

50. By long-continued intercourse with the spirits of the earth
Jupiter, it became manifest to me that they were better disposed than
the spirits of many other earths. Their approach when they came to me,
their stay with me, and their influx at the time, were so gentle and
sweet as to be inexpressible. In the other life the quality of every
spirit manifests itself by an influx, which is the communication of
his affection. Goodness of disposition manifests itself by gentleness
and sweetness; by gentleness, because it is afraid to hurt, and by
sweetness, because it loves to do good. I could distinguish very
clearly between the gentleness and sweetness of the influx proceeding
from the good spirits of our Earth, and the gentleness and sweetness
of the influx from the spirits of Jupiter.