SD 4223 - the ends are what judge a person

SD 4323
There was a certain one who thought himself
to be the devil that seduced Adam and Eve . . ..
He appeared like another spirit, not speaking badly,
as if he were a person, but still in a kind of obscurity.
I wondered at his quality, as a sense of hatreds, revenges,
cruelties, and adulteries was not perceived from him as from others;
but I was instructed that he cared not for such things,
had in view only the end of destroying good and truth,
so that nothing else entered into his intention.
Ends are what judge a person,
and because of those this class are prompted by such ends
they are very devils,
for they deeply conceal their aims,
and act from the detestable prompting above mentioned,
regardless of the means whether profane or holy.
(July 12, 1749)