I saw them
in the quiescent state for about half an hour, and afterwards they
relapsed into their exteriors in which they were before, and also
into a recollection of what they had seen. They said that they had
been among the angels in heaven, and had there seen and perceived
amazing things, all of which were resplendent as if made of gold,
silver, and precious stones, in exquisite forms and in wonderful
variety; also that angels are not delighted with the outward things
themselves, but with the things they represented, which were Divine,
ineffable, and of infinite wisdom, and that these were their joy;
with innumerable other things that could not be described in human
language even as to a ten-thousandth part, or fall into ideas which
partake of any thing material.
412. Scarcely any who enter the other life know what heavenly
blessedness and happiness are, because they do not know what internal
joy is, deriving their perception of it solely from bodily and
worldly gladness and joy; and in consequence what they are ignorant
of they suppose to be nothing, when in fact bodily and worldly joys
are of no account in comparison. In order, therefore, that the well
disposed, who do not know what heavenly joy is, may know and realize
what it is, they are taken first to paradisal scenes that transcend
every conception of the imagination.
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