240. VII. THE WORD IS IN ALL THE HEAVENS AND ANGELIC WISDOM IS FROM IT.
It has not been known heretofore that the Word exists in the heavens, nor could it be made known so long as it was unknown in the church that angels and spirits are men in face and body wholly like men in our world; and that the things about them are in all respects like those about men, with the sole difference that the angels are spiritual, and that all things about them are from a spiritual origin, while men in the world are natural, and all things about them are from a natural origin. So long as this remained unknown it could not be known that there is a Word also in the heavens, and that it is read by the angels there; and also by the spirits who are below the heavens. But that this might not remain for ever unknown, it has been granted me to associate with angels and spirits, to talk with them, to see the things about them, and afterwards relate many things that I saw and heard, which has been done in a work on Heaven and Hell (London, 1758). It can be seen from that work that angels and spirits are men, and that there are with them in abundance all things that men have with them in the world. (That angels and spirits are men see that work, n. 73-77, and n. 453-456; that the things about them are like the things about men in the world, n. 170-190; moreover, that they have among them Divine worship and preaching in churches, n. 221-227; that they have writings and books, n. 258-264; and the Sacred Scripture or the Word, n. 259.)