Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/238

232 in their nature, else they would not be suited to the wants of spiritual beings. The angels are clad in most beautiful garments, but some more beautiful than others, according to the measure of the wearer's intelligence—for this is what their garments correspond to. The most intelligent have garments that glitter as from flame, some those that shine as from light; the less intelligent have bright and white garments without splendor; and the still less intelligent have garments of various colors." And "their garments are changed as their states change." (H. H. 178, 181.)

The angels also dwell in houses more or less magnificent according to the state of each one; for the house in heaven, with all its furniture and decorations, is the correspondential image of the occupant's interior state. But the houses there are not built like houses in the world, but are given to the angels gratis by the Lord. They also change a little from time to time, as the states of the angels change. Swedenborg speaks of some of the palaces he saw in heaven as magnificent beyond description." And "the splendor without was equalled by the magnificence within. The apartments were ornamented with decorations which no language can adequately describe." But such things delight the minds more than the eyes of the angels, "because in everything they see correspondences, and by them things divine."