Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 2.djvu/47

 the spirit, withdrawn as it were from the body, and thus in company with angels. On such occasions I have seen some who seemed as if I had known them from infancy. But others seemed wholly unknown to me. They who seemed as if known from infancy, were those who were in a state similar to the state of my spirit; but they who were unknown, were in a dissimilar state.

All who belong to the same angelic society resemble each other in general but not in particular. How likenesses in general can coexist with variations in particular, may in some measure be comprehended from examples of a like nature in the world. It is well known that every race of people have some common resemblance in the face and eyes, whereby they are known and distinguished from other races. And the distinction between families is still more marked. But it is more perfect in the heavens, because there all the interior affections appear and shine forth from the face,—for the face in heaven is the external and representative form of those affections. No one in heaven is permitted to have a face that is not in correspondence with his affections.

It has also been shown me how the general resemblance is particularly varied in the individuals of one society. There appeared to me a face like that of an angel, which was varied according to the affections of good