the operation of this same law, the habitations of the angels ought also to be very beautiful; for these, like all their other surroundings, being the normal outbirth or true expression of their interior states, should be in exact correspondence with those states; that is, in correspondence with their prevailing thoughts, feelings, dispositions and motives—in short, with their ruling loves.
Such is the clear verdict of reason on this subject. Such the conclusion reached by fair and logical argument based upon certain known principles and deeply implanted instincts of our better nature. And now let us see how far the disclosures made through Swedenborg agree with this conclusion; for, if true, they should not be in conflict with reason. The following extracts are pertinent:
"Since there are societies in heaven, and the angels live as men, therefore they have habitations, and these likewise various according to each one's state of life; magnificent for those in a state of superior dignity, and less magnificent for those in an inferior condition. . . I have been present with the angels in their habitations, which are precisely, like those on earth called houses, but more beautiful. They contain halls, parlors and bed-chambers in great numbers; also courts, and round about them, gardens, fields and shrubberies. Where the angels live in societies, their habitations are contiguous, close to each other, and arranged in the form of a city, with streets, alleys and public squares, exactly like the cities on earth. It has also been granted me to walk through them, and occasionally to enter the houses. This occurred in a state of full wakefulness, when my interior sight was opened."—H. H. n. 183, 184.
