"All the angels have their own habitations, which are magnificent. I have occasionally seen them, and admired them, and have there conversed with the occupants. They are so distinct and conspicuous that nothing can be more so. The houses on earth are scarcely anything in comparison. Indeed, the angels say that such things on earth are dead and not real; but that their own are alive and true, because they are from the Lord. Their architecture is such as to be the ground and source of the architectural art, with an indefinite variety. The angels have assured me that, if they could have all the palaces on earth, they would not exchange their own for them. What is of stone and mortar and wood is to them dead; but what is from the Lord, or from essential life and light, this, they say, is alive—and the more so, as they enjoy it with all the fulness of sense. For the things in heaven are perfectly adapted to the senses of spirits and angels; while things seen in the light of this solar world are altogether invisible to them.
"The walls of the habitations of angelic spirits are constructed with much variety, and are adorned also with flowers, and wreaths of flowers wonderfully composed, beside many other ornaments, which are varied in an orderly succession. At one time they appear in a clear light; at another time, in a light less clear; but always with interior delight. Their houses are also changed into more and more beautiful ones, as the spirits become more perfect in character."—A. C. n. 1626-1630.
I have seen the palaces of heaven, which were magnificent beyond description. Their upper parts shone refulgent as if of pure gold, and their lower parts as if of precious stones. Some were more splendid than others; and the splendor without was equalled by the magnificence within. The apartments were ornamented
