404. Verse 14. And the heaven departed as a book rolled up, signifies that the spiritual man became closed up. This is evident from the signification of "heaven," as being the church in general and in particular; for the church is the heaven of the Lord on the earth; moreover, the church makes one with heaven by conjunction; therefore when "heaven and earth" are mentioned in the Word, the church internal and external is meant, for the internal of the men of the church is heaven with them, and their external is the world with them; and as "heaven and earth" signify the church internal and external so they signify the internal and external man, or the spiritual and the natural man; for as man in whom is the good of love and of faith is a church, so the church, in general exists from the men in whom the church is. This makes clear why it is that "heaven" here means the internal or spiritual man. It is said "the spiritual man," by which is meant the spiritual mind, which is the higher or interior mind of man, while the lower or exterior mind is called the natural man. The above is evident also from the signification of "departed as a book rolled up," as meaning that it became closed up; for the spiritual mind, which is, as was said, the higher or interior mind with man, is opened by truths applied to life, thus by goods, but it is closed up by falsities applied to life, thus by evils; and the closing up is as the rolling up of the scroll of a book. That this is so was made very clear by the appearances in the spiritual world when the Last Judgment was accomplished; for the mountains and the hills there then appeared sometimes to be rolled up as the scroll of a book is rolled up, and those that were upon them were then rolled down into hell. The cause of this appearance was this: that the interiors of their minds, through which somewhat of light from heaven had before flowed in, were then closed up. What takes place in general with many, takes place with everyone in particular of a like character, for in the spiritual world such as the general is, such is the particular (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 73). By "book" is meant a scroll, because in ancient times there were no types and thus no books like those at the present day, but there were scrolls of parchments; so "books" in Revelation mean scrolls, and "heaven departed as a book rolled up" means as a scroll rolled up; the same as in Isaiah:

All the host of the heavens shall waste away, and the heavens shall be rolled up as a book (Isaiah 34:4).

270. The wisdom of the angels of the third or inmost heaven shall now be described, and also how far it surpasses the wisdom of the angels of the first or outmost heaven. The wisdom of the angels of the third or inmost heaven is incomprehensible even to those who are in the outmost heaven, for the reason that the interiors of the angels of the third heaven have been opened to the third degree, while the interiors of angels of the first heaven have been opened only to the first degree; and all wisdom increases towards interiors and is perfected as these are opened (208, 267).

[2] Because the interiors of the angels of the third or inmost heaven have been opened to the third degree, Divine truths are as it were inscribed on them; for the interiors of the third degree are more in the form of heaven than the interiors of the second and first degrees, and the form of heaven is from the Divine truth, thus in accord with the Divine wisdom, and this is why the truth is as it were inscribed on these angels, or are as it were instinctive or inborn in them. Therefore as soon as these angels hear genuine Divine truths they instantly acknowledge and perceive them, and afterwards see them as it were inwardly in themselves. As the angels of that heaven are such they never reason about Divine truths, still less do they dispute about any truth whether it is so or not; nor do they know what it is to believe or to have faith. They say, "What is faith? for I perceive and see that a thing is so." This they illustrate by comparisons; for example, that it would be as when any one with a companion, seeing a house and the various things in it and around it, should say to his companion that he ought to believe that these things exist, and that they are such as he sees them to be; or seeing a garden and trees and fruit in it, should say to his companion that he ought to have faith that there is a garden and trees and fruits, when yet he is seeing them clearly with his eyes. For this reason these angels never mention faith, and have no idea what it is; neither do they reason about Divine truths, still less do they dispute about any truth whether it is so or not. ¹

[3] But the angels of the first or outmost heaven do not have Divine truths thus inscribed on their interiors, because with them only the first degree of life is opened; therefore they reason about truths, and those who reason see almost nothing beyond the fact of the matter about which they are reasoning, or go no farther beyond the subject than to confirm it by certain considerations, and having confirmed it they say that it must be a matter of faith and must be believed.

[4] I have talked with angels about this, and they said that the difference between the wisdom of the angels of the third heaven and the wisdom of the angels of the first heaven is like that between what is clear and what is obscure; and the former they compared to a magnificent palace full of all things for use, surrounded on all sides by parks, with magnificent things of many kinds round about them; and as these angels are in the truths of wisdom they can enter into the palace and behold all things, and wander about in the parks in every direction and delight in it all. But it is not so with those who reason about truths, especially with those who dispute about them, as such do not see truths from the light of truth, but accept truths either from others or from the sense of the letter of the Word, which they do not interiorly understand, declaring that truths must be believed, or that one must have faith, and are not willing to have any interior sight admitted into these things. The angels said that such are unable to reach the first threshold of the palace of wisdom, still less to enter into it and wander about in its grounds, for they stop at the first step. It is not so with those that are in truths themselves; nothing impedes these from going on and progressing without limit, for the truths they see lead them wherever they go, and into wide fields, for every truth has infinite extension and is in conjunction with manifold others.

[5] They said still further that the wisdom of the angels of the inmost heaven consists principally in this, that they see Divine and heavenly things in every single object, and wonderful things in a series of many objects; for everything that appears before their eyes is a correspondent; as when they see palaces and gardens their view does not dwell upon the things that are before their eyes, but they see the interior things from which they spring, that is, to which they correspond, and this with all variety in accordance with the aspect of the objects; thus they see innumerable things at the same time in their order and connection; and this so fills their minds with delight that they seem to be carried away from themselves. That all things that are seen in the heavens correspond to the Divine things that are in the angels from the Lord may be seen above (170-176).

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