2. Let all the articles in four treatises ¹ be set out in their order.

Footnotes:

1. DE DOMINO: PRAEFATIO

Quod revelatum sit a Domino de coelo et inferno, de ultimo judicio quod peractum, de spirituali sensu Verbi, ita revelata est via ad salutem, et de statu hominis post mortem, et hoc plene et manifeste, ut quisque qui intelligit linguam Latinam scire possit, et hoc nunc ante ¹ annuum tempus, et communicatum; sed usque Ecclesia non id curat; miratur quam maxime in coelo quod Ecclesia in tali statu sit ut illa quae sunt ipsa essentialia ejus ² ne quidem spectentur, sed relinquantur sicut res non alicujus momenti, ³ indicium quod coelestia nihil occupent mentes eorum, nec videantur quando revelata.

Footnotes:

1757. THE SPEECH OF SPIRITS, AND ITS VARIATIONS - continued

As stated already, the speech of spirits with man is effected by means of words, whereas the speech of spirits among themselves is effected by means of ideas - the first origins of words - such as comprise thought. Those ideas however are not so obscure as man's ideas while he is living in the body, but are distinct and separate, like those that compose speech. Following the decease of the body human thought becomes more distinct and clear, and the ideas comprising thought become discrete and separate, so that they come to serve as distinct speech-forms; for obscurity has been dispelled together with the body, and thus thought, now freed, so to speak, from the shackles by which it was held, and therefore from the shades that enveloped it, becomes more spontaneous. As a consequence, insight into every specific idea, and the perception and utterance of it, become more immediate.