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